Main article: Role-playing game
Role-playing games are games in which players assume the role of characters in a fictional setting.1 Role playing games come in various types and categories:
Main article: Tabletop role-playing game
Main article: Live action role-playing game
Main article: Role-playing video game
The first organized critical reflection and academic research on RPGs from their inception in the mid-1970s through the 1980s focused on examining and refuting the early controversies surrounding the hobby at the time. Arguably, the first examination of the field in clinical terms was Shared Fantasies: Role Playing Games as Social Worlds7 by Gary Fine. Gary Gygax, a co-originator of the hobby with Dave Arneson, published two books on his philosophy of role-playing: Role Playing Mastery: Tips, Tactics and Strategies in 1989 and Master of the Game in 1990.
In 1994–95 Inter*Active (later renamed Interactive Fiction) published a magazine devoted to the study of RPGs. In the first issue Robin Laws called for the creation of a critical theory for role-playing games.8 By the late 1990s, discussion on the nature of RPGs on rec.games.frp.advocacy had generated several theories of RPGs which spread to other sites and influenced theorists in France and Scandinavia.
Opposing ideological camps about the nature and function of RPGs emerged in late 1990s Scandinavia. Designers of live action role-playing games in the Nordic LARP tradition began holding a yearly convention called the Knutepunkt that prominently featured RPG theory. The first Knutepunkt was held in Oslo in 1997, and the annual convention is still being organized today.910
Around the same time, between 1999 and 2012, an indie role-playing game internet forum called the Forge studied RPG theory with a focus on tabletop games. The Forge's editorial lead, Ron Edwards, developed the GNS Theory of role-playing games.11
Ideas from The Forge and Knutepunkt influenced each other over the years. Although the Forge is now defunct, Knutepunkt has continued to grow. Knutepunkt publishes an annual collection of analytical articles on role-playing.12
Some RPG theories include:
"Role-playing game", Wikipedia, 2022-02-13, retrieved 2022-06-15 https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Role-playing_game&oldid=1071578990 ↩
Kim, John. "What is a Role-Playing Game?". Archived from the original on 14 September 2008. Retrieved 9 September 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20080914081206/http://www.darkshire.net/~jhkim/rpg/whatis/ ↩
Kim, John. ""Narrative" or "Tabletop" RPGs". Archived from the original on 29 August 2008. Retrieved 9 September 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20080829174633/http://www.darkshire.net/%7Ejhkim/rpg/whatis/tabletop.html ↩
(Tychsen et al. 2006:255) "LARPs can be viewed as forming a distinct category of RPG because of two unique features: (a) The players physically embody their characters, and (b) the game takes place in a physical frame. Embodiment means that the physical actions of the player are regarded as those of the character. LARP participants may dress in the costume of their character and carry appropriate physical props (e.g., an 18th century militia LARP participant may wear a military uniform and carry a musket). Whereas in a RPG played by a group sitting around a table, players describe the actions of their characters (e.g., "I run to stand beside my friend"); in an equivalent situation in a LARP, a player would physically run to the appropriate point within the game space." ↩
J. Patrick Williams; Sean Q. Hendricks; W. Keith Winkler (21 March 2006). Gaming as Culture: Essays on Reality, Identity and Experience in Fantasy Games. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-5406-8. 978-0-7864-5406-8 ↩
Shared Fantasies: Role-Playing Games as Social Worlds ISBN 0-226-24943-3 / 0-226-24943-3 ISBN 978-0-226-24943-8 University of Chicago Press 1983 /wiki/ISBN_(identifier) ↩
The Hidden Art: Slouching Towards a Critical Framework of RPGs by Robin Laws http://www.rpg.net/oracle/essays/hiddenart.html ↩
"Knutepunkt". knutepunkt.org. Retrieved 2024-09-30. https://knutepunkt.org/ ↩
"Knutepunkt - Nordic Larp Wiki". nordiclarp.org. Retrieved 2024-09-30. https://nordiclarp.org/wiki/Knutepunkt ↩
"The Forge :: System Does Matter". www.indie-rpgs.com. Retrieved 2024-09-30. http://www.indie-rpgs.com/_articles/system_does_matter.html ↩
"Knutepunkt-books - Nordic Larp Wiki". nordiclarp.org. Retrieved 2024-09-30. https://nordiclarp.org/wiki/Knutepunkt-books ↩
The Threefold Theory FAQ by John Kim http://www.darkshire.net/jhkim/rpg/theory/threefold/faq_v1.html ↩
Everything You Need to Know about GEN Theory by Scarlet Jester http://www.darkshire.net/jhkim/rpg/theory/threefold/GEN01.html ↩
The Forge’s article page, with the key articles to GNS Theory/Forge Theory http://www.indie-rpgs.com/articles/ ↩
Color Theory by Fabien Ninoles http://harmonies.tzone.org/articles/colors/colors.html ↩
Channel Theory Archived 2011-07-08 at the Wayback Machine, by Larry Hols http://carrollsweb.com/crkdface/ ↩
Konzack, Lars (14 May 2015). "The Wunderkammer-Gesamtkunstwerk Model: A Framework for Role-Playing Game Analysis and Design". Academia.edu. Retrieved 29 June 2016. https://www.academia.edu/15815581 ↩
The Turku School http://www2.uiah.fi/~mpohjola/turku/ ↩
"Blast from the Past: Meilahti". Jaakko Stenros. 2010-08-02. Retrieved 2024-09-30. https://jaakkostenros.wordpress.com/2010/08/02/blast-from-the-past-meilahti/ ↩
Whitson John Kirk III (2009-09-13). RPG Design Patterns. http://archive.org/details/RPGDesignPatterns91309 ↩
Kemper, Jonaya (2018). “Playing to Create Ourselves: Exploring Larp and Visual Autoethnographic Practice as a Tool of Self Liberation for Marginalized Identities.” Master’s Thesis. New York University. ↩
Kemper, Jonaya. (2017): "The Battle of Primrose Park: Playing for Emancipatory Bleed in Fortune & Felicity Documentation." NordicLarp.org June 21, 2017. Accessed April 9, 2021. ↩
Kemper, Jonaya. (2020): Wyrding the Self. In Eleanor Saitta, Johanna Koljonen, Jukka Särkijärvi, Anne Serup Grove, Pauliina Männistö, & Mia Makkonen (eds.). What Do We Do When We Play? Helsinki; Solmukohta 2020. Accessed April 9, 2021. ↩
Steele, Samara Hayley (2021). "'To Larp, or Not to Larp?' Must Embodiment and Code Deployment Reinforce Systemic Injustice across Larp Platforms?". ELMCIP. Retrieved 7 June 2023. https://elmcip.net/critical-writing/larp-or-not-larp-must-embodiment-and-code-deployment-reinforce-systemic-injustice ↩
Hollander, Aaron T. (2021). "Blessed Are the Legend-Makers: Experimentation as Edification in Dungeons & Dragons". Political Theology. 22 (4): 316–331. doi:10.1080/1462317X.2021.1890933. S2CID 233956866. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1462317X.2021.1890933 ↩
Toft, Ida; Harrer, Sabine (2020). "Design Bleed: A Standpoint Methodology for Game Design" (PDF). Proceedings of DiGRA 2020: 1–18. http://www.digra.org/wp-content/uploads/digital-library/DiGRA_2020_paper_320.pdf ↩