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Columns > Unplugged > #24: A Parental Guide to Role Playing Games IV
Youﾒve tried a little role playing, now you want more depth and options, where can you turn?  I can't emphasize enough how many different role playing systems (RPGs) exist. There's one for almost every popular TV and movie genre and most specific series. There are even ones that provide generic rules adaptable to almost any setting. I haven't listed any diceless role playing games. While they are usually less complex, they often require slightly more mature players as less experienced players will often feel more comfortable working within a set of ground rules and guidelines. They can be fun to play but require an experienced Game Master (GM ﾖ a type of narrator) to be more enjoyable. If you didn't read last week's column on beginning role playing games, here's a quick summary of what you should know. Two common systems you may see are OGL and D20. The OGL is an open game license based around rolling a 20-sided die to resolve most of a player's actions. The D20 system is actually licensed by Wizards of the Coast so must meet their approval before anything can be published under that label. There are other gaming systems out there that can be used for many different genres, such as the Hero system by Hero Games or GURPS (generic universal role playing system) by Steve Jackson Games, but most of those systems tend to be specific to a single publisher. If an independent publisher wants to produce an RPG in an existing system, they are more likely to use the D20 or OGL systems than any of the others due to the popularity and market share of Wizards of the Coast's games. Being slightly more complex and for an older audience, these games tend to have more developed rules for continuing the game over long periods. Gamers who meet regularly for a long time will find their characters become increasingly powerful within their game world, earning both money, fame, and power. In this way, players who have characters that continue to succeed in their quests are rewarded with a more powerful character over time. Some games, such as the D20 and OGL systems, have a level-based system where a character adventures around for awhile and then, when the requirements are met, instantly increase in power to become a higher "level" character. Other systems, such as the Hero system, are based around specific powers or skills which are increased individually rather than as a whole. The skill-based systems tend to be more flexible than the level-based systems, but also tend to require more bookkeeping and are more prone to having an imbalance in power between two similarly-ranked skills. Now for a list of some of the more common RPGs you may encounter: Ars Magica 5th Edition Publisher: Atlas Games Genre: Fantasy Complexity: 8 Lethality: Moderate Ars Magica is a more mature RPG due to its slightly more complex game world and its leanings towards intrigue and role-playing rather than frequent combat. Combat is deadly, so it is often avoided ﾖ reducing the overall lethality of a typical game. One of the unique aspects of this game is that players each control many different characters at once. Typically all the characters have one fairly powerful mage that is part of a group and then each player has other secondary characters they also play. For any given adventure one or two players might play their mage while the other players use their supporting characters. In other adventures, players will then switch around who plays their mage and who will play their supporting characters. Babylon 5 Role Playing Game and Fact Book Publisher: Mongoose Publishing Genre: Science Fiction Complexity: 8 Lethality: Low Many popular fantasy and science fiction shows and movies have spawned role playing games. Babylon 5, a favorite show of mine, is no exception. This is a fairly typical d20 licensed RPG of this type with a main game based on the show and quite a few supplemental books available to describe the background and history of the game universe. Many people will just buy the books and supplements as reading material to learn more about the game universe. Due to background and history associated with RPGs of this type, players who are not already fans of the show or movie might find the setting somewhat complex. This particular rules set is interesting in that even very experienced characters are quite vulnerable to damage in combat, thus full-out combat is typically to be avoided if at all possible.
 Champions, 5th Edition Publisher: Hero Games Genre: Super Heroes Complexity: 8 Lethality: Low Champions is the superhero genre RPG based off of the Hero RPG system. The Hero System is one of the most flexible game systems around for designing characters, but it is also an accountants dream. It earns its high complexity due to the very complex method of character creation. Characters spend points to increase certain statistics or buy particular powers, but many other attributes are calculated using formulas based off of other purchased statistics. In the end, players can create very diverse and unique superheroes that are fairly well balanced (no player is markedly more powerful than another.) The combat is typically non-lethal with heroes of villains falling unconscious when defeated. There is a recently released shortened summary of the rules called Sidekick which is supposed to streamline the rules for new players although it lacks the background material found in the Champions sourcebook itself. Champions uses the Hero system of generic rules, so both the Champions and either the Hero System or Sidekick books are required for game play. This is my favorite RPG due to the genre, the flexibility of character creation, and the lack of lethality. However, combat can be time-intensive with so many combat options available for each character. Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 Edition Publisher: Wizards of the Coast Genre: Fantasy Complexity: 6+ Lethality: High Dungeons and Dragons, known as D&D, was one of the first mass-produced role playing games and is now one of the most popular. Originally created by a company that came to be known as TSR, it started to run into financial trouble in the mid 90s. TSR was purchased by Wizards of the Coast, makers of Magic: the Gathering, and around the turn of the millennium, a new version of the game was produced that was designed to be more streamlined, easier to learn, more flexible and modular, and more self-consistent. I've found the new edition of the rules to be much more family-friendly than previous versions. As an example, whereas it was very common in the game industry art to have female fighters running around in chain mail bikinis, Wizards decided that all the new artwork needed to be realistic so those female fighters finally got to wear some decent clothing. During the revamp of the rules, Wizards also produced the OGL and D20 gaming licenses based off the new edition of D&D. As a result, there are a huge number of D&D compatible supplements and settings available for interested gamers. Three main books are required for game play. Players need to have access to the Player's Handbook, while the game master requires both the Dungeon Master's Guide (the game master in D&D is called the Dungeon Master) and the Monster Manual. Creative DMs will be able to create an entire world with just these three books, while those with more limited time or creativity can use any of the many, many supplements and adventures available. The roots of D&D lie in the 1970s where players were recreating battles of knights set in the middle-ages with a heavy dose