What is a role-playing game really?
Pubblicato il 16/12/2025
What is a role-playing game really?
A role-playing game (RPG) is a structured system for making decisions in someone else’s shoes within a shared imaginary world.
It is not “acting”.
It is not “pretending”.
It is not “rolling dice randomly”.
It is rule-guided narrative simulation.
The three fundamental pillars
A role-playing game exists only if all three of these elements coexist:
1. Role
Each participant portrays a character with: identity, limits, abilities, goals.
You do not act as yourself, but as the character.
This is the first important cognitive shift.
If you play “as you would”, you are not role-playing: you are metagaming.
2. Shared world
The character acts within: a coherent setting, internal rules (physics, society, dangers, consequences), a situation that evolves even without the players.
The world is not just a backdrop: it is a system that reacts.
3. System (rules)
Rules have one purpose only: deciding what happens when the outcome is not obvious.
They can be: dice, cards, tokens, narrative resources.
Rules limit arbitrariness and create real tension.
Without rules, it is not an RPG: it is free improvisation.
The role of the Master (or GM)
The Master is not the author of the story. They are:
- the rules arbiter
- the interpreter of the world
- the guarantor of consequences
The story is not written in advance. It emerges from the interaction between:
- player choices
- world reactions
- system randomness
If the Master decides everything → it is not a game
If the players decide everything → it is not a game
If the system does not matter → it is not a game
What is a role-playing game? NO (debunking myths)
It is not theater
It is not guided storytelling
It is not “let’s tell a story together” (overused phrase)
It is not about winning or losing
An RPG is living a situation, not recounting it afterward.
Why it is powerful (and often misunderstood)
A role-playing game:
- trains decision-making thinking
- simulates responsibility without a safety net
- puts players in front of ambiguous choices
- produces non-replicable stories
The best stories do not emerge because they are “beautiful”,
but because someone made the wrong choice at the right moment.
A pro-level definition
A role-playing game is a narrative simulation system in which multiple people take on fictional roles, make meaningful decisions within a coherent world, and accept that rules and consequences determine the evolution of events.
Lascia un commento