A Beginners Guide to RPGs

by Robert McKay

Getting into the fantasy Roleplaying world is a daunting task for anyone who has ever tried without the benefit of a friend to guide them. Even with a friend most people only ever get introduced to one or two kinds and then have to wander around on their own from there in order to find one that suits them personally. That’s of course assuming that they don’t just give up and quit altogether.

This guide is an introduction to various forms of Roleplaying (RP to many) that also involve varying degrees of personal involvement. Gone are the times when Roleplaying meant endless hours cloistered in a moldy basement with three guys named Steven. Today you have the option of playing outside in the fresh air, seated at your home computer, or reclining in front of your home theater system. (Though for some of you those last two options may still involve a moldy basement. See, and I didn’t even mention the location of said basement. *coughParentsHousecough* Excuse me.) In all seriousness though, there are lots of different options for people who love fantasy to enjoy it in a much deeper way than watching a movie or reading a book can offer and this guide will introduce you to some if you are having a hard time finding them.

Tabletop – It’s the most well known of all Roleplaying types. This is the group that Wizards of the Coast (publishers of Dungeons & Dragons) and White Wolf (publishers of Vampire: The Masquerade) make their games for. These games involve intricate game systems and mechanics that usually revolve around dice rolls that determine success or failure of attempted feats. These games are usually played in groups of at least four people, one of them playing the Game Master/Dungeon Master (GM/DM), the other 3 people play their own characters and the GM sets the story in motion and throws in plot twists for the characters to deal with. Time investment can be quite high in these games as campaigns usually will take several days worth of playing with multiple hours per day of playing time.

LARP – It stands for Live Action Roleplaying. These games often take place at conventions and last a good portion of a day or two. These games are similar to other forms of RP except that instead of voicing or typing characters actions the players actually act them out. LARPs can be based on tabletop games or have their own unique rules. Most LARPs are freeform which means they remove the dice and usually just maintain order with a few guiding principles set forth by the games organizers. For more information about how LARP works check out this article on HowStuffWorks.com.

Online RP – As one would expect it is RP that has its home on the Internet. This branch includes Email, Forums, and Chat. The type varies from freeform to highly structured. Finding a good quality gaming site can be quite a battle. I searched for hours when I decided to get back in to RP online. The only site I can recommend from personal experience is Mystical Realms. The environment is thriving with many players willing to spend money on the site for more characters even though playing with 2 characters is totally free. Players there can even purchase their own special room to host and run games in.

MUDding or MUSHing – MUDs and MUSHes are text based RPGs where rooms and character actions are defined completely by text. They were the earliest multiplayer online gaming and roleplaying experiences. They generally break down into two main variants: hack and slash or roleplay intensive. Hack and slash MUDs and MUSHes are goal oriented around raising your character’s level by killing Mobs (mobile objects) which are essentially the bad guys. RP intensive MUDs and MUSHes focus on player interaction and story progression. A MUD that lies somewhere in the middle of the two is the Wheel of Time MUD. If you have read any of the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan I think you will enjoy it.

MMORPG - MMOs (Massively Multiplayer Online) have taken a great upturn in popularity in recent years ever since the widespread popularity of World of Warcraft, or WoW as it commonly called. An MMO is basically like a MUD that is graphical instead of text based. MMOs can be great fun and have huge communities of people that you can play with. The only real drawback is the monthly subscription fees that most of the games charge in addition to the initial software purchase. Guild Wars is the exception to the rule of monthly subscription, but it does rather frequently release new expansions that most players will want to buy. Some other popular MMOs include Everquest, Everquest 2, City of Heroes, City of Villains, Star Wars Galaxies, Final Fantasy XI, Guild Wars and Dark Age of Camelot, and Ultima Online.

Offline Video Gaming – Some of the first video games brought into existence had RPG elements to them and they continue to thrive to this day. If you’ve never taken the time to play an RPG video game I suggest you do. The time you spend playing will be some of the most rewarding hours you have spent on a video game. When playing through all of the side missions in many of the games you can easily spend 100+ hours on them. Some games I would recommend trying are: Any Final Fantasy game, Kingdom Hearts, Xenogears, Morrowind, Baldur’s Gate, Chrono Trigger, and any Zelda game. The list could go on and on.

So, there you have it, an introduction to the main types of RPGs out there. Chances are if you are a fantasy fan you’ve tried at least one of them, but I suggest giving them all a try as each offers its own great selling points.

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