There's an old joke that if you want to know what someone's in to, you ask who their dungeon master is. You'll usually get one of two answers. ;)

"Keeper of Arcane Lore" is the equivalent of a Dungeon Master, but specifically for Call of Cthulhu, a horror game. Essentially, all role playing games are collaborative storytelling, where rules and dice provide a framework for tension and risk. Whomever is running the game (dungeon master, keeper, etc) sets the scene of a story, voices characters, and gives context to dice rolls. It's kind of like a big improvised play.

I got into theatre via roleplaying, and it's been invaluable for developing good stage skills (dropped lines happen in EVERY show). Now I host classes on comedic and dramatic improv, but I still love sitting at a table and building stories with others.

Heh, there's definitely room for overlap!

The ones with pencil & paper, that is... I like to be up front with the level of my geekery. Who here is into collaborative storytelling and what systems do you enjoy?