Many years ago, I had an idea.
"How awesome would it be to have a real life RPG experience?"
The original thought was to develop a real life gaming system in the form of a theme park. Kind of like a skirmish (paint ball) set up with team based game play. Some of my friends may remember discussing the ideas and finding that when you think about it, the whole concept just can't be done.
It's the little things like , I don't know. say, sword battles! This wont work without years of experience not to mention dangerous. Sending a group of peasant folk onto a battlefield armed to the teeth with live steel blades couldn't end well. Plus liability insurance would never cover such an exercise.
Then there's Magic? Fire, lightning, teleportation and mind control, well yeah, strike that from the playing field.
And when you look at this further. Almost all fantasy books and role playing games are set in times of war and chaos, and war in real life isn't exactly pleasant. In fact its absolutely horrible! Disease, famine, the smell of corpses in the air and everyone and everything out to kill you for starters.
Fantasy games and Novels that imbue a sense of wondrous realism, just can't work in real life.
That's what makes it Fantasy! Fiction. Stories in which we immerse ourselves without suffering the harsh realities of war.
I played Skyrim for about 3 years, being the only game I played during that time. After around 500 hours game play, I'd became powerful to the point of tedium. I would casually take down a dragon within a few seconds, using a multitude of weapons in which I'd ample training.
I'd finished the main storyline, left roaming the wilderness hunting foxes with no intention of contributing to the land grabbing war between Jarls.
I played Skyrim right up until a few weeks ago when I received The Witcher 3 for my birthday.
I immediately selected the second hardest difficulty as I longed for a new challenge. I subsequently died 32 times in the first few hours of play. Perfect!
The Witcher 3 is so well developed its rekindled my imagination , and re-inspired the idea of a real life RPG, which brings with it all the impossible real life limitations. Damn it!
So I pose this question. What CAN be done?
In Skyrim, certain skills can be obtained and increased like Smithing weapons and armour, learn archery and swordplay both single handed and two handed weapons. Hunt animals for food and skins for leather. In the Witcher, Geralts fighting style, such as his jump spin attacks for example, are very similar to kung fu fighting styles. In both games your character can ride various horses, even compete in horse races. All of these things improve with experience. The more you do, the more you learn, the better you get. Just like in real life. Now we are onto something.
There are many real things that can be achieved all of which I have little to no experience at all.
So here in lies the challenge .
I have never fired an arrow from a bow. I have never smithed a sword or built armour. I have very little training with swords and weapons. I've never hunted animals with traditional weapons for food and fur, and so forth.
I've never ridden a horse into the wilderness wearing the armour I built, with the weapons I smithed, to hunt animals for food and skins and returned to cook the meat, to tan leather for use in building improved weapons and armour.
All of these things I would like to experience.
Over the next few years I will need study books about blacksmithing, leather craft, meet with knife makers and join the local archery club. Learn sword play from a fencing master and continue my training in Shaolin Kung Fu. Converse with Cosplayers and medievil reenactment groups and maybe even learn a bit about our real history in which the fantasy worlds are often based upon.
All progress will be documented here at The Temple of the Arcane Arts as my experience points increase with every achievement.
Thus turning my reality into an real life RPG.
