Pen and Paper Role-playing Games

Traditionally speaking, a role-playing game is a very wide term, used generally to describe a game into which one must immerse oneself as a specific character, usually enjoyed with a number of people playing along with you. Each person will then to some extent create an identity for themselves and manipulate their strengths and weaknesses, while being restricted by a set of rules usually determined before commencing with the game.

A characters position within the game, and the course of their journey is generally decided by the choices made along the way. In essense, the stories behind most traditional RPGs are stapled together by the imagination and involvement of its participants. It is, therefore the case that the intricacies and subtleties of the players characters are determined much more by their own inclination and attitudes than in any other style of game, hence the word ‘role’ in the title of the genre.

The nature of tabletop RPGs are usually quite allegiant; on the whole the players will tend to act as a unit, working together to reach certain goals. As such, it is not common for there to be a definite winner or loser. It is not even uncommon for games to last for very long periods of time, potentially spanning years. It should, however, be noted that while there is often a certain level of commradary between players, there is also almost invariably what is known as a gamemaster (or GM) to help keep the game flowing by narrating, to moderate, and to make sure players adhere to rules. It will usually be down to the gamemaster to determine the goals of the game.

RPGs are also quite often based on highly popular concepts, films, books or other miscellaneous stories. For example, it might be commonplace for people to attempt to recreate the aspects they enjoyed so much about Star Wars or to take on a character in the Harry Potter series, guiding them through their very own adventures.

While a large number of RPGs are created from scratch or from an idea (as exemplified above), it is often the case that handbooks, explorer’s guides, etc. are created specifically for them to be an RPG quest. It is normally the case that having a book can help keep a certain rigidity to the game.

The use of a pen and paper, and dice are also essential to most RPGs. The pen and paper may be used to keep track of location, character statistics, or many other possible game factors. The die are used to determine the outcome of various events that occur during the parties journey. A player may encounter a non-player character (who are controlled by the gamemaster) who they need to interact with in some way. They may, for example, have to fight, in which case a target (often based partially on the statistics of the character) is set, and the character and gamemaster will roll dice to determine the outcome.

There are many other important aspects of tabletop RPGs, but the most important have been outlined above.

Computer Role-Playing Games

While sharing many of the characteristics of the traditional, tabletop RPG, “Computer Role-playing Games” (CRPGs) tend to vary a great deal and can not be labled easily in the way that most traditional RPGs can be. The contemporary host of video games range from games that use the more or less traditional methods but are deployed in a graphical interface (i.e. Diablo, The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrow and Baldur’s Gate), and there are other titles less generic in style, such as the Final Fantasy and Legend of Zelda series’. Online RPGs (Final Fantasy XI, Anarchy Online) played by players worldwide are increasingly popular; so much so that they have earned the abbreviation Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing Game (MMORPG).

Most CRPGs and MMORPGs are in some way action based — this is as opposed to having an imagined advancement of story — making it different from the more traditional RPGs which used pen and paper, dice and a few other primitive accessories.

Another distinguishing factor between RPGs and CRPGs is that where pen and paper RPGs had a high level of team work involved, CRPGs are often much more focused around a single character though this is not always the case. Even in turn-based battle system-running games such as in the Final Fantasy games, there tends to be a main character around whom the bulk of the story is focused.

With the increasing amounts of CRPGs on the market, there is also a greater level of ambiguity as to what exactly constitutes an CRPG. Whether it be use of statistical material (usually numeric in layout) or character and story development, it appears what we mean by the term CRPG, and indeed what we mean by RPG is blurring significantly, as the genre splits itself into further “sub-genres”.