So there you are, battle hardened LAN warrior, armed with master-forged mouse and stout keyboard, your ATI Raedeon 9700 Pro strapped across your back as you cross the Rubicon of your friend's threshold and into the Local Access Network Arena. You've got your gear. . . but are you really ready? It's not enough to only whet the edge of your own processor, a LAN party is a team game, and everyone needs to pull together to make it run smoothly.
Gaming is about, among other things, stories. Stories of heroism, stories of horror, stories of humor. . .stories of people. This is about gaming, so it is, of course, about people. Not enough people, specifically.
On the ever-vigilant quest for the greatest gaming experience, we pilgrims spend much of our gold on tomes of wisdom, only to be deceived by the wicked spell of marketing. Oh, the sorrow of owning a book that isn't worth its binding. Hear my words, for such acts of sorcery will not go unpunished. Rise up, my people; let our voices echo into the heavens. Let us cry out in the name of our precious hobby, as we call forth a hero to cast his sword into the sea and part the good from the evil. May he write the greatest of gaming material and bless us with his work. For this is the legend of Monte Cook.
Magic is one of the staples of fantasy role play. On the table top, all manner of wondrous effects are possible; all you need is a good imagination (and perhaps a pencil and a number of measuring devices) and you can create objects, throw fireballs, summon various critters, turn things into other things, and fly. It's not so easy in a LARP.
Okay so only a very few players out there would try to charm Cthulhu. But inevitably, love and all things emotional come into play in most fantasy game worlds. You gotta be bashing goblins for something, right? If it's not a god, why not some dame or dude the character is jonesin' for? But, oh wise article writer, you ask, how do I, a mere, geeky GM, have my characters fall in love? Without it turning into some horrible encounter best left to those instant messaging at 3:30 in the morning?
For most RPGers, rules are a necessity. They guide the creation of a character, influence the shape of a story, and generally set the tone for the entire world. However, there are different levels of freedom depending on the particular RPG you're playing.
Role-playing has always been a big thing for me: "House" as a kid, "Cops & Robbers" after that. When I first discovered the Internet in 1997 (go ahead and laugh), I stumbled upon "Yahoo! Chat" and before I knew it I was freeform role-playing online. The world it opened for me was immense.
It's the weekend and the usual roundup of friends comes together. The living room/den/garage has been prepared for a fun filled evening of romping through the enchanted woods or infiltrating the seedy underbelly of Neoville. The session begins and characters are played, each bringing a creative balance to the team. The players catch a break and find an uber item to help them continue their journey. Unfortunately now the ugly side in everyone comes out. Everyone wants the item and no one is willing to back down. Welcome dear powergamer.
Imagine sitting in a theater watching an incredibly imaginative and compelling movie with incredible art and special effects, but one thing is missing: music. I was gaming at a friend's last week, as a trial foray into his new Shadowrun campaign, and I flogged him for the lack of atmosphere that he created in his gaming space.
I don't really know what things are like where you live, but everywhere I have lived had at least one local hobby shop every gamer knew by name. It may be a comic shop, or a collectable card shop, or even a bookstore. But every community seems to have at least one, and some places more. When I moved to Santa Rosa in the mid nineties our shop was a place called Fantasy Books and Games. It was huge, and carried every comic, RPG product, miniature, anime, or card game you could hope for. It was the gaming Mecca for Sonoma County, and of course had the requisite bulletin board I used to meet many of our group members over the years.
