[1st Draft] Understanding RPGs Part One

[alsih2o]

It becomes a game of "What would I do in this situation?" When Bob plays Bob in the Forgotten Realms, it's really a case of Bob playing himself as he thinks he would act in such a situation. Thus the Bob of Forgotten Realms becomes an alternate version of the real world Bob.

which is not "another person"

just as playing a sentient boulder or stuttering beholder is not "another person"

 

[alsih2o]

(BTW, thanks to you I have more to add to the 2nd draft of URPGs P1.)

so, i can count on a by-line?

 

[Zander]

Understanding Roleplaying Games Part One

[definition]A roleplaying game is a pastime where people assume the role of another person in an imaginary world, with a set of rules that regulate what is, and is not, possible in that imaginary world.[/definition]

Your definition encompasses LARP's, computer RPG's and improvisational theatre, as well as tabletop RPG's. Is that your intention? I would define each of these separately.

 

[Buttercup]

A roleplaying game is a pastime where people assume the role of another person in an imaginary world, with a set of rules that regulate what is, and is not, possible in that imaginary world

I'd change this slightly:

A roleplaying game is a passtime where a group of people assume the role of another person in an imaginary world, with a set of rules that regulate what is, and is not possible in that world, for the purpose of creating a collaborative story.

 

[mythusmage]

more like-

an activity where a hypothetical individual, whose attributes and qualities are frequently expressed numerically, is acted by an inividual or group through scenarios usually designed to test creative possibilities and system restraints.

Exactly. But I'm writing a popular work, and not a mid term paper.

 

[mythusmage]

isn't that what the real world is?

The real world has a certain immediacy to it no description could ever have. Besides, what's being presented in an RPG is a world as seen through the GM's eyes, as such even one based on the real world must take on many of the aspects of a created world. In a sense, it becomes a created world.

In addition, there are the players' actions, which will, indeed must, change even the most faithful models of the real world in ways most unrealistic. In other words, no matter how faithful the recreation is, when the first adventure is held it becomes unfaithful to the original. Of course, all this is getting into part two, so I'll leave it at that.

 

[mythusmage]

which is not "another person"

just as playing a sentient boulder or stuttering beholder is not "another person"

Here I'm going to have to disagree with you. For one thing, it's certainly not Bob. Not the Bob of the real world. Thanks to experiences the real world Bob will not, and most likely cannot, experience, the Bob of Forgotten Realms is a very different person from real world Bob.

I'm certainly going to have to disagree regarding sentient boulders and stuttering beholders. Here we have creatures with discernable personalities, which makes them persons in their own right. Alien in form and thought, but still persons.

 

[mythusmage]

So, i can count on a by-line?

You get a special dedication in Part Two.

 

[mythusmage]

Re: Re: [1st Draft] Understanding RPGs Part One

Your definition encompasses LARP's, computer RPG's and improvisational theatre, as well as tabletop RPG's. Is that your intention? I would define each of these separately.

LARPS and improv I can see, certain types of computer RPGs as well, but not the type of computer RPG where the "character"is really more of a playing piece one sends from place to place.

So, yes, I guess you're right. But I don't see any reason to devise new definitions for them when...

Okay, let's start over...

RPGs need not be limited to face to face games. If the definition fits (A roleplaying game is a pastime where people assume the role of another person in an imaginary world, with a set of rules that regulate what is, and is not, possible in that imaginary world.), then the activity is a roleplaying game. Even when it is traditionally thought of in different terms. Thus improvisational theater qualifies as a roleplaying game.

A little foreshadowing here. A big part of what I'm trying to do here is to get people to see RPGs in a way they may not have thought of before. To see that RPGs can be more than they thought. That an RPG is not only an activity where the players sit around a table and listen to the Game Master describe a situation, then describe what their characters are doing in response to what the GM related.

I guess you could say that I have no trouble with being inclusionary where RPGs are involved, when such inclusion makes sense.

I hope that made sense.

 

[mythusmage]

Re: Re: [1st Draft] Understanding RPGs Part One

I'd change this slightly:

A roleplaying game is a passtime where a group of people assume the role of another person in an imaginary world, with a set of rules that regulate what is, and is not possible in that world, for the purpose of creating a collaborative story.

I must disagree. The creation of a collaborative story is not always a part of the RPG experience. It's not core in the way the other elements are. It is possible to play an RPG with no story, and so story cannot be a part of the foundation. This is something I will have to expand on. My thanks for pointing it out to me.