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the bracknell upon avon rpg club
The Bracknell upon Avon RPG club is in
regular session and new starter Luke has just been rescued from a
particularly animated group of Vampire LARP players (looking for a
member to play a sacrifice too one of their dark gods), by old regular
member Ben. Safe in the clubs brightly lit main room Luke talks
to Ben about his father who unknown to luke, used to be a member of the
club...........
LUKE:No, my father didn't play
Roleplaying games. He was a collectable figures player.
BEN:That's what your uncle told you.
He didn't hold with your fathers ideals. Thought he should have
stayed at home and not gotten involved in the club.
LUKE:You roleplayed at this club?
BEN:Yes,i was once a Roleplayer the
same as your father.
LUKE:I wish I'd known him.
BEN:He was the best Roleplayer in the
club, and a cunning Gamesmaster. I understand you've become
quite a good gamer yourself. Which reminds me.....
Ben leans over a rummages through an old
tatty sports bag next to his chair, from it he removes a plastic carrier
bag which seems to have something in it. Luke watches with
puzzlement as from the bag Ben removes a large book and presents it to
him.
BEN:This is for you. Your father
wanted you to have this when you were old enough, but your uncle
wouldn't allow it. He feared you might join old Ben on some
dammed-fool idealistic gaming campaign like your father did.
LUKE:What is it?
BEN:Your fathers rule book. This
is the tool of a Roleplayer. Not as clumsy or as un-creative as a
collectable figures game.
Luke takes the book and opens its well worn
cover. Inside Luke finds pages of instructional text, various
unknown tables of numbers, passages of descriptive text and dozens of
inspiring illustrations. Luke is mesmerised by the book.
BEN:An elegant gaming book for a more
creative time. For over Thirty years the Roleplayers were the
guardians of creativity and excitement in the old club. Before the
dark times, before the big American gaming corporation.
Luke hasn't really been listening.
LUKE:Why did my father leave this club?
BEN:A young gamer named ***** *****,who
was in a gaming group of mine until he turned to evil, helped the
Corporation hunt down and destroy the Roleplayers. He tricked and
betrayed your father into playing a collectable figure game. Now
Roleplayers are all but extinct.***** was seduced by the power of the
profit.
LUKE:The profit?
BEN:Well, the profit is a economic
force which drives most business including large American gaming
corporations. The profit being the most important force in gaming
today is created by gamers buying into games that are made just to help
generate profit for gaming corporations and not inspire gamers.
This is done by creating some false sense of importance by attaching
some bull**** ratio of rarity and collectibility to a mass produced,
souped up mini plastic figures game. I mean please what is this
all about? 'm sure figures and roleplay can co-exist. They
could create one big healthy game rather than just now only giving
gamers one area of support. Figures are great but every gamer
worth his/her salt knows the vast level of creativity a good well
supported game offers can't be touched! If a company is producing
a game based on the biggest movie licence of the last 100 years then it
should look at the quality of support it is giving rather than just
assuming interest is dropping off. The only way forward is not just to
produce one type of product, especially if that company has revitalised
a 30year old RPG licence to success producing award wining support
products (Campaign settings, Adventures, Playing aids etc etc) and
a extensive figures range to be used along side that game. New talent,
either writers or artists could have been brought in to help bring fresh
ideas into the licence and a massive relaunch with say a new campaign
setting tied to that licence could have been linked in to the launch of
the biggest film of the year .Bringing the profile of the game higher
into the gaming worlds awareness could have made the difference.
What does it take to support a licence rather than just dropping it and
denying gamers the extra support they deserve eh?
LUKE:Maybe gamers should have been more
vocal in their support of the licence. Besides Figure games are
cool to play and collect.
BEN:That's your uncle talking!
LUKE:My Uncle, how am i going to
explain all this to him?
BEN:Come with me to the club every
Thursday night, learn the ways of the game. Become a Roleplayer
like your father. Join me and we can keep our favourite game going
even without any corporate support. Use your fathers rulebook to
create fantastic new characters and adventures, let your imagination
take your games to greater heights.
Together we can keep our favourite game
going and bring low cost fun and excitement back into the club.
Luke looks down at his fathers old rulebook
and ponders on the words Ben has said. The possibility of
following in the gaming heritage of his father is just to much for Luke
to ignore, he knows what his destiny is. Together he and Ben will
keep the game going encouraging new gamers to join and to keep the
licence going.
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