Roleplaying Games at the Library

What are roleplaying games?

Roleplaying games (RPGs) are cooperative story-telling games where the action takes place in the collective imaginations of the players. Each player in an RPG takes on the persona of their character except for one player, who takes on the role of the storyteller (also known as the Game Master, or GM). The GM assumes the role of everything in the game that is not the player characters, and describes to the other players what happens as a result of their actions. Some of the primary characteristics of RPGs are:

• Progression - RPGs are typically played over multiple sessions, and each session provides opportunities for your character to grow and improve. The longer you play, the stronger your character will become and the greater your investment in the story you are helping to tell will become. Many RPG systems feature leveling systems in which characters begin at level 1, and as they improve they level up and gain new abilities. 

• Improvisation - Nobody--not even the GM--knows exactly what will happen in a given session because each character makes decisions about their actions that can include just about anything within the scope of the game's setting. Each player will need to think on the fly to determine how to respond to each situation that arises within the game. 

• Rules - Each RPG system has its own set of rules, which serve as a means for resolving actions that the characters take. Some systems include lots of rules (e.g., Dungeons & Dragons and Numenera), making it easy to arbitrate very specific situations that are likely to arise in that system. Other systems have relatively simple rules (e.g., Dungeon World and Tales from the Loop) that present a basic framework for determining the result of an action, and this framework is usable in all possible scenarios within the game.

• Dice - RPGs almost universally use dice as a means to determine the success of actions that players take in the game. Players whose characters are particularly good at doing certain things can positively manipulate dice rolls related to those things, but a core element of randomness remains. Ultimately dice exist in RPGs because they facilitate storytelling. Whether you succeed or fail a dice roll, something will happen as a result of your success or failure that furthers the story, and the thrill of uncertainty leading up to the roll adds excitement to the game!