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> On 30/08/2011 01:25 PM, Francois Labreque wrote:
>>> earn "XP" (whatever that is)
>>
>> eXperience Points. In most fantasy role playing games, a certain amount
>> of XP will allow you to improve your skill level. Allowing you to learn
>> new fighting techniques, or fancier spells, depending on your character
>> class.
>
> Riiiight. So that's why they named it "Windows XP"...
>
> Incidentally, I have no idea what "fantasy role playing game" actually
> means.
You see, back in the days before the advent of computers, people used to
sit around tables and play games. Some were board games (chess,
checkers, Monopoly, etc...), some were card games (poker, bridge,
etc...) Then, in the late 1970s, a new type of game came out, it was
called "role playing games" (RPG for short, not to be confused with the
RPGs you hear about on the evening news, which stands for
"rocket-propelled grenade"). Each player played the part of a character
and would interact with a story told by another player who also acted as
a referee. Some of these role-playing were set in a futuristic world
and were called "sci-fi RPGs", while others were set in medieval,
fantasy settings, filled with elves, dragons, and wizards; these were
the "fanstasy RPGs", the most popular of which was called "Dungeons and
Dragons". There were also "Horror" RPGs, based on the works of H.P.
Lovecraft, Bram Stoker, et al. And various quirky ones that were
difficult to categorize, such as Paranoia, Car Wars, War Hammer, etc...
If you've never heard of D&D, I'm going to have to side with Warp and
ask that you hand in your nerd card.
Footnotes:
- Some people still play RPGs.
- Some people even act them out in real life, this is called LARPing
(Live Action Role Playing). See for example,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_ekugPKqFw
- The D&D universe was of course introduced to the computer gaming
world, in the early 80s, but the most popular D&D-based games has to be
the "Baldur's Gate" series, that I'm sure you're familiar with.
--
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