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Role-playing game

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Not to be confused with other forms of role-playing.

A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game,[1][2] RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting or through a process of structured decision-making regarding character development.[3] Actions taken within many games succeed or fail according to a formal system of rules and guidelines.[4]

There are several forms of role-playing games. The original form, sometimes called the tabletop role-playing game (TRPG or TTRPG), is conducted through discussion, whereas in live action role-playing (LARP), players physically perform their characters' actions.[5] In both of these forms, an arranger called a game master (GM) usually decides on the rules and setting to be used, while acting as the referee; each of the other players takes on the role of a single character.[6]

Several varieties of RPG also exist in electronic media, such as multiplayer text-based Multi-User Dungeons (MUDs) and their graphics-based successors, massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs). Role-playing games also include single-player role-playing video games in which players control a character, or team of characters, who undertake(s) quests and may include player capabilities that advance using statistical mechanics. These electronic games sometimes share settings and rules with tabletop RPGs, but emphasize character advancement more than collaborative storytelling.[7][8]

This type of game is well-established, so some RPG-related game forms, such as trading/collectible card games (CCGs) and wargames, may not be included under the definition. Some amount of role-playing activity may be present in such games, but it is not the primary focus.[9] The term role-playing game is also sometimes used to describe games involving roleplay simulation and exercises used in teaching, training, and academic research.

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Player character

Player character

A player character is a fictional character in a video game or tabletop role-playing game whose actions are controlled by a player rather than the rules of the game. The characters that are not controlled by a player are called non-player characters (NPCs). The actions of non-player characters are typically handled by the game itself in video games, or according to rules followed by a gamemaster refereeing tabletop role-playing games. The player character functions as a fictional, alternate body for the player controlling the character.

Setting (narrative)

Setting (narrative)

A setting is the time and geographic location within a narrative, either non-fiction or fiction. It is a literary element. The setting initiates the main backdrop and mood for a story. The setting can be referred to as story world or milieu to include a context beyond the immediate surroundings of the story. Elements of setting may include culture, historical period, geography, and hour. Along with the plot, character, theme, and style, setting is considered one of the fundamental components of fiction.

Role-playing game system

Role-playing game system

A role-playing game system is a set of game mechanics used in a tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) to determine the outcome of a character's in-game actions.

Tabletop role-playing game

Tabletop role-playing game

A tabletop role-playing game, also known as a pen-and-paper role-playing game, is a classification for a role-playing game (RPG) in which the participants describe their characters' actions through speech. Participants determine the actions of their characters based on their characterization, and the actions succeed or fail according to a set formal system of rules and guidelines. Within the rules, players have the freedom to improvise; their choices shape the direction and outcome of the game.

Live action role-playing game

Live action role-playing game

A live action role-playing game (LARP) is a form of role-playing game where the participants physically portray their characters. The players pursue goals within a fictional setting represented by real-world environments while interacting with each other in character. The outcome of player actions may be mediated by game rules or determined by consensus among players. Event arrangers called gamemasters decide the setting and rules to be used and facilitate play.

Online text-based role-playing game

Online text-based role-playing game

An online text-based role playing game is a role-playing game played online using a solely text-based interface. Online text-based role playing games date to 1978, with the creation of MUD1, which began the MUD heritage that culminates in today's MMORPGs. Some online-text based role playing games are video games, but some are organized and played entirely by humans through text-based communication. Over the years, games have used TELNET, internet forums, IRC, email and social networking websites as their media.

MUD

MUD

A MUD is a multiplayer real-time virtual world, usually text-based or storyboarded. MUDs combine elements of role-playing games, hack and slash, player versus player, interactive fiction, and online chat. Players can read or view descriptions of rooms, objects, other players, non-player characters, and actions performed in the virtual world. Players typically interact with each other and the world by typing commands that resemble a natural language.

Massively multiplayer online role-playing game

Massively multiplayer online role-playing game

A massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is a video game that combines aspects of a role-playing video game and a massively multiplayer online game.

Role-playing video game

Role-playing video game

A role-playing video game, commonly referred to as a role-playing game (RPG) or computer role-playing game (CRPG), is a video game genre where the player controls the actions of a character immersed in some well-defined world, usually involving some form of character development by way of recording statistics. Many role-playing video games have origins in tabletop role-playing games and use much of the same terminology, settings and game mechanics. Other major similarities with pen-and-paper games include developed story-telling and narrative elements, player character development, complexity, as well as replay value and immersion. The electronic medium removes the necessity for a gamemaster and increases combat resolution speed. RPGs have evolved from simple text-based console-window games into visually rich 3D experiences.

