Some of the games focus on jousts and ambushes, others on elaborate political negotiations, and still others on skilful improvisations of dramatic scenes. In all of them, the players share a sense of exploring a common fictional landscape and inventing their stories as they go along. Role-playing games are theatrical in a nontraditional but thrilling way. Players are both actors and audience for one another, and the events they portray often have the immediacy of personal experience.