Pen & Paper RPG
The pen - & - paper role-playing game ( . English pen " pen " and paper " paper ") is a game in which the participants take fictional roles and shared by telling an adventure experience. The main game equipment is almost always the eponymous pens and paper to describe the roles shown on character sheets and to make notes about the course of the game. Last but not least, the paper material includes role- play adventures , game world descriptions and game rules manuals. Dice or other random elements are almost always used.
In a very simplified way, the pen & paper role-playing game can be described as a mixture of conventional parlor game , storytelling and improvisational theater . Often a game master moderates the game, sets the framework and makes essential decisions regarding the locations, the occurring events and supporting actors ( non-player characters , NPCs). In this context, the other players represent their fictional characters, the player characters (SCs), and make decisions for them within the framework of given rule systems . The latter should help to determine the extent to which the fictional, only verbalized actions of the characters are successful. B. the character remains unharmed when jumping from a high wall. The success or failure of these fictitious actions is simulated with the help of dice, and more rarely also playing cards .
In the role-playing scene , pen & paper role-playing games are usually simply referred to as role-playing games (RS, RSP) or role-playing games (RPG). "Pen - & - Paper" is usually put in front when the contrast to other such forms of play such as live role play , computer role play or forum role play is to be emphasized. The use of paper and pens is a striking distinguishing factor. The Germanized terms "paper-and-pencil-role-playing game" or "paper-and-pencil-role-playing game" are rarely used; Another alternative name is "table role play".
Scientific theories on how role-playing games work are rare, but the first approaches to role-playing theory have already emerged. In addition, there are numerous studies on the phenomenon of role play, which, however, are mainly limited to student homework, diploma and master's theses.
functionality
Role allocation
In most rule systems, one of the players takes on the role of the game master or narrator. Often the term "master" taken over from Das Schwarze Auge or the term "Dungeon Master" (DM) from Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) is used for this role . One of the tasks of the game master is to describe to the other players what is happening to their characters. Figuratively speaking, he is the eyes and ears of the players and takes on the role of all non-player characters who interact with the game characters. He is also a referee and moderator . The players, on the other hand, are actors of the player characters who carry the story sketched out by the game master. The actions of the player characters - according to their background story, their skills and goals - are determined by the players. The game master knows the general plot as well as relevant events and backgrounds of the game world and builds into the game the unforeseeable actions and reactions of the other players who try to influence the course of the story through the actions of their characters.
Some free role-playing games with few rules, also called indie role-playing games or narrative role-playing games, deviate from this distribution of roles. Examples of role-playing games in which the players have more narrative rights are 10 Candles, Fate , InSpectres or Wushu . Some role-playing games do not have a game master at all, here each player also takes on the role of the narrator and determines the results of his actions. Examples of role-playing games without a guide are Fiasco or Microscope.
Game mechanism
The game master describes their situation to the players, for example as follows:
“You are riding comfortably through the densely vegetated ravine when suddenly a flock of birds flies up in front of you. Apparently they were roused, but probably not by you. What are you doing?"
The players react to this initial situation by determining the actions of their character (here for example: stopping and listening, shouting, drawing weapons or hiding in the bushes). The game master then describes the changes and reactions of the environment based on these actions and his knowledge of the framework. In contrast to an ordinary story, this creates a dialogue between the player and the game master, in which the story is told through actions and reactions.
The action does not have to come from the game master. Rather, it is expected that players will take action rather than remain passive. Conversations that take place between the characters of the players among themselves or between them and NPCs embodied by the narrator are often written verbatim by the players or even accompanied by acting. This parallelism of what is happening in the real world with what is happening in the game world is limited to conversations; In contrast to live role play, movements and other physical actions are not or only partially simulated.
In narrative role plays and other systems, each player takes on the role of the narrator in turns.
