Role-playing Games: Crash Course Games #18

Today, we’re going to explore the world of role-playing games. Role-playing games are different than most, because they’re technically a form of interactive storytelling with one player managing the game as the game master (or dungeon master), and all of the players assuming the roles of their characters. These games started within the genre of wargaming but reached widespread popularity relatively recently in the 1970s and 80s with its incredibly popular fantasy-based entry Dungeons & Dragons. But with this rise in popularity also came controversy. The United States during this time saw RPGs as an attack on morality and religion and even claimed that these games lured its players into Satanism and black magic.