Role-playing

Role-playing

Role-playing or roleplaying is the changing of one's behaviour to assume a role, either unconsciously to fill a social role, or consciously to act out an adopted role. While the Oxford English Dictionary offers a definition of role-playing as "the changing of one's behaviour to fulfill a social role", in the field of psychology, the term is used more loosely in four senses:To refer to the playing of roles generally such as in a theatre, or educational setting; To refer to taking a role of a character or person and acting it out with a partner taking someone else's role, often involving different genres of practice; To refer to a wide range of games including role-playing video game (RPG), play-by-mail games and more; To refer specifically to role-playing games.

Roleplay simulation

Roleplay simulation

Roleplay simulation is an experiential learning method in which either amateur or professional roleplayers improvise with learners as part of a simulated scenario. Roleplay is designed primarily to build first-person experience in a safe and supportive environment. Roleplay is widely acknowledged as a powerful technique across multiple avenues of training and education.

Purpose

Main article: Role-playing game theory

Both authors and major publishers of tabletop role-playing games consider them to be a form of interactive and collaborative storytelling.[2][10][11] Events, characters, and narrative structure give a sense of a narrative experience, and the game need not have a strongly-defined storyline.[12] Interactivity is the crucial difference between role-playing games and traditional fiction. Whereas a viewer of a television show is a passive observer, a player in a role-playing game makes choices that affect the story.[13] Such role-playing games extend an older tradition of storytelling games where a small party of friends collaborate to create a story.

While simple forms of role-playing exist in traditional children's games of make believe, role-playing games add a level of sophistication and persistence to this basic idea with additions such as game facilitators and rules of interaction. Participants in a role-playing game will generate specific characters and an ongoing plot. A consistent system of rules and a more or less realistic campaign setting in games aids suspension of disbelief. The level of realism in games ranges from just enough internal consistency to set up a believable story or credible challenge up to full-blown simulations of real-world processes.

Tabletop role-playing games may also be used in therapy settings to help individuals develop behavioral, social, and even language skills.[14] Beneficiaries commonly include young people with learning difficulties such as Autism spectrum disorders, attention-deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD), and dyslexia.[15][16]

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Role-playing game theory

Role-playing game theory

A role-playing game theory is the ludology of role-playing games (RPGs); a study of the topic as a social or artistic phenomenon. RPG theories seek to understand what role-playing games are, how they function, and how the gaming process can be refined in order to improve the experience and produce more useful game products.

Storytelling

Storytelling

Storytelling is the social and cultural activity of sharing stories, sometimes with improvisation, theatrics or embellishment. Every culture has its own stories or narratives, which are shared as a means of entertainment, education, cultural preservation or instilling moral values. Crucial elements of stories and storytelling include plot, characters and narrative point of view. The term "storytelling" can refer specifically to oral storytelling but also broadly to techniques used in other media to unfold or disclose the narrative of a story.

Storytelling game

Storytelling game

A storytelling game is a game where multiple players collaborate on telling a spontaneous story. Usually, each player takes care of one or more characters in the developing story. Some games in the tradition of role-playing games require one participant to take the roles of the various supporting characters, as well as introducing non-character forces, but other systems dispense with this figure and distribute this function among all players.

Make believe

Make believe

Make believe, also known as pretend play, is a loosely structured form of play that generally includes role-play, object substitution and nonliteral behavior. What separates play from other daily activities is its fun and creative aspect rather than being an action performed for the sake of survival or necessity. Children engage in make believe for a number of reasons. It provides the child with a safe setting to express fears and desires. When children participate in pretend play, they are integrating and strengthening previously acquired knowledge. Children who have better pretense and fantasy abilities also show better social competence, cognitive capabilities, and an ability to take the perspective of others. In order for the activity to be referred to as pretend play, the individual must be intentionally diverting from reality. The individual must be aware of the contrast between the real situation and the make believe situation. If the child believes that the make believe situation is reality, then they are misinterpreting the situation rather than pretending. Pretend may or may not include action, depending on whether the child chooses to project their imagination onto reality or not.

Campaign setting

Campaign setting

A campaign setting is usually a fictional world which serves as a setting for a role-playing game or wargame campaign. A campaign is a series of individual adventures, and a campaign setting is the world in which such adventures and campaigns take place. Usually a campaign setting is designed for a specific game or a specific genre of game. There are numerous campaign settings available both in print and online. In addition to published campaign settings available for purchase, many game masters create their own settings, often referred to as "homebrew" settings or worlds.

