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”

 

• Keeping the Ball in the Air, or The Art of Consequences from Life and Times of a Philippine Gamer

  
  RPG Bloggers — Authority: 145
  Part of how I GM has always revolved around consequences.  My default assumption is simple: “The player characters are the protagonists, and they should be able to inflict significant and long-term changes to the setting.” This sort of premise places a remarkable amount of... [...]
  7 hours ago

• The Gassy Gnoll: If I Could Save Time in a Bottle… (CONTEST!)

  
  Game Knight Reviews — Authority: 410
  With apologies to Jim Croce : If I could save time in a bottle , I’d drink it up like Mountain Dew , just so I could stay up late every day and continue playing games here with you… **I’m soooo sorry Jim Croce! This week marks the first week since college that I might have gamed two nights in a row. ...
  1 day ago

• Game-Shepherding PCs from Exchange of Realities

  
  RPG Bloggers — Authority: 145
  When I wrote about game shepherd NPCs on Monday, Lugh chimed in with several suggestions for keeping the game shepherd from taking up too much of the stage. The last of these was, instead of using an NPC to dispense the necessary exposition, using one of the PCs, particularly one built to know just... [...]
  1 day ago

• I Was a Teenage Superhero

  
  The Nervous Breakdown — Authority: 423
  Three schoolboys sit around a table. David, the friend to my left, has been genetically mutated by a radiation leak. He now has the ability to shoot beams of energy from his eyes, and teleport short distances via wormholes into alternate dimensions. Greg was stung by an irradiated wasp, his body morphing into ...
  2 days ago

• Learning from Video Games: Zelda and the Art of the Game Shepherd from Exchange of Realities

  
  RPG Bloggers — Authority: 145
  Yesterday, I wrote about the game shepherd NPC. What got me thinking about that character type (or at least, what got me thinking this time) was that one feature that all of the 3D Zelda titles share—their local equivalent of the game shepherd, someone to look over Link’s shoulder and tell... [...]
  2 days ago

• The Dangers of the Game Shepherd NPC from Exchange of Realities

  
  RPG Bloggers — Authority: 145
  One of the things we’ve learned pretty quickly about introducing a player or group to a world they’ve never played in before is that they might not really know what the place is like. Not everyone reads the setting info cover to cover, after all. This is usually where we bring in the... [...]
  3 days ago

• King.Arthur.II.The.Roleplaying.Wargame.FIX-FiGHTCLUB

  
  ONEDDL - One Stop Rapidshare Links — Authority: 143
  IGN NFO (Install Instructions) The sequel to the fantasy/role-playing RTS franchise, King Arthur II features a new and darker fantasy setting. No longer a valiant ruler, King Arthur is now the Maimed King trying to mend a land almost beyond repair in a stunning new plot. More heroic, large scale battles with ...
  4 days ago

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

  
  Game Knight Reviews — Authority: 410
  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 ...
  5 days ago

• Mass Effect 3 Co-Op Gameplay Trailer

  
  Game Stooge — Authority: 465
  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.
  5 days ago

• News from Around the Net: 27-JAN-12

  
  Game Knight Reviews — Authority: 410
  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 ...
  6 days ago

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

  
  Game Knight Reviews — Authority: 410
  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 ...
  1 week ago

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

  
  Critical Hits — Authority: 407
  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 ...
  1 week 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... [...]
  1 week ago

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

  
  Download Full Version Game Downloads Now — Authority: 126
  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 ...
  1 week 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... [...]
  1 week 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 ...
  1 week 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,... [...]
  1 week ago

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

  
  Game Knight Reviews — Authority: 410
  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 ...
  1 week 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 [...] [...]
  1 week ago

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

  
  Game Knight Reviews — Authority: 410
  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

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