PLAYING MASTERY PLAYING I MASTERY GARY Co-Creator of the DUNGEONS & DRAGON Game A PERIGEE BOOK Perigee Books are published by The Putnam Publishing Group 200 Madison Avenue New York. NY 10016 DUNGEONS & DRAGONS and ADVANCED DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS are federally registered trademarks of TSR, Inc. Use of TSR’s trademarks and the contents of this book have not been authorized by TSR, Inc. Copyright 1987 by Gary Gygax All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission. Published simultaneously in Canada by General Publishing Co., Limited, Toronto LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA Gygax, Gary. Role playing mastery. 1. Fantasy games. 2. Role playing. I. Title. GV1469.2.G94 1987 794 87-2415 ISBN O-399-51293-4 Book design by The Sarabande Press Printed in the United States of America 1 2 3 4 5 678 910 This work is dedicated to the players of the DUNGEONS & DRAGONS@ and ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS@ games, and all other role- playing game enthusiasts who have brought so much to this new form of gaming. Live long and prosper! Acknowledgments The names of most of the games referred to in this work are federally registered trademarks and are the property of ei- ther the game publisher or a third party who has granted to the game publisher the right to manufacture a game using the name. The references to game titles in this book, with or without trademark labels, do not constitute a challenge by the publisher or the author to the ownership of the title in question. wish to express my appreciation to Frank Mentzer and Ernie I Gygax for their assistance in putting this book into form. Grateful acknowledgment is also due to Kim Mohan, whose effort in organizing and editing the final stages of this work made it all possible. The kind offices of Will Niebling enabled me to include much of the appendix information without weeks of searching. As active RPG participants, these three are already members of the group to whom this work is dedicated in the first place, but each deserves special thanks in addition. Here you are! Contents What Is Mastery? 11 1 Role-Playing: The Foundation of Fun 17 2 The Master Player 24 3 The Master GM 41 4 The Group: More Than Its Parts 57 5 Rules: Construction and Reconstruction 77 6 Searching and Researching 104 7 Tactical Mastery 120 8 Designing Your Own Game 138 9 Mastery on the Grand Scale 153 C O NTENT S 10 An Overview of Progress Toward Mastery 161 Appendices 165 Appendix A: Organizations and Regional Groups 165 Appendix B: Annual Conventions Featuring Role-Playing Games 166 Appendix C: Professional Periodicals Serving the Role-Playing Game Community 167 Appendix D: Role-Playing Games and Products Currently Available, Their Genres, and Their Publishers 167 Appendix E: Glossary of Terms Used in This Work and in the Gaming Community 171 10 Preface WHAT IS MASTERY? hy read a book on Role-Playing Mastery? If you have spent hundreds of hours involved in role-playing games, you might think you are a “master” already. Well, you are no doubt good at what you do, and having fun at it, or you wouldn’t still be doing it. But unless you are part of a small, active minority, you have far more to learn than you imagine. In fact, even if you are already one of the so-called hard core aficionados, many tricks remain to be learned, and the information that this book contains will be helpful. It is hoped (and I go so far as to assume) that interested but nonexperienced individuals will read this work prior to beginning activity in role-playing games. This will save them from the fate that has befallen so many of their fellows in the past and turned them from role-playing game (RPG) participants into unin- terested parties in the space of a few frustrating and/or boring sessions of play. The greatest enemy is improper use of the game vehicle for some purpose other than its intended one. Many games are mere pastime activities, but RPGs are enjoyable pursuits of a sought-after nature and are hobbylike, rather than pastime crea- tions aimed at filling an otherwise empty period of leisure. While 11 ROLE-PLAYING MASTERY some games are aimed at rainy afternoons or social gatherings that might bring boredom, role-playing games are designed for and should be played under far different circumstances. Partici- pants engage in the play of such games because they have an active desire to do so. This is because the games of this nature provide them with fun, excitement, challenge, social interaction, and much more on an ongoing basis. Knowledgeable estimates place the number of avid players of role games in the neighborhood of three and one-half million in North America, five million worldwide. That is a lot of players, and these are enthusiasts. These figures do not include occasional participants in role-playing games. The number of persons who have played at least once is certainly twice as large as the number of enthusiasts. A certain few of the enthusiasts have matured and developed, then strived for and attained the status of mastery of their craft- and certainly tomorrow’s masters will include some of today’s casual players as well. Mastery as a player or a game master (GM) can be achieved by anyone, despite his or her present level of expertise in or enthusiasm for role-playing games. Mastery is achieved by understanding the game system, using it fully and correctly, excelling in operation within the system, and assuring that the experience is enjoyable for all the individuals concerned. The road to mastery is neither smooth nor short, and a lot of work lies ahead of anyone setting out on the journey. Some who do set out will not reach the final destination- but, as will be demon- strated in this work, the journey itself is one worth taking regard- less of how long it lasts. As it is with other kinds of mature amusements and diversions, so it is with role-playing games: The higher the level of play, the more enjoyable the game. Simply put, mastery of role-playing is not so much an effort toward individual excellence as it is a broadening of personal knowledge, contributing to social group activity, and increasing the fun and excitement that stem from superior participation. This is when role-playing becomes cap- tivating. When you master role-playing, you become immersed in an activity that is peerless among leisure-time pursuits. 12 WHAT IS MASTERY? Is it magic that strikes your fancy? The fiery breath of a dragon? Or perhaps you are captivated by blazing six-guns, the tension of an espionage mission, or the lure of the far-flung galaxies of the future! Whatever the attraction is, surviving in the aftermath of a world-shattering holocaust or tracking down the unnameable horrors that lurk in dark and remote places, you can find it within the realm of role-playing games. The entire spectrum of thrilling action and excitement is available in the comfort of your home. Better still, the adventure is shared, and actively so. You are not engaging in parallel entertainment such as watching a film with friends. You are not alone reading a book or contesting against a computer program. A role-playing game is a group-interactive activity-and a ticket to worlds of adventure for you and your friends. The purpose of this book is to inform role-game enthusiasts of the history and scope of the role-playing hobby pursuit, to assist all participants in understanding the games, campaigns, and dy- namics involved; and to inform participants of the methods of bringing play to a high level in order to enhance their enjoyment. Collaterally, the work is aimed at strengthening and building the hobby by enabling players and game masters alike to assist in this undertaking. This book is, then, both a guide to better role- playing and a rough map of the territory that encompasses creat- ing new approaches to existing games and design and develop- ment of new entries in the field. From the ranks of those who achieve role-playing mastery in the months and years ahead will come the next generation of game designers and authors, who will use their RPG experience and their own original ideas to create a new crop of role-playing game systems. Others who achieve mastery will accomplish nothing more than giving themselves and their friends hour upon hour- perhaps a lifetime’s worth-of the unique brand of enjoyment and excitement that results when an RPG is played the way it was meant to be played. That, in itself, is a prize that makes the long road to mastery well worth traveling. By picking up this book, you have taken the first step on that journey. 13 Chapter 1 ROLE-PLAYING: II THE FOUNDATION OF FUN o begin at the beginning, it is important to know the dif- T ference between role-playing and role assumption. Role- playing can be defined as acting out a make-believe position. A child might pretend to be an adult, a male may act out the part of a female in a theatrical performance, or a game enthusiast may play the role of a secret agent. Think of role-playing as taking the position and characteristics of someone you cannot actually be- come at the time (or ever). In some cases, a role that is played can or eventually will be assumed in reality.