What is roleplaying?

[Dreaddisease]

*waves the cooperative storytelling flag around*

The acting thing is a little bit to far for the sake of explanation. You would need a group of strong willed and self assured players in order to actually talk "in character". In party conflict would most assuredly occur and acting this out can be hurtful to persons egos. Plus the statement of actions that you can't visualize can make it hard to react in the exact way that your character would.

Of course if you want to describe 'pure' Roleplaying than it taking the mantle of a fictional character, talking in his/her voice, and verbally describing his/her actions within the laws/rules of the game world.

 

[Redleg06]

You know, I've been thinking about it, and I was wondering if we could get together a working explanation of what roleplaying "is".

Playing a role!

 

[Orias]

"Role-playing is a game of make-believe.....

IT'S NOT MAKE BELIEVE, DAMNIT!

Just kidding. In our area (Omaha, NE) there was several groups of kids who would get together & larp Vampire:TM. Sometimes they would cause vandal damage, & disturb the resting. I always thought it would be funny to show up to one of their games with a shotgun, blood-shot eyes, & during the first few minutes of introductions, clench the shotgun & proclaim very fanatically "I AM my character!"

 

[Zappo]

It is an exercise in improvisational acting with dice used to randomly determine the result of actions and task resolution.

That usually leaves them saying uhhh okay and leaving me alone. If they persist farther I usually invite them to play one week.

Hmmm, this is an efficient way of weeding out people who are too dumb to manage 6-syllables words. I'll have to remember it...

 

[seasong]

"I've got a group, we're all close friends, and I roleplay with them every weekend. What we do, is we get together, and we create a shared experience - both a big narrative story we dreamed up and hammered out, and just little stuff, like someone coming up with a clever way to win through a scenario, or some funny situation that made us all laugh."

"That can sound stupid to people who don't talk with their friends about fantasy novels or science fiction movies - why have a shared experience in an imaginary world? And I can't answer that, any more than those people can answer me why not. I enjoy it, so I do it."

"And there's other stuff to it, too. Escapism, of course. Pretend to be someone else, relieve some stress by having your imaginary character beat the stuffing out of an imaginery employer... I mean, dragon. And then there's the experimental side of things, when you want to explore a different viewpoint, maybe put your imaginary character in a situation alien to you, and see how you respond. And there's all this gooey, dark places in the psyche that can be safely explored in books and daydreams and roleplaying, only with roleplaying... you've got friends at your back when you do it."

"And if all that sounds a bit high-falutin', stop and remember that it's ultimately just play. A bit of fun. Soda pop and pizza and friends and stress relief."

"How does it work? Well, you and some friends make up imaginary characters, heroes or protagonists or whatever. Then this other person, called the xxxxx*, makes up a world that the characters are in. Then the xxxxx* starts describing things that are happening around the characters. And you start describing what your characters do in response. And then the xxxxx* describes what effect that has, and we all take off from there."

"That's the nutshell. There's also rules for how powerful your character can be for a particular story, and ways to resolve things fairly, but those change from group to group."

 

[Lalato]

(Wolfspirit, you can correct me if I'm wrong, but)
I think what Wolfspirit is after is a simple explanation not a dissertation. Although most of us can speak for hours about the joys of role-playing, most people aren't going to stick around that long.

The simplest explanation I've heard thus far is that role-playing is "pretend with rules". I like "cooperative storytelling" as well, but it requires a lot more explanation.

Everyone played pretend as a child... Whether it was cops and robbers, house, cowboys and indians, doctor, school... whatever, everyone can relate to playing pretend.

The one problem I find with saying "pretend with rules" is that it makes it sound a little childish... we all know role-playing is much more than that... it's also infantile, juvenile, sophomoric... and oh yeah... a whole lot of fun.

The simplest explanation I have for DM, is to compare it to a movie director. Even though everyone is playing pretend, they still need someone to keep them on track.

I might also throw in something about the show "Whose Line is it Anyway". In that show everyone plays pretend, but there is someone else leading them and making rules for them to follow.

--sam

 

[MerakSpielman]

"Tabletop" or "Pen and Paper" Role Playing Games (not to be confused with the "Bedroom" variety, which are also fun) are nothing more than Play Pretend for grown-ups. We didn't need rules when we were six. Now we do.

 

[Agback]

Hmmm, this is an efficient way of weeding out people who are too dumb to manage 6-syllables words. I'll have to remember it...

Throw in 'collaborative' and 'extemporary' for extra deterrent effect and to make the description even more specific.

Regards,


Agback

 

[hong]

Roleplaying is like porn. I don't know what it is, but I know it when I see it.


Hong "if you know what I mean" Ooi

 

[randomling]

I think this is a useful thing to discuss -- because I'm sure I'm not the only person who's been asked a similar thing by non-gamers and found myself having a hard time explaining it. Quite often, the reaction from non-gaming friends has been that it's something kinky... but then, that's a different kind of roleplay...

I guess it's hard to define because it's different for every gamer. Or at least, why we do it, and what we get out of it, differs from gamer to gamer. Me, I play to get out of myself as well as have fun with my friends. Others might have other reasons.

There have been some good definitions here, and I think they're probably all right. I certainly don't have a new definition to add, just wanted to say why I think this is a good discussion to have.

But I suppose, for me, roleplaying is (like Merak said) "Play Pretend for grownups". It's nice to pretend to be someone else for a while. Without the bother of "You're dead!" "No I'm not!"