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role-playing games
Mar. 1st, 2006 10:36 pmIn case you were curious...
I play a game called Shadowrun. It's like the popular Dungeons and Dragons, in that it is a role-playing game. The way these games work, is that you are one of several players, and you have a character to play. One more person, the GM (game master), has a setting and story hook. Then the players interact in character and play out a story.
Some games are more free-form and character driven, where the players determine where the story goes. Some games are more regimented, with specific goals.
If the players' characters are simply interacting with each other, they players can just talk to each other and make their own decisions. The GM decides how non-player characters interact with the player characters.
In cases where the outcome of a particular action is not obvious, we resort to setting probabilities, and rolling dice against those targets. A character has a list of rated attributes. These can be physical or mental attributes, such as strength or intelligence. In most cases, characters have skill ratings as well, for abilities like driving, shooting or perception. In the game I play, your skill rating dictates how many dice you get to roll. Having more dice gives you a greater chance of success.
My game is Shadowrun. It's a cyberpunk setting, set in the future. Cybertechnology is common, in the form of technological implants, and a full-immersion virtual reality interface for all digital interaction. What sets Shadowrun apart from other cyberpunk games is that in the 2030's magic returned to the world. Magic is on a cycle, and in the "Age of Enlightenment" it ebbed, to the point that people no longer remembered the old ways. Once it was shown to be possible, however, people caught on fairly quickly, how to cast spells and summon spirits. Also, the world itself changed. The ancient dragons reappeared, as did the forms of elves, dwarves and such.
Roughly 20% of humankind are not quite human. They call them metahumans. Tall thin elves, short dwarves, big ugly orks (purposely mispelled) and even bigger and uglier trolls - welcome to the new racism. Cyberware, which is prized to help one do one's job, carries a stigma among the populace. The megacorporations operate extraterritorially, and are more powerful than any government. North American countries include the United Canadian and American States, the Confederate American States, the California Free State, Pueblo Coprorate Council, The Sioux Nation, Aztlan, Quebec, and half a dozen others. So all of this creates great opportunities for role playing "situations." It's quite an elaborate history, and allows for very detailed character backgrounds. More on that in a minute.
What do we do in Shadowrun? We're criminals. We're hackers and mercenaries. Combat Mages, street shamans and physical adepts. Pilots, faces and covert ops specialists. We run the shadows. We're for hire. We're deniable assets. We break into corporate facilites and steal data. Or employees. We're most often hired by corporations to take action against their competitors. But we often get hired to do things that aren't specifically illegal, but are the sorts of things that we are talented at. Like, say, rescuing an "extracted" research scientist. Or rescuing babies from a research scientist. Or "neutralizing" a toxic shaman. Things like that. We generally end up in combat, because there's no dramatic tension like having your life on the line - or at least your character's life, which you put a lot of work into ;-) - but often, there is detective work.
But why do we play? Different people have different reasons, of course. Often, it's for the challenge. The GM presents a challenge, and it's up to you to solve the puzzle. You have to find the pieces and put them together. Or simply overcome obstacles. The fact that there's a person controlling the opposition makes it interesting, because he can adjust the opposition to our effectiveness. It's not fun to just walk all over the bad guys, and complete the mission in half an hour. Nor is it any fun to die in short order.
My favorite part is designing and playing a charcter. We put a lot of work into our charcters. We need to know what motivates our characters - why they do what they do, and how they got there. Who are their friends? What were their families like? How were their childhoods? What are their interests? What are their good and bad qualities? What jobs have they held? What are their morals, and what are they willing to do to make a buck? Once you have the answers to some of these questions, you can get into your character. You know what makes him (or her) tick. You know what he would say in a given situation and you can speak and act for him. I enjoy it when I say something that's out of character for me, but in character for my charcter. It means I've succeeded in bringing another person to life. Anyone can speak in his own voice at any time, even when pretending to be someone else. It's not easy (for most of us) to be someone else.
