What is Roleplaying?
What is Roleplaying? As the number of figures or models on the table reduced, more characteristics could be given to the remaining figures until they became "little people" in their own right. The next step was to take these characteristics away from a set 'battle table' and instead allow the character to campaign or adventure in a completely make-believe world.
Early Roleplaying games What these three early games shared was a simply system for adjudicating combat between player characters and non-player characters, and a simple magic system. Everything else could be added by the players and referee as required.
Second Generation Games and Traveller Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, Traveller, Land of the Rising Sun, Chivalry and Sorcery, Champions and Bushido formed the staple diet of my Roleplaying during the late '80's and early '90's, with occasional games of GURPS, Paranoia, and other systems. During the middle and late '90's I pretty much gave up on roleplaying as real life took over. Around the beginning of the new century, I began getting in a few games again - Bushido and Ars Magica - though in the latter game we swapped from Ars Magica to a couple of free systems, Window and then Fudge. Lately, I have tried Dungeons and Dragons 3.5, which seems to be a mash of AD&D and Chivalry and Sorcery, and am seriously thinking of going full circle and running Traveller again. A glance at the various internet roleplaying discussion groups, and the shelves of various on-line games stores show that roleplaying is alive and well in the new century of Second Life and World of Warcraft - in fact I know of people in Second Life who regularly get their avatars together to play old school roleplaying games! I've hung on to various rules I've acquired over the years, for which I'm very grateful. While it's exciting to see all these new games around, it's still nice to be able to pull out those little old black books and play Traveller. |