[net.games.frp] What is FRP, for all those people at cwrump

jj (10/21/82)

	This is an open letter to anyone of about 8 people at
CWRUMP (or something like it) with id's that are titled like
group6 group3, and so on, who took the time to each and every one
mail me a question about what frp meant. I tried to mail answers but
the mail server at cwrump tossed every one back at me (??????)
	I suspect that this question must be answered at least once
every 6 months, so here goes (sorry).
FRP ::= Fantasy Role Playing  (Game)  
It represents a group of games including Dungeons and Dragons, both
beginner and advanced version, DragonQuest, Traveler, The Fantasy Trip (
which I have never found a reference on, to read myself, if someone would
feel kind...), Runequest, and many many more.
All of the games are characterized by the following:
	1)  They have a structure that is imposed by the game rules.
	2)  They have a bunch of players, each one verbally acting
out the part of a particular "player character" with a set of attributes
that varies among systems.
	3)  They are administered by a Judge, Dungeon Master (DM) or something
of the same sort, the name varies, of course, we couldn't have any
common terminology, could we?
	4)  The campaign (campaign meaning the play of the game,which often
extends over many playing sessions) is set in someplace other than
the normal earth with normal physical laws, or in the future, or....
<the number of worlds and the number of DM types are about of the
same order of magnitude>

I have left out many characteristics of the different games for the reason 
that I have no intent to cover the subject thoroughly.
I suspect that the people at CWRU can find someone at the university to
explain further.

	Aside to the person who asked about other systems, if D&D is so bad.
Try reading the second revision of DragonQuest, available at bookstores for
about $10 or so.  It is a completely different system, and describing it would
take about 200 pages, which about matches the length of the book.
Good luck!