Control systems
- → Main article: RPG system
Pen & paper role-playing games typically use systems of rules that serve several purposes:
- They define the strengths and weaknesses of a character in relation to the game world. This is usually done by setting numerical values for a character's various skills and traits.
- They help in deciding the outcome of dubious situations by providing a mechanism that compares a character's ability to the difficulty of a task.
- They bring an element of chance into play that serves as a means of tension. Serve as a random element usually dice . Different cubes are used depending on the rules. There are, among others, the following dice: D4, D6, D8, D10, D12, D20 and D100.
- They define the removal of a character from the game, for example through death.
- They define mechanisms that can influence the flow of the story, for example by temporarily transferring narrative rights to a player.
The values for strengths and weaknesses of a character are recorded on a piece of paper, the character sheet . Since this information can change in the course of the game, it is usually written in pencil.
Since the given rules are not always consistent and do not have to correspond to the taste of the participants, there is the possibility of changing rules and values and adapting them to your own playing style, i.e. developing "house rules". As this can cause problems, this is the exception rather than the rule when members of different groups meet to play together.
In order to provide the players with further suggestions and to make the fantasy worlds more colorful and complex, role-play adventures are sold in addition to the rule books , which provide an overview and materials for a framework and are read by the game master in preparation for the game. The “source books”, which are also published in almost all role-playing games, contain further information about the game world, such as maps, geographical, cultural and historical information, new possibilities for creating characters and additional rules.
Classic and modern control systems
Classic RPG control systems take the most from the original RPG D & D -based principle of C harakterklassen , E rfahrungsstufen and T refferpunkte , so-called "CET-systems." Character classes are a mechanism to differentiate different archetypes of player characters from each other in terms of rules and to limit their abilities and possibilities. This can e.g. B. mean that a character from a fantasy world is not allowed to wield a large sword according to the rules of the role-playing game because he has magical abilities. Even if this does not have to have a plausible reason in the game world itself, such mechanisms should serve the game balance and help avoid power imbalances between player characters. Experience levels are a mechanism that only allows the character to improve their skills in certain iterations, for example when they have accumulated enough "experience points". Hitpoints are a classic mechanism for measuring and tracking the health and physical condition of an RPG character in a simplified form.
More modern control systems pursue the approach of overcoming the CET principle, since the lack of plausibility of CET systems is often criticized. Some newer systems overcome the CET principle in different degrees, the role-playing game Shadowrun z. B. has no experience levels, but uses character classes and a hit point mechanism. In the fantasy role-playing game Hârnmaster , character skills are increased according to the frequency of their use and the health of a game character is tracked with a table-based health control system, which depicts body zones and effects such as infections and the like. The role-playing system GURPS avoids character classes.
Requirements for the game master
High demands are placed on the game master, as he has to react to the often creative actions of the players and incorporate them into his story. He must master the rules of the game, since he decides on their interpretation, and know the game world in order to be able to convincingly embed the action in its background (→ deliberate suspension of disbelief ). After all, he must have an overview of the entire planned plot in order to be able to depict the changes in the game world due to the events of the framework and the actions of the player characters.
For many players, it reduces the joy of role-playing if the game master also directs the player characters in order to lead the plot to its predetermined goal. Flexible game masters, on the other hand, have to have creative ideas even in unforeseen situations in order to allow the events to flow seamlessly into the story, to adapt planned events if necessary and to give the other players the feeling that their characters' freedom of action is preserved and their actions have an impact on development the game world and the plot.
The gamemaster illustrates the location of the action and takes on the role of all non-player-controlled characters (NPCs). He speaks and acts e.g. B. for the inhabitants of a village, the king of a country, the enemy and his followers and monsters , but also the allies of the PCs. It is challenging for the game master to present what is being told to the players as vividly as possible and to present the NPCs credibly.
Temporal structure of a role play
Pen & Paper role-playing games have no predefined ending. The events can be spun on and on, creating a potentially endless story. Usually, the game is divided into adventures that end with reaching a goal, solving a task or a quest . For example, the goals of the player characters in different pen & paper role-playing games could be to save a princess, find treasure, unravel a secret or defeat an enemy.
