What Is a Role-Playing Game (RPG)?

Simply put, it is playing pretend. In a role-playing game, players can undertake great challenges, explore new horizons, and overcome fearsome villains. Your imagination is the limit. Every player creates a "character". This imaginary person is how you, the player, interacts with an imaginary world. It is the "role" that you play during the game. Like an actor or actress who plays a role on stage, when you sit down to play, you are pretending to be your character. One of the players assumes the role of "Game Control" or GC. Think of the GC as the narrator to a story or the director of a play. You and your fellow players are the main characters, while the GC takes the role of the villains and the supporting cast. Also, the GC sets the scene and creates obstacles for you to overcome. It's a tough job and requires an incredible imagination, but a GC weaves great games the way good authors write good books.

How do you win? Well, role-playing is a team game. There is no one winner — all the players win together. When does the game stop? Well, when the story is finished. That can be as short or as long as you and the other players want it to be.

What Is Spycraft?

Though initially an espionage game RPG, Spycraft has evolved. Its second edition, Spycraft 2.0, is intentionally designed to span many genres and styles of play. Likewise, Living Spycraft's newest incarnation allows for many roleplaying and tactical opportunities, some of which take the player characters into whole new worlds of adventure. For more information about this multi-setting approach, visit the Settings section.

What Is a "Living" Campaign?

Living campaigns involve thousands of roleplayers all over the world, all of whom share the same communcal setting and adventures (or in Living Spycraft's case, "missions"). In a Living campaign, you build a character using a common set of rules shared by all other players and this character gains experience in events that any player of the campaign may attend. This allows players from different towns, states, or even countries to share missions and save the world together! You can play your character in Los Angeles, then head over to New York and play a game there with the same character in the same world. It's a unique experience and an opportunity to be part of a common dream.

What Is the RPGA?

The RPGA is a world-wide organization made up of people who love role-playing games. It's a social and support organization that connects gamers and sponsors gaming events across the globe. The RPGA also encourages new roleplayers to join its dynamic and fantastic games by hosting learn-to-play sessions. It runs roleplaying events at conventions, in game stores, on the World Wide Web, and at one-day game days every weekend.

Living Spycraft is an official RPGA Campaign and RPGA membership is free, but it is not a requirement to be an RPGA member in order to play Living Spycraft All materials required to play Living Spycraft are available on this site.

Cool! How can I help?

Glad you asked! Living Spycraft is a volunteer organization and always needs help. Full information may be found in the How To section.