{"id":103,"date":"2015-08-16T22:57:26","date_gmt":"2015-08-16T22:57:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hodgestar.za.net\/blog\/?p=103"},"modified":"2015-08-16T23:06:47","modified_gmt":"2015-08-16T23:06:47","slug":"so-what-is-this-roleplaying-thing-anyway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/hodgestar.za.net\/blog\/2015\/08\/so-what-is-this-roleplaying-thing-anyway\/","title":{"rendered":"So what is this roleplaying thing anyway?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I ran a roleplaying module [1] for some friends from work and after initially neglecting to explaining what roleplay is<\/em>, I wrote this:<\/p>\n

Roleplaying is a form of collaborative storytelling — a group of\u00a0people gathering to tell a story together. This broad definition\u00a0covers quite a range of things — one can tell very different kinds of\u00a0stories and collaborate in very different ways.<\/p>\n

What I’m planning to run is called “tabletop roleplaying” [2]. The\u00a0stories told centre around a group of characters (the protagonists in\u00a0a movie). Each person playing is in charge of one of these main\u00a0characters, except for one person who has no character and instead\u00a0handles everything that isn’t one of the main characters (they are a\u00a0bit like the director of a movie).<\/p>\n

Tabletop roleplaying is a little like a radio drama — almost everything\u00a0is done by narrating or speaking in character. You’ll be saying things\u00a0you want your character to say and describing the actions you want\u00a0your character to take. Light acting, such as putting on accents or\u00a0changing tone of voice or changing posture, can be quite fun, but is\u00a0by no means a requirement.<\/p>\n

The “director”, also called the “storyteller” or “DM” [3], describes\u00a0the situations the main characters find themselves in, decides on the\u00a0consequences of their actions and takes on the role of minor\u00a0supporting characters and antagonists (often villains, because they’re\u00a0exciting). The storyteller is also an arbitrator and a facilitator and\u00a0attempts to maintain consensus and suitable pacing of the story.<\/p>\n

Often you’ll want to have your character attempt an action that\u00a0might not succeed [4]. For example, they might want to shoot a\u00a0villain, charm their way past a bouncer, pick a lock or run across a\u00a0burning bridge. In some cases success will be more likely than\u00a0others. A character who is good looking or persuasive might find\u00a0charming the bouncer easy. A character who has never picked up a gun\u00a0might find shooting the villain hard.<\/p>\n

The set of rules used to determine success or failure is called “the\u00a0system”. The rules might be as simple as “flip a coin” or they might\u00a0take up a whole book [5]. Dice are a commonly used way of randomly\u00a0determining results with high numbers typically indicating more\u00a0successful outcomes and lower numbers less successful ones.<\/p>\n

Since the\u00a0real world is very very complicated, the rules usually model different\u00a0aspects of it in varying degrees of detail and this often sets the\u00a0tone of the story to some extent. For example, a system for telling\u00a0stories about bank robbers in the 1920s might have very detailed\u00a0rules on vault locks, while a system for telling fantasy stories will\u00a0likely have special rules for elves and dwarves.<\/p>\n

All systems have shortcomings, and when these are encountered it’s\u00a0usually the storyteller’s job to apply common sense and tweak the\u00a0outcome accordingly.<\/p>\n

The system I’m planning to use is an extremely simplified version of\u00a0Dungeons & Dragons, 3rd Edition. The full rules run to many books. I’m\u00a0hoping to explain the few rules we’ll be using in 10-15 minutes.<\/p>\n

The story I’m planning to run focuses on a down-on-their-luck rock\u00a0band about to enter a battle of the bands contest. The twist is that\u00a0it’s a fantasy setting so there are elves and dwarves and, of course,\u00a0in the hands of suitably skilled musicians, music is literally\u00a0magical.<\/p>\n

Some practical considerations<\/h3>\n

Someone has to supply the table to sit around. This is the person\u00a0hosting the game. Ke can be a player or the storyteller or even\u00a0uninvolved [6]. Traditionally the host also supplies a kettle and tea\u00a0or coffee.<\/p>\n

