Aardy's RPG Page

Cloister Graveyard in the Snow

Cloister Graveyard in the Snow, Caspar David Friedrich, 1810.

Role-playing games (RPG for short) are much like interactive fiction, and are more akin to works like Pirandello's 6 Characters In Search of an Author than normal games or fiction in that each character's actions are chiefly controlled by a player rather than a single author or a randomizer (like a spinner or a deck of cards), except that the players do have a director--the Game Master--to set the scenes in which they gad about. As such, RPGs are much like playing Cops and Robbers (or Cowboys and Indians) in the milieu of, for example, Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, with the players taking the parts of the "cops": Samwise, Frodo, Pippin, and the rest; the Game Master taking the parts of the "robbers": Sauron, Gollum, Shelob, and so forth; and the final outcome hinging on what the players do rather than fate decided by an author.

Hereunder are several files I have written/compiled/found that I think may be of interest to people who play role-playing games, especially those who play Dungeons & Dragons (D&D).

Dungeons & Dragons, D&D, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, and AD&D are trademarks owned by Wizards of the Coast. The inclusion of these marks here is not intended to dispute or lay claim to ownership of these marks.
Award received by the rec.games.frp.dnd FAQ (circa May 2001):
Effie Rover's RPG Library Gold Wyrm Award
Effie Rover's RPG Library Gold Wyrm Award
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