FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

O there are people out there who don't know what Roleplaying or an RPG is? well, I'll try to answer as many of the most frequently asked questions as I can. If you have a question about roleplaying not covered here, by all means send me an e-mail and I'll try to answer it.

WHAT IS ROLEPLAYING?

OLEPLAYING or Role-Play Games (RPG) are simply games. Most commonly played using pencil, paper, dice and some friends. Usually someone elects to be the Games Master (GM), it is their responsibility to describe everything that the other players, called Player Characters (PC's) can see, hear, touch etc throughout the course of the game. The most useful comparison I have found is that Roleplaying is like improvised acting, the GM is the director and sets the scene, the PC's are then left to interact with each other and any Non-Player Characters (NPC's)brought into the scene by the GM.

DOES IT HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH THE OCCULT?

ATEGORICALY NO!! This is a common misnomer proliferated by a lot of very insecure right wing religous groups in an attempt to discredit something that they fear and have no control over. Roleplayers have had an extremely bad press in the past due to these organisations influence in politics and the media. However, roleplayers are now actively defending their rights to free speech through the internet comunities and high profile corporate websites such as the RPGA.

HERE are many different genres to choose between, some of which deal in the darker aspects of the human condition, but these are in the minority infact there are an equal number of christian roleplaying games availiable concentrating on christian beliefs and values. The majority of RPG's deal with the common theme of Good versus Evil, the PC's being on the Good side. Roleplay is also commonly used in many job interview / training session situations, and you would hardly accuse a prospective employer of being a satanist?

CAN ANYONE PLAY?

BSOLUTELY anyone can play, the only abilities you require are an imagination and to be able to listen and visualise what the GM is describing to you. The group I play with, The Hobbits Hole, has members ranging from 12 to 40 something and has male and female players and GM's. HOW DO I START? he best way is to visit your local gaming shop who should be able to tell you where your nearest group is. Trade magazines and libraries often have lists of suitable groups. or go along to the alt.uk.games.roleplay newsgroup, where anyone posting there will be more than willing to help you with finding a local group to join. In the LINKS section of this site are a few good online resources and pages which you may find helpful.

WHAT TYPES OF GAMES ARE THERE?

HERE are too many games systems to list here. If more than two people have had a similar idea, then there's usually an RPG genre dedicated to it. Some of the more popular genre's explored are:

• FANTASY - (Dungeons & Dragons, Runequest, Rolemaster, Middle Earth, Mage)
• SCI-FI - (Star Wars RPG, Traveller, Cyberpunk, Shadow Run, Babylon 5)
• SUPERHERO - (Marvel RPG, DC Heroes, Champions, Golden Heroes)
• HORROR - (Vampire, Chill, Call of Cthulu, Fear, Werwolf, Conspiracy X, Ravenloft)
• CARTOONS & ANIMÉ - (Toon, Bubblegum Crash, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)
• WESTERNS - (Deadlands, Boot Hill)
• COMEDY (Paranoia, Ghostbusters)
• DETECTIVE / SPY - (Secret Agent, OO7 RPG)

HOW IS AN RPG PLAYED?

HE GM will give you a character sheet, a piece of paper which describes all the physical and mental characteristics of your character, along with the clothes and equipment that he/she may own. It is your responsibility to maintain this sheet recording information as directed by the GM. he GM will then set the scene, describing where and why you are there and also what you can see, feel and hear. You will then be required to interact with your surroundings.

EXAMPLE: David is GM in a game of Marvel superheroes and Tony's Character is Peter Parker.

• David: "You are at the art museum taking photos of a glitzy celebrity unveiling of the new wing when a stout looking figure with 4 metal arms crashes through the skylight above you, showering the area in glass shards he lands on his feet about 5 metres away."
• Tony: "covering my head as I run out from underneath the falling glass, I sneak a glance at him, do I recognise him?"
• David: "Your spidey sense is ringing alarm bells in your head, you do recognise this character, it's Dr. Octopus!!"
• Tony: "Can I see if anyone is seriously injured and try to help them? If not I look for somewhere to change into my spidey costume and then run after him."

S you can see from the example David describes what Tony can see and Tony attempts to react in a way characteristic of Peter Parker. Tony asks for clarification where David has not given him enough detail and then reacts accordingly. Also look at how Tony speaks to David in the 1st person present tense (I run, I jump, I look etc) this helps both Tony and David to identify with the character enabling them to feel how Spiderman would react in any given situation.

WHERE DO I START?

F you're interested in playing RPG's then you need to enquire at your local gamesstore or comicstore if there are any local clubs or groups in the area. On the web you can also use the RPGA (Role Play Gamers Association) message boards or one of the many RPG portals that exist most of which have a list of groups. Don't be too worried by being a newbie when you first start playing, we've all been there and made the same mistakes your DM will be able to cope.