Everyone needs to show up and sit at the table, preferably roughly at\u00a0the same time. This is surprisingly hard.<\/p>\n

In order to remain at the table for prolonged periods, one needs\u00a0things to nibble on. Traditionally people who are not the host bring\u00a0snacks and drinks of various kinds. Roleplayers seem to take a\u00a0perverse delight in bringing the unhealthiest snacks they can find, but this is perhaps a tradition best improved on.<\/p>\n

Remembering the details of the story can be tricky, so it’s often\u00a0useful to scribble short notes for oneself. A pen and paper come in\u00a0handy.<\/p>\n

I’ll give each player a couple of pages of information about their\u00a0character. These are called the “character sheet”. The primary role of\u00a0the character sheet is to supply margins to scribble notes and doodles\u00a0in (see above).<\/p>\n

It’s likely that time will fly remarkably quickly. If there are six of\u00a0us, each person will get on average less than ten minutes of “screen\u00a0time” per hour and probably a lot less given that the storyteller\u00a0usually uses more than their fair share and there are always\u00a0distractions and side tracks like discussing the rules or office\u00a0gossip [7]. If we run out of time, we can always continue the story\u00a0another day if we’re excited enough.<\/p>\n

Lastly, the point is to have fun and tell an interesting story [8].<\/p>\n

Glossary<\/h3>\n

Host<\/strong>: Person who supplies the table, and usually warm beverages like\u00a0tea and coffee.<\/p>\n

Table<\/strong>: Thing one plays at.<\/p>\n

Storyteller<\/strong>: The person managing the world the story takes place in,\u00a0the consequences of players actions and playing the minor characters\u00a0and antagonists.<\/p>\n

Players<\/strong>: The people who are not the storyteller.<\/p>\n

Player character<\/strong>: One of the protagonists of the story. Each player\u00a0has their own player character to narrate.<\/p>\n

NPC<\/strong>: Non-player character. All the characters in the story who are\u00a0not player characters.<\/p>\n

RPG<\/strong>: Roleplaying Game. Also rocket-propelled grenade.<\/p>\n

System<\/strong>: The rules used to determine the outcomes of risky actions.<\/p>\n

Dice<\/strong>: Things one rolls. Usually because one is required to do so by\u00a0the rules, but often just for fun.<\/p>\n

Fun<\/strong>: The point. :)<\/p>\n

Footnotes<\/h3>\n

[1] The module was This is V\u00f6rpal Mace<\/em>. If you’re keen to play it, you can download\u00a0it from\u00a0Locustforge<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[2] So called because it usually takes place around a table.<\/p>\n

[3] “DM” stands for “Dungeon Master” and is a silly legacy term from the earliest\u00a0tabletop roleplaying games which mostly focused on a group of heroes running\u00a0around vast dungeons full of traps and monsters. The storyteller’s role was\u00a0mostly to invent traps and monsters, hence the title.<\/p>\n

[4] Because otherwise the story would be very boring. :)<\/p>\n

[5] A whole book is far more common. :P<\/p>\n

[6] Although letting six people invade your house for an evening for\u00a0an activity you’re not involved in requires a special kind of\u00a0friendship.<\/p>\n

[7] One can avoid this time-divided-by-number-of-people limit by\u00a0having multiple scenes running concurrently. This is a lot of fun,\u00a0but hell on the storyteller. :)<\/p>\n

[8] And it’s easy to lose track of this amongst all the details of\u00a0playing your character, keeping track of what’s happening and figuring\u00a0out the rules.<\/p>\n

[9] This footnote is not related to anything.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I ran a roleplaying module [1] for some friends from work and after initially neglecting to explaining what roleplay is, I wrote this: Roleplaying is a form of collaborative storytelling — a group of\u00a0people gathering to tell a story together. This broad definition\u00a0covers quite a range of things — one can tell very different kinds […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-roleplaying"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/hodgestar.za.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/hodgestar.za.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/hodgestar.za.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hodgestar.za.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hodgestar.za.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/hodgestar.za.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":111,"href":"http:\/\/hodgestar.za.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103\/revisions\/111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/hodgestar.za.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hodgestar.za.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hodgestar.za.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}