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Diceless Role-playing Game
A diceless role-playing game is a role-playing game which is not based on chance: it does not use randomisers to determine the outcome of events in its role-playing game system. The style of game is known as "diceless" because most games use dice as their randomiser; some games such as '' Castle Falkenstein'' use other randomisers such as playing cards as substitutes for dice, and are not considered "diceless". One commentator described the introduction of diceless RPGs in 1991, ''They went "diceless," creating a rules system where everything was worked out by the Game Master via numerical comparisons and other (non-random) techniques. ''Amber Diceless'' (Phage Press) created quite a stir, and the great diceless debate had begun in full force. A debate that, ultimately, the dice fans would apparently win, at least in the marketplace.'' Proponents of this solution argue that in all game systems, decisions are ultimately made by the GM, and rolling dice merely slows gameplay. Opp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Role-playing Game
A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting or through a process of structured decision-making regarding character development. Actions taken within many games succeed or fail according to a formal role-playing game system, system of rules and guidelines. There are several forms of role-playing games. The original form, sometimes called the tabletop role-playing game (TRPG), is conducted through discussion, whereas in live action role-playing game, live action role-playing (LARP), players physically perform their characters' actions.(Tychsen et al. 2006:255) "LARPs can be viewed as forming a distinct category of RPG because of two unique features: (a) The players physically embody their characters, and (b) the game takes place in a physica ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pyramid (magazine)
''Pyramid'' was a gaming magazine, publishing articles primarily on role-playing games, but including board games, card games, and other sorts of games. It began life in 1993 as a print publication of Steve Jackson Games for its first 30 issues, though it has been published on the Internet since March 1998. Print issues were bimonthly; the first online version published new articles each week; the second online version is monthly. ''Pyramid'' is headquartered in Austin, Texas. It replaced Steve Jackson Games' previous magazine '' Roleplayer''. ''Pyramid'' features general gaming articles by freelance authors, as well as Designer's Notes by Steve Jackson Games product developers, industry news, cartoons, and gaming product reviews. Although articles tend to concentrate on Steve Jackson Games products such as ''GURPS'', it has published articles on other games such as '' d20 System'', ''Talisman'', ''Nobilis'', ''Hero System'', and has featured various comic strips and single-pa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Transhumanism
Transhumanism is a philosophical and intellectual movement which advocates the enhancement of the human condition by developing and making widely available sophisticated technologies that can greatly enhance longevity and cognition. Transhumanist thinkers study the potential benefits and dangers of emerging technologies that could overcome fundamental human limitations as well as the ethics of using such technologies. Some transhumanists believe that human beings may eventually be able to transform themselves into beings with abilities so greatly expanded from the current condition as to merit the label of posthuman beings. Another topic of transhumanist research is how to protect humanity against existential risks, such as nuclear war or asteroid collision. Julian Huxley was a biologist who popularised the term transhumanism in an influential 1957 essay. The contemporary meaning of the term "transhumanism" was foreshadowed by one of the first professors of futurology, a ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roadside Picnic
''Roadside Picnic'' (Russian: , ''Piknik na obochine'', ) is a philosophical science fiction novel by Soviet-Russian authors Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, written in 1971 and published in 1972. It is the brothers' most popular and most widely translated novel outside the former Soviet Union. As of 2003, Boris Strugatsky counted 55 publications of ''Roadside Picnic'' in 22 countries. The story is published in English in a translation by Antonina W. Bouis. A preface to the first American edition was written by Theodore Sturgeon. Stanisław Lem wrote an afterword to the German edition of 1977. The book has been the source of many adaptations and other inspired works in a variety of media, including stage plays, video games, and television series. The 1979 film ''Stalker (1979 film), Stalker'', directed by Andrei Tarkovsky, is loosely based on the novel, with a screenplay written by the Strugatsky brothers. The term ''stalker'' became a part of the Russian language and, according to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arkady And Boris Strugatsky
The brothers Arkady Natanovich Strugatsky (russian: Аркадий Натанович Стругацкий; 28 August 1925 – 12 October 1991) and Boris Natanovich Strugatsky ( ru , Борис Натанович Стругацкий; 14 April 1933 – 19 November 2012) were Soviet-Russian science-fiction authors who collaborated through most of their careers. Life and work The Strugatsky brothers ( or simply ) were born to Natan Strugatsky, an art critic, and his wife, a teacher. Their father was Jewish and their mother was Russian Orthodox. Their early work was influenced by Ivan Yefremov and Stanisław Lem. Later they went on to develop their own, unique style of science fiction writing that emerged from the period of Soviet rationalism in Soviet literature and evolved into novels interpreted as works of social criticism. Their best-known novel, ''Piknik na obochine'', has been translated into English as ''Roadside Picnic''. Andrei Tarkovsky adapted the novel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nobilis
