I read this today and I want to share. J.E. Sawyer, via Formspring, answers various questions, including a lengthy discussion on the definition of RPG. While this is, primarily, from a video game view point there are references and parallels made to the table-top community. I’m going to bring this up on the next episode of Bear Swarm! where I get a topic section.  I’m curious to see what my fellow hosts think of the question, “What makes a Game into a Role-Playing Game?” I know my answer. Tell me what you think in the comments.

I also want to call out one VERY specific line of the conversation: “Interactive storyline is not IN ANY WAY essential to RPGs.” To which Mr. Sawyer disagreed. After the transcript there is a small poll asking for your thoughts on this line but feel free to comment about it as well. After the break is a transcript of the Formspring questions. Special thanks to Ausir over on The Vault for compiling this for my reading pleasure.

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In the last couple weeks it has been commented that I have an above normal book count on my gaming shelf. I figured I’d let you be the judge. You can see the entire bookshelf here but after the jump I have shelf-by-shelf pictures and listings of (almost) every gaming book I own. There is a second book shelf in my bedroom that has my old World of Darkness, Shadowrun, Rifts, and a handful of other games that I don’t keep on my main shelf. I’ll post that collection later. For now, lets take a look at the five shelves in my living room.

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