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<td><!-- #BeginLibraryItem "/Library/roleplay_intro.lbi" --><h1>Roleplaying</h1>
We generally
do some kind of roleplaying every couple of weeks at the outside -
keeps the old mental faculties honed as well as being a great outlet
for the work week's stress, and FUN to boot.<br>
<h2>So what is roleplaying?</h2>
Roleplaying is acting out a story - any genre, design your own characters
- without once getting up from your chair. Decisions are arbitrated
by the Gamemaster, one of your group who has at least a vague idea
of where the story you're all in could go. Your character's success
and failure at actions within the Gamemaster's scenario can be dictated
by using dice to simulate chance, just like it does in board games.<br>
<br>
Your characters could find themselves in 19th century England, drawn
into a puzzling murder investigation. Or they could be situated in
feudal Japan, trying to walk the thin line between retaining personal
honor and carrying out the wishes of their Daimyo for the good of
the clan. If you can imagine it, you can roleplay it.<br>
<br>
<a href="http://www.arsimagica.net/~eccles/roleplaying/what.html" target="_blank">Another
view: What is roleplaying?</a> <br>
<a href="javascript:openPicWindow('clipping.jpg', 800, 574, 'Monash Uni Roleplayers Speak Out');">Monash Uni Roleplayers speak out</a> -
October 1986 (large image)<br>
<h2>Current roleplaying systems we're playing</h2>
<ul>
<li>Unknown Armies - dark modern day, where obsession can lead to
magic, and the magical subculture is policed by a shadowy group,
with seemingly endless resources
<li>Legend of the Five Rings / Sengoku fusion - fantasy Japan where
incursions by Oni are as real as clan machinations against the
Emperor
</ul>
<h2>Roleplaying systems / settings of interest</h2>
<ul>
<li>Hong Kong Action Theatre (pre-TriStat) - play actors / characters
in HK films<br>
<li>Underground - dark, not-too-far future, where you play bio or
mech-enhanced ex-super-soldiers with problems adapting to civilian
life<br>
<li>Castle Falkenstein - steam-tech meets fantasy in the Victorian
era<br>
<li>Cthulhu - 1890s, 1920s or present day reality with something
unspeakable in the closet, based on the work of H.P. Lovecraft<br>
<li>Runequest - well-realized fantasy world where the gods of myth
still pervade everyday life<br>
<li>Stormbringer - doom-laden dark fantasy, based on the work of
Michael Moorcock (note <a href="http://www.darcsyde.org/" target="_blank">Darcsyde
Productions</a> is releasing supplements for this system at this
time)
</ul>
<h2>Roleplaying conventions</h2>
A place where a sizable group of like-minded people get together to
meet, hang-out and maybe even play games together. In my opinion,
the more loosely organized the events are, the better. <br>
<br>
In May 2001 I went to <a href="http://www.tentacles-convention.de" target="_blank">Tentacles</a>.
It was enormous fun. You can <a href="tentacles_2001.html">read what
I wrote about it</a>.<br>
<h2>More links</h2>
See also the roleplaying
links in my <a href="../cool/index2.html" target="main">cool links section</a>.<!-- #EndLibraryItem --></td>
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