TOTAL strangers and from vastly different backgrounds, six young local professionals get together without fail twice a week and even on public holidays.
EXCLUSIVE GROUP: (From left—standing) Lim and Jonathan and (seated) Wei, Ling and Eng.
What is it that so compels them to willingly give up their free time for, and at the same time, has the power to bind them like a brotherhood cult?
It sounds extreme, but it isn’t. The young people are merely indulging in a highly interactive and mind-stimulating game of D&D (Dungeons and Dragons).
It’s a kind of Role Playing Game (RPG) that requires a high level of imagination and creativity — a game of fantasy usually centred on medieval times where dragons, castles and knights ruled. Basically, it’s about saving the world and good conquering evil.
The players have to assume the roles of imaginary characters in a fictional setting, acting out their part according to the rules and regulations set by the Game Master (GM) who also pens the storyline.
What’s unique is that the players have a crucial role in determining the conclusion.
Their part (or rather act) is not transcribed by the GM – they themselves determine the flow of the game. It’s a more sophisticated and intellectual form of story telling that pools the players’ collaborative efforts.
RPG is played here exclusively by those who took it up while studying abroad. It’s a hit among college students and also appeals to computer game buffs.
The only people known to play the game in Kuching are a five-member group comprising Jerome Wei, Jonathan Isaac, Alvin Katek, Roy Eng, Remington Ling and Lim Kheng Sen.
Sheela Kym, who just joined the group, is the only female member.
While many readily dismiss RPG as a waste of time and childish, the group will spring to its defence in a flash.
Explained Wei: “It’s an interactive game that involves deep thinking and stimulates the mind.”
Eng put it this way: “It’s a game that requires vivid imagination. The Game Master has to come out with the storyline while each player has act out a character to fit the storyline.”
Jonathan said it’s a highly interactive game that improves one’s oral skills and also helps one to think out of the box to overcome the obstacles that crop up so often in the story.
Ling believed RPG could boost one’s confidence in public speaking as it involves a lot of conversation while Lim said it helps improve one’s command of English in which game is played.
Despite their different opinions of the game, they all agreed on one thing – it’s a form of escapism that transports them to a world of fantasies inhabited by dragons, swash-buckling heroes and villains, fair maidens and chivalrous knights.
“You need to be open-minded. Only then can you appreciate the game. Basically, you are stepping into a world of fantasy,” Jonathan pointed out.
With the crinkum and crankum of blockbusters like The Lord of the Ring and Harry Potter to fuel young minds, it’s no wonder RGP is popular among college kids.
Most members of the Kuching group have been playing the game even before their college days, either alone via computer or with others online. They met by chance and after discovering they had the same interests, decided to get to know each other better by coming together to share a common hobby.
“Previously, it was just sheets of paper and dice. Figurines were too expensive and hard to come by. Now these miniatures are more easily available,” Wei noted.
Usually, the game is played with sheets of paper and dice but when it comes to the conclusion, the table is set with figurines representing the characters in the story, complete with a huge model of a fire-spitting dragon.
Explained Eng: “Sometimes, we do set the table with models and miniatures. So we don’t have to use visualisation.”
A game lasts about four hours.
“It’s all about saving the world, good triumphing over evil. But the mission is treacherous and perilous,” he added.
Though it sounds fantastical, it’s also very pragmatic and structured, Eng said, adding that just like a real battle, tactics and strategies were necessary to defeat the enemy.
“The game is as practical as it is fantastical.”
The earliest RPG is Dungeons and Dragons created by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. It was first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules Inc (TSR). Its early success led to a proliferation of similar game systems but D&D remains dominant in its genre.
As of 2006, about 20 million people have played the game with more than US$1 billion in book and equipment sales.