Role-playing is an activity that is questionable to many people. Much of this is simple ignorance, but there are several common misconceptions that prevent many people from trying a rich, new experience. Thanks to misrepresentation from the media and unfounded rumors role-playing has become the "Devils Game," to many people. The fact is that role-playing games have nothing to do with the devil. They are an innocuous entertainment form that many people enjoy. Hopefully, this document will help settle some of the doubts that people have about playing role-playing games.

It is important to understand that role-playing is not a "dirty word." All of us at one time or another have participated in role-playing. Simply defined it is the act of pretending to be someone or something that you aren't. A good example would be playing Cowboys and Indians as children. Charades is also a type of role-playing. All of these activities are thought harmless by the majority of people. In fact, many psychologists encourage role-playing in children as an activity that sharpens the mind and expands creativity.

The most famous role-playing game is Dungeons and Dragons (D&D). This game was created by a company called TSR in 1974. Since then it has seen many revisions and has brought in a lot of money. D&D was thought up by a man named Gary Gygax. He was an avid wargamer. Wargames are played with small miniature troops on a board representing terrain. Most of these are used to simulate historical battles of some type, especially from the Civil War. Mr. Gygax was a fan of J.R.R. Tolkien, the author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Mr. Gygax started thinking of a combination of wargaming and fantasy. When he lost his job he decided to make his game a reality. Thus Dungeons and Dragons was born.

Dungeons and Dragons is a group game and can include from two to ten people. One of the players assumes the role of the DM, or Dungeon Master. The others are the player characters or PCs. Most of the work falls to the DM. It is his/her responsibility to get the game going and keep it fun for the other players. The DM does this by creating or buying an adventure. An adventure can be set anywhere from a catacomb to a forest. The DM dedcides the goal of the players and referees while the players explore the world. He/she is responsible for giving descriptions of what the players encounter and for acting as any of the people in that adventure that are not players. Many groups rotate the DM so it's not so much work.

The first step of a role-playing game is to create characters. Dungeons and Dragons uses a system of rolling dice to simulate the natural traits of a character. To do this the players roll three six-sided dice for each trait. These are strength, intelligence, wisdom, dexterity, constitution, and charisma. Strength represents physical strength. Iintelligence represents memory, learning ability and reasoning. Wisdom represents cunning and "common sense" knowledge. Dexterity is the agility, speed, balance, reflexes and co-ordination of the characters. Constitution is the endurance of the characters, and charisma is their charm and magnitism.

Then the players must choose their race and class. Several races are available, including Humans, Elves, Dwarves, and Halflings. The race determines the players choice of class. There are four classes in D&D. The fighter, who is a warrior trained in feats of arms, magic-users who cast spells, thieves who emphasize stealth and agility , and clerics who follow a certain religion. Humans can choose any class. Elves can choose any except cleric, but can add a combination of the fighter and magic-user. Dwarves and Halflings are restricted to fighters or thieves.

Then players must choose an alignment. An alignment is the general outlook that a character has about the world. The alignments range from lawful to chaotic with neutral in the middle. A lawful character will follow a set of rules or a personal code of some type. A neutral character will generally do what is in his/her best interests. A chaotic character believes in the rights of the individual. He/she is unpredictable when it comes to following rules.

After choosing an alignment the characters get gold to buy their starting equipment. The players roll three six-sided dice to determine the number of "gold pieces" they have. This is the standard monetary unit. The class of the character determines the equipment they can purchase. Magic-users can wear no armor or use any weapon except a dagger. Thieves cannot wear heavy armor or use a shield. Clerics can use any type of armor but are limited to bludgeoning weapons. Fighters can use anything. Finally, the players roll dice for their "hit points". These represent the amount of damage a character can take before death. The players then record this information on a piece of paper and all of their choices are okayed by the DM.

