History / Background

Role-Playing Game

A role-playing game (RPG) is a type of game in which players assume the roles of characters and collaboratively create narratives. Gameplay progresses according to a predetermined system of rules and guidelines, within which players may improvise freely. Player choices shape the direction and outcome of role-playing games.

Role-playing games are typically more collaborative and social than competitive. A typical role-playing game unites its participants into a single team that adventures as a group. A role-playing game rarely has winners or losers. This makes role-playing games fundamentally different from board games, card games, sports and most other types of games. Like novels or films, role-playing games appeal because they engage the imagination.

Concept

At their core, role-playing games are a form of interactive and collaborative storytelling. Simple forms of role-playing exist in traditional children's games such as "cops and robbers," "dogs and mailmen," "cowboys and indians," and "playing house." Mature role-playing games are more sophisticated. Unlike the childhood game of "cowboys and indians" for example, participants in a Wild West role-playing game will generate specific, detailed characters and an involved plot. Their goal is to reproduce the themes and enjoyment of a Western film or a Western novel. Like the serial Westerns of old movie matinees, such episodic games are often played in regular sessions that continue for months or even years.

Varieties

The original form of role-playing game was the fantasy wargame, inspired by sword and sorcery fiction and utilizing miniature figurines and scaled terrain grids to illustrate action in a way similar to that of tactical wargames. Whether or not these supplementary materials are still used, this variety of table-top interaction remains a dominant model for role-playing. Participants usually sit around a table and conduct the game as a small social gathering. Tabletop games that emphasize plot and character interaction over game mechanics and combat sometimes prefer the name storytelling game.

A LARP (short for "Live Action Role-Playing"), is played more like improvisational theatre. Participants act out their characters' actions, often in costume. LARPs de-emphasize die rolls and rulebook references. Freeform role-playing games are a subgenre of LARP with minimal rules and a greater focus on character development. However, any variety of role-playing game (with the exception of computer games, in which a player's only interaction is with the computer) can be played as a freeform role-playing game.

Computer role-playing games are a genre within the console game and computer game markets. They develop character and plot more than other computer games, and implement game mechanics derived from tabletop RPGs. CRPGs can be single player or multiplayer, often utilizing networks to allow players to participate with separate computers or consoles, either at remote locations or on a local area network (see LAN party).