roleplaying

Roleplaying refers to any of a broad range of activities in which participants assume roles other than themselves, usually for the purpose of entertainment, though sometimes as a literary, dramatic, or therapeutic exercise. Bloggers tend to use the term to refer to games.

Roleplaying games (or RPGs) became very popular in the 1970s with the first publication of Dungeons and Dragons. Other "pen and paper" based games include many based on original source material, as well as licensed properties like Star Wars and the writings of H. P. Lovecraft. In these games players create characters appropriate to the setting and describe the actions of these characters within a scenario managed by a Gamemaster, producing what is essentially a collaborative story. Bloggers frequently write game reviews, as well as articles on game theory and development.

The roleplaying format was later successfully adapted to computer games. The dominant format for these games has come to be the Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game (MMORPG) in which thousands of players share the same game world through the internet. Leading examples of this sort of game include World of Warcraft, Lord of the Rings Online, Eve Online, and RuneScape, as well as many others.

Story-based roleplaying is also very popular on the internet, with players using message boards, chat, and online forums to engage in collaborative storytelling with very little structure and few rules. For an example of forum-based roleplaying see Caeliria. Also popular is live-action roleplaying (LARP) where participants dress up in character and engage in mock combat. For an example of popular live action roleplaying see NERO or World of Darkness.

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Latest blogosphere posts tagged “roleplaying”

 

• Ancient Scroll’s Secret Room: To Punish and Enslave (or “Being Lawful”)

  
  Game Knight Reviews — Authority: 411
  Nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced. - Albert Einstein One who breaks an unjust law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community ...
  17 hours ago

• Mass Effect 3 Co-Op Gameplay Trailer

  
  Game Stooge — Authority: 466
  The co-op gameplay in Mass Effect 3 promises to be kick-ass, as players can be a part of Shepard’s “Special Forces” team. Mass Effect 3 will be released on March 6 for PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
  19 hours ago

• News from Around the Net: 27-JAN-12

  
  Game Knight Reviews — Authority: 411
  Hope everyone has had a good week! Mine has been interesting… We’ve been dealing with getting some water damage assessed and fixed in our house after a small overflow in an upstairs bathroom resulted in a family room waterfall through a spinning ceiling fan. Who needs Vegas and the Bellagio fountains? I had one in ...
  1 day ago

• Interview: Wynter Rouse, CoastCon 35 – The Dark Crab Rises in Biloxi, Mississippi – March 16-18, 2012

  
  Game Knight Reviews — Authority: 411
  As CoastCon gets ready for its 35th annual science fiction and gaming convention in Biloxi, Mississippi on March 16-18, 2012, Wynter Rouse has her hands full. She’s the Charity Liason this year and she’s been involved with CoastCon for more than a decade. She even met her husband at a CoastCon! With ...
  2 days ago

• Our D&D Greatest Hits: Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition

  
  Critical Hits — Authority: 409
  Last week, Chatty DM told you about his experiences in AD&D (aka “First Edition”) as the edition that he started in. Many of us founding members of Critical Hits got our start in RPGs a bit later in the same game group playing AD&D 2nd edition. Now, that game group has expanded, split, mutated, split ...
  2 days ago

• Overarching Plots: Why Aren’t We There Yet? from Exchange of Realities

  
  RPG Bloggers — Authority: 145
  During my riff on overarching plots in general, I pointed out one question that is vital to the writer of the overarching plot at every event (and, for that matter, is one of the few that should be answered event by event, rather than once and for all at the beginning). By this time we’re... [...]
  2 days ago

• Why Improving Your Love Life Is Easy After You Give Your Bedroom A Make Over

  
  Download Full Version Game Downloads Now — Authority: 127
  Designing the perfect bedroom isn’t so much about which wall color to pick or which type of wooden floor matches better with the nightstand, but more about making it have a homey, cozy feel, that will create comfort for both you and your partner. Keep reading to learn the methods we recommend in our articles on ...
  3 days ago

• Overarching Plots: The Major Conflict from Exchange of Realities

  
  RPG Bloggers — Authority: 145
  In general, if you’ve got an overarching plot, you should have—one might even say there has to be—a major conflict. Something has to tie all those little plot threads together, after all! But how much do you actually have to plan beforehand, and how much can you leave to your subconscious... [...]
  3 days ago

• Players: Take Some Time To Read Up On The Setting

  
  Life and Times of a Philippine Gamer — Authority: 95
  There’s something deeply rewarding about being able to play in a game that has a complex and elaborate setting.  Legend of the Five Rings, Exalted, World of Darkness, Fading Suns, Shadowrun, Eclipse Phase… these are all games which have a fairly steep learning curve when it comes to understanding the nuances of ...
  4 days ago