From the various options for achieving these goals, the players decide which path they want to take based on feasibility considerations and according to the preferences of their characters. Combat, diplomacy and intrigue are exemplary types of solution approaches, which in turn offer starting points for further adventures - during or after a running plot. In addition to the specifications of the game world and the adventure template, the game master's imagination, which has to combine the ideas of the players and their consequences into a story, is decisive.
As a rule, an aesthetic form is sought that resembles the tension in a book or film. The stringing together of adventures to form a complex story is called a campaign (see below, story ). Although the adventures are still self-contained, they are linked together in a campaign, creating a more complex story with twists and turns, arch enemies, allies and exploits of sometimes epic proportions. In the course of the adventure, the group collects many fragments that come together to form a larger whole. A campaign should therefore not be confused with a series of adventures that are contested by the same group of adventurers but have no other connection. If an adventure is played with characters who, including the background, were created by the game master for this one adventure only, this is called a one-shot .
Categorization
Role-playing theories divide pen & paper role-playing games into different categories. A distinction is made between CET and modern systems and between rule-based or dice-based games and storytelling games, in which the focus is on shaping the roles played and telling the stories. The influential GNS theory of Ron Edwards uses the terms Gamismus , narrativism and simulationism to distinguish between the formative aspects of overcoming challenges in the adventure story (Gamismus), the development of a coherent and exciting history (narrativism) and the research, development and changing a game world that is imagined to be fantastic but not unrealistic with its own development principles (simulationism).
Low-rule and random games are also known as free role-playing games . In the case of random role-playing games, a group agreement is often defined that defines the framework for the game. A sense of community and a common feeling help the role-players to collectively develop the coherent narrative and the appropriate reaction of the game world to their actions. Terms like “narrative role play” and “adventure role play” are seldom clear and are defined differently.
history
The American approach
The game form of the pen & paper role-playing game began in the 1970s in the USA. There brought Gary Gygax and Jeff Perren 1971 the first set of rules of chainmail out that the predecessor of 1974 by Gygax and Dave Arneson published famous pen - & - paper role-playing game "Dungeons & Dragons" was.
Since the 1960s, the Castle & Crusade Society in Lake Geneva played self-made conflict simulation games ("Wargames"), especially with miniatures (" Tabletop ", eg with tin soldiers ). After the first weekend event in 1967 in Gygax 'private home was an annual meeting of wargame players instead that in reference to the Geneva Conventions (English Geneva Conventions was) called "Geneva Convention" and that under the name of Gen Con the biggest RPG meetings developed worldwide. At one of their earliest meetings, Arneson and Gygax met and noted shared interests. Under the influence of Conan novels and the success of the Tolkien novel The Lord of the Rings , the idea of developing a medieval miniature game came up. Gygax had already devised its own set of rules called Chainmail . Together they created fantastic creatures and magic rules and turned them into a fantasy game. The more detailed the rules became, the further the game moved away from mass battles or skirmishes . Instead of waging armies against one another, they played sieges. It was only a matter of time before the defenders of the castle moved the action into the castle and added cellars and caverns. Arneson came up with the idea of having the soldiers take a castle in a commando operation, whereby they had to defuse traps and open doors. In this way every player learned to identify with his warrior. Soon the focus was on the fate of individual heroes and their quests .
It was still a simple tabletop that couldn't deny its roots, the wargames . Hit points ("Hit Points") z. B. came from games in which sea battles were simulated, the armor class came from a game called Ironclad ( ironclad ). In Lake Geneva, Arneson began his "Blackmoor Campaign", which is considered to be the longest-running role-playing campaign. The term campaign ( "Campaign") still refers to the origin of the military miniature games where it comes to campaigns and battles (both English campaign ) went.
