'All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream'
I wonder if Poe knew exactly what he meant in his poem on dreams. Is this world we live in a dream, and maybe is there someone or something just waiting to wake us up? Perhaps we make our dreams...the ones that come true in some way or another. Sometimes there is a part of us that feels as if something is missing, and we find things to latch on to that make us seem whole or at least give us a taste of another reality...
No, this isn't an introduction to 'The Matrix.' I'm talking about role-playing via the internet. Everyday a new game springs up on the net giving its members a chance to become someone else and live in a world that is a figment of the imagination. Whether it be a horror, goth, fantasy, or sci-fi rpg, the fact is that people have a strange fascination with the idea of becoming something that they are not. Call it escapism or lunacy or whatever. An attraction exists in the possibility of writing or acting as a vampire or dragon, to have powers that no human being can possibly muster, to live in worlds truely unfathomable. Even if none of it is possible, it is still fun to imagine one's self in another role even if it's just for an hour a day.
I'm dedicating this page to one of the few things I like to do on the net and this is role-playing. You will find links or reviews to sites that role-play based on Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles. Certain games are good and others are not. They will be rated and the reviews will be brief. 5 stars equal a high rating whereas one star equals a poor rating. It's fairly straightfoward.
the.black.rose
beginner / **
TBR is truely for the beginner. Most of the roleplaying occurs via posts in the guestbook. The actual entries are rather short, and the writing tends to cover a broad spectrum, from decent to juvenile. The players themselves are open to new members, which makes this site a good one for beginners since there are no high expectations. The last time I checked the game seemed to be at a standstill.
enfants.de.sang
intermediate / ***
Enfants de Sang has been around for over two years and though the layout has yet to change, the quality of writing has improved. The game is writing based, and it's conducted via a guestbook. The entries tend to be rather short, but the writing is still good for what it lacks. This site also suffers from a lapse in posts, but unlike TBR the game for the most part seems to still be active.
le.jardin.sauvage/dark . ecrivians
experienced / **
In the past LJS/DE has been known for its concentration on flash over substance. The site layouts have always been graphically intense to create the illusion that the webmasters themselves are the vampires they roleplay. The quality of writing still continues to be of a very decent quality, but this site was never lacking in this. The administration was the problem, and I'm not sure whether this has changed.
In its most recent incarnation, the rp site is now called Dark Ecrivains (dark writers) which sounds a tad too cliché even if it is in French. The game is writing based, and the entries are posted in a ubb which seems to be the newest trend these days. As I stated before, the quality of the posts are very good, though they could use some formatting. This game like the others also has a tendancy to lapse.
Have a Ricean rpg that you would like reviewed? Let me know.
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