"Nobody appeared, not quite existing, but not quite not existing either."
Hello Munald, and welcome to the Citadel. Warm greetings.
I hate to break it to you, but Lord of the Rings is not the Alpha and Omega of Fantasy. Just the Alpha. While it did pretty much start the genre, it is not the best fantasy book out there, and it certainly isn't roleplaying in a nutshell.
If you want to explain why roleplaying is so great, you have to explain it in the other person's terms. I had a trumpet player ask me why I liked it so much. I said,
"Imagine that roleplaying is a piece of music. When you sit down to play, there is an infinite number of possibilities. Getting the notes out is only the beginning. You have the ways that you can change the tone of the music with your breath, the way that you can play soft and sweet, or loud and dynamic. You can play a long beautiful note, done to perfection, or a fast paced melody that challenges every aspect of your skill. And of course no matter how good you are, you can never be perfect, there is always more to be done.
This is roleplaying at its most basic, controlling a single person. Writing a melody.
Now imagine writing a harmony. What chords to use, what progressions. Do you want to go straight into the five chord, or augment it with a seven chord first. Major or minor key. Or what about diminished and augmented chords. Do you want a single theme to overplay the rest, or do you want a perfect blend.
This is like running an adventure. Writing a harmony.
Now imagine writing a piece for a whole orchestra. Not only how the notes are played, or what harmony to make, or what chords to use, but now, which instruments to pick. Do you want the low mellow tones of a deep bass, or the higher caress of the violin. Do you want to create a strong trumpet blast, or a sweet mellow tone. Which of the hundreds of instruments do you use where at what parts, for what melodies and harmonies and chords.
This is like running a campaign. It is creating a world with infinite intricacies.
This is what roleplaying is really. This is why it never gets old. Because there is always something more. Always something better...ect"
Anyway that the gist of what I said anyway. Again, it is important to say it on somebodies own terms. Thats my advice.
