This page last updated 9/20/02

If you visited this page before you would have noticed that I tend to prefer Roleplaying to Rollplaying. As of right now, I can not say which is better. While Roleplaying to me is more enjoyable, I must admit that a night just doesn't seem complete without a good fight.

The difference between the two words (other than the le and the ll) is in how you view the game. If you tend to seek something other than hack and slash then you're probably a roleplayer. If you'd rather just have a good set of monsters to wade your way through, then you're probably a rollplayer. Actions speak louder in Roleplaying while dice rolls speak louder in Rollplaying.

In essance, in Roleplaying, you would be a sort of actor, but not have to act out the things your character was doing, but you would still have to answer that all important actor's question - "What is my motive" - but only you can answer that question. The director won't be any help - heck he's the one giving you the situation that's imposing the question on you. The producers won't help - heck, there are no producers (If you're a roleplayer with a producer I wanna meet you and see how you swung getting a producer for your roleplaying).

First you have to know your character. What race is he/she? Human, elf, dwarf, etc. Humans tend to have more disregard for nature and natural things than elves or dwarves do. Elves are more intune with woodlands and dwarves are more intune with rock and mountains. How is that going to play into how you play your character? Presented the situation that a wounded animal in the woods, there are three completely different responses. An elf would be more likely to try an save the animal while the human would probably try to kill it for food and the dwarf may try to put it out of its misery.

You also need to find out if you want to play a male or female character. I enjoy playing male characters, but that tends to cause havoc for my DM's - a woman playing a male.

What does your character look like? Taller or shorter than average? Hair color, eye color - you don't have to stay normal for choices on these.

Most importantly, how does your character feel about the world? How does your character feel about the laws governing the lands?

Does your character hate a certain race, or certain monster? How does your character feel about themself in society? What's happened to your character to have him/her form these feelings? What interesting things have happened to your character in his/her past?

How is your character's relationship to his/her parents and/or siblings? In fact, are the parents/siblings alive - if not what happened to them. There's probably a good story if they're dead, what is it.

If you're more interested in Rollplaying then you don't HAVe to deal with these things. Shoot, roll up your 6 stats (or whatever for the game you play) and then get someone to throw some monsters at you. I know I'm over exaggerating a bit, but as I said, I'm more of a roleplayer than a rollplayer. In Rollplaying you can still deal with background, but background won't neccessarily come into play - though i'm sure a good many rollplayers will say it does.