Section B · Page 8
The University Daily Kansan
Wednesday, April 7, 1999
Role playing yields student fun
KU Gamers and Role Players play fantasy games weekly
By Ezra Sykes esykes@kansan.com Kansan staff writer
Katsara had a hellish night
said.
After being blinded by a massive flash of light, he turned himself into a pool of water so that a wicked mother son duo couldn't hurt him. But it didn't work. Taking advantage of his liquid form, they easily vacuumed up his watery mass.
Katsura reacted by casting a spell called "neural disrupt," on his enemies. He escaped from the container, and, after regaining human form, attempted to cut the hand off the evil son to seize a sword of incredible power.
But again, disaster struck. An enemy paid him back by casting another "neural disrupt" that left him unconscious on the ground. "It hit me in the head, and I fell down drooling," said Noah Hoppe Walker. Katsura's master here on earth.
Hopson Walker, Kansas City, Kan., freshman. Is one of about 20 official members of KU Gamers and Role Players, a group that meets every Wednesday night at the Hawk's Nest in the Kansas Union. To be an official member (the group has about 20 unofficial members) individuals must pay $2 in dues.
Role playing involves creating characters that have quantified traits and controlling them in an imaginary adventure in a fantasy world controlled by a "game master." Books and dice provide some structure for these worlds and what happens in them.
At Wednesday night's meeting, Hopson Walker and three others finished a campaign, an ongoing series of related adventures. John Biles, Huntsville, Texas, graduate student, was the group's game master—an objective referee who has ultimate control in what the role players encounter.
Ben Siegan, Northbrook, IL, senior, likes to think of role playing as a book.
"You have to be able to think on your feet as game master," he said. "You must create interesting non-player characters and portray them. You have to know how to handle the players' egos and make sure they all get to participate."
"The game master is like an author without control of his characters" said Siegan, president of the club, "and the role players are like characters in a book who don't know what's going to happen on the next page."
Sigan, who has been gaming since the sixth grade, said the club didn't fit the negative reputation that role players often were given. "We aren't a bunch of oppressed freaks gathered by this holiday," said Sigan. "That's not the case at all."
bobby. Saito Siegan. That show is the most well-known role-
playing game around, has received some flak in the past. Siegan
Dungeons and Dragons and other role playing games have been accused of being aligned with devil worship, dangerously addictive and, in extreme cases, causing obsessive players to commit suicide.
Groups pushed together a few tables in the Hawk's Nest to participate in their separate games with names such as Shadowrum Worlds of Darkness and Rifts. Laughing and joking greatly outweighed the few mild profanities and forehead slappings that occurred.
and sports on television
and sports in television. Biles said role playing was extremely healthy considering popular college student activities such as drinking and partying. "It's a safer form of recreation than what most people are doing." he said.
"Look at Ozzy Osbourne, said Siegan, explaining how the fear of games such a Dungeons and Dragons had worn off. "In the '80s people thought he was a preacher of the devil." Now he's just a funny old man."
Kelly Peterson, Vermillion, S.D., sophomore, learned about the group during enrollment her freshman year when she and another soon-to-be freshman began trading stories about their past role-playing experiences.
Peterson is now treasurer of the group.
Although Biles won't be in college forever, he doesn't plan to check out of the realm of fantasy games anytime soon.
"I've been playing for 16 years and will continue until I drop."
"This is where I meet my friends," she said, motioning toward the rest of the room. "We try to be loving and inclusive."
And for those who think spending hours creating fictional characters and having them travel through imaginary worlds is foolish or a waste of time. Biles had something to say.
"Well, I think other people's form of recreation are silly," he said, providing examples such as watching soap operas
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