What Is Role Playing?
Role Playing is an activity that is somewhat of a cross between creative writing and improv theater. The most famous/infamous example of a Role Playing Game (or RPG) is Dungeon & Dragons but there is a wide variety of games and genres that people can play.

What Games Do You Play?
Like most gamers, I started out with Dungeons and Dragons. When I started, 2nd Edition AD&D was the game of choice. I hated it. Since I joined the group so late, I never really was taught how to play and I was always at an unfair advantage when I tried to keep up with the group. I also had some problems with the game itself including the fact that many of the rules did not make sense and I feel that, in some ways, it encouraged male chauvinism. Most likely, I would never have role played again if I had not been introduced to White Wolf Games.

Although there are many different games put out by the White Wolf Company, most of which are inter-related in the same "World of Darkness" setting, my personal favorites are Werewolf: the Apocalypse and Mage: The Accension. The rule are much simpler than 2nd Edition AD&D and the setting and background setting for the characters was lush and detailed. I also felt that the system encouraged more three dimensional character creation and better quality plot development. And since I learned the game at the same time as the rest of the group, I was able to learn the rules and hold my own in the games. To this day, Werewolf remains one of my favorite games of all time.

Recently, my husband persuaded me to try out D&D 3rd Edition. I have to say that I am glad that he did. The rules are a lot more straight forward and lends itself to better role playing.

Finally, while they are not exactly Role Playing Games, I also enjoy playing Fuzzy Heroes, Claydonia and Lunch Money.

Werewolf Overview
Werewolf is the most obviously combative game in White Wolf's World of Darkness. Being able to shift into a 12 foot creature with fangs and claws and rip something into tiny pieces, tends to make combat a popular way of dealing with issues. However, there are many more layers to the Werewolf culture.

A properly run werewolf game can deal with spirituality, the conflict between traditions and progress, the attempt to reconcile new loyalties and/or moralities with a lifetime of training. It can be an exercise in personal control over ones anger, guilt, fear. It can be modern. It can be the stuff of legend. It can be both mixed together. It can be a search for glory or the tragedy of loss or loneliness. I have yet to find a theme or quest that could not be accommodated by a well run Werewolf game. The real challenge is in finding a group of people who want to go on the same quest or play with the same themes. Without some agreement in the gaming group, you will lose players and/or the game will mutate into something other than what you had intended. (Due to the improv nature of role playing, it is fairly easy to steer a game in a new direction if you and the other players get bored)

For more information about Werewolf: the Apocalypse, check out the Official Werewolf Web Site.

Mage Overview
Mage is more subtle game than Werewolf. It is generally an exercise in applied, creative philosophy.
The general premise that Reality is subjective, determined by the consensus of the masses. Extremely strong willed individuals can affect reality by believing it to be as they want it to be. But be aware, doubt is fatal. Reality does not appreciate the presumption of the mage and will lash out at him if he steps too far out of mind. There are only 2 ways for a mage to shape reality and still avoid the reality backlash, known as Paradox, is to either convince the people around them to accept their view of reality or to disguise their powers as coincidence.

If the mage can convince enough people that their view of reality is correct, then it will become so. Reality would shift to accommodate the new consensus of the masses. The mage would no longer have to work as hard for their magic nor would they have to hide it or fear paradox. It is for that reason that mages seek to convert people to their way of thinking.

Mages with similar paradigms (or views on reality) band together for education, protection and in the hopes of shifting the belief of the people in their favor. At one time, each group (or Tradition) fought with the others. A mage with a differing view of reality undermined their abilities and was competition for the belief of the masses. The traditions only banded together when a common enemy gained power and started hunting them down. That enemy is known as the Technocracy. Oppressive and controlling, the Technocracy is an insidious Big Brother and is everywhere. The wise mage keeps low and trusts no one.

