These days, I am involved in no less than three in-person RPGs. That's Role Playing Games, the most famous of which is Dungeons and Dragons. I specify in-person, because lots of people play RPGs on the internet too.
Friday nights I have a Dungeons and Dragons session with the Dragonslayers. My current character is a human cleric of Frey who has undergone some mind-breaking trauma that has left her with the impression that she's dead. Callie thinks she's a mere ghost haunting the party, and even though she hasn't much interest in human affairs, she still gets bored easily and wants to go do stuff.
Saturdays are for a Rifts game that is brand spanking new. In this one I am a pre-pubescent American Indian kid of indeterminate gender. No, I'm not completely vulnerable - my character does have a decent back story, but seeing as this rendition is an evil game, the less that's known about Weener, the better.
I participate in a game of Adventure! on alternating Sundays, in which I am a round old parlor psychic who is clueless to the fact that she actually has real psychic powers. Madame Josephine comes off a melodramatic, nutty old fraud. I haven't been playing her in character very well lately, and need to work on that. If I stay in the game. I'm of divided mind on that question.
There's a Mage game going on locally, on alternating Sundays not co-incidental with Adventure! that I had badly been wanting into, but they seem to be perpetually full. I'm thinking about asking around to see if any Pimplisters or Geek Posse want to start one up, because the gaming system looks immensely intriguing, and I've been hungry to play for a long, long while.
I've heard a bit of a fuss about the d20 system, and Open Gaming licensing, how it's changing a few things in the RPG world. Being so new to RPGs in general, I haven't had an opportunity to sample any of the new creations under the system, but the idea, at least on the surface, looks rather interesting. What little exposure I have had is pretty much due to two issues of Gaming Frontiers, a magazine/sourcebook that's new to the scene also. Their premier issue came out in time for Gencon, and their Volume 1 issue is out now. I've been all on top of these things because the organizer and one of the founding members of the staff is associated with the Dragonslayers!
The magazine is a slow read for me, not because it's hard or obtuse or anything, but because it's just packed tight with so much stuff. There are all kinds of module samples and reviews and interviews and stuff in it, plus cartoons that crack me the hell up. It's quite the thick book, reminds me of Wired in that way.
