I love role-play. I love fantasy. My real website is www.dragontayl.com. My stories are there. It’s also where I host role-playing games on Neverwinter Nights (nwn.bioware.com). Role-playing is my main hobby, almost to the exclusion of all others.
Role-play comes in many flavors. There’s the “I wonder what I would be like if I were ninety pounds of tempered elf amazingly incredible with bow and daggers, who could cast spells, couldn’t eat grains, had five nose rings, and was named Flibertygibbit Greballion of the Green Leaf.” You ‘go out’ with a bunch of friends, laugh, show your superiority over impressive monsters (or die trying), find the best punch lines, and just have a blast.
There’s the “If I were transposed into a fantasy character, what would I want to be? How would I act? What could I do?” You create an alter ego, typically the best of what you have to offer, wrestling with the dark inner secrets you don’t expose to just anyone, and write a tragic tale (though it can have a good ending, it is rarely comedy) with epic battles both within and without.
There’s the “I would like to try something a little different, see how well I can role play this kind of personality and this kind of adventurer.” You put together a party of friends and delve deep into mystery (often wonderful comedy) and explore how you think that kind of person would react.
For me, if you play sports, I end up with the “goalie” position in role-play. I’m not coordinated enough to play even goalies in real sports, though I love to play ice hockey (the term play is used very loosely here) and I enjoy playing softball-baseball, just stay with the concept here and don’t drag me off topic. I am the game master (in the classic grand pooh-bah of role-playing games, Dungeons & Dragons, this is known as the Dungeon Master). Not only do I run the game, I create the games before hand. It’s a great challenge and a lot of fun. I am basically writing a storyline without the main characters – only the challenges and mysteries, and my friends come in and complete the story as they go by being the heroes (and often the plucky comic relief).
It is difficult to run the right balance – the challenges that should give people a few tense moments but not be so overwhelming that they feel fatalistic. It’s no fun if they are constantly saved by some higher power. The point of the game is to overcome challenges, perhaps down to your last resources, but to be able to do it in the end. But it’s a challenge I love. I can’t wait to see what my friends are going to do when they get to a certain place. I can’t wait to see their reaction when they come to a particularly interesting area – hopefully something they have never seen before, something that is fun and new and exciting.
So grab some Doritos, some thick, rich, sweet, frozen coffee (or if you prefer Mt. Dew or Dr. Pepper are more acceptable norms for this genre), pull out a fresh, blank sheet of lined paper. Buy yourself a set of wicked-cool looking dice of all different shapes. Sharpen your pencil and prepare to open your mind. I think I hear the clash of steel and the neighing of a warhorse. Surely it must be just over that grassy ridge you thought was the back of your couch.
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