''Nobilis'' is a contemporary fantasy tabletop role-playing game created by Jenna K. Moran, writing under the name R. Sean Borgstrom. The player characters are "Sovereign Powers" called ''the Nobilis''; each Noble is the personification of an abstract concept or class of things such as Time, Death, cars, or communication. Unlike most role-playing games, ''Nobilis'' does not use dice or other random elements to determine the outcome of characters' actions, but instead uses a point-based system for task resolution. Setting ''Nobilis'' draws on many sources, including Christian and Norse mythologies, but adds numerous unique details to its setting. Though the everyday world in the game appears much like our own, it is actually only the Prosaic Earth, a lie that the world told to itself in a desperate attempt to explain suffering, and a rationalized delusion which conceals the true reality that would plunge most mortals into madness: the Mythic Earth, an animistic world where ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heresy
Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, in particular the accepted beliefs of a church or religious organization. The term is usually used in reference to violations of important religious Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatur ... teachings, but is also used of views strongly opposed to any generally accepted ideas. A heretic is a proponent of heresy. The term is used particularly in reference to Heresy in Christianity, Christianity, Heresy in Judaism, Judaism, and Bid‘ah, Islam. In certain historical Christian, Muslim, and Jewish cultures, among others, espousing ideas deemed heretical has been (and in some cases still is) met with censure ranging from excommunication to the death penalty. Heresy is distinct ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cathars
Catharism (; from the grc, καθαροί, katharoi, "the pure ones") was a Christian dualist or Gnostic movement between the 12th and 14th centuries which thrived in Southern Europe, particularly in northern Italy and southern France. Followers were described as Cathars and referred to themselves as Good Christians; in modern times, they are mainly remembered for a prolonged period of religious persecution by the Catholic Church, which did not recognize their unorthodox Christianity. Catharism emerged in Western Europe in the Languedoc region of southern France in the 11th century. Adherents were sometimes referred to as Albigensians, after the French city Albi where the movement first took hold. Catharism was initially taught by ascetic leaders who set few guidelines, leading some Catharist practices and beliefs to vary by region and over time. The movement was greatly influenced by the Bogomils of the First Bulgarian Empire, and may have originated in the Byzantine E ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Château De Montségur
The Château de Montségur (English: Castle of Montsegur; Languedocien dialect, Languedocien: ) is a former fortress near Montségur, a Commune in France, commune in the Ariège (department), Ariège Departments of France, department in southern France. Its ruins are the site of a razed stronghold of the Cathars. The present fortress on the site, though described as one of the "Cathar castles," is actually of a later period. It has been listed as a by the French Ministry of Culture since 1862. Geography The ruins of Montségur are perched at a precarious altitude in the south of France near the Pyrenees. Located in the heart of France's Languedoc-Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie regions, southwest of Carcassonne, Montségur dominates a rock formation known as a ''pog'' — a term derived from the Languedocien dialect of Occitan language, Occitan — wikt:podium#Descendants, ''puòg'' or ''puèg'', meaning "peak, hill, mountain." The top of the ruin is reached by a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Collectible Card Game
A collectible card game (CCG), also called a trading card game (TCG) among other names, is a type of card game that mixes strategy game, strategic deck building elements with features of trading cards, introduced with ''Magic: The Gathering'' in 1993. Generally a Player (game), player may begin playing a CCG with a pre-made Booster pack#Starter deck, starter deck, and then customize their deck with a random assortment of cards acquired through booster packs, or from trading with other players, building up their own library of cards. As a player obtains more cards, they may create new decks from scratch from their library. Players are challenged to construct a deck within limits set by the CCG's rules that will allow them to outlast decks constructed by other players. Games are commonly played between two players, though Multiplayer game, multiplayer formats are also common. Gameplay in CCG is typically turn-based, with each player starting with a shuffled deck and on their turn, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marvel Universe Roleplaying Game
The ''Marvel Universe Roleplaying Game'' (abbreviated ''MURPG'') is a role-playing game (RPG) set in the Marvel Universe. The game included versions of several popular Marvel characters, including Spider-Man, Hulk, Captain America, the Fantastic Four, and the X-Men. It also allowed for designing one's own heroes and villains. History The SAGA-based ''Marvel Super Heroes Adventure Game'' (1998) was published into 2000, after which the long history between TSR and Marvel Comics ended; Marvel then published its own ''Marvel Universe Roleplaying Game'' (2003). The game featured tactical resource management, something originally made popular in the indie role-playing game movement. System The central game mechanic is the allocation of energy/effort, in the form of "red stones". These stones, initially equal in number to the character's "Energy Reserve" statistic are allocated to powers, attacks, and defenses by the players and GM. Allocated stones are then compared to dete ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
