Role playing gaming can be summed up as “interactive storytelling”.

The participants create on paper imaginary characters in a story run by the “game master” or “narrator” who acts as writer, director and referee of this imaginary, verbal-only play.

The activity is similar to childhood “let's pretend” games such as “cops and robbers” or “treasure hunt”, but with some key differences.

The players are sitting around a table using their imagination and verbally describing their character's actions to each other, rather than physically acting out the scenes, and there are clearly defined rules with a moderator, the GM, to keep the game flowing.

A very basic and quick example of a role-playing process follows...

The game referee, sometimes known as the Game Master meets with the players in a comfortable setting around a table, or anywhere they find comfortable, and begins with a description:

“You and your friends have just walked into the courtyard of an ancient building.

The courtyard is approximately forty feet square.

The walls, built of a tan colored stone material apparently indigenous to the area, are built to the points of the compass.

They are about thirty feet high.

You entered from an opening in the south wall. You see the north wall has some stairs going up, and the east wall on your right has what appears to be a solid metal door hanging open on rusted hinges.

The walls are crumbling in places, and much is overgrown with ivy and weeds. In the center is a large fountain about fifteen feet high in what appears to be the form of a series of three flower-like terraces. S

urprisingly, the fountain is currently spouting clear and cool looking water. Looking at the water, your more acutely aware of how dry you mouths are after the long day's hike to arrive here, with no water previously in sight.

The wind is picking up as a storm from the south, with lightning and dark clouds gathering, quickly approaches. It is getting colder by the minute,

What do you do?”

At this point, those playing in the game each take turns telling the GM and the other players what actions they take.

Some will have mundane results, others could have surprising consequences. Dice are used to simulate the random events that can occur in life, and make it unknown in advance, even to the referee, what exactly will happen next.

For example, someone may decide to climb the stairs, there are some loose steps, and depending on how agile the player's made-up “character” is, with a roll of the dice, that character may leap to the top unscathed, or may have a bit of a fall to deal with.

Of course, there also could be trouble in the form of “ill-intentioned bandits” lurking within the entrance of the door....