You overhear a group of people sitting at a large table. From what you overhear, they are having a great time rehearsing roles for their upcoming play. As you approach the group, you don't recognize these drama majors. They all have a piece of paper and dice in front of them. One of these people has a cardboard partition on the table in front of her and she has sheets of paper behind it. Okay, so these people aren't drams majors, but they appear to be taking on the roles of characters in a story. You get up the nerve to ask them what they are doing and they tell you that they are playing a role-playing game. They ask if you’d like to play for a while and you say, "Sure." They offer you a place to sit and give you a piece of paper. Your paper has a character name, an illustration of a character, and a bunch of cryptic three letter codes with numbers by them. You've just started your first RPG session.

RPGs, or role-playing games, are a form of game unlike any other you've played before. In role-playing games, each player takes the role of characters in amiginary world and one of the players describes the events and people they meet. The object of RPGs is not to win or lose, but to have fun exploring the roles of characters in an imaginary world. Think of role-playing as actors taking the roles of characters with descriptions of their characters' personalities and abilities rather than a set script to follow., The GM, or Gamemaster, is the person that describes the setting, events, and people the characters encounter.

"If the players of RPG are acting, what are the numbers on their character sheets?"

Good question. The numbers on character sheets tell you your characters' Toughness, Quickness, Agility, Intelligence, or Charisma. For instance the "STR" on your character sheet are an abbreviation for the word "strength." In most cases, the high the number next to the ability or skill, the better you are at using that ability or skill. You'll also use these numbers to test your characters' skills and abilities during stressful situation.

"So that's what the dice are for?"

Right. Your Gamemaster might ask you to roil d20, 3d6, or d10+2 and compare it with your strength to see if your character could lift the large rock that has pinned another person's character.

"Hold on a second, what do d20, 3d6, and d10+2 mean?"

"D" is an abbreviation for die or dice. The number following the "d" tells you what type of dice to ro11, So d20 means roll a twenty-sided die and d6 means roll a six-sided die. If there is a number in front of the "d" this tells you to roll multiple dice. 3d6 tells you to roll three six-sided dice. If there is a "+" or "-" behind the type of die needed, add or subtract the number following the plus or minus from the die roll. If I ask you to roll dl0+2, what I am asking you to do is to roll a ten-sided die and add two to the result of the roll. There is one last die roll type a GM might ask you to roll. Your GM might ask you to roll d100. While there are 100-sided dice, your GM is probably thinking of another type of roll. A d100 roll often means to roll two ten-sided dice with one as the tens digit and the other as the ones digit. If you roll two ten-sided dice and one of them come up nine the other comes up five, you have rolled a ninety-five.

"The dice teminology seems simple enough now. What do Class and Race mean on my character sheet?"

Since game worlds are only limited by our imaginations, other intelligent life live on these world. Race most closely means species. Three races often found in fantasy role-playing games are Elves, Dwarves and Humans. Some games use class to simplify and speed up character creation. Classes group sets of skills together, so when you pick a class, you pick a set of skills with which you want your character to excel. Think of a medieval knight; jousting, heraldry, swordplay, and etiquette might be e group of skills a "knight" class would have. A "magician" class might be very good at casting spells, book knowledge, and ancient languages. Some games don’t have set classes, but rather let players choose each and every skill their character knows. You might also we the term "Level" on your character sheet. This is an indicator of how your characters' skills compare to other characters. Higher level characters are more experienced than lower level characters.

"What do Armor Class, Hit Points, and Damage mean?

Saving imaginary worlds from the oppression of hostile forces has its price. Occasionally, your characters will have to pit themselves in combat with these forces. RPG's contain mechanics to determine what occurs during fights. Your characters’ armor class tells you how good the armor they wear protects them from damage. Damage probably means how much damage your weapon will do to others if your attack is successful. Hit Points, is a way of keeping track of your characters well being. As long as the number of Hit Points your characters have remains high, then your characters are healthy. If your characters Hit Points drop drastically (a large boulder hitting your characters in the noggin, for instance), then your characters are hurt and should act cautiously and seek medical attention. The terms Armor Class Point, Hit Points, and Damage differ from RPG to RPG but their use is similar in all RPG.

"I think I understand the character sheet a bit better. Tell me more about what kinds of roles I can play."

It depends on the role-playing game. Some games focus on medieval settings with mystical creatures and magic wielding mages. Games that would fall into this genre include Ars Magica, Dungeons and Dragons, Earthdawn, Middle Earth, and Fantasy Talislanta. Fantasy role-playing games focus on this setting. I've mentioned a small sampling of the number of fantasy RPGs. Fantasy role-playing games are the most common type of role-playing games. Other genres of RPG include, science fiction (BattleTech, Traveller), near future (Cyberpunk, Shadowrun, Underground), spy (Mercenaries Spies and Private Eyes, Top Secret), Superhero (Champions, DC Heroes), horror (Call of Cthulhu, Vampire), and there are many more! Within each rule framework, you or your GM can create unique characters.

"I want to play! Where do I get these games and where can I find people to play them?

There are new specialty stores that sell role-playing games and products. Look in your phone book or in the pages of SHADIS for such stores. Some hobby shops also sell RPGs and accessories. Even mass market bookstore chains sell RPGs but their selection is more limited than what you would find at a game store or hobby shop. High schools and college across the country have role-playing clubs that are great places to find people to game with. Ask someone at the place where you purchase role-playing games if they know of any of these clubs.