imply put, it is playing pretend. In a role-playing game, you can undertake great quests, explore new horizons, solve mysteries, and overcome fearsome villains. Your imagination is the limit. Every player creates a "character". This imaginary person is how you, the player, interact with an imaginary world. It is the "role" that you will play during the game. Like an actor or actress who plays a role on stage, when you sit down to play, you will be pretending to be your character.

Where does the story come from and how do we know what happens? – One of the players takes the job of "Dungeon Master" (variously called DM, judge, game master, or GM). You can think of the DM as the narrator to a story or the director of a play. You and your fellow players play the lead roles, while the DM takes on the roles of the villains and the supporting cast. It's a tough job and requires an incredible imagination, but a good DM weaves a game the way a good author writes a book. The DM doesn't tell you what to do -- you make those decisions. The DM tells you what you see and hear. You tell him what you say and what you try to do. With the help of the rules, the DM tells you how successful you were.

How do you win? – First, a role-playing is a team game. There is no one winner – all the players succeed or fail together. Second, your goals are partially chosen by you. For instance, did you uncover the villian? Did you capture him? Did you recover the stolen item? Did you return it to the right person? Who is the right person? The game stops when a conclusion in the story is reached. That can be as short or as long as you and the other players want it to be. Stories vary from rescuing a missing cat to preventing the end of civilization as we know it. If you want to find out more about role-playing, take a look at the RPGA's Introduction page.

ungeons & Dragons is the first role-playing game ever created. It is heroic fantasy. When you play a game of D&D, fairy tales come true, magic is real, and the impossible can happen. Your character can be a knight on horseback, charging across the plains at a the terrible dragon that roars in defiance. You can be the dashing rogue, who sneaks into the ball at the palace to steal the princess's heart with a smile. Or you can be the sorceress, who can wield immense arcane power that can rework the fabric of reality. The rules are there to help you know what sorts of actions you can attempt and to help the DM determine how successful you are. For example, if you want to leap across the Gorge of Infinite Depth, the rules and the dice will tell you whether you land safely or plumet downward for all eternity.

In D&D, you and your fellow players (usually about as many as will fit around a table) form a"party" to go on adventures. Adventures can be most anything that involves a challenge to be overcome. It might be exploring a dangerous cavern, carrying a message from the king to his nobles, or stopping some monster that is terrorizing the common folk. Every adventure is different, so no two games are the same. You can think of an adventure as an episode of a television show. Adventures can be strung together to form a campaign. The adventures that make up campaigns can be unrelated or part of one vast epic. The choice is up to you and the DM and what sort of game you want.

For more information on D&D see Wizards of the Coast's D&D Homepage

he RPGA is a world-wide organization made up of people who love role-playing games. It is a social and support organization that connects gamers with each other, while sponsoring gaming events. The RPGA also encourages new role-players to join this dynamic and fantastic game by hosting lean-to-play sessions.

The RPGA runs role-playing games at conventions, in stores, on the World Wide Web, and at one-day game days every weekend, all around the country. With your free membership you get access to a lot of gaming material, a subscription to Polyhedron magazine, and much more! You can sign-up over their Web page and receive instantaneous access to the games and materials on its Web pages.

t couldn't be easier. Just visit the RPGA membership and benefits page or, better yet, come to an RPGA gaming convention. Tell the staff there that you want to play Living Greyhawk. They will sign you up and tell you everything you want to know. You will find a list of upcoming conventions on our Convention Schedule.