There is nothing better than a well run,
excellently played, fantasy role play game,
some would say.

Such a game lets a group of players,
enjoy the endless bounds of infinite
imagination, in a controlled manner.

Fantasy role play is 'Let's pretend'
with logical rules that permit
a shared storytelling to
possess both surprize,
and internal logic.

They should put that on the back of a box.

What it really all comes down to
is a bunch of people immersing
themselves in a shared illusion
of living lives and accomplishing
things they could never hope
to experience normally.

Their characters in the game
often seem to take on a strange
life of their own, which only
adds to the fun.

Sometimes, a particularly 'real'
seeming  game character
cannot help but make a person
question what identity really is,
and whether or not the
invented character
does not have some
strange mystical reality
behind it
that we just cannot see.

If this sounds a bit like
how religions get started,
you would be correct.

Sometimes, humans read or
see or feel fictional things,
and cannot reconcile the
sensation of reality
with actual reality.

Sometimes humans just
want something to be true
so very much,
that they refuse to accept
reality any more.

Then again, who really knows?

Maybe any character,
given enough attention,
made real enough
can become
like the Velveteen Rabbit
real in some
strange way?

If so, then that 10th level Paladin,
that Elf Assassin,
and any god people pray to,
are all real somehow.

Somewhere.

But while you ponder whether
Jesus, Krsna, Allah and your
Half-Orc magic user
really exist, just because you
'played' with them enough

You have to wonder,

Who, or what,

is playing you.