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level, the player gets the first pick of the character class before any first level players choose. Third level players roll off to see who chooses first. Fourth level players get free admission into the “Tavern,” a role-playing staging area where nonplayer characters roam. Normally players are only allowed in the Tavern before and after they play True Dungeon. At fourth level, they can come and go as they please. Fifth level players gain a title of Lord or Lady, which gives certain privileges in the Tavern and possibly on the True Dungeon forum.

Darkon players who have attended five or fewer events are required to attend a new player speech, which reviews Darkon rules, duties of Elders, and safety. They must register as a fighter first until they have attended five events, at which point they can switch to one of the other classes. New members are also restricted in what they can do in-game. They are prohibited from wearing armor and using any two-handed weapon until they have attended five events. Bows, crossbows, and javelins are prohibited until a new player has attended ten events.

In Darkon, characters advance through battle credits. These battle credits are earned by participating in various events. Players receive credits for fullday events, playing a nonplayer character, and introducing a new member to Darkon. For every five credits a character receives, he increases in rank. Powers in Darkon exceed 20 levels, with some classes getting new powers at twentyfifth level.

Conclusion

LARPs were the inspiration for many other forms of fantasy gaming. Although LARPs existed before the advent of Dungeons & Dragons, their popularity soared after its debut. LARPs fed into the fantasy gaming culture and greatly benefited from it. Conversely, the American public’s misunderstanding of how LARPs work ultimately harmed Dungeons & Dragons’ reputation. This stigma stuck with tabletop gaming for decades and is still a concern to this day.

LARPs also influenced CRPG development, as evidenced by Temple of Apshai and the Ultima series. The exchange of ideas continues between LARPs and other forms of gaming. The racial diversity of MMORPGs is reflected in Darkon. Darkon and True Dungeon owe much to the first and third editions of Dungeons & Dragons.

On the scale of personal investment, LARPs are one of the most timeintensive forms of fantasy gaming. Participants would say it’s all worth it; the level of immersion is unparalleled, the emotions and sensory experience unequaled. Although other forms of gaming wax and wane as new technologies are introduced, LARPs will continue. So long as people tell stories and act them out to an audience, LARPS will be with us for a long time.

CONCLUSION

So where do we go from here? Now that we’ve covered the evolution of fantasy gaming tropes and their various forms, from The Lord of the Rings to live action role-playing games, what’s next?

At heart, the struggle to define the “role” in role-playing game is about media richness, from completely anonymous users with few physical cues to distinguish them (MUDs) to environments so media rich that unintended physical cues creep in (LARPs). I hope this book has made it clear that each medium has an important effect on how the game is played.

We also explored the tension between simulationism and narrative. Dungeons & Dragons started out as a simulation of man-to-man combat, itself a descendant of tabletop wargames. The role-playing aspect came later, through game masters and players stretching the game beyond its wargame roots. By adjusting circumstances to their players’ decisions, millions of game masters created a customized media-rich fantasy environment in their players’ imaginations.

From there the two paths diverged. Interactive fiction tried to recapture the game master’s ability to spin a narrative structure by sharply restricting a player’s narrative choices. Early computer role-playing games embraced the simulation wholeheartedly, focusing on tactics and leveling up. Massive multiplayers, on the other hand,