There were already differences in the design of the rules in the original version of D&D. Arneson and Gygax had different opinions about spell levels. Arneson had a concept of spell hit points ("spell hit points") and saving throws (" saving throws") in mind; he wanted a successful saving throw to mean complete rescue from a spell, not just half the damage. In 1977/78 the D&D system split with the publication of Gygax ' Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (AD&D), which aimed at a more complex game system, while the basic D&D was considered a product for beginners.
The variety of dice was initially not planned. In 1971, in a shop in Trafalgar Square in London, twenty-sided dice ( icosahedron ) were discovered, which were adopted in the control mechanism of the Blackmoor game world, Chainmail and Dungeons and Dragons . When the first edition of D&D was due to appear in 1974, a new supplier was needed because the store in London was closed. A teaching material mail order company in California offered such things, but only complete sentences, W4 to W20 in one bag. The work of tearing open the bags to take out the 20-sided was too big for the newly founded company TSR , so the rest of the dice were built into the game.
D&D and AD&D soon became internationally known and reprinted in many countries.
The German-Austrian approach
The Central European approach of the role play is based on the derivation from strategy and simulation games such as chess or risk , table tops with tin miniatures only appeared later, the world market leader (A) D&D is comparatively underrepresented. In general, more emphasis is placed on the clearly described background world including history, firmly described cultures and game subjects with defined values and character traits who act in this context.
At the Science Fiction Con 1966 in Vienna, the Club FOLLOW (Fellowship Of The Lords Of The Lands Of Wonder) was founded by Eduard Lukschandl and Hubert Straßl. From this group, the so-called "Eternal Game" developed, a simulation game in which each player ("Lord") represented a people, won other players who in turn went through ranks within the people until they themselves became lords and a new people were allowed to establish (or describe). The world was called "Magira", the Eternal Game itself "Armageddon".
From 1977 the idea of the role-playing game was imported from the USA and transferred to Magira, at that time Elsa and Jürgen Franke translated the most important parts of the Empire of the Petal Throne rules and made an adaptation to Magira, paying particular attention to the correct simulation of events has been. In Germany, Magira was released in 1978 as the first role-playing game, which was renamed Midgard in 1981 (while the "Eternal Game" was continued as a simulation, the role-playing game Midgard / Magira split off and no new continents / peoples were added ).
In 1983 the company Fantasy Productions , founded by Ulrich Kiesow , Werner Fuchs and Hans Joachim Alpers , brought out the role-playing game Swords and Demons , a translation of the English Tunnels & Trolls .
The game Das Schwarze Auge , published in 1984, was particularly successful and is still the most widespread role-playing game in German-speaking countries. The then second in the toy industry ( Schmidt Spiele ) wanted to jump on the train of role play and brought the black eye developed by Ulrich Kiesow onto the market in a publishing partnership with Droemer Knaur Romanverlag, which produced an accompanying series of novels . DSA is characterized by a very detailed background world, which is continuously developed and described by a barony game (or letter game ) by committed players (who have been given virtual fiefs by the DSA editorial team ).
In addition to commercial systems, free role-playing games are also widespread today , some of which can be downloaded for free from the Internet.
Artistic reception
Although role-playing games have never become a mass phenomenon, they have left their mark on literature, film and other media:
- In the Spielberg film ET (1982), the discovery of the extraterrestrial is introduced by a film scene in which the boy Elliott plays a miniature role-playing game with siblings and friends. There is an indirect transfer between played fantasy and fantastic reality.
- The film Labyrinth of the Monsters (1982) focused on role-playing for the first time. The role player's loss of reality is portrayed. The Spanish film El Corazón del guerrero ( Heart of the Warrior , 2000) has a similar structure .
- In the detective novel Inspektor Jury sucht den Kennington Emerald by Martha Grimes (1983), Inspektor Jury comes into contact with an RPG group and provides insights into the still young RPG scene. The map of a maze used in the game later helps to solve the murder case.
