Remember when you first became interested in the idea of high fantasy in the first place? Was it Lancelot and Merlin? Was it Robin Hood and his merry men? Was it Gandalf and Aragorn? What of Aslan and the White Witch? How about Tanis or Tasslehof?

At some point, you found yourself immersed in a story about a world filled with magic - mythical creatures and wizards, long lost cities and fantastical villians. As a child, I devoured these stories through books and movies alike. Within the early 80’s of my childhood, there was a surge of fantasy movies, games, and books.

As I took my first fumbling forays into dinner table RPG’s, I learned then (first as a player, and later as a gamemaster) that it was never the idea of combat itself that kept me on the edge of my seat, but the idea of advancing through a storyline.

All the rewards and saving throws were merely superfluous to a well spun yarn. Truly, the way I would describe RPG’s to friends and family for years was simply that within such games, you helped to participate in the writing of a story.

Have today’s MMO’s forgotten that lesson? In many ways, I think that this is the case today…

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