Suspension of disbelief

Suspension of disbelief

Suspension of disbelief is the avoidance—often described as willing—of critical thinking and logic in understanding something that is unreal or impossible in reality, such as something in a work of speculative fiction, in order to believe it for the sake of enjoying its narrative. Historically, the concept originates in the Greco-Roman principles of theater, wherein the audience ignores the unreality of fiction to experience catharsis from the actions and experiences of characters.

Realism (arts)

Realism (arts)

Realism in the arts is generally the attempt to represent subject matter truthfully, without artificiality and avoiding speculative and supernatural elements. The term is often used interchangeably with naturalism, although these terms are not synonymous. Naturalism, as an idea relating to visual representation in Western art, seeks to depict objects with the least possible amount of distortion and is tied to the development of linear perspective and illusionism in Renaissance Europe. Realism, while predicated upon naturalistic representation and a departure from the idealization of earlier academic art, often refers to a specific art historical movement that originated in France in the aftermath of the French Revolution of 1848. With artists like Gustave Courbet capitalizing on the mundane, ugly or sordid, realism was motivated by the renewed interest in the common man and the rise of leftist politics. The Realist painters rejected Romanticism, which had come to dominate French literature and art, with roots in the late 18th century.

Tabletop role-playing game

Tabletop role-playing game

A tabletop role-playing game, also known as a pen-and-paper role-playing game, is a classification for a role-playing game (RPG) in which the participants describe their characters' actions through speech. Participants determine the actions of their characters based on their characterization, and the actions succeed or fail according to a set formal system of rules and guidelines. Within the rules, players have the freedom to improvise; their choices shape the direction and outcome of the game.

Autism spectrum

Autism spectrum

The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism, autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or sometimes autism spectrum condition (ASC), identifies a loosely defined cluster of neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by challenges in social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication, and often repetitive behaviors and restricted interests. Other common features include unusual responses to sensory stimuli and a preference for sameness or unusual adherence to routines.

Dyslexia

Dyslexia

Dyslexia, also known until the 1960s as word blindness, is a disorder characterized by reading below the expected level for one's age. Different people are affected to different degrees. Problems may include difficulties in spelling words, reading quickly, writing words, "sounding out" words in the head, pronouncing words when reading aloud and understanding what one reads. Often these difficulties are first noticed at school. The difficulties are involuntary, and people with this disorder have a normal desire to learn. People with dyslexia have higher rates of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), developmental language disorders, and difficulties with numbers.

Varieties

Role-playing games are played in a wide variety of formats, ranging from discussing character interaction in tabletop form, physically acting out characters in LARP to playing characters virtually in digital media.[17] There is also a great variety of systems of rules and game settings. Games that emphasize plot and character interaction over game mechanics and combat sometimes prefer the name storytelling game. These types of games tend to reduce or eliminate the use of dice and other randomizing elements. Some games are played with characters created before the game by the GM, rather than those created by the players. This type of game is typically played at gaming conventions, or in standalone games that do not form part of a campaign.

Tabletop

A group playing a tabletop RPG. The GM is at left using a cardboard screen to hide dice rolls from the players.
A group playing a tabletop RPG. The GM is at left using a cardboard screen to hide dice rolls from the players.
Main article: Tabletop role-playing game

Tabletop and pen-and-paper (PnP) RPGs are conducted through discussion in a small social gathering. The GM describes the game world and its inhabitants. The other players describe the intended actions of their characters, and the GM describes the outcomes.[18] Some outcomes are determined by the game system, and some are chosen by the GM.[19]

This is the format in which role-playing games were first popularized. The first commercially available RPG, Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), was inspired by fantasy literature and the wargaming hobby and was published in 1974.[20] The popularity of D&D led to the birth of the tabletop role-playing game industry, which publishes games with many different themes, rules, and styles of play. The popularity of tabletop games has decreased since the modern releases of online MMO RPGs.[21]

This format is often referred to simply as a role-playing game. To distinguish this form of RPG from other formats, the retronyms tabletop role-playing game or pen and paper role-playing game are sometimes used, though neither a table nor pen and paper are strictly necessary.[6]

Live action

Main article: Live action role-playing game
A fantasy LARP group
A fantasy LARP group

