joseph campbell wrote the heroes journey 'the hero with a thousand faces' a treatese on the road that all heroes, have to undertake from all cultures, he identified that a reluctant hero is called upon a quest, it's dangerous and life threatening, they journey and on the way find some medicine or tools or information that they bring back, to heal themselves or the tribe with.
But Campbell only looks at part of the scheme, for recognises the unity behind diversity and weaves them into a collective whole.
But there are many differences. Campbell has given us a horizontal map, but lets look at the vertical one, the different levels on which life's games are played.
The vertical map allows us to identify amongst the heroes if they are saints or warriors or sages.
Different types of heroes reflect different types of games.
The games are not frivolous but meaningful ones, that confront and test us, hone our abilities.
In the book The Master Game Robert DeRopp says, 'what people need and demand from life is not wealth, comfort and esteem but games worth playing. seek a game worth playing above all, when you find it play with intensity, play as if your life depends upon it because it does.'
There are games and games...
'life games reflect life games and the games men chose to play indicate not only their type but also their inner level of development. we can divide games up into 'object games' and 'meta games'
object games are games for the attainment of material things. money status, sex
meta games are for intangibles. knowledge, salvation, truth beauty, etc.
At the top of the meta games DeRopp places the Master Game:
The quest for enlightenment. The game played by sages across cultures and time, It is the game concerned with mastery of not the outer world but the inner world. The ultimate goal is to dissolve into ones true nature and delight in the greatest discovery of all discovery, the ecstatic realization that this nature is inseparable from the divine.

The Kingdom of heaven is within you
He is all and all is him
Those who know themselves know their lord
Those who know themselves know their natures
Atman and Brahman are one
Look within, You are the Buddah.

It still remains a difficult and demanding game and in our society there are few who play, modern man is hypnotized by the glitter of our own gadgets, he is not concerned with his inner world. But the Master game is the inner world, a vast and complex territory about which men know little.
The aim of the game is awakening, awakening from the condition we are trapped in, sleepwalking.

Master game players progress through these five stages

the heroes conventional life
the call to adventure and awakening
disipline and training
culmination of the quest
the final phase of return and contribution to society