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!