If you're reading this, then there's a good chance you're already familiar with the concept of roleplaying. Probably you've played some pencil and paper sort, be it Dungeons and Dragons® , Rifts®, White Wolf®, or some other variety. There's also a good chance that, considering where you've undoubtedly found this, you're familiar with online chat rooms. Whethere you usually chat here at The Pork, or elsewhere, you understand the concept of online interaction. You've used terms like "lol" or "rti" and the like.

To my knowledge, this is the first roleplaying game that is designed specifically to be used with a chat room. All the tools, information, and characters will be found right here. No need to purchase different books, and no need to buy dice or figures. Everything is just a mouse click away.

Dark Pines was created out of a gradual growth of different online roleplaying chat rooms. The first inception, when I came to my first HTML chat room, was a pretty basic, vague setting. The room you entered was, of course, "The Tavern". And around it? Well... that depended on who was telling what story. It was what was eventually termed "free form" roleplaying. Meaning there were absolutely zero limitations; as long as you could imagine it and type it, you could do it.

Now, there were some fabulous benefits to freeform roleplaying. You could have battles on epic scales that no roleplaying game in existence could match on pencil and paper. You could have your hero slice his or her way through army after army, and since there were no dice you could control exactly how it turned out. Free form roleplaying was like giving every person who was playing the ability to be a Game Master. It made for some interesting sets, I'll tell you that much.

Of course, there were also some drawbacks. The open-ended nature of the experience was great, but sometimes rules actually make games more fun, instead of just making them more limited. If two people got along and were fighting towards the same goal, for example, things usually went smoothly. All the bad guys were defeated, and both were heroes. But put two characters in direct confrontation? Well... let's just say that people liked their characters, and didn't want to see them die. Ever. It didn't matter who did what, both characters would inevitably walk away from the fight alive and claiming to be the better warrior.

That's what the dice in a roleplaying game give you: the element of chance. Of unpredictability. The uncertainty of whether or not, if you press the situation, it'll come out in your favor. It's all well and good to want to have an invincible character, but after a while, it gets dull. The same thing that makes real life so precious and worth living (ie the knowledge it could end at any moment) is the same thing that makes roleplaying characters so much fun to play. The unknown! The slight tug at the back of your neck where you wonder "Do I really want to do this? What might happen?"

That's what we're trying to bring here: the perfect balance between free form ideas, and that element of chance. Did we nail it the first time around? Probably not. But the great thing about this game, and the place in which we play it, is that players have a direct line to the creators, and can toss in ideas and suggestions on how to make things better. It is probably one of the most dynamic roleplaying games that will be out there.

So, now that I've introduced you to the framework, let's move on to the flesh and blood of the matter, hm? Dark Pines. You may or may not be familiar with it. As the title suggests, it's a little gritty. A little dark. A little... dangerous. This is a world of vampires, of demons, of devils and ghouls. A world spotted with trees that rise so high they blot out the sun, and the darkness they create is home to the foulest of creatures.

But there is light here, too. A spark or two; and if you'll follow that light into the forest, you may emerge on the other side no worse for wear. Oh, you'll hear sounds and you'll catch something just out of the corner of your eye. But if you follow the light, and keep up, I'm sure you'll be fine.

Come take a walk with me, then. Into the forest. And if the light happens to flicker and die, don't worry.

It'll all be over soon.