The entire fantasy genre did not exist, except for in fairy tales, until Tolkein started writing about the world that he had created out of fairy tales and his imagination in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings (and many other books). In the late sixties and early seventies, the first role-playing game, Dungeons and Dragons, was slowly evolved out of wargaming (which I, for lack of knowledge, will not go into). First having only individual units in a fantasy setting, it slowly evolved into individual heroes and later actual fantastical units were added, with inspiration from Tolkein. Even Dungeons and Dragons was very different from today's Dungeons and Dragons, which is most properly called Dungeons and Dragons, 3rd Ed. (at least by everyone who's played before. TSR might dispute this, but unsuccessfully, I'd bet). After Dungeons and Dragons was developed, other role-playing games were written and developed. For instance, every video game on this site owes its existence to Dungeons and Dragons. And, that was the very boring and yet highly abridged history.
When you play an RPG, there are always at least two people involved, and if you have any luck whatsoever, you will usually want 5 or 6 or more. One of these people will be the GM (Game Master) or DM (Dungeon Master) who controls everyone and everything except (and even this is not entirely true) for your character.
Maps and pictures can be used by the GM to describe the environment, but usually you will have to rely on what your GM tells you. The GM tells you what is going on in the world around you, and you give him your player's reaction.
Aside from game-specific rules, this about covers it. It's actually a pretty simple system, when you think about it. If anyone has a better explanation, email the staff and we could possibly replace this, ahem, brief description with something somewhat better. In any case, check out the "how to get started in Dungeons and Dragons" page for more information.
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