A LARP is played more like improvisational theatre.[22] Participants act out their characters' actions instead of describing them, and the real environment is used to represent the imaginary setting of the game world.[5] Players are often costumed as their characters and use appropriate props, and the venue may be decorated to resemble the fictional setting.[23][24] Some live-action role-playing games use rock paper scissors or comparison of attributes to resolve conflicts symbolically, while other LARPs use physical combat with simulated arms such as airsoft guns or foam weapons.[25]

LARPs vary in size from a handful of players to several thousand, and in duration from a couple of hours to several days.[26][27] Because the number of players in a LARP is usually larger than in a tabletop role-playing game, and the players may be interacting in separate physical spaces, there is typically less of an emphasis on tightly maintaining a narrative or directly entertaining the players, and game sessions are often managed in a more distributed manner.[28]

Electronic media

Main article: Role-playing video game
An adventurer finds a teleportation portal while exploring a dungeon in the role-playing video game Falcon's Eye.
An adventurer finds a teleportation portal while exploring a dungeon in the role-playing video game Falcon's Eye.

Tabletop role-playing games have been translated into a variety of electronic formats.[29] As early as 1974, the same year as the release of Dungeons & Dragons, unlicensed versions of it were developed on mainframe university systems under titles such as dnd and Dungeon. These early computer RPGs influenced all of electronic gaming, as well as spawning the role-playing video game genre.[21] Some authors divide digital role-playing games into two intertwined groups: single-player games using RPG-style mechanics, and multiplayer games incorporating social interaction.[21][30][31]

Single-player

Single-player role-playing video games form a loosely defined genre of computer and console games with origins in role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons, on which they base much of their terminology, settings, and game mechanics.[21] This translation changes the experience of the game, providing a visual representation of the world but emphasizing statistical character development over collaborative, interactive storytelling.[7][8]

Multiplayer

Typical MUD interface for God Wars II
Typical MUD interface for God Wars II
Main articles: Online text-based role-playing game and Massively multiplayer online role-playing game

Online text-based role-playing games involve many players using some type of text-based interface and an Internet connection to play an RPG. Games played in a real-time way include MUDs, MUSHes, and other varieties of MU*. Games played in a turn-based fashion include play-by-mail games and play-by-post games.

Massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) combine the large-scale social interaction and persistent world of MUDs with graphic interfaces. Most MMORPGs do not actively promote in-character role-playing, however, players can use the games' communication functions to role-play so long as other players cooperate.[32] The majority of players in MMORPGs do not engage in role-playing in this sense.[33]

Computer-assisted gaming can be used to add elements of computer gaming to in-person tabletop role-playing, where computers are used for record-keeping and sometimes to resolve combat, while the participants generally make decisions concerning character interaction.

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Live action role-playing game

Live action role-playing game

A live action role-playing game (LARP) is a form of role-playing game where the participants physically portray their characters. The players pursue goals within a fictional setting represented by real-world environments while interacting with each other in character. The outcome of player actions may be mediated by game rules or determined by consensus among players. Event arrangers called gamemasters decide the setting and rules to be used and facilitate play.

Campaign setting

Campaign setting

A campaign setting is usually a fictional world which serves as a setting for a role-playing game or wargame campaign. A campaign is a series of individual adventures, and a campaign setting is the world in which such adventures and campaigns take place. Usually a campaign setting is designed for a specific game or a specific genre of game. There are numerous campaign settings available both in print and online. In addition to published campaign settings available for purchase, many game masters create their own settings, often referred to as "homebrew" settings or worlds.

Gaming convention

Gaming convention

A gaming convention is a gathering centered on role-playing games, collectible card games, miniatures wargames, board games, video games, or other types of games. These conventions are typically two or three days long, and often held at either a university or in a convention center hotel.

Gamemaster's screen

Gamemaster's screen

A gamemaster's screen, also called a GM's screen, is a gaming accessory, usually made out of either cardboard or card stock, and is used by the gamemaster to hide all the relevant data related to a tabletop role-playing game session from the players in order to not spoil the plot of the story. It also hides any dice rolls made by the gamemaster that players should not see. In addition, screens often have essential tables and information printed on the inside for the gamemaster to easily reference during play.

Dungeons & Dragons

Dungeons & Dragons

Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. (TSR). It has been published by Wizards of the Coast since 1997. The game was derived from miniature wargames, with a variation of the 1971 game Chainmail serving as the initial rule system. D&D's publication is commonly recognized as the beginning of modern role-playing games and the role-playing game industry, and also deeply influenced video games, especially the role-playing video game genre.