So it's really a multidisciplinary pastime. You not only must rise to a challenge, but you must pretend you're someone else while doing it. :-)
I play a game called Shadowrun. It's like the popular Dungeons and Dragons, in that it is a role-playing game. The way these games work, is that you are one of several players, and you have a character to play. One more person, the GM (game master), has a setting and story hook. Then the players interact in character and play out a story.
Some games are more free-form and character driven, where the players determine where the story goes. Some games are more regimented, with specific goals.
If the players' characters are simply interacting with each other, they players can just talk to each other and make their own decisions. The GM decides how non-player characters interact with the player characters.
In cases where the outcome of a particular action is not obvious, we resort to setting probabilities, and rolling dice against those targets. A character has a list of rated attributes. These can be physical or mental attributes, such as strength or intelligence. In most cases, characters have skill ratings as well, for abilities like driving, shooting or perception. In the game I play, your skill rating dictates how many dice you get to roll. Having more dice gives you a greater chance of success.
My game is Shadowrun. It's a cyberpunk setting, set in the future. Cybertechnology is common, in the form of technological implants, and a full-immersion virtual reality interface for all digital interaction. What sets Shadowrun apart from other cyberpunk games is that in the 2030's magic returned to the world. Magic is on a cycle, and in the "Age of Enlightenment" it ebbed, to the point that people no longer remembered the old ways. Once it was shown to be possible, however, people caught on fairly quickly, how to cast spells and summon spirits. Also, the world itself changed. The ancient dragons reappeared, as did the forms of elves, dwarves and such.
Roughly 20% of humankind are not quite human. They call them metahumans. Tall thin elves, short dwarves, big ugly orks (purposely mispelled) and even bigger and uglier trolls - welcome to the new racism. Cyberware, which is prized to help one do one's job, carries a stigma among the populace. The megacorporations operate extraterritorially, and are more powerful than any government. North American countries include the United Canadian and American States, the Confederate American States, the California Free State, Pueblo Coprorate Council, The Sioux Nation, Aztlan, Quebec, and half a dozen others. So all of this creates great opportunities for role playing "situations." It's quite an elaborate history, and allows for very detailed character backgrounds. More on that in a minute.
What do we do in Shadowrun? We're criminals. We're hackers and mercenaries. Combat Mages, street shamans and physical adepts. Pilots, faces and covert ops specialists. We run the shadows. We're for hire. We're deniable assets. We break into corporate facilites and steal data. Or employees. We're most often hired by corporations to take action against their competitors. But we often get hired to do things that aren't specifically illegal, but are the sorts of things that we are talented at. Like, say, rescuing an "extracted" research scientist. Or rescuing babies from a research scientist. Or "neutralizing" a toxic shaman. Things like that. We generally end up in combat, because there's no dramatic tension like having your life on the line - or at least your character's life, which you put a lot of work into ;-) - but often, there is detective work.
But why do we play? Different people have different reasons, of course. Often, it's for the challenge. The GM presents a challenge, and it's up to you to solve the puzzle. You have to find the pieces and put them together. Or simply overcome obstacles. The fact that there's a person controlling the opposition makes it interesting, because he can adjust the opposition to our effectiveness. It's not fun to just walk all over the bad guys, and complete the mission in half an hour. Nor is it any fun to die in short order.
My favorite part is designing and playing a charcter. We put a lot of work into our charcters. We need to know what motivates our characters - why they do what they do, and how they got there. Who are their friends? What were their families like? How were their childhoods? What are their interests? What are their good and bad qualities? What jobs have they held? What are their morals, and what are they willing to do to make a buck? Once you have the answers to some of these questions, you can get into your character. You know what makes him (or her) tick. You know what he would say in a given situation and you can speak and act for him. I enjoy it when I say something that's out of character for me, but in character for my charcter. It means I've succeeded in bringing another person to life. Anyone can speak in his own voice at any time, even when pretending to be someone else. It's not easy (for most of us) to be someone else.
So it's really a multidisciplinary pastime. You not only must rise to a challenge, but you must pretend you're someone else while doing it. :-)
