Why Roleplaying is the Height of TRPGs

TRPGs are a remarkable medium. They're more interactive than essentially any other medium, they practically require creative thinking, and they offer more meaningful decision-making than any other type of game. For these reasons, roleplaying is the pinnacle of what TRPGs are capable of. I don't mean that it's the best use of TRPGs or my favorite kind of TRPG; I mean that given what TRPGs are, they allow for more opportunities to roleplay than any other medium. That means that if you want to roleplay, the best outlet for you is a TRPG. Here's why:

Let's start with a breakdown of what a TRPG really is. It's a game--a type of medium--specifically using pen and paper and the players' imaginations--a subtype of the medium of games. One (or more, in some systems) player acts as the storyteller or Game Master, while the rest play specific characters in the world--the protagonists of the story. Between the GM and the players, a story is told. Storytelling is not unique to TRPGs; many would regard the novel as the primary tool for telling a story. But roleplaying--inhabiting a character and making decisions as them--is not a part of the novel. Or of film, or of stage plays. You can roleplay in a video game to a certain extent, but your roleplaying in the video game doesn't affect the video game. This is the domain of TRPGs, which allow players to roleplay in a way that no other medium allows. 

Let's say that you are GMing and your players are a diverse mix of do-gooders who want to end the reign of a cruel leader. In a novel, the party's distaste for the cruel leader is determined by the same author who created the leader in the first place. The party's actions are in part determined by the leader's agenda and actions, but all of it is the domain of the novel's author. In a video game, a cutscene may display how the characters think of the leader, and they may not be shown to have any response at all. The attitudes of the party are the game design team's domain, not the player's. But in a TRPG, the players determine how their characters feel about the leader, and they will do more than have opinions--they will act on them. Where in a novel or video game, the matter of handling the leader is up to the creators, it's not the GM (who created the leader) who determines the protagonist's actions. The players do that, which means that it's not a story's needs that are served, but the protagonist's personalities. 

One of the great limitations of art is that it involves the creative vision of one person. A sculptor removes the marble they think needs to be taken away to reveal the sculpture underneath. A novelist tells the story with the details they can conceive of. The team that makes a season of television is a product of the vision of the writers, director, and actors. But none of them are the audience. In TRPGs, the players are, in a sense, the audience--the GM performs part of the story for them, and they get to fill in the rest. So they're not a static audience, but rather a liminal group of both audience and performers. Any GM can tell you that players take your story fragments in directions you can't imagine, and that's one of the keys to TRPGs' unique power. 

Some might call it chaos. Player choices will nearly always shake things up. And this is why as much as a TRPG can be great for storytelling, it is not the height of the medium. The story is not so much the engine that drives a TRPG. Rather, it is the agency that allows players to make meaningful decisions. Consider this: which is closer to a TRPG, a movie (created by a team of people, tells a story), or a group project (created by a team of people, allows participation of multiple perspectives)? I would argue that it's the group project. The movie is a static text--it doesn't change depending on the people who are watching it. But the group project is a collaborative effort to create something productive that reflects the input of all the contributors. You could assign the same group project to a dozen different teams of people and receive a dozen radically different presentations. That makes a TRPG more like a group project than a movie, because the end product is created through multiple people having the agency to make meaningful decisions. 

So if TRPGs are defined by choice and the ability to express oneself, why is roleplaying the best expression of that? I think it's simple. Let's return to the novel/video game example for roleplaying. Novels don't really allow you to roleplay--you probably sympathize or empathize with various characters, but you can't imagine that the protagonist does as you would like them to and turn the page. The next page just contains the choice you didn't make. In a video game, you sympathize or empathize with characters, and you get to determine your protagonist's actions to a certain extent (there are always inaccessible areas, a lack of true interactivity, and an overall lack of meaningful choices. The next level of a video game doesn't reflect the fact that your roleplaying brain made a different decision than the game can support. But in a TRPG, you don't need to even memorize what button does what--you just say what you want to do. You have nothing but choices, no end to the ability to express yourself. It's as intuitive as it can be, which means that anyone could pick up a TRPG and begin making meaningful choices. This is why roleplaying is the height of TRPGs. 

I tend to think of TRPGs as existing along a plane marked by roleplaying, storytelling, and combat (or other strategic challenges). As I have argued above, storytelling is a key and vital element of TRPGs, but those games are not the only medium that allow for storytelling. Meanwhile, there's combat. I would argue combat is smoother and more fun when played in a video game; TRPGs can allow for more creative combat than video games, but they can't compete with the skill challenge that makes them so addictive. The draw of a TRPG, no matter which of these ideas you embrace the most, is choice--choice to tell the story you want, choice to fight the way you want, and above all, choice to be the character you want to be. You can't have a TRPG without a mix of roleplaying, storytelling, and combat/challenges, but you can't exactly roleplay to your heart's content without a TRPG. 

Bottom line: again, I am not arguing that roleplaying is the best approach to TRPGs. The beauty of these games is that they can be used in such varied ways. The same book or movie might have a variety of approaches to understanding it, but could you also use a novel as a game manual? Or use a movie as a combat simulator? You can't. TRPGs are a unique medium that will not be recognized as the radically free medium of choice that it is for a while yet, and they allows us more freedom of choice than any other medium I can conceive of. And within that realm, roleplaying emerges as the strength of TRPGs that no other medium can match. 

So get out there and craft stories and games that allow players to have extreme control of things. Not only will you be amazed by what they come up, you'll be granting them an experience that they can't get anywhere else. Say "yes" to the radical agency of TRPGs, and watch as your players become invested with the power to tell your story with you. 

That's all for now. Coming soon: how to build a player stronghold, a one-shot adapted from the film The Big Lebowski, and a list of superstitions in my homebrew setting. Until next time, happy gaming!

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