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Yorkton Boardgamers Guild - RPGs are a sub-genre worth exploring

Role playing games (RPGs) are a diverse sub-genre of gaming which is well worth exploring if you are looking for something different. An RPG “is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting.

Role playing games (RPGs) are a diverse sub-genre of gaming which is well worth exploring if you are looking for something different.

An 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 or character development.

Actions taken within many games succeed or fail according to a formal system of rules and guidelines,” details Wikipedia with an explanation that pretty much gets to the heart of the idea behind such games.

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

At the core of an RPG is a mechanic which in essence takes players back to their childhood where the imagination rules playtime. Children have the capacity to make a large cardboard box a pirate ship one day, and they sail to an island in search of treasure.

The next day the same cardboard box can be a spaceship and the trip is to the moon in search of cheese.

An RPG simply asks players to use their imaginations.

“Both authors and major publishers of tabletop role-playing games consider them to be a form of interactive and collaborative storytelling. Events, characters, and narrative structure give a sense of a narrative experience, and the game need not have a strongly-defined storyline. 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. Such role-playing games extend an older tradition of storytelling games where a small party of friends collaborate to create a story,” details Wikipedia.

“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.”

Generally an RPG has one person acting as gamemaster. That person can have a detailed storyline that they want followed, either from a published game module, or their own imagination, or they can wing-it with a much freer form game.

The players interact amongst themselves, and of course with what the gamemaster details.

Think of it as a party of adventurers (the players), using their imagination, walking up to a house. They ask if the door is locked?

The gamemaster responds that it is.

Now the players have choices, leave, knock on door, search for a key, or another way in, or they might say they are going to kick the door in.

The gamemaster will set the parametres of each choice. An example, roll a 16 or higher on a D20 dice to successfully kick-in the door.

The roll being successful the players use their imaginations to peer into the house, and ask what they see.

The gamemaster might say a boring empty room, at least until you step into the room setting off an explosive trap. Or, maybe a family of zombies shambles forth, or a nest of vampires, or maybe a small child sits huddled in fear.

Exactly what might be there depends on the game genre, fantasy /medieval, scifi, horror being three that are popular, and of course the imagined world created by the gamemaster.

Over the years RPGs have gotten a bad and underserved reputation, because they truly are an exercise in imaginative gaming, with a healthy dose of storytelling as players take on the role of their characters and explore a broad range of worlds.

Next week, I’ll begin looking a few of my favourite RPGs.