Role Playing Games
What is a Role Playing Game?
The easiest answer is that a role playing game (RPG) is somewhat formalized make-believe. At its simplest and most trivial, you pretend to be a heavily armed warrior killing everyone in sight (a la Doom, the computer game). At its most sophisticated, it's "Model UN" and think tank simulations of diplomatic crises: what would be your reactions if you were in a particular situation?
Every now and then some group decides that RPGs promote unspeakable behavior and tries to get them banned from schools, etc. The reality is that RPGs promote unspeakable behavior, like thinking and creativity. As every dictator in history knows, these activities are extremely dangerous: the first thing that you must do, if you want to remain a dictator, is control the schools and newspapers). The question that must be asked is whether the benefits of a thinking, creative person is worth the risks of a thinking, creative person.
There are many "systems" of RPGs out there, but the most popular by far is Dungeons and Dragons (D&D); it's what most gamers cut their teeth on. D&D emerged out of the popularity of the Lords of the Rings among college students during the sixties, and has been popular ever since. It has many adherents (its current incarnation is part of a more general system known as d20).
Probably the second most popular system is GURPS, by Steve Jackson Games. (If SJG wants to pay me nominal fee, I can include a link to their site here...)
It's easy to get into a "religious war" over the two gaming systems. I'll just point one what I consider to be one of the key differences. Among the magic spells in D&D is Detect Evil: you can cast it, and poof, you know if someone/something is evil. There is no corresponding spell in GURPS. Make of this what you will.
