Area RPG Fans Choose Their Own Adventure

The 19th-century author George Eliot, who dressed like a man to expand her opportunities, once wrote, "It's never too late to be what you might have been."

The quote is one of several that rotate on Dallas Smith's Web site, but this is more than just a cute epigraph.

Smith, a senior journalism and mass communication major from Cary, is founding UNC RPG (role-playing games) -- a club devoted to being what you've never been, and she's doing it in her final semester at UNC.

Smith held the club's first interest meeting last week and said she was pleased with the turnout of 15 people.

"I'm interested in role-playing games, and I wanted to meet other students who are interested as well," Smith said.

While the club is not yet a registered University organization, Smith is confident the application process will soon be finished, and she plans to have another meeting sometime next week.

Smith describes role-playing games as "sort of like a storytelling" or a "Choose-Your-Own-Adventure" book. A person, called a "dungeon master," creates an imaginary world in which he or she assigns all of the players roles and gives them a detailed description of the world.

The players then develop their characters, partially based on what the dungeon master has told them.

"You create a character and you play the personality of that character," Smith explained. "You go around and make judgments based on the personality of that character."

This is the format of a pen-and-paper role-playing game, which is usually played with all of the players in a room together.

But some people prefer electronic role-playing games, said Enrique Varela, a freshman music and psychology major from Weaverville who attended the interest meeting.

"If a person is impatient and likes to be pleased visually, computer or video games are more suitable," Varela said.

Varela, who has been interested in role-playing games since he discovered the Final Fantasy 2 video game in the fourth grade, said he has not yet been involved in role-playing games at UNC.

"I don't think there's a void (at UNC), it's just more underground," he added.

Smith has only been involved in role-playing for about a year, because, like Eliot, she had trouble entering a male-dominated realm.

"(Role-playing) is generally known as a male activity," she said, but added that is less because of deliberate exclusion than tradition. "It's just generally how it's been."

The UNC RPG, however, will be accessible to everyone.

"We're open to anyone who's interested, and not just students, but anyone in the area who's interested."

If you've never tried role-playing before, it's not too late to get started, Smith said. "If you're interested in storytelling or fantasy or science fiction, it's a great way to spend a day or a couple of hours."

If you are curious about UNC RPG, contact Smith at uncrpg@hotmail.com.

The Arts & Entertainment Editor can be reached at artsdesk@unc.edu.