Role playing

Role playing is a genre of gaming dating back to the mid-1970s which first gained popularity with the publication of Dungeons & Dragons. The game system co-written by E. Gary Gygax is considered to be the father of modern role playing and forms the basis for many role playing games RPG's in the video game world. Dungeons & Dragons is also considered the inspiration for many massive multi-player online role playing games MMORPGs such as World of Warcraft. The hobby has long been considered the province of dorks and geeks, but has become more mainstream in recent years. Helping lead the way to mainstream acceptance are films like The Gamers and celebrities like Felicia Day and Wil Wheaton who are avowed gamers. Day has even created the popular web series The Guild which Wheaton joined the cast of in Season 3. In most role playing games, a game master or GM creates stories in a make believe world and the players create fictional characters to act out the story. Most role playing is done using dice to determine if an action is successful, but some types of the games are diceless like Amber and others, called Live Action Role Playing or LARP are more like improvisational theater. LARPers generally dress as their characters and get into character for the duration of the game session. Conflicts in LARP are resolved via rock-paper-scissors.

• Dungeons & Dragons

• Vampire: The Masquerade

• Werewolf: The Apocalypse

• Changeling

• Deadlands

• Savage Worlds

• Champions

• Marvel Super Hero Game

• Amber

• Shadowrun