The Stories

DOGBERT'S LAMENT
During one of our early adventures in the World of Darkness involved a character called Dogbert. Poor Dogbert was a Glasswalker surrounded by Bone Gnawer Bums and desperately tried to deal with the trouble that they invariably got him into and still get to his job as an engineer on time the next morning. Because of this, it was not uncommon to hear Dogbert wail "I've got to go to work in the morning!" The game lasted for months and although we were having fun, it was agreed that we should start wrapping things up. We decided to continue with the last session until the story was complete, no matter how late it got. There came a time when Brad, the gentleman playing Dogbert and one of the few of us to actual have a job at the time, looked at his watch and wailed "I've got to go to work in the morning!" Jokingly, the GM asked "Brad is that you or Dogbert speaking?" Poor Bradley thought for a moment and then said "I don't know...." We decided that it was time to stop at that point.

THE RITE OF CLEANSING
Werewolf has a very spiritual aspect to it. They spend a lot of time in the Spirit World (the Umbra), commune the living spirits of nature,   and have many mystical rites and rituals that they perform. Often a GM will just state that so and so performs the Rite of ... Whatever and the game moves on. However, one GM decided to make a point. The players game to him asking for a NPC theurge to perform the Rite of Cleansing because one of them had done something incredibly stupid. The GM getting into character, took a metal bucket, held it over his head towards the moon and said a little prayer to Luna.  Then he filled it with water, tossed in some herbs, mixed it up with a spoon, did a little dance and said a little prayer to Gaia. Lifting the bucket, he pour the liquid over the head of the person that needed cleansing, ending so that the bucket covered the character's head and said a little prayer to Gaia. Then he took his spoon, hit the bucket hard several times and said, "Don't do that AGAIN!" When confronted by the angry character, the theurge admitted that he had added that last part on himself but that it tended to cut down on returning customers.

THE DUEL
This story was a planned part of a campaign that I was actually fairly proud of. Unfortunately, the game dissolved before I could use this little scene, so I decided to include it here so that it could see the light of day in some form. When a werewolf wants to increase in power and status, they must find someone of higher status than themselves and challenge them. The more powerful wolf will chose the form of the challenge and if the younger wolf is successful, they are raised in the eyes of their tribe. We were playing a game that took place in the Appalachian Mountains with a decided hillbilly feel to it. The plan was that at one point the Galliard of the party would want to challenge someone for higher rank and when that happened, the Elder would then say "Alright Boy, I challenge you to The DUEL." The Galliard would them pull out their weapon, but the elder would pull out a banjo and play the opening bars to "Dueling Banjos." The challenge would have been to keep up with the skill and the speed of the elder's playing while playing on a instrument with silver (extremely painful and dangerous material to a Garou) strings, but my plan was to play up the misunderstanding for all it was worth for comic relief.

TIPPING THE DOORMAN
This next story is another moment that never happened. After all was said and done, and it was too late to use the idea, someone thought of it. It was so cool that I decided to include it here. We played a game where the plot was essentially a battle between two groups of Garou for territory. The group that the characters belonged to, had been driven from their home and were finally ready to reclaim it. The entire sept marched to the building where their rivals were having their moot, (a garou gathering/meeting/party/religious ceremony) and demanded entry. The guards at the door tried to keep the characters and their allies out but was finally intimidated into giving way. A huge number of werewolves, ready for battle, many in lupine or Crinos form streamed past them and as the last garou, a ragabash, passed by them, he pressed a dollar bill into their hand, thereby tipping the doorman. 

UNCONSCIOUS COMBAT
A group of characters were engaged in hand to hand battle and were not doing so well when one of the players asked the GM "How much damage does Remmy do?" The GM answered, "None. He can't fight he's unconscious!" The player rephrased his question. "If we picked him up and hit the bad guys with him, how much damage would he do?" The GM laughed and allowed them to use their fallen comrade as a weapon. That decision turned the tide of the battle and the characters were able to survive the encounter.

