Roleplaying game

A Roleplaying Game, or RPG, is a game where a number of participants typically assume the roles of fictional characters.

One of the most popular and long running RPGs is Dungeons and Dragons which was created in the USA. It became so popular that it spawned a children's cartoon of the same name.

Traditionally, an RPG was played by a group of friends with pen and paper and one of the group assuming the role of "Game Master" and effectively running the game. Nowadays there are a great number of RPGs available in videogame format - everything from online games designed for any number of players (for example World of Warcraft, Phantasy Star Online, and Everquest) to single player story led games (for example, the Final Fantasy series). Proponents of tabletop RPGs criticize computer and console-based RPGs for their relative inflexibility, since even the best computer-model can't be as ingenious as an actual game-master can.

From the 1980s onward, RPGs have come under a great deal of criticism from groups who felt that people (especially children) using their imaginations was inherently dangerous, and would lead to insanity, murder, suicide, and occultism.

Tabletop RPGs

• Dungeons and Dragons
• Vampire: the Masquerade
• Traveller
• Top Secret
• Exalted
• Empire of the Petal Throne
• Nobilis
• Boot Hill
• In Nomine
• Dragonraid
• GURPS
• Bunnies and Burrows

See also

• Console RPGs
• MMORPG