“So what are you doing there?” This is a question I often hear in connection with my excitement that KuL is now renting a game room. And because the short answer “role-playing games”, often causes a somewhat disconcerted frown, here is the more detailed answer.
Telling a Story
Pen & Paper role-playing games, or tabletop-role-playing-games (TTRPG) as they are called in english, are a form of collective storytelling. The duration of these stories can often extend over years, some storylines are never completed and continue to grow.
Players are immersed in character roles, which they have usually created themselves in advance of the game. This can range from a character with a highly detailed backstory and complex personality traits to a blank slate that just has a name. Depending on the players preference, that is.
Typically, the game is moderated by one person. There are countless names for this function in the pen & paper universe: Master, Game Master (GM), Game or Dungeon Master, Judge, Referee, etc.
The role of the GM is to present the players with a fictional world, its settings and inhabitants, and perhaps even a prepared storyline à la Lord of the Rings. In this setting the GM confronts the players with situations in which they can act as their characters and make decisions. In the process, the players repeatedly ask themselves the question, “What would my character do?” They answer this question by verbalizing the actions that their characters perform. Confronted with the decisions & actions of the players, the GM considers what consequences they have within the game world and describes the resulting outcome. As a result, new situations arise, which again demand decisions from the players. This interplay between the master and the rest of the group form the building blocks from which our fantastic stories gradually evolve.
Playing a Game
TTRPGs are not only gathering places for hobby improvisers, but also games. The basis for shared fantasy is often provided by one of the hundreds of rulebooks that now exist. One of the most present of them is for example Dungeons & Dragons (you can find more systems, which are available in our game room here). These rulebooks provide decision support when the outcome of a verbalized action is unclear, for example whether the high wall can be scaled, the vigilant policeman outwitted, or the distant treasure island spotted.
Many rulebooks make use of a game mechanic that was already known in ancient times: the dice roll. The attributes and abilities of the character are usually integrated into the dice roll, which, along with their background story and name, are noted down by pen on paper at the start of the game.
This random element results in game situations that neither the players nor the GM could have foreseen, and the stories take surprising turns.
So that’s what we’re doing there. We tell stories together and play a game at the same time. Or the other way around. Me often in the role of the Game Master, the players as characters named Gilbert, Thomas, Akira or Nadjeszka, all with different personalities and abilities and armed with dice, pen and paper.
I describe the worlds, landscapes and inhabitants of Arcanor and Barovia, the principality of the vampire Strahd of Zarovich or the dark forests of Witschwod. The player characters explore these, overcome obstacles and dangers, and conduct negotiations or form alliances.
All fictional, all real
PS: An example of a story which grew over 2.5 years give the unedited playersummaries of Thomas und seinen Gefährten (german).