The World of Roleplaying Games

 

Gaming has been a long-time fun hobby of mine since I was eight or nine, around the same time I started writing stories (but that’s for another blog) and I haven’t really stopped at age forty-seven currently. I have taken a break here and there, but never really stopped. I remember starting with the old red books of Dungeons and Dragons, then I moved onto the First Edition Advanced Dungeons and Dragons playing every edition since than (except for Fourth Edition, but I do own the books.)  

For most gaming systems you need just the basic list of supplies starting with Pencil, Pens (I use Fuzion erasable Coloured Pens for creating my characters, for everything else I write with my fountain pens), paper – notebook, drawing it doesn’t matter, just paper to write your character up, if you have a well prepared GM, they will have copies of Blank Character Sheets that you put your characters stats and notes on. The next then you need which should be the first is the rule-book or players handbook which gives you the rules for the game and how to write up a character for that game system. Game Systems have different rules, and different ways of running games. Next is the dice some games are use the standard D6 which is a six sided dice (very familiar to everyone), but some like D&D they use a multitude of dice ranging from D4, D6, D8, D10, D12, D20 and a second D10 that can be used as a percentile die with the other D10. Gaming is not complicated, and you don’t need to mortgage you house to start.  Just the main rule is to have fun.

I have moved onto playing other “RPG’s” such as the Storyteller “World of Darkness”, GURPS and to other smaller or unknown ones like 7^th Seas to Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. Which also brings me to tabletop miniature gaming which includes Warhammer Fantasy, Warhammer 40,000, War Zone and Historical Miniature Tabletop Gaming. These are fun not just setting up the table and doing a mock battle on a smaller scale, but for also painting the miniatures which I haven’t done in a long time.

Most roleplaying games have a table set up for scenes and you have a miniature that represents your character, along with the GM have miniatures of NPC’s and Monsters/ Creatures that your character may interact with or fight depending on the scenario. I have introduced many people to tabletop gaming over the years, even my own family. If you like to know more you can always email me through the blog or google Tabletop Roleplaying Games and there are so many sites and links to get you started. I am more of the tabletop gamer than an online or console gamer, I do like video games but to me they are way different in experience than Tabletop Gaming

I enjoy roleplaying because it gives you a chance to create a character that you can act out in an adventure that would be like a script for a stage play with one of the group members being like the director or stage manager, moving the story along with your characters. NPC’s (non-playing character’s) which are essential to any story, they interact with the Player Characters give them clues or hints or even move the characters in the right direction if the game is going on tangents.

Being a GM or DM (Game Master or Dungeon Master) and able to write and tell the story for the characters to act in is so much fun, you get to create a whole world of your own or use a world someone else has created. There are so many possibilities to telling a story, and yes sometimes the story takes a different twist then you thought, so thinking quick and making new scenarios for the character’s is always a challenge and exciting as well. I think the best size for a gaming group is between four to six people, any more may get long, and boring for some as they must wait for their actions.