Retronym

Retronym

A retronym is a newer name for an existing thing that helps differentiate the original form/version from a more recent one. It is thus a word or phrase created to avoid confusion between older and newer types, whereas previously no clarification was required.

Improvisational theatre

Improvisational theatre

Improvisational theatre, often called improvisation or improv, is the form of theatre, often comedy, in which most or all of what is performed is unplanned or unscripted, created spontaneously by the performers. In its purest form, the dialogue, action, story, and characters are created collaboratively by the players as the improvisation unfolds in present time, without use of an already prepared, written script.

Airsoft gun

Airsoft gun

Airsoft guns are replica toy guns used in airsoft sports. They are a special type of low-power smoothbore air guns designed to shoot non-metallic spherical projectiles (pb) often colloquially referred to as "BBs", which are typically made of plastic or biodegradable resin materials. Airsoft gun powerplants are designed to have low muzzle energy ratings and the pellets have significantly less penetrative and stopping powers than conventional airguns, and are generally safe for competitive sporting and recreational purposes if proper protective gear is worn.

Foam weapon

Foam weapon

A foam weapon, also known as a boffer, padded weapon, or latex weapon, is a padded mock weapon used for simulated handheld combat. Such weapons are used in simulated battles called battle gaming and in some live action role-playing games (LARPs).

Falcon's Eye

Falcon's Eye

Falcon's Eye is a version of the roguelike computer game NetHack which introduces isometric graphics and mouse control. Falcon's Eye has been praised for improving NetHack's visuals and audio to an almost commercial level and has been noted by Linux Journal as among the best free games available. After development stalled in 2001, the game was continued as Vulture's Eye and later Vulture for Nethack.

Online text-based role-playing game

Online text-based role-playing game

An online text-based role playing game is a role-playing game played online using a solely text-based interface. Online text-based role playing games date to 1978, with the creation of MUD1, which began the MUD heritage that culminates in today's MMORPGs. Some online-text based role playing games are video games, but some are organized and played entirely by humans through text-based communication. Over the years, games have used TELNET, internet forums, IRC, email and social networking websites as their media.

Massively multiplayer online role-playing game

Massively multiplayer online role-playing game

A massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is a video game that combines aspects of a role-playing video game and a massively multiplayer online game.

People

Gamemaster

Main article: Gamemaster

One common feature of many RPGs is the role of a gamemaster, a participant who has special duties to present the fictional setting, arbitrate the results of character actions, and maintain the narrative flow.[34] In tabletop and live-action RPGs the GM performs these duties in person. In video RPGs, many of the functions of a GM are fulfilled by the game engine. However, some multi-player video RPGs also allow for a participant to take on a GM role through a visual interface called a GM toolkit, albeit with abilities limited by the available technology.[35][36]

Player character

Main article: Player character

Another standard concept in RPGs is the player character, a character in the fictional world of the game whose actions the player controls. Typically each player controls a separate player character, sometimes more, each of whom acts as a protagonist in the story.

Non-player character

Main article: Non-player character

In contrast to player characters, non-player characters (NPCs) are controlled by the gamemaster or game engine, or by people assisting the gamemaster. Non-player characters fill out the population of the fictional setting and can act as antagonists, bystanders, or allies of the player characters.[37]

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Gamemaster

Gamemaster

A gamemaster is a person who acts as an organizer, officiant for regarding rules, arbitrator, and moderator for a multiplayer role-playing game. They are more common in co-operative games in which players work together than in competitive games in which players oppose each other. The act performed by a gamemaster is sometimes referred to as "Gamemastering" or simply "GM-ing".

Game engine

Game engine

A game engine is a software framework primarily designed for the development of video games and generally includes relevant libraries and support programs. The "engine" terminology is similar to the term "software engine" used in the software industry.

Player character

Player character

A player character is a fictional character in a video game or tabletop role-playing game whose actions are controlled by a player rather than the rules of the game. The characters that are not controlled by a player are called non-player characters (NPCs). The actions of non-player characters are typically handled by the game itself in video games, or according to rules followed by a gamemaster refereeing tabletop role-playing games. The player character functions as a fictional, alternate body for the player controlling the character.

Non-player character

Non-player character

A non-player character (NPC), or non-playable character, is any character in a game that is not controlled by a player. The term originated in traditional tabletop role-playing games where it applies to characters controlled by the gamemaster or referee rather than by another player. In video games, this usually means a character controlled by the computer that has a predetermined set of behaviors that potentially will impact gameplay, but will not necessarily be the product of true artificial intelligence.

