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What is a Role Playing game or RPG?

It is a game where the players act like characters of their own creation. The players-characters act in accordance with certain rules but most importantly, using their imagination and inventiveness in order to achieve a specific goal.

What do I need to play a game like this?

Only your imagination, the right mood and some knowledge of the game rules.

How many people can play?

At least two. There can be as much as ten or twenty players though, or even more..

Which means?.....

There two kinds of players in every RPG. One is the Game Master and the rest are players which act like their imaginary characters. For a game to be played one Game Master and one player are necessary. But generally, the players are as many as an adventure requires. This means that if the lot/story/scenario which is being played requires five characters, there will be six players (don't forget the Game Master!). There are adventure stories which include roles for two, three or even more that fifteen players.

How many types/kinds/varieties of RPG are there?

There are four basic kinds. You can play an RPG on your living room coffee table with your friends. You can also play through your mailer program, by exchanging daily messages with the Game Master and the other players. These are the pbem (play by e-mail) campaigns in the Internet jargon. There is a kind of RPG on the IRC (Internet Real Chat) where you can play live with the rest of the players on your computer. Finally, there are Live Action Games where you play live, in the streets of your city, each of you trying to carry out your own part of the campaign/adventure. Difficult, but very interesting and exciting! On this page we are mainly discussing the first indoors kind. Our ambition though is, through the Greek Amber Mailing List, to organize future pbem campaigns based upon the translated Amber Diceless Role Playing Game. Have a little patience!

How does the game start?

The GM (Game Master) has already planned the campaign (he/she has either read about it or created it). The PCs (Player-Characters) know nothing about it. The GM assembles the right number of players (say five). The GM gives them some general information about the campaign so they can decide upon the appropriate type of character that fits the campaign and they proceed to the character creation.

How is this done?

There are many ways of character creation, depending upon the RPG. For example, in ADRPG (Amber Diceless Role Playing Game) there is an auction where each player bids the number of points he/she wants on each of the basic attributes until he/she is out of points. The most common way of character creation is to give a certain number of points so the player can share them to every attribute and skill there is available, as player-character characteristics

The characters have been created. Now what?

Each PC gives the GM a record of skill and attribute points, a short description of the character's past, a physical description, or whatever the players wants to mention. That's it! The campaign is ready to begin!

How is this game played anyway?

The GM gives a short description, in order to familiarize the players with the type of the campaign. Then, he/she begins to introduce the PCs, one by one or all together if they are in the same place, to the adventure.

Example:

Phillip, son of Julian, Prince of Amber, is in Shadow Earth, drinking coffee in his apartment. Suddenly he hears a loud knock at the door. Let's see how this would be presented by the GM to Bill (in short B) who chose to play Phillip:

GM: It is 11 o'clock in the morning. You have just woken up after a wild night out. You have a hangover and you need a nice strong cup of coffee to feel human again! You are coming back from the kitchen, cup in hand, when you hear a loud knock at the door. What do you do?

RPG is a game of choices. The GM always offers more that one options the PC can choose from. The campaign is carried out based upon the PCs' choices in response to the GM's challenges.

If Phillip chooses to open the door, the scene could proceed somewhat like this:

B: Phillip leaves the coffee on the table, walks to the door and asks: "Who is it?"

GM: The knock is repeated but you don't hear a word spoken. What do you do? Will you open?

B: Yes, I have nothing to fear. Phillip opens the door. What does he see?

GM: You see three beefy guys in trench coats glaring at you. One of them says: "You are under arrest for the murder of Annita Wayne. Put your hands up, face the wall and spread your legs." What do you do?

Phillip has many choices. He could try to close the door again, surrender, protest, pull a gun (if he has one), try to run by jumping through the window. His choice may alter the way the campaign will continue.

We could continue the example for endless pages, since there are new choices for every PC's move.

What can be found in the Greek market related to RPG?

Unfortunately, the choice is limited, there is not a single RPG translated in Greek or written by a Greek author. There are only imported games in English, with hundreds of rules that the GM and the players have to memorize, with endless score tables, since these games require the use of multi-sided dice to decide the outcome of every choice and are generally so disfunctional that the fun, the excitement and the palyers' creative desire are lost in the game's complexity.

We believe that very soon the Greek market will have its own RPG in our language, based on the infinite Shadow-Worlds of the Amber Chronicles, free from the annoying use of dice and frustrating table scores. All you need is a little imagination and the knowledge of few simple function rules and even they can be bended!

For more information about the Amber Chronicles, the publication of the Greek edition of ADRPG as well as answers to general questions regarding RPG, which is an inexhaustible subject, you can join the Greek Amber Mailing List, which can be found on the main page. It is free and a lot of fun!

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