Role-playing game

A role-playing game (sometimes spelled as roleplaying game or abbreviated as RPG) is a fun kind of game where players pretend to be different characters in an imaginary world. These characters can be heroes or everyday people. Players decide what their characters do and how they grow. The story changes based on the choices players make, and there are rules to help decide if actions succeed or fail.

There are many ways to play role-playing games. One common way is called a tabletop role-playing game, where players sit together and talk about their characters’ actions. In live action role-playing games, players act out their characters’ actions in real life. Some games are played on computers or online, like massively multiplayer online role-playing games where many players join together in a big virtual world. There are also single-player role-playing video games where one person controls a character on a computer or game console.

Often, a person called a game master helps guide the story and make sure everyone follows the rules. Players each control one character, and together they explore the story and solve problems. Role-playing games can be exciting because players get to use their imagination and make their own adventures.

Purpose

Role-playing games are a fun way for people to tell stories together. Unlike watching a show, players in these games make choices that change the story. This makes the experience more exciting.

These games build on simple make-believe games that children often play. They add more rules and structure, with a special setting and characters that players create. The rules help everyone stay in the story, whether it's a simple tale or a detailed simulation.

Tabletop role-playing games can also help in therapy. They can support young people in developing better behavior, social skills, and language abilities, especially those with conditions like Autism spectrum disorders, attention-deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD), and dyslexia.

Varieties

Role-playing games can be played in many different ways. Some are played around a table where players talk about their characters, while others involve acting out roles in real life. There are also games played on computers and online.

Tabletop

Main article: Tabletop role-playing game

See also: History of role-playing games, Dungeons & Dragons, and Indie role-playing game

Tabletop role-playing games are played in groups where one person, called the game master, describes the world and what happens. The other players tell what their characters want to do, and the game master explains what happens next. Sometimes dice or other tools decide what happens, and sometimes the game master decides. This is how role-playing games first became popular.

The first game of this type, called Dungeons & Dragons, started in 1974 and was inspired by fantasy books and war games. It led to many other games with different rules and stories.

Live action

Main article: Live action role-playing game

Live action role-playing games, or LARPs, are like improv theater. Players act out their characters instead of just talking about them, using real spaces to look like the game's world. Players might dress up and use props. Some games use simple games to decide fights, while others use safe props like foam weapons.

LARPs can have from a few players to thousands, and can last from a few hours to several days. Because there are often many players in different places, the story might not be as carefully controlled as in tabletop games.

Electronic media

Main article: Role-playing video game

Tabletop games have been turned into computer and video games. Early computer games started in 1974, the same year as Dungeons & Dragons, on university computers. These early games helped create the video game genre we know today.

Single-player

Single-player role-playing video games are a type of computer or console game that comes from tabletop games like Dungeons & Dragons. They show the world on screen and focus more on how the character grows than on telling a story with other players.

Multiplayer

Main articles: Online text-based role-playing game and Massively multiplayer online role-playing game

Online text-based role-playing games let many players use text and the internet to play together. Some games happen in real time, like MUDs and MUSHes, while others take turns, like play-by-mail games.

Massively multiplayer online role-playing games, or MMORPGs, mix big online worlds with graphics. Most players don’t act out their characters, but some do if others agree. Computers can also help with tabletop games by keeping track of information and helping decide battles.

People

Gamemaster

Main article: Gamemaster

Many role-playing games have a special person called a gamemaster, or GM. The GM helps tell the story, decides what happens when players act, and keeps the game moving. In games you play with friends, the GM does this in person. In video games, the computer often does these things, but some games let players act as a GM using special tools.

Player character

Main article: Player character

In role-playing games, players control characters in the game's world. These characters are called player characters, and each player usually controls one or more of them. These characters are often the main heroes of the story.

Non-player character

Main article: Non-player character

Other characters in the game, called non-player characters or NPCs, are not controlled by players. They are controlled by the GM, the computer, or helpers. NPCs make up the rest of the world and can be friends, enemies, or just people you meet along the way.