Welcome to Gaia! ::

Role-playing game

A role-playing game (RPG, often roleplaying game) is a type of game in which the participants assume the roles of characters and collaboratively create stories. Participants determine the actions of their characters based on their characterization, and the actions succeed or fail according to a formal system of rules and guidelines. Within the rules, they may improvise freely; their choices shape the direction and outcome of the games.

A role-playing game rarely has winners or losers. This makes role-playing games fundamentally different from board games, card games, sports and most other types of games. Like novels or films, roleplaying games appeal because they engage the imagination. Role-playing games are typically more collaborative and social than competitive. A typical role-playing game unites its participants into a single team, known as a "party", that plays as a group.

Most role-playing games are conducted like radio drama: only the spoken component is acted, and players step out of character to describe action and discuss game mechanics. The genre of role-playing games in which players do perform their characters' physical actions is known as live-action roleplaying games (LARP).


Concept

At their core, roleplaying games are a form of interactive and collaborative storytelling. Simple forms of roleplaying exist in traditional children's games such as "cops and robbers", "dogs and mailmen", "cowboys and indians" and "playing house". Roleplaying games add a level of sophistication to this basic idea; unlike a child who just wants to feel like a cowboy for a few minutes, a group of adults in roleplaying game will generate specific characters and an ongoing plot. A predetermined system of rules helps promote realism in games and thus helps and the suspension of disbelief. The goal is to reproduce the enjoyment of a film or a novel. Like serials or novel sequences, these episodic games are often played in weekly sessions over a period of months or even years.

A crucial difference between roleplaying games and traditional fiction is interactivity. Whereas a viewer of a television show is a passive observer, a player at a roleplaying game makes choices that propel the action. Such role-playing games extend an older tradition of storytelling games where a small party of friends collaborates on a unique adventure.

Console Role-Playing Games (often abbreviated CRPGs) are a subtype of electronic role-playing games that have their origins rooted in video game consoles. The term also applies to role-playing video games on handheld video game systems such as the Game Boy Advance and PSP.

Overview

Most CRPGs place a strong emphasis on storyline-driven arcs and character development, with the payoff almost always based on storytelling instead of experiencing a more dynamic world with nonlinear gameplay.

Prime examples of the CRPG genre are the Final Fantasy series, the Suikoden, Ys, Dragon Warrior, Star Ocean, Grandia, Tales RPG Series, and the Xenosaga series.

yeah hehe i put some effort...mostly copy and paste but hehe yay for wikipedia its usefull somehow

its more common?? hehe who knows

talking about rpgs, my brother is actually at gencon this weekend! its one of the hugest gaming conventions i guess. he's been going for the past like 6-7 years. he's kinda sad cause anime has been slowly creeping in more and more each year. but hey, he sometimes gets me stuff he thinks i'll like.

well this is more table top rpg than console. and card games and stuff. even though i'm sure there will be some ff stuff there. he's looking for a kingdom hearts 2 wallscroll there for patti. and bleach stuff for mandi and i hehe. i dunno what he'll find but i'll report on sunday cause thats when he comes home.

yeah its like a lot ot get right now >,< i'll buy it after i beat the first one ~_^ haha that means i might never get it >,<