Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Firedancer" data-source="post: 3573488" data-attributes="member: 49630">Hi there Willowisp,Some of what I'll type will reiterate what you've already seen here by others.  I'll start with some praise singing of ENworld and its members - generally these folks are great; really helpful, knowledgeable and as you can see from many of the answers well rounded, articulate and thoughtful (as in the write good answers, not that they send birthday cards!).I'm a Brit, so my views and opinions may differ to those stateside you've already heard from; there is no religious stigma attached for one.  There is a large international presence on these boards as well (and some of them have already posted), which will give you further insight as well possibly give you something of interest for the work you're undertaking.These boards are English; RPG exist in many languages and so this is only a representative.  I think Germany, France, Poland and (I want to say) Finland have equally active games and gamers that you won't see or hear much of here.  Many of these games are created by peoples of those nations, in their primary language, and you won't hear from them here.I really don't know a good way for you to learn of these, and other nations habits etc. but if its an avenue you want to cover start a post asking the community members from other nations.  Shilsen is in India, Thanee is in Germany, Percy (something, sorry have forgotten, but he does great work as part of The Forge Studios!) is in Poland, so might be able to get some insight from these and other members, but I don't know first hand who might be in China or Hong Kong.Right, I suppose I should actually answer a question or 2 now!You can only guide someone who has some level of interest.  Without it its pointless, RPG is a hooby and like all hobbies its done for fun.  So, assuming there is some interest in the genre (either of films, books, TV shows, vid-games) then you have something to build on.  RPG's cover the whole gummit of genres - you like Angel, well there are a number of systems that would enable you to play this type of show.  Star Wars?  Got it.  Lord of the Rings; loads of choice.  However, it needs to be a system the DM knows otherwise the game play won't run smoothly, and that's something that needs to happen in and intro game.My mates wife started RPGing once they met.  She sat in on a few sessions first, to get a feel for what it was all about (and she knew the players themselves so didn't need to know the players too).  When she was ready we started a new low-level game, she had a character in mind and her husband helped stat it out.  We then ran through the games explaining the mechanics and helping her through.  That was the start for her!Start at a low level character, help in stating and gameplay from experienced players.How would I describe myself - young, fit and handsome!  Ok, 1 of those is true.  I'm a recent dad (she's 5 months, has a beautiful smile and loads of hair!), British, early thirties, working professional.  I tick a few boxes on the geekometer - IT professional, I play wargames and roleplay games and I care about the environment (which is moving out of geek zone).  I also surprise some people - I used to play rugby at a semi-professional level until injured, and that has a certain social capability to it let me tell you.  I'm verbose, articulate and somewhat pedantic.  Sometimes my mouth will get ahead of my brain.  You could chuck in analytical too.  I can seperate fantasy from reality (a criticism often leveled at the RPG hobby).  My community; my RPG community is small and are all friends.  Over the years I've made lots of friends at the gaming table and some I still see, even though they've moved away and moved on with their lives.  The style of game I play/run is long and involved so a fixed group is best for this.  I daresay if I wanted larger group or just a fix of gaming there's groups here I could join, but I don't need to.Its a quiet community.  unlike sport you don't need a fixed number to play, you don't need special facilities and you don't need to look for replacements because of injury!  once you have a team and a venue you're set to go.The ENworld community is great.  Friendly, knowledgeable and willing to help.  Of course there are folks who break this trend, but you can't have everything.I'm highly engaged as are my group.  Our characters are defined and will not take the simplest course of action if that goes against an aspect of their character.  They have goals and aspirations they work towards.  They impact the world around them, making friends and enemies.The DM takes these actions into account, changing the adventure to allow for them.  The gaming world changes, evolves and moves on and we often discuss things out of game (email is great for this!).I often read topics here, posting thoughts, opinions or ideas.  I'm not afraid to ask for help (rules clarification, ideas) and always receiving something that helps.I love: the creativity, the variety, the challenge (no matter how pretend) even the chance to explore some aspects of humanity in a harmless environment.I hate: (not really an element of RPG, but..) the need for profit.  Anything produced at a professional standard has to make a profit, and once you have a business theres a need to make profit.  So we get innovation for innovations sake, not for the sake of improvement or refinement but solely to make a few dollars more.  That's the way of the world unfortunately, and you can't produce consistent, quality products without profit.What keeps me engaged is the fact I enjoy the game I play and I like looking at new ideas to incorporate into the game, creating new storylines and challenges.  The style of game (long-term, fluid) also means I'm thinking of alterations inbetween sessions.Lastly; the history of RPG.  As a gamer I can tell you the modules (published adventures) themselves have undergone changes.  They've evolved from static environmentally excluded dungeon-bashes of the early years to adventures with a more realistic drive and feel (you could say more sophisticated, poilitcally and environmentally aware).  The best comparison here is vid-games which have had a similar evolution; started small scale in a controlled environment (PACman!) and have evolved (because of technology and expectations of the community) to complex multifaceted games like Warcraft or GTA.Hope that was of some help (and not too long!).</blockquote>

Verification