The Computer Is Your GM

An opinion piece in the July 2011 issue of GameInformer laments the fading of the traditional role-playing game as a video game genre, lapsing from its Japanese foundations and no, I can't go on, this is just too much wharrgarbl.

Part of Something Bigger

If Car Wars were to be counted as a roleplaying game, it would be a pretty crappy one. The main focus was the cars, not the drivers. The car would have all the precisely tracked stats, covering allocation of available space and weight to maximize firepower and combat effectiveness. The human was pretty much a component stuck into the car to make it go.

Although, this symbiotic relationship between human and vehicle could bear further analysis.

Adventures in Authoring

Just picked up that shiny new roleplaying game, and can't wait to try it out? Adventure in the back of the book look promising? Exciting? Thought-provoking? Sure it does. The author usually includes the best adventure they can in the book to showcase the system, setting, and genre.

But what happens when you run that one adventure? Run it again? No, your players will know it already. Find other published adventures? Maybe, but what if you can't find any? The RPG does not suddenly become useless if you run out of adventures. It does mean, though, that you'll have to put on your thinking cap and create your own.