Source: "Role-playing game", Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, (2023, March 24th), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Role-playing_game.

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Further Reading

Dungeons & Dragons

Gamemaster

Live action role-playing game

Role-playing video game

Campaign setting

Adventure (role-playing games)

Robin Laws

History of role-playing games

Dungeon Master

Role-playing game terms

Role-playing game system

History of live action role-playing games

Tabletop role-playing game

Powered by the Apocalypse

Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game

Actual play
See also
Notes
  1. ^ Harrigan, Pat; Wardrip-Fruin, Noah (2007). Second Person: Roleplaying and Story in Playable Media. MIT University Press. ISBN 9780262514187.
  2. ^ a b GURPS (4th ed.). Steve Jackson Games. 2004. pp. Chapter 1. But roleplaying is not purely educational. It's also one of the most creative possible entertainments. Most entertainment is passive: the audience just sits and watches, without taking part in the creative process. In roleplaying, the "audience" joins in the creation, which may introduce a huge impact on the project. The GM is the chief storyteller, but the players are responsible for portraying their characters. If they want something to happen in the story, they make it happen, because they're in the story.
  3. ^ Grouling, Jennifer (2010). The Creation of Narrative in Tabletop Role-Playing Games. McFarland & Company. pp. 6. ISBN 978-0-7864-4451-9. As suggested by the name, TRPGs are played face-to-face (around a table, most likely), and involve players 'acting out' a role. This acting is not always literal. Players do not arrive in costume or speak exclusively in character – something that differentiates TRPGs from live-action role-playing games (LARPs). Instead, players develop characters based on certain rules and are responsible for deciding what those characters do over the course of the game.
  4. ^ (Tychsen 2006:76) "The variety of role-playing games makes it inherently challenging to provide a common definition. However, all forms of role-playing games – be they PnP RPGs, CRPGs, MMORPGs, or LARPS – share a group of characteristics, which makes them identifiable from other types of games: storytelling with rules, control of fictional characters, a fictitious reality, usually the presence of a game master (or game engine), and at least one player."
  5. ^ a b (Tychsen et al. 2006:255) "LARPs can be viewed as forming a distinct category of RPG because of two unique features: (a) The players physically embody their characters, and (b) the game takes place in a physical frame. Embodiment means that the physical actions of the player are regarded as those of the character. Whereas in an RPG played by a group sitting around a table, players describe the actions of their characters (e.g., "I run to stand beside my friend")"
  6. ^ a b Kim, John. ""Narrative" or "Tabletop" RPGs". Archived from the original on 29 August 2008. Retrieved 9 September 2008.
  7. ^ a b (Tychsen 2006:75) "PnP RPGs are an example of interactive narratives. The rules and fictional worlds that form the basis for these games function as a vessel for collaborative, interactive storytelling. This is possibly the most important feature of PnP RPGs, and one that CRPGs have yet to reproduce."
  8. ^ a b Crawford, Chris (2003). Chris Crawford on Game Design. New Riders Publishing. pp. 163. ISBN 978-0-13-146099-7. In some ways, the emphasis on character development has impeded progress in storytelling with RPGs. The central premise of these [computer RPGs] is that the player steadily builds his abilities by acquiring wealth, tools, weapons, and experience. This emphasis on character development tends to work against the needs of dramatic development – dramatic twists and turns clash with the prevailing tone of steady development. Fortunately, this impediment is not fundamental to the RPG genre; it is a cultural expectation rather than an architectural necessity.
  9. ^ (Heliö 2004) "In the family of role-playing games there are also a whole bunch of other game types and game-like activities that can be included or excluded, like the collectible card games (such as Magic: The Gathering) and board and strategy games (like Warhammer 40.000), or different forms of theatrical and larp-like combinations, such as fate-play. The action of role-playing is usually somehow present in these game forms, but the focus can be more either in the competitive nature of the game (MtG, Warhammer), or in the immersive performance (as in fate-play), than in role-playing itself."
  10. ^ Werewolf: The Apocalypse (2nd ed.). White Wolf Publishing. 1994. pp. Chapter 1. ISBN 978-1-56504-112-7. Although Werewolf is a game, it is more concerned with storytelling than it is with winning. Werewolf is a tool enabling you to become involved in tales of passion and glory and to help tell those stories yourself.
