www.thehobbycompass.com

Helping YOU, to navigate great hobbies!

This Website is dedicated to the magnificient hobbies of wargaming, miniatures painting and collecting, roleplaying, live roleplaying and modelling. In it you will find reviews on new released products, resources, links and general articles on these hobbies.

WARGAMING

A wargame is a game that represents a military operation. Wargaming is the hobby dedicated to the play of such games. Wargames are generally categorized as historical, hypothetical, fantasy, or science fiction.  Fantasy and science fiction wargames either draw their inspiration from works of fiction or provide their own imaginary setting.

Miniatures wargaming involves deploying an army of miniatures on a gaming surface, usually modelled to reppresent a battlefield, opposite your adversary/ies army/ies. The armies are then moved on the battlefield and combat simulated, usually through the roll of dice. The miniatures can be of various scales and materials and the settings are usually historical, hypothetical, fantasy, or science fiction. Historical games are based upon real events and attempt to represent a reasonable approximation of the actual forces, terrain, and other material factors faced by the actual participants. Hypothetical games are games grounded in historical fact but concern battles or conflicts that did not actually happen. Fantasy games are based on the classical sword and sorcery setting with knights, wizards and various mithologically inspired fantasy races like orcs, elves, dwarves, and many more. Science fiction games draw their inspiration from immaginary futuristic settings which space ships, laser guns and aliens. There are lots of rules systems available with which to play and a standard game usually lasts 3 hours, but it can last more or less depending on the quantity of toysoldiers on the tabletop.

ROLE-PLAYING GAME (RPG)

A role-playing game is a game in which the participants assume the roles of characters and collaboratively create stories. Participants determine the actions of their characters based on their characterization, and the actions succeed or fail according to a formal system of rules and guidelines. Within the rules, they may improvise freely; their choices shape the direction and outcome of the games. There is almost allways a "Games Master" or GM, who will be the story teller, who impersonates everyone else in the created setting and who will put obstacles and rewards in front of the players.

Role playing games are a form of interactive and collaborative storytelling. Interactivity is the crucial difference between role-playing games and traditional fiction. Whereas a viewer of a television show is a passive observer, a player at a role-playing game makes choices that affect the story. Such role-playing games extend an older tradition of storytelling games where a small party of friends collaborate to create a story.

While simple forms of role-playing exist in traditional children's games such as "cops and robbers" and "cowboys and Indians", role-playing games add a level of sophistication and persistence to this basic idea with the addition of numeric rule sets and the participation of a referee. Participants in a role-playing game will generate specific characters and an ongoing plot. A consistent system of rules and a more or less realistic campaign setting in games aids suspension of disbelief. The level of realism in games ranges from just enough internal consistency to set up a believable story or credible challenge up to full-blown simulations of real-world processes.

LIVE ACTION ROLE-PLAYING (LARP)

A live action role-playing game is a form of role-playing game where the participants physically act out their characters' actions. The players pursue goals within a fictional setting represented by the real world, while interacting with each other in character. The outcome of player actions may be mediated by game rules, or determined by consensus among players. Event arrangers called gamemasters decide the setting and rules to be used and facilitate play.

Play may be very game-like, or may be more concerned with dramatic or artistic expression. Events can also be designed to achieve educational or political goals. The fictional genres used vary greatly, from realistic modern or historical settings to fantastic or futuristic eras. Production values are sometimes minimal, but can involve elaborate venues and costumes. LARPs range in size from small private events lasting a few hours to huge public events with thousands of players lasting for days.