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"Interactive Story Telling"

That's how I explain the RPG (role-playing game) hobby to my non-gaming friends. All of the dice, charts, books, rules, and other props are just non-essential add-ons.

When you were a little kid and playing imaginary games with your friends, did you ever get into a situation that sounded like this?

I shot you! No you didn't! Yes, I did! Oh yeah, well _I_ had up my force field.

That doesn't help, 'cause _I_ was using force-filed-penetrating lasers!

And so on... This was just a game of make-believe without any hard and fast rules. RPGs are just games of make believe, for big kids, with some numbers on a piece of paper and some rules to settle such disputes.

The other analogy I use to explain what role playing games are to non-gamers is that of a stage play. I tell them to imagine a stage play where the director (game master) has control of the settings, plots, props, dialog for the bit parts, and over-all story, but the main actors (players) have no fixed script. The can respond and react to the world "in character" as they see fit. Just like a director, the game master isn't trying to "beat" the players, nor enable them to get what they want, but rather to help conduct the whole group to put on a good show, or tell an enjoyable story.

That's really it. The "basic principles of role-playing games" can be summed up as "have fun with each other." If you've got that down, you are doing it correctly.

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