Fall of Rome

February, 2005 Newsletter

Which Games are the Real Role Playing Games (RPG)?

This month we are pleased to tell you about the online game reviews Fall of Rome has received recently from MPOGD and Flagship Magazine. We have posted these reviews in their entirety on the News page. We are delighted that the reviews have been unanimous in their praise for Fall of Rome's enchanting game play and depth and variety of viable strategies. You, our community of players, have been praised as well as good helpful players. Our mission is to create world class entertainment in the form of the planet's greatest online multiplayer turn based strategy games. We hope you agree we are on the right track at this early stage. We are expecting reviews soon for Strategy Informer and Armchair General magazine online, as well as a second review in Flagship Magazine. We will put these on our News page as soon as we receive permission to do so. Of course, we are pleased when players discover the fun that is online strategy gaming, true strategy gaming, that is, turn based online strategy games. That naturally brings them to us here at Fall of Rome.

The other topic for this Newsletter is the exploration of the idea of role playing games (RPG), and in particular, what are the qualities that bring meaningful role playing to games? Some interesting discussion has surfaced about whether Fall of Rome is more of a RPG than those games specifically marketed as RPG's, or MMORPG. There has been a new generation of MMORPG of late, with the game World of Warcraft (WoW) in the lead. What role playing game aspects does WoW provide? I have played it, so I can speak from my own experience. You can change the pixilated hair and skin color of your digital character. You may make it a troll or human, and provide it a name. Later, you will watch the color of its armor change as he acquires leather equipment instead of cloth. Is this sufficient to qualify as "role playing"? I found no role playing required of me at all. In fact all the other characters in the game (I say characters because there is not substance enough to find the players behind the character in my experience there) simply rushed by me to do their own thing, as I in turn did with them. My character was scarcely grunted at by the hundreds of others there rushing by, treated merely as an obstacle in their path, as they were to me. This, folks, is not the kind of role playing game you get in Fall of Rome.

In our online RPG called Fall of Rome you are, first and foremost, role playing your kingdom. You will play the Huns very differently from how you will play the Norse, for example. The clever player will accentuate his given strength through his play – his role playing – whether this is more military action to utilize additional warriors at hand, more adventuring to take advantage of the extra hero – a Commander, more noble actions if you are blessed with higher Influence, or more covert actions if dealt a covert advantage such as the Vandals and Franks enjoy. Next, and very significantly, your correspondence with your opponents are real efforts to gain allies, and each message will be weighed for sincerity and true intent by its recipients. Have you established yourself as trustworthy? Do you bring forward new and creative plans that can benefit them? Do they fear your prowess proclaimed for all to see in Valhalla? Do they wish to help you because of your own earlier correspondence and aid you have previously provided them? This, my friends, is more what we think you will find to be meaningful RPG. In Fall of Rome you may go further still in the role playing game mold, by playing as a different persona in your next contest. You have been a man of honor, a chivalrous knight true to his word. Next time, using a different persona, you will be a manipulative and unpredictable impresario, if that is what you wish! This is completely independent of which kingdom you rule, or your opponents, it is an independent choice. You won't find that in the MMORPG's: no one cares whether your Troll is honorable or not, those aren't characteristics included in those games – in fact, you can't even attack the other characters if you wanted to: just the computer controlled monsters. Your character doesn't matter in those games to anyone in the game other than you. Your character there has no impact upon them or how they see the world (very unlike Fall of Rome).

If you enjoyed AD&D (Dungeons and Dragons) as a prime example of a role playing game in your earlier days, you will appreciate more the kind of RPG Fall of Rome is than in those MMORPG's. On top of the great RPG feel, we layer in the best online multiplayer strategy you will find anywhere, and it is true online strategy: that means it is a turn based strategy game where wits, skill and negotiation matter, not your reflexes.

Enjoy your Fall of Rome experiences, and post about them on the forum!

Good hunting,

Rick McDowell