Definition of roleplaying... Help!

[Inconsequenti-AL]

Hi!

I'm trying to explain roleplaying to someone...

She's quite a fan of fantasy/sci fi books and films - LOTR, Star Wars, Katherin Kerr seem to be the main ones... but has never heard of roleplaying before.

Each time I try and explain things, I get all tongue tied, confused and start blathering.

Help would be most appreciated!

 

[Li Shenron]

You can start by simply saying that it's quite like reading a novel, only that you can decide what your PC does.

 

[jonesy]

I guess I fail to see where the difficulty lies. The word pretty much describes itself.

Roleplaying: you assume a role and play it. Get a bunch of people together who all assume different roles and you have a group of roleplayers. Place the roles you've assumed into an imaginary environment and adventure there together, and you've just begun a roleplaying game. [quip]Get an audience, and you've just become actors in a play[/quip].

 

[bubbalin]

I suggest you start small and then take the time to clarify. Also, if she's your friend, suggest she try it. That is often the best way to explain it.

Of course, if you'r tongue tied for other reasons, such as her being a particularly fine looking friend, then obviously roleplaying isn't the problem.

 

[Inconsequenti-AL]

Supose I forgot to keep it simple... just can't seem to order my thoughts about how roleplaying actually works. Because it's kind of like acting, but has that whole random resolution of events thing going on.

FWIW, she's my girlfriend - of about 6 weeks now...

 

[jonesy]

Because it's kind of like acting, but has that whole random resolution of events thing going on.

Actors call that improv.

 

[Jupp]

Roleplaying: Table-top game where some folks sit together, create a character and walk through a dungeon to solve puzzles, riddles, surive traps, beat monsters to pulp and get some good loot. One of the players acts as the "dungeon", the rest tries to survive it.

If you try to explain the roleplaying part you will sit there for the next 3 hours...and perhaps scare away that person because he/she will start to think you're one heck of a maniac.

 

[Thanee]

Forget about all the mechanics and dice rolling stuff, that comes last.
Roleplaying, at its core, does not need these mechanics.

A group of gamers meets to "write" their own story, much like an interactive fantasy novel, where the players each take on the role of one of the characters and decide what they want to do in a given situation, and the game master, who is kinda like a narrator, describes the situation and judges how their surroundings react to the actions the players described.

For example... the opening scene of the Fellowship of the Ring movie, where Isildur stands on top of Mount Doom and Elrond is with him, but the human decides to keep the One Ring instead of tossing it into the flames and ending it once and for all. Now if you were to decide what Elrond does in this moment, you could decide that you just get the ring from him and toss it in there yourself. Sure, this would not make for a great opening of a story about the desctruction of the One Ring, but it's just an example. The story is not predetermined (already written), but rather open, and all the players have part of it and influence the outcome of the events.

Bye
Thanee

 

[diaglo]

I'm trying to explain roleplaying to someone...

lets play a game.

but it will all be words and imagination.

you know...lets pretend.

 

[Aus_Snow]

How about something like

"It's a bit like writing: you create a character - a protagonist - known as a 'player character', or 'PC' for short. You'll be a known as a 'player'.

"It's most like acting: you take on the role of the character you've created, deciding (---his/her, probably her---) words and actions, usually with a few other players who'll be doing the same.

"And it's like other games, too: it's got a game system behind the scenes that helps determine what happens, when things aren't just determined by players' decisions, or the DM's decisions (. . .) The 'DM'? That's the person who takes care of the game system stuff, describes the world around your character, and takes on the roles of people and other beings that you might meet, or have to deal with."


Er, and so forth. It's kind of a start I suppose. . . feel free to ignore it.

I had this come up in my own life just the other day, and I'm pretty sure that what I said was better than the above pseudo-example, but hey.

Best o' luck explaining, and I hope the roleplaying turns out well.