计算MySQL表行中某种类型值的数量

I know how to count number of values in a row, using something such as:

$num = mysql_query("SELECT COUNT(rowName) FROM tableName");

but I have a table that contains rows that have columns that organize the type the row is. Such as a column in one of the rows is: 'otherType' which can vary in between three different values. How can I count each different value?

Basically, I want to be able to count 'otherType->Character', 'otherType->Entity', 'otherType->Item'.

Is this possible?

Sorry..I'm not so good at explaining.

EDIT:

So, my table looks like this:

id | forGame | otherType | otherDesc
1  | ...     | Entity    | ...
2  | ...     | Item      | ...
3  | ...     | Character | ...

I want to be able to count how many of 'Entity', how many of 'Item', how many of 'Character'..is there a way to do that?

It would be preferable to be able to have variables such as:

$numEntities = [query]
$numItems = [query]
$numCharacters = [query]

or otherwise how might I get the count of just one at a time?

mysql_query("SELECT COUNT(otherType),otherType FROM mainSite_others group by otherType")

works fine, but how do I get each value by itself? an array?

do you mean something like this?

SELECT COUNT(otherType),otherType FROM tableName group by otherType;

hope it helps