If you've never played a role playing game--an RPG, as they are called--you may be confused by what you find at this site.  Role playing games are not well understood, even by those who play them.  This is further complicated by the proliferation of the CRPG--the hundreds of computer role playing games which attempt to simulate the RPG experience, substituting multimedia effects and hand/eye challenge for flexibility and player imagination.  We've had our site examined to determine how the uninitiated might react, and hope that this might answer your questions.

  Role playing games are shrouded in a mistique built of controversy.  Many years ago, the original RPG's were criticized for what ignorant critics believed they were.  We would encourage you to read What is an RPG?--which is not only an excellent and revealing explanation of the role playing game experience, but also an excerpt from the Multiverser rule book itself.  And if you're concerned about arguments you have heard claiming that role playing games are evil or satanic, we also recommend another article by the same author, Confessions of a Dungeons & Dragons(TM) Addict, which answers these arguments clearly and concisely.  Then come back here for a brief primer on how the true role playing game works.

  The role playing game is a game for two or more people.  One of these is the referee; all of the others are players in the game.  The roles of the referee and the players are quite distinct, and need to be understood.

  The referee reveals the world and adjudicates the actions of the players.  He may have created the world himself, or he might purchase game supplements, sometimes called "modules", which contain all of the information necessary for a particular adventure scenario.  Valdron Inc. makes available some Mulitverser supplements for download from this web site; there are scenarios for other game systems available on the web, mostly from private players proud to share their own work.  As the game progresses, he describes all that the player characters see, hear, or otherwise sense or experience, and listens to what they choose to do.

  The players each control one or more characters within the world.  As the referee describes the world to them, they make choices and describe the actions their characters will take.  In most games, characters may accumulate possessions and develop abilities during the course of the game, getting better at what they do through the events of the game.

  As the players announce their chosen actions, it is often the case that the referee must determine the outcome of these actions.  In some cases, this is straightforward--most games allow that a character can open an unlocked door merely by having the player say so--and the referee need only describe what is revealed or discovered by the action which was not known before.  However, in many cases there is some question as to whether the efforts of the character will be successful.  In these cases, the rules are consulted, usually resulting in the roll of dice which determine the success or failure of an action.  For example, in many games when a door is locked, a character might have a skill which gives him a chance to unlock the door.  Such skill is rarely automatic, but instead requires that the player roll a specified number or more on the dice.  The number required may vary according to the skill of the character, the complexity of the lock, and the conditions in which the work is being done.  It is the referee's job to determine what the needed number is, and so to announce whether the character has succeeded in unlocking the door or not.

 Players are often daunted by the sheer size of the rules systems for role playing games.  Someone has asked why he needs a five-hundred page rule book to play the game.  In truth, the player does not need to read a single rule of the book.  Many RPG's forbid players from reading large sections of the rules, as much of what is not known to the player involves information which the character is expected to discover through the play of the game.  But a player does not need to understand the rules of the game; he need only understand the concept of his own character.  Whatever it is reasonable for his character to be able to do, the player merely has to state that his character will try to do that.  It is up to the referee to apply the rules to the situation, and determine the outcome.  If when a character is facing a charging bull the player decides that he wishes for his character to climb a tree to get out of the way, the referee must know whether a die roll is necessary for this action, or whether the game would consider that action either impossible or automatic.  Under the same circumstances, if the player wants his character to fly away, it is again up to the referee to determine whether in this game for this character that action requires a die roll, or is impossible or automatic.  The player does not need to know a single rule of the game; he only needs to understand who his own character is and what that character can do.

  It is not so for the referee.  Over time, the referee will become intimately familiar with the details of how his game world works.  He needs to be able to locate tables, rules, details of game play quickly and easily, so that the game will run well.  A football game would be much less enjoyable if on every play the referees had to get out the rule book and check as to whether the play was permitted.  So with RPG's, the more familiar the referee is with the game rules and mechanics, the more smoothly the game will run, and the more fun it will be for everyone involved.  Thus, someone needs to buy the rule book and read it--and possibly re-read it--and refer to it frequently so that he may be the referee in a game in which others will be players.

  You may wonder why anyone would buy the rules of a game so that they could referee the game but not play it.  Although that sounds like a very strange thing, it is not so odd.  Many players of role playing games--perhaps as many as half of those who have played in my games, and nearly all of those who continued to play for more than a few years--become referees for the enjoyment of that position.  I began as a referee myself, and enjoyed the experience thoroughly.  The referee gets to create worlds which his players will eagerly explore; he invents secrets which only he knows, and the players seek to discover.  Even if he does not take the time to create his own scenario, he is still in possession of the secrets.  It is a bit like watching your favorite movie with a friend who has never seen it--you get to watch their reactions to what you know is coming.  It is also like having friends enjoy a story you have written, or any other artistic creation.  The referee is the artist who paints the landscape, the author of the story, the architect of the world.  It has been said that man is most like God when, like God, he creates; and role playing games allow referees to create worlds.  Like an author, the referee can put together an entirely new place; but even better than the author, the referee gets to see the reactions of those who first explore that place.  It is for many more enjoyable than being a player in the game.

  However, you should know that a good referee finds himself in demand.  When you are running an exciting game, players will want to know when the next game will be played.  Often they will call to ask questions about the game and the scenario between games, eager to know the secrets not yet revealed.  You will probably meet new people, friends of friends, who have heard about your game and would like to play.  I've had as many as thirty players in my house at once; I know of one referee who ran a game for seventy people at a restaurant on one occasion.  Of course, you don't have to meet these people; but good referees become popular referees.

  Those are the basics.  Now you should go back and read about this newest role playing game, Multiverser or see if you have any of the frequently asked questions.  The links will take you to explanations of some aspect of the game, answering questions which have been asked by players interested in knowing more.

  If you'd like to get more of a feeling for what these games are like, there are several sites on the Internet where Multiverser stories are being written.  Wisp's Homepage has just gotten started, but shows real promise [Currently this site appears to be down].  The same could be said for John Landar's page.  Stories from the Verse is a growing collection of tales in the adventures of many different characters, and Journals of the Architect is at this time the longest telling of the experiences of a single Multiverser character available on the web.  Any of these sites will give you some taste of what is possible in the game in which all universes are pieces of the total game world, where every book, story, movie, game, and flight of fancy is a real place for characters to explore.

Take me to VALDRON.