of mythical creatures from various European mythologies and folklore. The basic races and creatures of the game also borrow heavily from Tolkien's Middle Earth. Since that time, the game has grown in content and flexibility. Games of D&D can be played where the players are sailors traveling between worlds on magical sailing ships, low tech cave-people fending off danger in a dinosaur infested world, and everything in between. Many game settings also involve the concept of different "planes" providing ways for characters to travel to worlds infested with god-like beings, lava beasts, or even modern-day situations. However, planar travel is typically very infrequent and usually only occurs within games played by characters who have gained Despite the huge variety, there are a few things to be aware of in the system. First, the combat game mechanics are focused around death. It is often kill or be killed. There is magical healing available that can bring someone back from near death (or more rarely, death itself), but enemies vanquished in battle by the players generally end up dead. This is fine for a more two-dimensional setting where creatures are inherently evil such as the Orc beings in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, but can be more difficult to rationalize when the evil beings being faced are members of a developed civilization like Orcs living in villages or even misguided humans. Magic is typically a common presence in the game world, but despite public misperceptions, it is a rare game group that requires players to actually gesture and speaks magic words in order to pretend their character casts a spell. Finally, healing-based magic is typically seen to be gifts provided by the various gods of world. This can be conceptually uncomfortable to those with a very active religious faith, but in actual game play results in situations that are more in line with reading an ancient Greek play than anything that might be considered sacrilegious. If the settings and stories of Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings make you uncomfortable due to the presence of magic and their fantasy elements, D&D is not the best game for you. However, it is the most common RPG available, one of the easiest to learn, and has a setting familiar to most players. It is highly recommended for beginning gamers wishing to try out the hobby. Murder Mystery Parties The popular How to Host a Murder series published by Decipher can be considered a very low-key, diceless role playing game. Gather some friends together, distribute the character roles, and let people loose. They are fun for adults, although less mature kids may have problems with the lack of structure. For those who really don't like violence, Weber Games produces a line of Murderless Mysteries. I have taken a look at the Arch Villians Anonymous mystery and it is a fairly fun evening activity of pretending to be a reformed supervillian. There isn't a set villain within the game; the clues remain while the victim it changes every time so it can be replayed over and over again. However, since you can't rely just on the clues to lead you to the correct suspect, Arch Villians Anonymous has less of a feeling of accomplishment when the game is said and done. Paranoia XP Publisher: Mongoose Publishing Genre: Science Fiction Complexity: 6 Lethality: Very High This is a new edition of a tongue-in-cheek RPG made back in the 80s. Updated to incorporate some of the new game mechanics developed for RPGs, the new version can by played in three styles: Classic, Straight, and Zap. In all three styles, characters live in underground complexes of the future, run by a big-brother style computer that is convinced that nearly everyone is out to get it. This is mostly true since each player's character belongs to a secret society. Unfortunately, like most things in Paranoia, belonging to a secret society is treasonous. The penalty for treason is death. To make things worse, most characters also have a special mutant ability, but having a mutant ability is also treasonous. In fact, not being happy is treasonous, only traitors would be unhappy. As a result, the game is a fast-paced funny role playing game where the players are constantly trying to avoid being exposed to be treasonous by people they meet and even the other characters. (Get them before they get you.) Characters are trouble-shooters for the computer and sent in to figure out what went wrong in various, usually deadly situations. In the Classic version, death is quick and common and players are rewarded for "going out" in style. Fortunately, every player has a set of six "clones" available so they can hop back into the story even if they die in mid-game. In the Straight style of playing, characters are actually trying to survive for extended periods of time in a very tense setting. The Zap version of the game takes everything to the extreme and players will sometimes run out of lives before they even make it to the mission briefing. This is a great game to pay occasionally for the change of pace, but GMs should be careful before running it with their group. The style of play involves huge amounts of backstabbing and betrayal within the group, as well as plenty of destruction and mayhem. If this gets carried over into some other, more "normal" role playing setting it can greatly disrupt the game's story.
 Star Wars: The Role Playing Game Publisher: Wizards of the Coast Genre: Science Fiction Complexity: 6+ Lethality: Moderate Star Wars is popular enough to have its own role playing game. Produced by Wizards of the Coast under the D20 license, Star Wars plays somewhat similar to D&D. Instead of playing as a fighter, thief, or wizard, characters can be a diplomat, scoundrel, or Jedi. Most of the popular Star Wars races are available, and the new edition of the rules even allow for players to play as droids. The rules also incorporate two types of damage, so that players will often be knocked unconscious before being killed. Typical combats aren't as deadly as those found in other RPGs. Since it is based off the D20 rules, they are easy to learn, and the setting is popular enough so that players can quickly jump into the game and have some contextual knowledge of the game setting. Since the game is based around futuristic technology, this game avoids using the term "magic" and is thus an excellent choice for those looking for something similar to D&D, but without some of the fantasy and mythical baggage that is part of the fantasy genre. Newcomers to RPGs that prefer the setting of Star Wars to Lord of the Rings should take a look at this one. Vampires and Friends Unfortunately, I have little or no first-hand experience with most of the vampire, werewolf, or Cthulhu style role playing games. With only a few exceptions, they tend to be dark and violent world settings. I would rank them all as fairly violent and only suitable for mature high school students or older, and should be played in moderation. Final Words of Wisdom : There is nothing inherently dangerous or bad about role playing games, but just like everything else, parents should stay involved or at least aware of their kids' activities. Role playing games fall into that class of activities, like video games, that kids (or even adults) can become fixated upon. It falls within that class of activities that should be monitored, as excessive role playing isn't any better than too much TV or video games, but played in moderation among good friends, role playing games can be a great outlet for creativity and provide an outlet for otherwise introverted kids to socialize.
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