Tabletop role-playing game
form of role-playing game for leisure
A tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG or TRPG), also known as a pen-and-paper role-playing game, is a kind of role-playing game (RPG) in which the participants describe their characters' actions through speech and sometimes movements. Participants determine the actions of their characters based on their characterization, and the actions succeed or fail according to a set formal system of rules and guidelines, usually involving randomization (such as through dice). Within the rules, players have the freedom to improvise, and their choices shape the direction and outcome of the game.
Neither pen and paper nor a table are strictly necessary for a game to count as a TTRPG; rather, the terms pen-and-paper and tabletop are typically used to distinguish this format of RPG from role-playing video games or live action role-playing games. Online play of TTRPGs through videoconferencing has become common since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Some common examples of tabletop role-playing games include Dungeons & Dragons, Call of Cthulhu, and Pathfinder.
Gameplay
Overview
In most games, a specially designated player typically called the game master (GM) purchases or prepares a set of rules and a fictional setting in which each player acts out the role of a single character. The GM describes the game world and its inhabitants; the other players describe the intended actions of their characters, and the GM describes the outcomes. Some outcomes are determined by the game system, and some are chosen by the GM. This pattern was established by the first published role-playing game, Dungeons & Dragons, but is not universal across all tabletop RPGs.
Detail
Games are of indefinite length, from a single brief session (sometimes completed in a few hours) to a series of repeated sessions that may continue for years with an evolving cast of players and characters.
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This entry incorporates text from “Tabletop role-playing game” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.