What is a Role Playing Game?

Well, the title line pretty much sums it up. What is a Role Playing Game? I've seen dozens of definitions, but what do YOU think? What differentiates an RPG from a murder mystery game at a party--or is there a difference? What is the difference between RPGs and just playing "let's pretend" in your backyard as a kid? Questions, questions. ------------------ mrmister Gaming Outpost Staff Dilletante http://www.gamingoutpost.com Mailto: mrmister@gamingoutpost.com

One of the obvious differences between RPGs and "Let's pretend" is that RPGs has a set of rules to determine the winner of certain conflicts. (Ex: "Bang, bang! You're dead!" "No I'm not!") ------------------ Graveyard Greg--a Deadlands Fanboy

What about Everway, where all of the "rule determination" is based on a fortune deck of tarot-like cards and GM interpretation. Isn't that the same as no rules, since the GM fiat is given so much weight? Is LARPing the same as an RPG? In many of those scenarios the narrators/judges are given wide latitude to adjudicate results, and rules are handled more as guidelines than actual rules. ------------------ mrmister Gaming Outpost Staff Dilletante http://www.gamingoutpost.com Mailto: mrmister@gamingoutpost.com

Ah, one of my favorite topics... RPG's are exactly what they sound like: Role Playing Games. A game is an entertaining diversion where a goal is defined (baseball, chess, Pac-Man). Rules are not necessary for games, but they do serve as a way to structure play -- thereby creating challenge and limiting the possibilities (Bishops can only move in a diagonal line, Pac-Man can only eat blue ghosts). Role Playing is acting. You establish a character, an alter-ego (hell, you know what I mean if you're reading this) and you attempt to pattern your behavior and actions after that character. Therefore a Role Playing Game is goal-oriented acting (the implicit rule, and the only one that needs to be followed, is that you stay in character -- else the Role aspect of the Game becomes null and void). ------------------ Jared A. Sorensen memento-mori.com