My view on roleplay


For some people an unknown thing, but for others almost a way of life. Roleplay is easy to describe: a few people who come together and create a character by putting some stats on a piece of paper. One of those people then acts as DM (Dungeon Master),sometimes also refered to as GM (gamemaster) or Storyteller, who makes up a nice and exciting story in which the other players have to find their way by solving riddles, having conversations, defeating monsters and casting spells.

One of the most important things about roleplay is that the character you create doesn't cease to exist once a game session ends. In a next session you still play the same character, in the same world, with the same characteristics. This way, your character can learn and develop relations with the denizens of this world and the other player characters. A game like this can last for several weeks up to a couple of years.

The game, and the spells in particular, has been called satanic.

Well, according to the christians that is. When, some years ago, TSR became popular with the famous AD&D (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons), they caused a huge riot among parents who claimed that people started worshipping the devil because they played this game. I was laughing my ass off when I heard this. In the game, your quest, as hero (!!), is to defeat the evil. So even some kind of devils, demons, succubi and randomly rolled long-tentacled creatures from the depths of the world. And so on.

I think that the most 'satanic' (sigh) spell in the entire handbook is Spiderclimb. To cast this spell, the character would have to eat a live spider. Hail to the creative mind who came up with this, but christian society immediately reacted heavily to this. You can't make your kids eat a live spider, can you? NO ! Of course not. Those crazy people just can't read, or they have absolutely no sense of reality, because this is a GAME. Just because devils exist in this game, christian society has to start proclaiming that the game urges people to worship satan. A lot of roleplayers have had a problem with this. You see, the game does NOT incite people to slaughter innocent children, but to a night of teamwork and problemsolving. It offers people a chance to escape from reality for a short while to become a hero, or just a nice evening.

You might wonder why it is I defend roleplay? I have been a roleplayer for about 3 or 4 years now. I don't roleplay because I am a satanist. And the fact that I'm a roleplayer doesn't implie that I'm a satanist. I just like the GAME.

Well, there is still the rumor that EVERYONE who wears a hard rock/metal T-shirt is a satanist ... (sigh)



My thanx goes out to D., for ever my fav. DM !!










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