- The film Dungeons & Dragons (2000) was the first time that an RPG system itself served as a template for a feature film. However, the director Courtney Solomon did not use any of the well-known D&D worlds, but instead created his own background world. Despite bad reviews, Solomon's film is interesting, as typical role-playing elements (hero group with different fantasy races , quest structure , labyrinths , thief themes) shape both the plot and the film structure.
- The independent productions The Gamers (2002) and The Gamers: Dorkness Rising (2008), on the other hand, caricature the scene. The plot alternates between a student role-play round at the gaming table and the experiences of the imaginary group of heroes, whereby these are created as a parody .
- The animated television series Futurama makes various references to the role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons, especially in the episode Stories of Interest I in which Gary Gygax also has a major guest appearance.
- The Futurama film Bender's Game is also largely based on Dungeon and Dragons and is dedicated to Gary Gygax, who died while the film was in production.
- In Astrópía the protagonists are role players.
- The role-playing game Vampires: The Masquerade served as a template for the television series Embraced - Clan of Vampires .
- In the Stranger Things series , the young protagonists regularly play Dungeons & Dragons and refer to classic groups of heroes and monsters from this role-playing game.
- In The Big Bang Theory series , Sheldon Cooper and his roommates and friends play Dungeons & Dragons in multiple episodes .
Organization and sales
Role-players often organize themselves in role- playing clubs in order to hold conventions where people can meet, play together and trade in role-playing and fan articles. The world's most important role-player gathering has been Gen Con since 1967 in various locations, mostly in the USA. The most popular in Germany is the Hamburg fantasy player meeting NORDCON , which has been taking place since 1997, as well as the cross-themed Role Play Convention and Games Fair Essen , where a large number of new releases in the role play area are presented and presented.
Most pen & paper role-playing game products have an ISBN , but are seldom sold through booksellers, but rather through specialist shops ("role-playing shops"), online stores, trade fairs and conventions. The most important wholesalers for role-playing games in Germany are Pegasus Spiele and - since the takeover of Das Schwarze Auge in 2007 - Ulisses Spiele .
See also
literature
- Ramona Kahl: “Nothing but a game?” Fantasy role-playing games as a stage for repressed life plans . In: Ulrike Prokop / Mechthild M Jansen (eds.): Documentary soap, reality TV, affect talk show, fantasy role-playing games. New socialization agencies in adolescence . Tectum, Marburg 2006, ISBN 978-3-8288-9126-5 , pp. 275-314 (series Kulturanalysen ).
- Tobias Röhl, Regine Herbrik: Mapping the Imaginary. Maps in Fantasy Role-Playing Games . In: Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung 9, 2008, No. 3, Article 25 ( urn : nbn: de: 0114-fqs0803255 ).
- Gary A. Fine: Role-playing games as social worlds. Univ. of Chicago Press 2002, ISBN 0-226-24944-1 .
- Andreas Hirseland / Werner Schneider: Explorations in the realm of Midgard. An ethnographic sketch of fantasy role-playing games and their players . In: Hans A. Hartmann / Rolf Haubl (eds.): Leisure in the adventure society. Amusement between self-realization and commerce. Westdeutscher Verlag Opladen 1996, ISBN 3-531-12692-X
Web links
- Link catalog on role-playing games at curlie.org (formerly DMOZ )
- Studies About Fantasy Role-Playing Games. Studies on fantasy role-playing games . Ongoing bibliography of over 150 publications on fantasy role-playing games (English / German).
- DRoSI.de: the German RPG Index . Online reference book on pen & paper role-playing games.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Role play dice - 7 dice sets and more for your success . In: Pen and Paper . ( penpapervergleich.de [accessed on May 22, 2018]).
- ↑ a b Momo Evers (Ed.): Magische Zeiten (anniversary volume 20 years DSA), Fantasy Productions, Erkrath, 2004, p. 92, ISBN 3-89064-516-X