Suggestions for a "what are RPGs"/"how to play RPGs" resources

[SteveC]

I am writing an RPG. Like I suppose a lot of people have attempted over the years. One thing I am dreading writing is the "what is an RPG?" and "how do you play an RPG?" section. You know, the sort of thing that (almost) every RPG has and (almost) no one reads.

I had a thought that if there is a short guide to this already out, I'd talk to the authors about licensing in and simply refer my readers there. Any thoughts? I've thought this was a good idea for a long time since the people who'd look at my game are most likely going to not be new to RPGs but also I want to offer something to those folks that are. So any thoughts or suggestions?

 

[GMMichael]

Maybe wikipedia?

Role-playing game - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

You also might try the early sessions of Titansgrave on Youtube.

 

[hawkeyefan]

I am writing an RPG. Like I suppose a lot of people have attempted over the years. One thing I am dreading writing is the "what is an RPG?" and "how do you play an RPG?" section. You know, the sort of thing that (almost) every RPG has and (almost) no one reads.

I had a thought that if there is a short guide to this already out, I'd talk to the authors about licensing in and simply refer my readers there. Any thoughts? I've thought this was a good idea for a long time since the people who'd look at my game are most likely going to not be new to RPGs but also I want to offer something to those folks that are. So any thoughts or suggestions?

The DIE RPG by Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans from Rowan, Rook, and Decard handled this in a pretty interesting way. They pointed to youtube and said to search for “RPG actual play” and you’ll get tons of examples.

I think it’s less necessary to include that in this day and age. But, if you must… I’d recommend reading Vincent Baker’s stuff and using that as a guide. I’ve seen many people cite his work in published games. I believe as long as you cite his work as a source, you’d be fine.

 

[payn]

Id go a little more nuanced with it and not make it a generic RPG statement, but one about the game you are making itself. Is it rulings over rules style? Is it trad (id probably explain what that means if so)? What types of stories/fiction are you trying to emulate. Honestly, the age old question of "what is an RPG?" is answered in a billion influencer videos on youtube. Skip trying to reinvent the wheel and tell us how you play this RPG.

 

[Old Fezziwig]

Someone in the comic book industry once said that every issue is someone's first issue, and they used to intentionally write to that. I don't think that's true of the RPG industry. For most people D&D is going to be their first game, and they'll branch out (or, unfortunately, not) from there. If almost every RPG has this but almost none of the players read it, then I think I'd skip it in favor of something like what @payn has suggested. I might even go further — skip meta conversations about what makes your game different or conversations about play styles and just tell folks how to play your game as you're intending it to be played. If you have a good grip on that, the rest should take care of itself.

 

[soviet]

Skip trying to reinvent the wheel and tell us how you play this RPG.

Yes. Every iteration of 'how do you play an RPG?' in a game text is either misplaced or mislabelled. Different RPGs play very differently. Even if your RPG is very 'mainstream', this itself is a broad spectrum in terms of player/GM roles and expected approach. Tell your readers how to play the game they're holding.

 

[SteveC]

Some good thoughts here. I am a big fan of John Harper/Vincent Baker, and I have to admit that I bring in elements of his design when playing other games, which is where my idea of "universal" advice takes place. Of course there are different RPG styles but there's a big group of games that are quite similar. I'm not trying to reinvent the wheel here.

I remember so many good ideas to teach about the game. The games that had "choose your own adventure" style opening sections for instance, those were fantastic. I'm just not sure I want to devote that many pages to something people will use once, if at all.

What I am doing at this point is to have that section that refers to real first-time players elsewhere. That may need to be revised if: "something else" doesn't truly exist elsewhere. I then have a section called "What would you say you do here," where I talk about the game's goals and what you do when you play. I then go into a "Here are my influences" section to reinforce that. Next is what the roles of the players and GM look like. Then I do a very high-level summary of what the mechanics are. That's the end of the introductory section and something I would intend to have as a summary product you can download apart from the rules. Oh, and to add a final thing: I provide a glossary for defined terms so that if you wonder what something means, you can look it up here.

Edited to add: I was just reading a new game that I had recommended to me. I don't want to say what it was because the authors are super nice and I'm going to be critical. The "start of the game book" is on my mind because I have read some games recently that all begin with "here's how you make a character." I can't say strongly enough how much I don't like that. I end up having to process a bunch of stuff that isn't defined and look at making decisions when I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing.

 

[soviet]

Some good thoughts here. I am a big fan of John Harper, and I have to admit that I bring in elements of his design when playing other games, which is where my idea of "universal" advice takes place. Of course there are different RPG styles but there's a big group of games that are quite similar. I'm not trying to reinvent the wheel here.

I remember so many good ideas to teach about the game. The games that had "choose your own adventure" style opening sections for instance, those were fantastic. I'm just not sure I want to devote that many pages to something people will use once, if at all.

What I am doing at this point is to have that section that refers to real first-time players elsewhere. That may need to be revised if something else doesn't truly exist elsewhere. I then have a section called "What would you say you do here" where I talk about the game's goals and what you do when you play. I then go into a "here are my influences" section to reinforce that. Next is what the roles of the players and GM look like. Then I do a very high-level summary of what the mechanics are. That's the end of the introductory section and something I would intend to have as a summary product you can download apart from the rules.

[Shameless plug imminent]

You might be interested to check out a game I wrote many years back called Other Worlds: DriveThruRPG

I tried to take the teaching side of the book quite seriously, especially because it's on the storygame side of the spectrum and I wanted to make it as accessible as possible for 'traditional' roleplayers. Including myself and my group by the way - we were traditional roleplayers trying to understand this new way of playing ourselves.

Anyway, as well as a brief 'how do you play this game?' blurb at the start, and a GM advice chapter, the game also includes a PLAYER advice chapter, looking at how to approach the game as a player for best results, and a Structure of Play chapter, looking at the feedback loops in the game and how individual scenes and whole sessions will play out from a birds eye perspective.

 

[gorice]

The DIE RPG by Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans from Rowan, Rook, and Decard handled this in a pretty interesting way. They pointed to youtube and said to search for “RPG actual play” and you’ll get tons of examples.

I'd use that as an example of what not to do! Likewise wikipedia.

I think it’s less necessary to include that in this day and age. But, if you must… I’d recommend reading Vincent Baker’s stuff and using that as a guide. I’ve seen many people cite his work in published games. I believe as long as you cite his work as a source, you’d be fine.

Yes yes yes to reading Apocalypse World for inspiration. Get a load of this:

You probably know this already: roleplaying is a conversation. You and the other players go back and forth, talking about these fictional characters in their fictional circumstances doing whatever it is that they do. Like any conversation, you take turns, but it’s not like taking turns, right? Sometimes you talk over each other, interrupt, build on each others’ ideas, monopolize and hold forth. All fine.

These rules mediate the conversation. They kick in when someone says some particular things, and they impose constraints on what everyone should say after. Makes sense, right?

AW is often presented as this new and weird species of game, but in a lot of ways, it's just training wheels for roleplaying in general.

 

[SteveC]

Another quick comment: you can see my influences pretty directly when I write about the conversation. That's the main way you play my game. It's honestly how I play almost every RPG both as a player and as a GM. I didn't think this was a controversial point, but I was involved in a thread where this style of play was antithetical to how that GM ran their games. Learn something every day.