4
Clackamas Print
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Arts
Culture
Roleplayers hone their skill:
Larissa Figley
The Clackamas Print
Create a whole new world
by preventing destruction, bat
tling evil, traveling to the brink of
chaos and back, or simply stepping
into the shoes of a character who
couldn’t be more different than
yourself, all without even getting
out of your chair. This is the task
of groups of people that gather to
do role playing games. There are
several groups that meet right here
at Clackama.
Role playing is something
we’ve all done before, whether at
a job, for a friend, in the bedroom,
or as a hobby played with groups
of people. Most are based off of
books or cartoons and are usually
fantasy based.
“There are many different
games from Cowboys, Magic,
Star Trek, Star Wars, video games,
CCG: collectable card games, or
even naughty nurse and doctor can
be considered a form of role play
ing,” explained Chris Anderson.
“(Although,) video games provide
much less face to face interac
tion as opposed to other methods,”
explained Anderson
A huge gaming culture has
sprung up around these roles
playing games or RPGs provid
ing entertainment for gamers of all
ages and levels. The unique aspect
of role playing games as opposed
to your average card game is the
amount of creativity, imagination
and ultimately group cooperation
utilized to produce the event.
Anderson has been playing dif
ferent role playing games since
seventh grade, so for about 14
years. Over the years, he has played
several different games including
his favorite, Rift, a post-apocalyp
tic game.
He said, “The best games are
table top as opposed to online
games. The games take a tremen
dous amount of imagination.”
Anderson is currently the Game
Master or GM of the Star Wars
group and has been a GM since
eighth grade.
He said that, “being the game
master can bum you out after a few
times a week.”
The game master is basically
the ring leader of the group and is
usually someone who has played '
the longest. Star Wars is a table-top.
game ideally played with eight to
nine people and this group tries to
meet every week
The game master is the one
who comes up with the driving
characters and seems to have the
last say in the happenings of game
sequence. The master also plays
any general characters such as shop
keepers or any other generic roles;
these are called NPCs or non player
characters while all the other peo
ple’s characters are PC or player
characters.
Games can usually be played
with as little as two to as many as
20 people.
Anderson explained, “That in
large groups like that there can be
two GMs, one for the evil side and
one for the good.”
The games try to incorporate
everyday life aspects that aren’t part
of the game into the game itself.
‘Tor example, silly excuses are
used to leave for class or bathroom
breaks such as it started raining or
their character suddenly developed
narcolepsy. Or, if leaving for a
soda, the character is running up a
spiral staircase not involved in the
game,” explained Anderson.
Another player in the game is
Devon Seale who has also been
playing for several years and started
with Star Trek. He also plays “Holy
Land, a Christian based game that i
doesn’t take place in Jerusalem ”
In these games, ‘Teal ex^feri- ’
ence helps progress the game”:
said Seale.
Keith Underwood had been
gaming for about eight years and
is another player in the Star Wars
game.
Underwood said, “I have two
characters, one evil and one good.
Sometimes one,of my characters
is trying to kill the other one so no
matter what, I win.”
Jaime Kemp, left, and Zach, who wouldn’t give his last name, right, fight against James Furman
and Reegan Hunt, off to the left. The four of them are planeswalkers in the CCG game Magic: Ht
Gathering.
This Star Wars game is played
in a “twisted universe that is differ
ent from the one shown in the mov
ies. For example Luke Skywalker,
Princess Leia, are children who
live together with Padme. Obi Wan
Kenobi is evil and Anakin is a non-
helmeted Darth Vader,” explained
Anderson.
...
The group k > all “playing togeth
er on one ship but each using their
skills independently,” said Seale.
These variations from tradition
al Star Wars allow for more artis
tic licensing in these games. The
game is played with a 20-sided die,
which is rolled to find the outcome
of each action or event; the higher
the number the better the outcome
for the character.
“So a 20 is epically success
fill while a one is an epic failure
in which the character not only
doesn’t succeed, but something bad
happens, too,’’said Anderson.
“So whether encountering
pirates, using the force to make
pretty or scary tilings, there is sure
to be lots of chaos,” he said.
_Said Andgjson,“Table top RPGs
Have been looked down upon and
considered a waste of time. There
was even one player who commit
ted suicide when his character of
15-20 years died. Strange things
can happen when mentally unstable
people get too involved.”
Another group that meets here
at Clackamas plays Magic. It can
be played with two to 10 players;
the more people the longer the
game. The use of characters on the
cards creates roles and a
direct the game.
Jaime Kemp explained,
can be played as just ca
role playing. There are
two different types of play,
al and the super nerds tha
play battling.”
He.,describes. himscl
casual player, but likes
competitively too.”
There are countless p<
enjoy these games, and
ter which one is played,
limitless possibilities for
tion and character deva
Anyone that has ever rol
knows tiie excitement of
out of yourself to enter a
ing world of fantasy and
lectual creation.
New rock opera DVD splattered with bloody ballad
Narrated .for the viewer in
panel to panel comic book
format, this- is the premise of
Repo! The Genetic Opera, a
twisted, gory, rock and roll
opera-now on DVD.
The movie stars Alexa Vega
as Shilo, the heroine, Anthony
Stewart Head as Nathan, the
less Sheppard
infamous Repo Man, Paul
Arts & Culture Editor
Sorvino as Rotti Largo, the,
antagonist overlord, and Sarah*
Seventeen years ago every Brightman as Blind Mag, the
thing seemed perfect for wise and melancholy opera
Rotti, Marni, Nathan and singer. Bill Moseley, Paris
Blind Mag.
Hilton and Skinny Puppy’s
Rotti Largo had just found Ogre play Rotti’s strange,and
the cure for the world’s epi sadistic children.
demic
of organ failure.
' Also important to the show
Blind Mag, the opera singer, is the writer Terrance Zdunich,
received new eyes, courtesy who plays the part of Grave
of Rotti’s company GeneCo. Robber, the film’s seductively
And, Marni and Nathan had nhacabre narrator.
found true love in each oth
The movie is truly mind
er’s eyes.
blowing, from the comic book
But, things only seemed beginning chronicling the
perfect on the outside.
past of the main cast, to the
In a fit of jealous rage, dark and engaging scenery
Marni’s ex, Rotti, has her that portrays the world as a
murdered during childbirth. corrupt empire built on one
Distraught and blaming him vast cemetery. Imagine, if you
self for the death of his wife,, can, a world where you can
Nathan accepts a job with finance your new organs, but
GeneCo. as an organ repo- if you miss a payment your
sesser and raises his daughter very life will be repossessed
Shilo in isolation.
by the ominous Repo Man.
Murder and music
unite in this macabre
vision of a not-so-
distant future
I
II
by Kayla Berge and John Shufelt Clackamas Print
The story is augmea
quirky and sometime
musical numbers.
And on that very
note, let the viewer be
that this movie has an
for a very good reaso
of the delightfully ea
ing musical numbers
at the same time as ti
gruesome gutting you’
see.
One song in par
“Legal Assassin,” ft
Nathan singing from tl
tom of his heart aboutl
row over the untimely
of his wife, and howl
is a lie without her. But
he sings this truly pt
piece, Nathan is brutal
ting a man like a fis
sorting his intestines®
piles.
If blood and got
music at (he same til
not your cup of tea, the
is also not your cup
For the sadistically n
Repo! The Genetic Off
delight to watch with a
of similarly minded fii
if you need to laugh at
ulous bloodshed and
characters. This is the
for deviant lovers.