Then the DM and the players sit down at a table and the DM starts the adventure. He/she describes what the player's characters see and the players tell the DM how their characters react. For example, when entering a town the DM might say, "You follow the dirt road into a small hamlet. You see a small cluster of log houses centered around a town square. To your right there is a building with a sign saying General Store on it. Do you go in?" Then the characters would tell the DM whether they entered or not and the DM would describe the store. This continues until the players reach a good stopping point (generally after one hour to an hour and a half) or they reach their goal.As anyone can see, these activities are time consuming. However , they are not harmful.

Obsessive behavior is a charge often brought against role-players . Obsession is defined in The American Heritage Dictionary as "A compulsive preoccupation with a fixed idea or unwanted feeling or emotion, often with symptoms of anxiety." Compulsive is a key word in this statement. Do most role-players feel that they MUST play to the exclusion of everything else? The answer is no, they do not. Most people play role-playing games because they enjoy them, not because they feel some strange psychological compulsion. The fact is whenever someone has a hobby there is going to be somebody that thinks they spend too much time with it. Not everyone shares the same interests, so what may be immense fun to one person may be a complete waste of time, or even considered dangerous to another.

Sports are good examples of this. When someone plays sports they have an increased chance of injury. Take golf for example. Golfers run the highest risk of being struck by lightning. This isn't an act of God. It's because they go out and play even when it's stormy and they know they're running a risk. Tennis players suffer from tennis elbow. Sometimes Baseball players get hit in the head with a ball. All these are accepted risks in our society. When someone decides to spend their life or a lot of their time playing basketball noone thinks that they are dangerously obsessed with it. Children are often encouraged to play sports, sometimes more then they are encouraged to excel academically. Why is this normal, but spending time role-playing is a dangerous obsession?

Another common charge brought against role-playing games is that they have caused teenagers to commit suicide. The facts are that no case of suicide has ever been proven a result of role-playing. Suicide is a big problem in the U.S.A. and teenagers comprise the largest group of suicides. This is sad, but the reasons for this have nothing to do with role-playing. The adolescent years in a persons life are probably some of the most volitile. During this time kids feel like they're adults and want to be free to make their own mistakes. However, they still want some of the security that their parents offer. When their parents refuse to allow them freedom the teens tend to revolt. Sometimes this can take the form of drugs and/or alcohol. This is when suicide becomes a factor.

Religious issues permeate the role-playing question. The most vocal opposition to role-playing games is created by Christianity. This is not to say that Christians are the only objectors to role-playing, or that no Christians play role-playing games. Many objectors of role-playing believe that because role-playing games have false spells and Gods they are sacriligious. There is no way to argue with someones beliefs. Even if all the facts in the universe are against them most people will stick to their faith. Therefore, it becomes difficult to rebuke religious charges against role-playing.

Role-playing games do use spells. In fact, the most potentially powerful character in the D&D system (in my opinion) is the magic-user. However, these spells are NOT REAL. Noone thinks that they are real. They do not give any occult power. They also do not give any kind of "occult" training. That is like saying that someone who is good at monopoly has corporate experience. During a game people don't chant, make magic symbols or do any kind of sacrifice. They merely say, "I'm going to cast magic missle." Anyone can say this, but it doesn't mean you're a member of some kind of wiccan ceremony. It's all make believe. Make believe is fortunatly harmless.

The polytheism (multiple God)in most role-playing games is another concern of many people. Yet again these Gods are not real. Nobody actually worships the God in their D&D game. The "prayers" used in the game are almost never spoken. The player usually says, "I get on my knees and pray." The player does NOT actually get down and pray. It's all in the players heads. If the players are bothered by having many Gods the DM can simply change the adventure so that there's only one. There is no reason that the PC's can't worship the Christian God or Allah or whichever diety they worship in real life.

In conclusion, role-playing games are a harmless means of amusement. They provide a vital niche in our culture. Without means of relaxation humans would become mentally unbalanced. It is a personal decision whether a person role-plays or not. Either way role-playing is going to be around for a long time. Hopefully, in the future role-playing games will be accepted by all.