The Mushroom Press Design Blog

I was recently talking about RPGs in a forum, and I was asked the following question:

"What do you want from an RPG that differentiates it from moderated freeform roleplay?"

Which is a super good question that I am happy to answer!

Shared Mindspace

Beyond mere moderation, the gamemaster creates a milieu: A living, imaginary universe. This milieu is shared and occupied by the players but is in no way responsive to them outside of the agency of their characters. So that, while a player may have their character swing from a chandelier, they could not suggest one into being; the GM, in their sole discretion, determines whether one is there.

This contrasts starkly with freeform moderated roleplaying; there can be no “offer”: As a player, I can’t say “I am going to swing from the chandelier!” and expect the rest of the players and moderator to accept or reject my assumption.

If there is a chandelier, and I am within swinging distance, I can attempt whatever fool thing I want. Further, I can ask the GM if there is one, and they at their sole discretion can reveal that yes indeed there is one or reject the notion; when they do, it becomes part of the mindspace; something that is real to the characters we play.

Discretionary consultation of rules systems

Additionally, the GM is a referee of the rules systems which govern a game. They can and should deviate from them at their sole discretion, but that deviation and adherence forms part of the ongoing conversation of the roleplaying game.

The addition, exclusion, adherence from, deviance from, et al of rules is part of the running and playing of the game. If we, as a collective roleplaying group, want to use a set of mechanics from an entirely different game system, narrate the outcome, or whatever, we agree that that system represents an agreeable abstraction which governs the outcome of actions within the shared mindspace. Should a deadly chess match be decided by an actual, played-in-real-time chess match? That’s for us to say.

Aside: I feel like it is acceptable courtesy to get agreement from everybody before radically altering the agreed-upon activity (playing a given game and system) in this way. Just the way you wouldn’t want to demand a round of badminton be played for the second inning of a rugby match with your mates. But as a group activity, group consensus rules; you want to play a round of risk to determine the outcome of this war in D&D? That sound pretty rad to me.

The rules and game that people agree to play (say, D&D) are a living part of the conversation of the game. Its understood what someone means when they say “I cast X spell” or “I’ll use my X ability to Y”. This isn’t bad; in fact, it’s extremely clear and useful language. It doesn’t exclude chandelier-swinging; it is the other way we talk about the shared activity of roleplaying.

I want to be surprised

Here’s the great thing about roleplaying games; they are cake that you have and eat forever. They are ouroboros cake.

If I want to have an aerial battle in my sword and planet D&D campaign and modify the rules for a WWII dogfighting game to accommodate pterodactyls and spells? We can do that. It’s roleplaying.

If you’re a 1 HP, first-level thief and there’s a platoon of angry gnolls in an abandoned grain silo, you can totally seal them in and set fire to the thing without the need to ever touch dice. That is roleplaying.

If you want to use your cleave feat with two-weapon proficiency to scythe through an advancing goblin horde in an orgy of mechanical and martial prowess, that’s awesome. And it is roleplaying.

RPGs don’t exist in neat, concise boxes; they’re big, messy, wonderful things. The term “roleplaying game” is as huge and encompassing as the term “art”, or “game”.

Jerry Holkins (or it might have been Mike Krahulik) once commented, concerning a documentary chronically different aspects and peoples in the roleplaying hobby, that they were clearly not all doing the same thing. But that’s the thing; they are. All of these things fall under the grand umbrella of roleplaying games, and that is awesome.

Running RPGs for me, is a wonderful experience of having my expectations defied by the creativity and ingenuity of my players, while never abandoning a shared game or a shared imaginary universe. It is the neverending cake.