Playing in a World

As I return to blogging, I should pay more attention to what other people are writing. At one time, RPG blogs were the home of both great creativity and serious thinking about roleplaying games. Perhaps they still are. So, I thought I'd start regularly reading those on my 'blogroll' who are still active after all this time. This post is therefore little more than a link:

"Where I depart from those frameworks is in how I classify tabletop roleplaying. I don't view tabletop roleplaying as a game. It is a means for people to pretend to be characters having adventures in other places and times. The "game" elements tabletop roleplaying uses are not the end in themselves, but a crucial aid; they make the experience more engaging than Let's Pretend, and more accessible and entertaining for the average person to enjoy within the time they have for a hobby."

I think that this, from Rob Conley of Bat in the Attic - worth reading in general - captures something of how I *want* to approach roleplaying games and their unique capacities (yes, unique - the freedom and creativity possible in a roleplaying game cannot be replicated via computer games or boardgames). I want players to *experience* another world, and indeed I - as GM or referee - want to explore it with them. 

Uncaring Cosmos

I will soon - hopefully - be getting a B/X D&D (or at the players' end, Labyrinth Lord as the pdfs are free) game up and running, playing via voice chat on Discord. I'll admit to some nervousness, as while I've run games online for people I already knew, I'm only been a player in online games with people I know only through their online personas. As a face-to-face GM, I rely so much on watching the players - are they excited, are they paying attention, as they exchanging glances. But that's a post for another day.

This post is simply to direct your attention to the cool "British Old School" blog Uncaring Cosmos, which not only covers some of my favourite games, it also looks cool. Check it out.