D&D General What is an RPG and is D&D an RPG?

[overgeeked]

Pretty straightforward two part question.

One: what is the definition of an RPG?

Two: does D&D fit that definition?

 

[Reynard]

Pretty straightforward two part question.

Lol.

One: what is the definition of an RPG?

An RPG is any game in which the participants play roles. Now we quibble about the definitions of "game" "play" and "role."

Two: does D&D fit that definition?

Obviously, seeing as how D&D invented the genre. (Yes, yes, I understand their are precursors, but they were just that. A more interesting question is whether story games are RPGs, or a different kind of game.)

 

[pointofyou]

An RPG is any game in which the participants play roles.

I'd be inclined to consider both whether the participants feel they're playing a TRPG and whether the publisher chooses to market a thing as one. Gloomhaven and Frosthaven are I think pretty explicitly not marketed as TRPGs so I wouldn't call them TRPGs even though the participants are playing roles. Likewise FFG's Arkham Horror games or Pandemic or whatever other co-op board game.

 

[Reynard]

I'd be inclined to consider both whether the participants feel they're playing a TRPG and whether the publisher chooses to market a thing as one. Gloomhaven and Frosthaven are I think pretty explicitly not marketed as TRPGs so I wouldn't call them TRPGs even though the participants are playing roles. Likewise FFG's Arkham Horror games or Pandemic or whatever other co-op board game.

If Gloomhaven called itself an RPG, would it be one? Why, or why not? Answering that question may get us closer to a useful definition.

 

[pointofyou]

If Gloomhaven called itself an RPG, would it be one? Why, or why not? Answering that question may get us closer to a useful definition.

If Gloomhaven called itself a TRPG I wouldn't argue with that. The pleasures I get from it mostly aren't those of TRPGs but that's not entirely relevant.

 

[Umbran]

Pretty straightforward two part question.

I'm going to guess that it will be less straightforward than you think.

One: what is the definition of an RPG?

People will be tempted to provide an exclusive definition. I think that'll be a mistake. RPGs are a genre of activity - and they are best defined with an inclusive definition.

We can take an analogy from fiction - what is the definition of a "Mystery novel" or a "horror movie"? We could list a bunch of themes, tropes, techniques, and goals and the like that are common in mysteries or horror stories. If we want to ask if something is a Western, we look at the work, and if it has "enough" of the items on the list, it is a Western.

When deciding if a work fits within a genre, having elements that fit in other genres is irrelevant - genre definition is not a question of "purity". We can then note that this means that a particular example can fit more than one genre! A work could be a Space Opera and a Western at the same time, and that's perfectly okay!

That means you could have a game that is a Role-playing game and a story game. Or an RPG and a tactical wargame, and so on.

Two: does D&D fit that definition?

I would expect that D&D is the place we would start to assemble our list of elements that define the genre, so that D&D would fit in the genre automatically.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Is the codifier of a trope an example of that trope.

That's really rather more philosophical than I think was intended or what most people will consider when answering. It's rather like asking at what point as that thing that hatched out of an egg no longer a fish, but now an amphibian.

 

[Reynard]

A work could be a Space Opera and a Western at the same time

And, unfortunately, these days it seems like they always are.

 

[Kobold Stew]

For me an interesting case is the Battlestar Galactica board game. Players take the role of one of the characters in the (early 2000s) tv series, and defend their ship form incoming Cylon threats while preserving diminishing food water and fuel resources. It's a great game, that I've played with friends who do not think of themselves as role-players.

But when we play? They speak and act in character, tell a story, accuse one another of being a cylon with voices, and so forth. And they love it. Even though they would not play an rpg. I think the Battlestar Galactica boardgame is an RPG (maybe even a better one than the BSG rpg), and the assumption of an individual role distinguishes it from, say, Monopoly where the play of being the iron or the dog is not individuated.

So for me, what distinguishes an rpg from a board game, or a wargame, is the creation of an individual fictional persona within the game context that develops over the course of play. (I'm sure I could qualify that more precisely, but I think that's clear). And so yes, D&D is an RPG.

 

[Pedantic]

So for me, what distinguishes an rpg from a board game, or a wargame, is the creation of an individual fictional persona within the game context that develops over the course of play. (I'm sure I could qualify that more precisely, but I think that's clear). And so yes, D&D is an RPG.

I'd probably go somewhere similar for the definition. Embodiment of a specific character (or possibly group of characters) that is somehow differentiated from the person portraying them.