Christopher Özbek's Homepage - Roleplaying Games Page

A guide to the ideas and therms of roleplaying.

IDEAS:

The idea is to get into the role of somebody else, to get the chance to act outside all limitations that are given to us, to behave like one never will or never can, to change the place and time where one is and to enter a new, an easy understandable world where dreams can come through. For some it's an escape from their lonely and boring being on earth, for some it's simply fun, others consider the roleplaying-world being a challenge, because earth isn't any more providing enough complexity.

HISTORY:

It's hard to answer the question when the idea of roleplaying had been found. Has not every little girl the dream of being a princess and every boy wants to get a locomotive conductor, policeman or pilot? Being something else, that at the moment is out of reach had at all times a strong fascination. Of course our time with all it's property has given us more time to think about things like that.
The idea of creatures that aren't real, was always present in human history, not as free imaginations tough, but as thoughts on higher beings like god or the evil. The greek gods are the best example for this creatures. In the apocalypse part of the bible the description of manticores and other creatures can be found, or the dragon as part of chinese culture.
The basis for the "modern" monsters was laid by J.R.R Tolkien and his book "The Hobbit and There and Back again". Here at the first time occured Orcs and Elfs. Tolkiens next great book "The Lord of the Rings" brought the forces of good and the forces of bad, which were battling for ownership over the world. After Tolkien, the number of authors in fantasy and science fiction began to increase faster and faster and with them the number of different lifeforms. From Borks, Klingons and Vulcanier to Sandworms, Spidermen, Batman to Gremlins and Aliens and much more ranges the palette of ideas.
With this new ideas there were large realms created, where soon the readers wanted to act. The first roleplaying games like "Dungeons and Dragons" were invented. When computer became accessable for a larger number of people, the idea of roleplaying was convertet to the new medium. Games like "Rouge" and the Ultima serie were programmed and over years made a major part of the total number of games. The internet has brought a new dimension to computer roleplaying, with multi user dungeons it became possible to stay away from things like dices and long calucations for damage etc... and play with other people, which are no doubt more intelligent than computers.

THERMS:

Armor Class (AC): The higher your armor class is the better you are protected against being hit by all sorts of attacks. Armor class results from the armor worn and your overall dexterity.

Damage Reduction: When something has hit you (succeded it's hitroll and passed your armor class) it makes a big difference either you are naked or in full battle gear and either you are a wimp or Mister Universe. Damage is reduced by an amount that is determined by your armor class, your constitution and perhaps magical equipment.

Expierence Points (exp): A number to determine the expirence a character has earned by killing monsters, solving quests, rescuing princesses etc..

Hitpoints (hp): This points present the overall health of a character, full hp means perfect condition, no wounds etc., if the character is hit or suffers from poisson his hp are reduced, zero hp means in most cases dead. Some games have a other system: at zero hp a character isn't dead but falls unconscious, at a certain number of negative hp (10 in most cases) the character finally dies.

Hitroll or THAC0 (To hit armor class 0): This statistic represents the chance to hit the enemy. Hitroll is without armor-influence, THAC0 with.

Level: Instead of having a scaling increase of abilities in roleplay games the increase is reduced to one certain time. When a character goes over a amought of expierence he suddenly is stronger, quicker, has more hitpoints, he gained a level. This results from early table-roleplaying, when leveling was a long procedure of calculating new statistics, the player didn't wanted to interrupt the game after every fight and every quest.

Mana (mn or ma): Mana is magical power which is used to cast spells. There are games where is no Mana but a certain number a spell can be cast before the caster has to rest.

Rest: Rest is the period time called when a char lies himself down to regenerate hp or mana, pray for or memorize spells or just takes a break after a strenuous walk.



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Page's last update was on 11.02.98.