FAINTS AT BLOOD
It is customary for gamers to give their werewolf characters 2 names, one a normal name that they could use in normal society and one being a native American sounding "garou name" that the character uses when interacting with others of their kind. We played a game once with a character whose Garou name was Races the Wind (very pretty name) unfortunately, the character had a bit of a problem. She was being played by my cousin, Nikki, whose job prevented her from getting much sleep. Before each battle we would turn to Nikki to see what her character was going to do and find the girl fast asleep. As a result, Races the Wind never actually went into battle. We were hard pressed to explain the character's disappearance until my character, a ragabash, renamed Nikki's character Faints At Blood. Nikki was not amused and her character suffered great embarrassment at the reputation that she gained along with the name but the rest of us were satisfied with the explanation.

WHAT IS THAT THING?
Our characters were locked in battle. Brad's character was in one on one, hand to hand combat with this guy, who would not go down despite Brad's best efforts. The guy healed faster than anything that we had ever seen and a master swordsman. Finally in disgust, Brad declared that he grabbed him and ripped his head off because "well that kills everything." The GM ran from the room giggling and came back with a video of Highlander, which he tried fiddling with for a few moments while comprehension flooded the rest of the group. Unable to cue the music that he wanted, the GM gave up, informed Brad that he heard Queen music blasting from somewhere and proceeded to role play a quickening.

GETTING THE WRAITH BOOK
We were playing a campaign that had somewhat strayed from where the GM had intended it to go, but he decided to improvise and go along with the players. He needed to look something up in the Wraith book (which he did not own) but did not want to make it obvious to the players what sort of thing they were dealing with. The GM turned to one of his players (the one whose house we were playing at) and asked him to "unobtrusively get him the Wraith book." A few moments later, dress in a black trenchcoat and hat, hugging the wall, diving behind furniture and all but singing the Mission Impossible theme, the player returned and slipped the book to the GM from under his trench coat where he had hid it.

TALE OF A GIRL GAMER
When I had just started role playing, my friends dragged me to a science fiction convention, I-CON, for a weekend packed with lots of gaming. Little did we realize that we would someday be running the thing but there it is. Anyway, I walked into my first game with books and dice in hand and the other players in the room looked up in amazement. "B...b..but you're a girl" one of them stammered out. I just smiled and said "You have seen one of those before, haven't you dear?" When he nodded weakly, I sat down saying, "Good, now is anyone playing a bard?"

Gaming Resources
Realistically, the only thing you really need to role play is your imagination and some friends. Books, dice, character sheets, etc. organize and help your efforts, but you are your own best resource. However, that does not mean you cannot enhance your games and make them an even MORE enjoyable activity. Below is a list of links that may or may not help you in character creation, GMing, or role playing. If you know of something that I have overlooked, please feel free to drop me a line and let me know.

The Official Werewolf Webpage
Official White Wolf Web Site


Story Teller Resources

World of Darkness Story Teller Page
Moon Phases

Specific Tribe Information

The Fianna Homepage
The Fianna Curse Engine
The White Howler Page

Misc. Stuff

Find out what Auspice you are
Mant's Lair WoD Resource Page

Other Games Resources

• Wizards of the Coasts
• Claydonia
• Fuzzy Heroes
  

General Game Resources

• Fantasy Name Generator
• Dice Roller
• Dungeon / Space Station floor plans

Plot Resources and Inspirations for Game Masters and Story Tellers

• The Big List of RPG plots
• The Urban Legend Archive
• The Urban Legend Reference Page
• Myths and Legends

Characters
Here are some of the best characters that I have played/come up with/or seen in my many years of gaming. I decided to post them here so that others could use them as resources in their games. I would be happy to post more characters, so if you have a particularly cool character, feel free to send it to me. If I agree that it is cool, I will post it here. Also, if you decide to use any of these characters, please drop a line and let me know. I would love to hear that someone else is getting some enjoyment out of these characters.