• Overarching Plots: Calibrating Scope from Exchange of Realities

  
  RPG Bloggers — Authority: 145
  Yesterday, I talked about landmarks and steps that a plotter who isn’t interested in full-on outlines could use to guide herself through an overarching plot. Today, I’m going to go into more detail on one of the steps: determining a plot’s scope.Scope is, as plot variables go,... [...]
  4 days ago

• Adventure Review: The Haunting of Larvik Island (4E) by Stephen Newton from Thick Skull Adventures

  
  Game Knight Reviews — Authority: 411
  Though The Haunting of Larvik Island has been out since June 2011, I’m coming very late to the party. Written by Stephen Newton and published by Thick Skull Adventures , this adventure for a group of five 1st level D&D 4E characters is not just a solid adventure with an old school feel. It also manages to ...
  5 days ago

• [L5R - Never a Dull Blade] Actual Play 14 – Nobody Expects the Rokugani Inquisition! (Long) from Life and Times of a Philippine Gamer

  
  RPG Bloggers — Authority: 145
  This session was the last one of Year 2 Spring Arc for Never a Dull Blade, and from the way it looks, was thematically tied in to three major investigations across several mysteries.  After the mess caused by the Tsuno attacks in the last session, the team was busy trying to make sure that the [...] [...]
  6 days ago

• Ancient Scroll’s Secret Room: The Rules of Chaos

  
  Game Knight Reviews — Authority: 411
  Last week I spoke about playing good and evil characters but promised that I’d follow up with my thoughts on playing lawful and chaotic PCs. When I started to think about it, I decided to break this post into two parts – one for chaos, the other for law. So today we start with chaos. Or maybe that’s CHAOS! ...
  1 week ago

• News from Around the Net: 20-JAN-12

  
  Game Knight Reviews — Authority: 411
  Welcome to the gaming news roundup for the week of 20-JAN-2012! This week was “one of those” weeks with work, so I’m gleeful that it’s Friday! Yay! The debate continued this week about “ D&D Next” or “D&D 5e” or “Ultimate Fighting D&D With Kung-fu Grip ,” so you’ll see a few ...
  1 week ago

• Our D&D Greatest Hits: Chatty’s Advanced Dungeons and Dragons

  
  Critical Hits — Authority: 409
  The recent annoucement that D&D was going to get a new iteration has garnered a lot of reactions on the web. I decided to refrain from early judgement but, much like when 4e was announced, I take an optimistic approach to it. I happen to respect and even quite like the work of the three main designers working on ...
  1 week ago

• In Game Design, GMing or Life, There’s No Such Thing as Perfect

  
  Life and Times of a Philippine Gamer — Authority: 95
  The superior man is distressed by his want of ability. Confucius, Analects Nothing is perfect. This is a fact that many of us have heard, but few of us ever acknowledge.  The reason I’m talking about this is because of the usual vitriol and flame wars that occur whenever there’s an edition change. Designers ...
  1 week ago

• Perfect Locations: Marring Perfection from Exchange of Realities

  
  RPG Bloggers — Authority: 145
  (Do I even need to tell you what prompted this post?)When last seen, the broken walls of the old buildings had shimmered in the starlight, haunted by the soft strings and fluting of the lone musician; now the musician is gone, and in the sunlight the walls are merely ruined stone. The carnival... [...]
  1 week ago

• VGRT Episode 82: Paul Spews Bullbleep

  
  Game Stooge — Authority: 466
  Despite having multiple technical difficulties that were edited out of the podcast, Episode 247 is full of gaming discussion goodness, despite Paul’s constant declaration that companies are full of bullbleep. This week’s gaming news includes: Bioware confirms Mass Effect 3 is Origin-only Electronic Arts ...
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• Kinect for Mass Effect Demoed

  
  Game Stooge — Authority: 466
  The demo version of Mass Effect 3 launches on February 14th and there has been much speculation as to what, exactly, will be in the demo and what the purpose of the demo is. Digital Trends was able to get an early hands on and the answer may not be what you expect. It seems that the key aspect of the demo is to ...
  1 week ago

• Dungeon Raid Goes On Sale, Now $.99

  
  Touch Arcade — Authority: 616
  Dungeon Raid [$. 99 / Lite], a match-3 that TouchArcade President-in-Chief Eli Hodapp freely argues is the greatest game ever created, has been updated on Android. You probably dont care about that considering this is an iOS-centric web site and all, but heres the twist: in a tiny celebration of the fact that DR ...
  1 week ago

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