Build: Build your imagination

2010/01/08

EDWIN WONG

Board game enthusiast EDWIN WONG lists some ‘funtastic’ building activities.

HAVE you ever wondered what the world will look like in the year 2010?

Well, if we were in the 1920s today, 2010 will feel light years away, with a setting out of some science fiction novel or movie, with flying cars, houses in the sky and robot servants to cater to every whim and fancy.

Thus far, we have looked at some wonderful hobbies from the past that involve physically building something — from model trains and slot cards to your own props for magic shows. This week, we will explore building, not on a physical level, but of our imagination!

Oh how dull life would be without it. Can you imagine, for example... but wait, of course you can’t if you have little imagination! Which is precisely the point. Our ability to imagine gives meaning to experience and helps us understand knowledge.

Our imagination is a fundamental ability through which we make sense of the world and it plays a key role in our learning process. It is the faculty through which we encounter everything. The things we touch, see and hear.

In a sense, it is alive, and the question that begs asking is, “how do we feed it”?

Let’s start with children who often engage in “pretend” play to exercise their imagination. When they create a fantasy (“I am a beauty queen” or “I am the President”), they are in fact “role playing” to act out what they have created with their imagination in their make-believe situation or scenario.

Since role playing is so prevalent among children, in addition to being a truly powerful way to feed one’s imagination, one wonders why grown-ups shy away from such a worthy pursuit. Is it because we feel that it is too childish to play act our imagination? Or too queer? Or do we begin to lose our capacity to imagine as we grow older?

There is nothing wrong with adults wanting to nurture their most valuable faculty. Participating in role-playing games is one of the most interesting ways to do it.

What are role playing games?

In very simplistic terms, it is a game where a group of players play with a game master, each plays the role of a character of his/her choice in a setting moderated by the game master.

Each player fully controls everything about his character while the game master controls everything else in the scenario, other than the players’ characters.

Although children have been role playing ever since time immemorial, the first commercially successful role-playing game (RPG) only came in 1974 when the “father of RPG” Gary Gygax, and Dave Arneson, designed “Dungeons & Dragons”, thereafter fondly known as “D&D”.

D&D is the game that has defined the genre for over 30 years, and is an imaginative, social experience that engages players in a rich fantasy world filled with larger-than-life heroes, deadly monsters and diverse settings.

To play, all you really need is a game master (GM) to create a story (.ie. scenario), players happy to play the roles of their favourite warrior, magician or princess, and lots of imagination! Paper and a pencil help!

A typical session

The GM sets the scene. For example, the GM would tell the players (who do not know of each other) that the night before, they all had a similar dream — that of a fair maiden calling out for help — and pleading for the players’ characters to gather before the local church to rescue her from the grasp of evil.

The GM then asks each character what each wishes to do. Note that once the game begins, players are supposed to speak in first person (i.e. as the character).

One by one, the characters respond to her call. For example, the warrior proclaims, “I, Sir Belly Button, royal guard of the palace, awaken and ride like the wind towards the church grounds!”

Of course, being an open-ended game, a player could respond that he/she wishes to go back to sleep and do nothing, in which case the GM then has two choices: find another scene to allow this character into the game, or make a note never to invite him/her to play again!

The challenge for the GM is to create a compelling story that will have the characters immersed in the adventure throughout the duration of the session.

The challenge for the player is to capture the flavour of their unique character, play out the character’s role as best he can, and respond to the challenges thrown by the GM.

Continuing our example, all the characters are now gathered outside the church grounds. The GM tells them: “By some miracle, you find that you are not alone, for you soon discover that others from lands faraway have also had a similar dream and responded to the fair maiden’s call.

“What do you want to do now” asks the GM.

From here, it’s entirely up to the players, in the role of their characters, to decide what they wish to do. Some may decide to get to know the other strangers better. Some may want to go straight into the church to find out why they were called to gather here. Others may look for the pastor.

Each adventure (i.e. scenario) can be as short or long as everyone wishes, and can even be linked together to form a campaign, which sees characters grow in strength, wisdom and knowledge!

Fantasy RPGs

D&D originally started out as a “dungeon crawler” where characters always started inside a dungeon with missions usually involving rescuing fair maidens, re-claiming stolen jewels, and the like.

Characters would decide at every turn which new part of the dungeon they wished to explore, and the GM (originally called the Dungeon Master) would reveal new items, creatures or magic they would encounter.

Often, fights would ensue as characters combine their strengths, weapons and spells to overcome adversities until they achieve their mission objective.

Later, as players bored of dungeon crawling, D&D started publishing adventures that took characters outside of dungeons, spawning an advanced version, appropriately called Advanced D&D (or AD&D).

(Note that while you can create your own adventures, D&D published many “ready-to-use” scenarios for GMs to use).

Although there have been many fantasy RPGs such as Runequest, Middle Earth, etc, D&D still remains the most popular with more than 40 million people having played it over the years, with many still playing it today!

Horror RPGs

If D&D is the mother of all fantasy RPGs, then The Call of Cthulhu (CoC) is the mother of all horror RPGs!

Set in the 1920s in celebrated horror writer HP Lovecraft’s world of the Cthulhu mythos, CoC has a cult following (no surprise here!) among its fans.

In CoC, players take on the role of investigators of the Cthulhu mythos — ordinary people who share a common belief that the world was once ruled by creatures from outer space (the great old ones) who have remained submerged in the darkest depths of earth, waiting for their time to re-surface and take back what they believe is rightfully theirs — Earth!

Of course, the time is now, thus keeping the investigators busy scouring the local gossip and news for signs of their re-emergence, as their mission is to find the portals through which these alien beings will emerge, and shut them down!

One very interesting aspect of CoC is the “Sanity” rating of each investigator. True to real life, the more one gains knowledge of the mythos, the more one would seem to be babbling nonsense to other ordinary folk.

Soon enough, if you ever get the rare opportunity to come face to face with one of the old ones, you will be desperately trying to describe your encounter to everyone you know — only to have them think you insane and commit you to the asylum — for your own good, of course!

Play this and I assure you that your imagination will be running wild long after the session is over.

Science fiction RPGs

Despite many “sci-fi flicks” produced over the year, the one that has stood the test of time is Traveler.

After all, how can you beat the thrill of going on missions where “no man has gone before”? Exploration, diplomatic missions, discovery, warring factions, new alien races, strange creatures — Traveler has them all!

In the realm of imagination, perhaps the one that fascinates us most is the unknown. Deep outer space, as compared to creatures and horrors. Hence the immense popularity of Traveler.

How do I start?

Well, you can simply take out a paper and pencil, create your own adventure, and round up a bunch of adventurers, or download the introductory kit from the following sites:

• D&D — www.wizards.com/dnd

• CoC — www.callofcthulhu.com

• Traveler — www.travellerrpg.com/CT

You can also email imagine.games@mac.com for more information.