  11. ^ Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook (4th ed.). Wizards of the Coast. 6 June 2008. pp. Chapter 1. ISBN 978-0-7869-4867-3. A roleplaying game is a storytelling game that has elements of the games of make-believe that many of us played as children.
  12. ^ (Heliö 2004) "Still, we must note that there is no actual story in the game of the role-playing game, though there are events, characters, and structures of narrativity giving the players the basis for interpreting it as a narrative. We have many partially open structures that we may fulfill with our imagination during the course of the game – within its limitations. We also have the ability to follow different kinds of narrative premises and structures as well as imitate them for ourselves to create more authentic and suitable narrative experiences. We have the 'narrative desire' to make pieces we interpret to relate to each other fit in, to construct the plot from recurring and parallel elements."
  13. ^ Waskul, Dennis; Lust, Matt (2004). "Role-Playing and Playing Roles: The Person, Player, and Persona in Fantasy Role-Playing" (PDF). Caliber. 27 (3): 333–356. doi:10.1525/si.2004.27.3.333. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 December 2012. Retrieved 23 December 2008.
  14. ^ White, Catriona (3 May 2017). "Dungeons & Dragons is now being used as therapy". BBC Three. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  15. ^ Berg, Chris (25 October 2016). "Dungeons of the mind: Tabletop RPGs as social therapy". Kill Screen. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  16. ^ Leung, Ethan (2 April 2018). "Helping dyslexic students with role-playing games". The New Paper. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  17. ^ Tychsen, Anders; Newman, Ken; Brolund, Thea; Hitchens, Michael (2007). "Cross-format analysis of the gaming experience in multi-player role-playing games" (PDF). Proceedings of DiGRA 2007 Conference: Situated Play. Digital Games Research Association (DiGRA). Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 June 2010. Retrieved 1 January 2010. The Role-Playing Game (RPG) is one of the major genres of games and has proven an extremely portable concept – from the physically embodied live action and tabletop formats to the various digital, mobile and even enhanced and augmented reality formats.
  18. ^ (Tychsen 2006:77) "In PnP RPGs, the general game process consists of information-feedback cycles between the players and the GM, or internally within the group."
  19. ^ (Tychsen 2006:78–79) "The GM assumes a variety of responsibilities in PnP RPGs, depending on the playing style used, however, these normally include facilitation of game flow and game story, providing environmental content of the fictional reality, as well as administrating rules and arbitrating conflicts. ... In RPGs, the rules specify a great deal more than how pieces are moved on a game board. Because these games are focused on player characters, the rules are designed to govern the nature of these story protagonists and the fictional reality they act in. ... Note that the rules systems in PnP RPGs can be modified or ignored on the fly by the GM or players if so desired."
  20. ^ (Copier 2005:3) "...fantasy role-playing as a commercial product was developed in the 1970s as Dungeons and Dragons (D&D, 1974) by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was based on a combination of their interests in table-top wargaming and literary fantasy."
  21. ^ a b c d Barton, Matt (22 February 2008). Dungeons and Desktops: The History of Computer Role-Playing Games. CRC Press. ISBN 978-1-4398-6524-8.
  22. ^ Kilgallon, John; Sandy Antunes; Mike Young (2001). Rules to Live by: A Live Action Roleplaying Conflict Resolution System. Interactivities Ink. p. 1. ISBN 978-0-9708356-0-4. A live action roleplaying game is a cross between a traditional 'tabletop' roleplaying game and improvisational theatre.
  23. ^ Falk, Jennica; Davenport, Glorianna (2004). "Live Role-Playing Games: Implications for Pervasive Gaming". Entertainment Computing – ICEC 2004. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Vol. 3166. Springer Berlin / Heidelberg. p. 131. ISBN 978-3-540-22947-6. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 February 2013. Retrieved 28 October 2008. The LRP player, like a stage actor, is a person who undergoes a transformation into a character. The character's costume and accessories, or kit, aids this transformation ... Physical structures may be used as game locations, and sometimes even purposely constructed to enhance the game world ... Players frequently use physical artifacts as props and tools in their role-play, primarily to back up their character roles.
  24. ^ (Heliö 2004) "Naturally, an off-game object does not actually transform into the object it is imagined as being in-game: for instance, if an airplane in the sky becomes a dragon in some larpers' imaginations, it does not actually turn into a dragon – and even the players do not actually think so. The group of players has a common contract stating how to behave in the situation because they willingly share the game's make-believe world. In order to sustain the agreed immersion, the 'dragon's' airplaneness' should not, in any case, be directly voiced aloud."
