Roleplaying - What is it?

What is role-playing?
Well, ask the average Joe, you might get the pat answer of "Dungeons and Dragons" if you're lucky.
Ask the average grandmother, you'd hear "No clue."
Ask someone in the Fetish world, well...let's not go to that place at the present time, shall we?

For most gamers, role-playing is the act of taking on another persona and pretending to be that person in a structured game setting. The game is run by another person, usually called a GameMaster (or GM) who gives the player characters (known as PC's) situations and obstacles to overcome. The PC's then react to what the GM tells them and states what they will do based on their character's stats (Strength, Intelligence, etc). This usually means some sort of process to determine success or failure and in most cases it ends up being dice rolls. I'll probably cover the subject of dice later, but the dice determine success or failure and then the GM gives more information on what happens and so it goes.

Now, I take this one step further coming from a drama background. We've all seen the show "Whose Line Is It Anyway," right? That show is all about playing off of each other in a comedic setting...but what if it was dramatic? Not as much fun to watch Thursdays at 8pm, but a very interesting concept. For me, this is exactly what role-playing games are supposed to be about: group improvisational story-telling usually in a fantasy setting (meaning not real and not as a dis to sci-fi folks). Let me tell you a story...

About 17 years ago, I was a teacher in Japan. I had the benefit of running into a bunch of other gamers through the Japan International Gamers Guild (shameless plug, if you live in Japan and like to game, hunt them down!). Five of us started playing a game that lasted for two years straight...same characters, same storyline. All of us were pretty hardcore, meaning that we enjoyed being "in character" a lot.

Related tangent for non-gamers: Role-players have different levels of involvement when they play. We don't all engage the material the same way. Some prefer to be in more of a third person style (ex. "Tarrik walks over to the bar and orders a drink.") while others go to first person (ex. "I walk over to the bar and order a drink."). And then there are those of us, like myself who immerse themselves (ex. "Barkeep, two ales and a shot of rotgut" to the GM). Being "in character" to me means truly bringing the guy on paper to life. Each way is fine, though my preference is the last as you will soon see. Tangent over...

So, we're all at a friend's house for our monthly 8-hour marathon session and we get to a point where Crazy A (GM's character also called an NPC for non-player character), our gun freak, finds out that L.B. (J's guy, ex spec forces bodyguard) left his prized gatling gun behind after a job. Other characters include Clem (R's demolitions expert and general malcontent), Heywahey (D's Lion shaman and practitioner of Daffy-Duck-Fu), and Kumagai (my computer expert and resident bullet magnet). We had finished up a particularly rough job and were rehashing what had happened and venting frustrations.

LB: Clem, if you would have covered the alley, Shark-face wouldn't have gotten the drop on us!
Clem: Hey,LB, you told Crazy A what really happened to "Baby?"
CrazyA: What happened, LB? You said it got nabbed.
LB: Shut your mouth, Clem, before I do it for you.
Clem: Oh, that ain't what happened, A...
CrazyA: LB, What the F*** happened to Baby?
(J rolls dice)
GM: What are you doing, J?
J: Initiative, gonna plant him before he says another word.
D and I look at each other with an "oh, Sh**" look
Dice roll and the combat starts
After two rounds of combat wher LB has punched Clem and slammed him to the floor (LB is fast and skilled in martial arts)...
Kumagai: Screw the both of you, we all almost died out there today and you're just pointing fingers at each other. When you guys decide to grow up, call me.
HeywaHey: Same here, you all are a bunch of nutsacks. I'm out.

The two of us are really angry and frustrated in character and actually physically leave J's apartment. It isn't until we get four blocks away that we both snap out of it and realize that we had a transformational event in that room. The game became theater and allowed very real emotions to flow through it despite the situation being set up outside of reality. When we got back they were finishing it up and we rejoined back in character again.

I have told this story often because it illustrates what the potential of role-playing can be. In essence, I see role-playing as private improvisational theater. No audience save the players, and no scripts save the outlines of he GM. The rest of it is driven, or can be driven, by the players interpretations of their character, the GM's world, and the action presented to them. It is a new oral tradition that has the potential to create a visceral emotional response in its players.

Before TV, oral/aural traditions were the way to get imaginations going. A good storyteller could keep kids awake with fear or inspire them with tales of bravery. When there is more than one storyteller, the story ceases to be just a story, it breathes on its own and becomes alive. This is role-play at its finest, when the involvement is so emotionally real in the moment that it has a life unto itself. This is a theme I will return to I'm sure,but this is my take on what role-playing is and can be and in many ways should be.