Fantasy Role Playing Games

An introduction to the intellectual pastime of fantasy role playing games of the Dungeons and Dragons type. This book describes the development of these addictive games from their origins in the early 70's and presents a state-of-the-art summary of their variations, their physical paraphernalia, their statistical tools and props, and the special imaginative atmosphere that each is likely to develop. The fascination of 'acting out' one's character in a universe that is defined at once by rational constraints and by chance, that is both orderly and studded with possibility, has made the role playing games amazingly popular.