This is one of the 'why do I bother' posts to defend/justify one of my crazy hobbies. If you haven't seen the previous 'why do I bother' posts, it's because I tend to stick them in the drafts and leave them there, or delete them outright. Perhaps this time will be different.

So, roleplaying games (RPGs). Most of you have likely heard of Dungeons & Dragons: it's the one some of the geeky kids play in schools. In its (arguably) default state, it's a dice-rolling game: each player gets a character, the rules describe what he can do, and for the most part that's all there is to him. The stereotypical high-school D&D fan isn't playing the role of his character any more than the one in front of his PS2 with the latest Gran Turismo is playing the role of a racing driver.

Understandably, people generally grow out of this. Most of them give it up, either denying it ever happened or looking back with some bemusement on the time they thought it was 'cool'. A few grow out of the school gaming mentality but stick with the games, developing them into the kind of game I'm familiar with today.

The basic setup is the same: a group of players gather, sit around a table. Most of them play/control a character each. One person (perhaps more in a large enough game) takes control of everything else in the game world; he's referred to by all manner of names, but I shall call him referee. Each player is responsible for deciding on and describing his character's actions, while the referee reports back the consequences, and presents all of the supporting cast. It's a mix of collaborative story-telling and tactical gaming, with perhaps a splash of amateur dramatics, and the proportions of these things depend completely on the style of the group, the game and most of all the referee.

The way I see it, it runs on two layers. Think of the ISO/OSI model, if you know of it. At the bottom, you've got rules. They dictate what is and isn't possible, and include a means of making a rules skeleton for each character to help them determine what he or she can and cannot do. When a character wishes to attempt something that has a chance of failure, the rules normally demand a dice roll, having varying results depending on what the character is good at; it adds drama and stops the game being quite so arbitrary.
On top of that, you've got the 'story' layer. The game has to be set somewhere, and it's the referee's thought and planning then description that will bring it to life, like an author would. It's the goal of each player (ideally) to bring to the table a character who can contribute to that, with goals, beliefs, feelings and whatever you need to make him a worthwhile part of the story. Much like an author would.
The balance of these layers is down to the referee and his party. Games range from the more rules-heavy sort where the story is in the action and its achievements, to those where the story might be entirely fueled by character interaction.

In case you hadn't noticed, I consider the upper layer more important. I was lucky at school, and while the groups I was in were fond of game mechanics, they were as much roleplayers as rollplayers. Nowadays I tend to end up in groups that are in it for the story, and adept at using the rules to support the setting, rather than the other way around.

The thing is, I'm a fiend for stories. I love plots and characters, and as a player in an RPG with a decent ref I can build a character I like and empathise with and have him take part in and have an effect on the story that the referee wants to tell. I also write (although not as much as I'd like) and read (although not as much as I'd like), but while I like those I do generally prefer the one that sees me down the pub a couple of nights a week with my friends.

So there. In future I will tell some stories of weird and wonderful worlds and so on, so I hope the abstract view is enough background for the normal folk among you to follow what I may say. And maybe to not think I'm all that crazy while I'm saying it.

I used the masculine pronoun throughout, because in my experience it's a male-dominated hobby. It's a shame, because while the school-style hack'n'slash gaming clearly appeals mainly to males, women are probably better suited to a detailed political or social game than the typical male player.