From the introduction: A role playing game is very different from traditional games like chess or checkers. With other games, the goal is straight forward - beat your opponent. The goal of a role playing game is primarily to have fun and secondarily for your player characters to survive and defeat their adversaries. These adversaries are not the other player characters but characters known as NPC's (Non Player Characters) who are under the Game Master's (otherwise known as GM) control. Role playing games are cooperative; the players work together as a group or a team and not against each other. The players learn the fundamentals of teamwork as they work to survive in worlds of their Game Master's intricate design. This means that there is no winning and losing in the conventional sense. The players win or lose as a group. The GM and the players both having a good time is the only "win" possible.