Role Playing Games

As most of my friends are aware I am a keen roleplayer. I do enjoy the improvisation and mental acrobatics of playing a very free form game in the persona of an aged wizard, or devious dwarf or whatever the genre requires.

I have been playing since the early seventies and recently used to play weekly in a group in the UK before I was seduced away by the ex-pat lifestyle (mostly the no income tax bit). I also played on the computer using a game called Neverwinter Nights. This particular game has the singular advantage that you can create your own module and has the capacity for the game to be moderated by a referee over the internet or local area network.

There is a definite lack of RPGs (Role Playing Games, not Rocket Propelled Grenades, there are plenty of those) out here in the Gulf, so I was delighted to find a module that was available on the internet through the game itself which was designed, scripted and inhabited in a way that suited me really well. A lot of online RPGs suffer from mass participation by teenagers, especially pubescent boys, and this strongly affects the content and style of play. Those games I find best avoided.

Not so The Crescent Coast. The players here have an inteligent and mature style of play, roleplay much more often than just go slaying creatures, characterisation is generally of a very high standard and the module itself is beautifully crafted.

I have been playing this game for some time so you can imagine my dismay when earlier this year I could no longer access the game at all. Heroic fantasy role playing games are apparently not compatible with Islamic Cultural Ideals so all of the sites are now blocked. My other favourite leisure time occupation, amateur dramatics, came to an abrupt end on 19th March of last year when the theatre was destroyed during a terorist attack. See the website here for details; http://www.dohaplayers.com/

I am looking forward to getting back into the game, even if only briefly while I am in the Philippines next month, just so long as I can secure a broadband connection.

For those of you out there who play Neverwinter Nights the module is "The Crescent Coast" and is hosted by "Eclipse develpoment". It does require a few extra downloads to the standard game but these do add to the game and are worthwhile. The forum which goes with the game is here: http://thecrescentcoast.net and the downloads are all available there.

I am wondering if I can persuade my new school to allow me to host it on their LAN, and run the game as an extra-curricular activity. Who can tell?

G