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General Tabletop Discussion
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Worlds of Design: What Makes an RPG a Tabletop Hobby RPG?
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<blockquote data-quote="Jer" data-source="post: 7762193" data-attributes="member: 19857"><p>Therefore neither Champions nor Marvel Superheroes nor DC Superheroes the way people actually play them are RPGs. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Paranoia - also not an RPG! Who knew?</p><p></p><p>Also Vampire the Masquerade the way a lot of people I know played it in the 90s is apparently also not an RPG. Well that will please a lot of crotchety old gamers I know who hated it in the 90s I suppose. </p><p></p><p>I could go on with counter-examples, but it's pointless. Why be so reductive? If you'd like to describe a particular category of tabletop adventure role-playing games then do that. What you've done here is generated a bunch of prescriptivist rules that don't apply to games that have been recognized as RPGs for decades, rather than trying to come up with a set of traits that describe actual RPGs as seen in the wild. Rules like that are pointless in general - they don't help designers understand what the design space is or where there's room for new ideas, and they don't help players understand the hobby game environment to find new games.</p><p></p><p>The only purpose rules like this serve is so that someone can say "well, Fiasco isn't actually a role-playing game" or "DramaSystem isn't really a role-playing game system" or "Nobilis is a narrative tool not an actual role-playing game" or whatever. It's purpose is to exclude, not explain. I have no need for rules like that - give me characteristics that describe games that actually exist and that will be of use.</p><p></p><p>(Again I think these rules are a perfectly acceptable start to try to describe a narrow category of "long-form serialized adventure gaming" within the RPG world. But if you really think that this is the sum total of what "hobby RPG gaming" is, then you're missing out on a huge part of the market. And cutting yourself off from some great gaming experiences, I might add.)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Jer, post: 7762193, member: 19857"] Therefore neither Champions nor Marvel Superheroes nor DC Superheroes the way people actually play them are RPGs. Paranoia - also not an RPG! Who knew? Also Vampire the Masquerade the way a lot of people I know played it in the 90s is apparently also not an RPG. Well that will please a lot of crotchety old gamers I know who hated it in the 90s I suppose. I could go on with counter-examples, but it's pointless. Why be so reductive? If you'd like to describe a particular category of tabletop adventure role-playing games then do that. What you've done here is generated a bunch of prescriptivist rules that don't apply to games that have been recognized as RPGs for decades, rather than trying to come up with a set of traits that describe actual RPGs as seen in the wild. Rules like that are pointless in general - they don't help designers understand what the design space is or where there's room for new ideas, and they don't help players understand the hobby game environment to find new games. The only purpose rules like this serve is so that someone can say "well, Fiasco isn't actually a role-playing game" or "DramaSystem isn't really a role-playing game system" or "Nobilis is a narrative tool not an actual role-playing game" or whatever. It's purpose is to exclude, not explain. I have no need for rules like that - give me characteristics that describe games that actually exist and that will be of use. (Again I think these rules are a perfectly acceptable start to try to describe a narrow category of "long-form serialized adventure gaming" within the RPG world. But if you really think that this is the sum total of what "hobby RPG gaming" is, then you're missing out on a huge part of the market. And cutting yourself off from some great gaming experiences, I might add.) [/QUOTE]
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