Role Playing Games/Printable version


Role Playing Games

The current, editable version of this book is available in Wikibooks, the open-content textbooks collection, at
https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Role_Playing_Games

Permission is granted to copy, distribute, and/or modify this document under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License.

Overview

Introduction

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This Wikibook aims to offer a general overview of Role Playing games, also simply known as RPGs for short. If you are looking for new games to play, or which system to choose, then this is not the Wikibook for you. However if you are interested in learning what an RPG is for the first time, or are an RPG veteran looking for more info on the genre, this is the Wikibook for you! Most of this will be about video games, but there are parts about Text Adventures, Dungeons and Dragons, and more.

About the Author

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In case you are wondering of my "Web name" you can refer to me as MyFatSon (strange, isn't it).


Introduction

This is an introduction to all RPGs (Role Playing games). What is an RPG? and why they are so fun? Well, an RPG is a genre of book, game, or anything else that you play a ROLE in. RPGs are probably the most common genres in the video game industry, and definitely the most recognized.


Types of RPGs

Gameplay

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Settings

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One common way of differentiating RPG is by setting. Common settings are Science Fiction, Contemporary, Historical, Fantasy, or some mixture of these.

For example, Mass Effect and Cyberpunk 2020 are science fiction series. The Fallout series is primarily science fiction, with light touches of Fantasy. A game like Shadowrun is nearly half science fiction and half fantasy.

Some games take place in a setting which is either meant to mirror the real world, or at least be similar to it, such as The Escapist or to a lesser extent Heavy Rain. A game like Vampire: The Masquerade uses both a contemporary setting and a fantasy setting, and integrates separation between the two into gameplay.

Some fantasy RPGs include a typical game of Dungeons and Dragons. This genre also includes Dragon Age and The Elder Scrolls, among other series.

Next to discuss is Text Adventures.