Thanks for the clarification. I have been a fan of Brust/Dragaera for many years, but despite my regular use of a computer in work and communication, I have never played games on one. Dungeons and Dragons came in way after my time... Ken On Monday, June 30, 2003, at 10:05 PM, Derrill 'Kisc' Guilbert wrote: > From: Derrill 'Kisc' Guilbert <kisc at insaneninjahero.com> > Date: Mon Jun 30, 2003 10:05:29 PM US/Eastern > To: Dragaera <dragaera at dragaera.info> > Subject: RE: We need an RPG > > I just know I'm going to regret this but... > > RPG sometimes stands for Role-Playing Game, such as Dungeons and > Dragons, > Vampire the Masquerade, etc. It is the kind of game, whether Pen and > Paper > (PnP) or CRPG (Computer Role-Playing Game) where you take on the role > of > someone else (for instance, in your post, where you take on the role of > someone who doesn't know what I'm talking about, whether you are > serious or > not). The essential component of an RPG (as opposed to every other > sort of > game where you take on the role of someone else) seems to be the > customizability of the experience... contrasted to an FPS (first person > shooter) where you generally are just a Space Marine without skills, > etc, > and there is only one path throught the game, in an RPG, you can > generally > choose whether to be good or evil, Wizard or Warrior (or Technolgist or > Gunslinger, depending on the sort of game), etc, which may change the > play > experience dramatically. In addition, many RPG style games are heavily > story > oriented. Again, contrasting with Doom/Quake... In Quake, you're a > space > marine, and you have to kill all the bad guys, get to the big bad guy, > and > that's the game. In an RPG, you are trying to discover something, or > solve > something, and you have to pay attention to whatever you're told, as > those > sorts of hints may be important (or vital) to completing the game (or > completing it in a certain fashion).Many games, such as the Jedi Knight > series, blur the classification process by having elements of RPGs, > FPSs, > etc, in order to bring the best experience possible to the folks who > play > the games. > > As with many FPS style games, in some RPGs, you can use an RPG. > > Kisc > >> -----Original Message----- >> From: Kenneth Gorelick [mailto:pulmon at comcast.net] >> Sent: Monday, June 30, 2003 7:30 PM >> To: Derrill 'Kisc' Guilbert >> Cc: Dragaera >> Subject: Re: We need an RPG >> >> >> color me naive, but what does a rocket-propelled grenade have to do >> with the topic of this list?