I wrote this for ENG 111
There are many ways to tell a story, but what if you wanted to experience a story beyond the linear progression set by the creator? What if you wanted to be the hero in an epic fantasy adventure, or bounty hunter in a far-flung galaxy? Aside from our dreams and imaginations, we have no way of achieving this. But what if we were to leverage our imagination to allow us to inhabit these stories? Well, if you were to ask me any one of these questions, I would promptly direct you to the expansive world of “Tabletop Role-Playing Games” (or TTRPGs).
When presenting TTRPGs like “Dungeons and Dragons” to people for the first time, I commonly use the phrase, “It’s a collaborative storytelling game, where the game’s engine is your very own brain”. In a TTRPG, one person runs the game, and the rest play characters in it, with the events of the story taking place in the group’s collective imagination. The game runner, or Game Master, is responsible for describing a story and situations to the players, who then describe their own in-game character’s reactions and responses to it. Usually, whether something succeeds or fails is decided by the rolling of dice – then described by the Game Master. TTRPGs are commonly compared to board games and video games. However, unlike board and video games, each person is completely free to attempt anything that they desire and not limited to predetermined actions. That’s not to say that these games are without rules. Sometimes the rules are complex and confusing, but they are flexible and generally take a backseat to fun and creativity. That’s what I’ve found TTRPGs to be; a fun gaming space to be creative in, wherein the limits are your own imagination. You could be a character that acts completely differently to how you act in real life and role-play them with your friends almost like a group improv session. However, what makes TTRPGs different to improv or just coming up with a plotted story as a group is the guarantee that there are no guarantees. You won’t always succeed. A villain might win, or you could fail to solve a mystery in time. That’s where the fun comes from, not just the act of storytelling, but building tension and then releasing it. Moments where the very fate of a fictional world rests solely on a literal roll of the dice are exhilarating, despite nothing really happening at the gaming table.
I view tabletop games as a chance to live out the impossible, or at least improbable. Not limited by reality but bound in imagination. With rules and guidelines set in place not to restrict play, but to encourage creative play. Probably the most enjoyable part of TTRPGs for me is their ability to craft narratives that invest the audience, in this case the players, more deeply than books or film because it is the audience who are at the center of attention and the driving force all at once. Others think that TTRPGs are a competition, something to be won, as if is a Game Master versus the players. In fact, many times after a long game session, people ask me, “who won?” I and respond to them in the cheesiest way I can, “Its not about winning, it’s about having fun.”
If you are at all interested in TTRPGs, the YouTuber Zee Bashew is an excellent creator to take a look at to get a better sense of how dynamic the game systems and stories in TTRPGs can be. Click HERE to watch one of my favorite videos of his.
If you want to read another article by me, I’d recommend that you read my research paper on Alex Katz’s Swamp Maple (4:30) which I wrote for AVT347. You can find that HERE.