DO I NEED TO USE THOSE SMALL METAL FIGURINES I SAW IN GAMES WORKSHOP?

INIATURES are a useful tool which a lot of players and DM's use to help depict the action, but they are not essential. A popular alternative, particularly for DM's who may need to represent all the monsters and NPC's, are the Carboard Heroes range of cardboard cut-outs. I've created my own cardboard heroes where using an alloy miniature would have been too expensive, see Gnarlybough the treant from the Anderida Forest.

WHAT ARE ALL THOSE FUNNY SHAPED DICE FOR, AND WHERE CAN I GET SOME?

LMOST all RPG's use dice in order to resolve various in a random manner such as skill rolls, combat and damage resolution and most importantly character creation. They come in all sorts of funny shapes (collectively known as Polyhedral dice or Polydice for short) and are used to generate numbers from 1 to 4, 8, 10, 12 etc. Your local game store should have in stock both a selection of loose dice of different denominations and prepacked tubes with 1 or more of each of the more common type (d4, d6, d8, 2 x d10 and d12). If not you can order them on-line from manufacturesrs like Chessex and dice.co.uk or from online stores such as Orcs Nest or Spirit Games.

HOW DO I USE THEM?

d2 - This is not a die, but simply a coin, nominate heads or tails for 1 or 2 and vice versa.

d3 - This is not a die in it's own right, infact it is

d4 - Easily recognizeable (it's the pyramid shaped one) but can cause all sorts of problems for novice players. This die generates a number from 1 to 4 and depending on the manufacturer is either read from the bottom edge or the number from the apex. This is the only dice which is not read from the uppermost face.

d6 - The die most people will be familiar with, generates anumber from 1 to 6.

d8 - Eight sided die, generates a number from 1 to 8.

d10 - Ten sided and generates a number from 1 to 10. This die often has a zero (0) in place of the ten (10) but this means the same thing. These can also come with a large number and a small zero (0) on each face, this is a d10 (tens) die (See d100) and the small zero (0) should be ignored.

d12 - Twelve sided generating a number from 1 to 12.

d20 - Twenty sided, generates a number from 1 to 20.

d30 - Thirty sided, generates a number from 1 to 30. (Use of this dice is rare)

d100 - A hundred sided dice (usually comes inside it's own ball). Yes, some manufacturers have actually managed to make a 100 sided dice, sadly the faces are so small that if rolled within anything but the lightest touch it tends to find it's way to the edge of the table and onto the floor extremely quickly. More commonly people simulate a 100 sided dice by rolling two (2) d10, one die for the tens and one for the units. It is also a good idea to use two differently coloured or identifiable dice so that everyone is clear which one is the tens and which is the units. When doing so please nominate which die is which and tell everyone, then stick to it, this is not only good gaming etiquette but stops any accusations of foul play.

HOW ARE DICE ROLLS REFERRED TO IN RULE BOOKS?

FTEN you will see dice rolls referred to in rule books, particularly in tables of damage characteistics for weapons. Most systems use a commonly accepted notation which looks like this:

Sword damage = 1d8+1

Translated into English this means roll one (1) eight sided dice (d8) and add one (+1). This randomly generates a number from 2 to 9, simple really.

I NEED TO GENERATE A NUMBER FROM 1 TO 25, HOW DO I DO IT?

K this isn't quite a FAQ, but I have been asked from time to time how to generate certain dice ranges with just the common or garden dice that most RP'ers have in their bags. Now I bet you'd listened to your maths teacher when they were talking about prime numbers. OK, the best way to do this is to consult the ready reckoner below and find the next highest multiple of dice larger than the highest number in the range:

In this case you have the options of:

7d4 (7 - 26), 5d6 (5-30), 4d8 (4 - 32) or 3d10 (3 - 30)

then subtract the a number 1 less than the quantity of dice rolled giving you the following results:

7d4 -6 (1 - 20), 5d6 -4 (1 - 26), 4d8 -3 (1 - 29) or 3d10 -2 (1 - 28)

Therefore the closest you will get is to roll 5d6 - 4 and re-roll any result of 26.

DOES IT HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH THE OCCULT?

CAN ANYONE PLAY

WHAT TYPES OF GAME ARE THERE?

HOW IS AN RPG PLAYED?

WHERE DO I START?

DO I NEED TO USE MINIATURES?

WHAT ARE THOSE FUNNYSHAPED DICE FOR AND WHERE CAN I BUY SOME?

HOW DO I USE THEM?

HOW ARE DICE ROLLS REFERRED TO IN RULE BOOKS?

HOW DO I ROLL A NUMBER FROM 1 - 25?