  25. ^ Young, Mike, ed. (2003). The Book of LARP. Interactivities Ink. pp. 7–8. ISBN 978-0-9708356-8-0. "Live combat... requires the players' abilities to perform an action. You want to hit someone with a sword? You have to actually hit the player with a prop representing a sword, usually a padded weapon. ... Simulated combat is more abstract. It uses an external method that does not rely on player ability. For example, if you want to hit the other person with a sword, you may have to make a rock-paper-scissors challenge.
  26. ^ Widing, Gabriel (2008). "We Lost Our World and Made New Ones: Live Role-Playing in Modern Times". In Markus, Montola; Jaakko, Stenros (eds.). Playground Worlds. Ropecon ry. ISBN 978-952-92-3579-7. ...the participants sustain these temporary worlds for a few hours or several days
  27. ^ (Tychsen et al. 2006:258) "Games range in size from a handful to more than 4,000 players"
  28. ^ (Tychsen et al. 2005:218) "[The LARP GM is] forced to let go of the game and let it take on a life of its own outside his or her control. While based on similar principles, the requirements [are] therefore very different in practice from GMs in PnP RPGs... The GM is generally, unless the LARP is small in terms of the number of participants, not responsible for keeping the narrative flow. The GM can however oversee the progress of the game and help or influence where needed... Establishing a hierarchy of GMs and NPCs to monitor the game and ensure everyone is entertained and activated within the shared game space is a typical way of controlling large fantasy LARPS. This structure is usually established before the game commences."
  29. ^ (Tychsen 2006:75) "A major source of inspiration of computer games of all genres is role-playing games. Being of a somewhat similar age as computer games, Pen and Paper Role Playing Games (PnP RPGs), a specialized form of table-top games (TTGs) involving multiple participants interacting in a fictional world, have influenced not only the Computer Role Playing Game (CRPG) genre [6], but virtually all types of computer games..."
  30. ^ Yee, N. (2006). The Demographics, Motivations and Derived Experiences of Users of Massively-Multiuser Online Graphical Environments. PRESENCE: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments, 15, 309-329.
  31. ^ (Tychsen 2005:218) "CRPGs can be separated into single- and multiplayer categories..."
  32. ^ (Heliö 2004) "Even if a game does not support active role-playing, as most of the massively multiplayer online role-playing games fail to do (Dark Age of Camelot and others), experienced role-players may adopt the mindset and take advantage of the game's communication functionalities, and start to role-play. This, however, requires the willing support or at least acceptance of the other players – any one of us can act like a prince, but if the others won't play along, it does not constitute role-playing."
  33. ^ Eladhari, Mirjam P; Mateas, Michael (2009). Rules for role play in Virtual Game Worlds Case study: The Pataphysic Institute. Proceedings of the Digital Arts and Culture Conference. p. 1. Retrieved 12 December 2009. However, the majority of players in MMORPGs do not role-play at all, but self-play, that is, play as being themselves without adopting a fictional role.
  34. ^ (Tychsen et al. 2005:215-216) "The areas for which a GM can be responsible, regardless of the game platform (PnP RPG, LARP, CRPG or MMOG), vary not only internally in games from each platform but also across platforms. A GM in an MMOG generally has different responsibilities than a GM in a PnP RPG. These differences can be related to a limited number of variables, such as the media of expression. In some tabletop role-playing games, including Dungeons and Dragons, the GM is referred to as the Dungeon Master or DM. The full range of possible responsibilities of GMs can be subdivided into the following five categories, which also cover the functions of automated storytelling engines: [Narrative flow, Rules, Engagement, Environment, Virtual world:]"
  35. ^ (Tychsen et al. 2006:255) "In a computer RPG, the role of the GM is taken on (with varying degrees of success) by software."
  36. ^ (Tychsen et al. 2005:218) "CRPGs can be separated into ... those few who have incorporated a GM toolkit instead of a fully automated storytelling engine. ... In PnP RPGs and LARPs all lines of normal human communication are available: Speech, Emotion and Body Language (Figure 3). In CRPGs and MMOGs, they become narrowed down due to technical limitations, albeit with the added feature of Scripting as a means of communication. Additionally, contemporary game engines do not allow for on-the-fly updating of the game world and generation of new content in reaction to the actions of the player-controlled avatars (or characters in PnP RPG terminology)."
  37. ^ (Tychsen et al. 2005:216) "The environment needs to be filled out with non-player controlled characters (NPCs)
References
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