About Role-Playing Games

What Is a role-playing game (RPG)?

A seated, cooperative, interactive storytelling recreational activity, with structured rules, in a shared imaginary setting.

What are the 4 major RPG formats?

• Tabletop (TRPG)
• Live-action (LRPG)
• Electronic (eRPG)
• Hybrid (HRPG)

See more about: RPG Formats and the RPG Model.

Hawkes-Robinson definition of a tabletop role-playing game (TRPG) (4 parts):

• Part 1 - Setting: A seated, cooperative, interactive storytelling recreational activity, with structured rules, in a shared imaginary setting (SIS).

• Part 2 – Participants: Participants include a facilitator and referee known as the Game Master (GM), and one or more role-playing game players (RPGer), controlling one or more quantitatively and qualitatively well defined and evolving player character(s) (PC), generally distinctively separate from the player.

• Part 3 – Action declaration: Each participant verbally declares imaginary actions taken by the created PC or GM-controlled entities, which are not physically acted out by the player.

• Part 4 – Results determination: Simple results are determined by agreed fiat, while more challenging results are determined by a combination of narrative and mathematical calculations that include static & random variables, plus published situational modifiers, enabling participants to vicariously interact and affect the SIS.

What are the 9 minimum required items for participation in TRPG?

1.  1 "GM".
2.  1+ players
3.  Randomizing agent (dice, cards, chit, etc.)
4.  Static & dynamically changing writing, storage, & retrieval methods (typically pencil & paper, tablet, adaptive writing tool, etc.).
5.  Rules system – published or homebrew, or not even in print. The key is that it is a previously agreed upon structured rules system.
9. 
   

1.  Adventure module: Adventure/conflict/story - prepared (published or homebrew) or improvised
2.  Somewhere to gather – generally seated, the key is not moving around, you are stationary, not acting out physically, the action.
3.  Cooperative social interaction - interactive communication interface of some kind (speaking, writing, signing, etc.), working together.
4.  Time