Pen and Paper RPGs: An Introduction
Gaming has been spreading more and more, along with different aspects of “the geek culture.” So much that pretty much everyone knows a bit about comic heroes thanks to movies and almost everyone have played at least some games thanks consoles and social games. In fact, even “e-sport”, something that just rose in the gaming community in the last decade, is not unheard of by many.
Pen&Paper RPGs however, are still one of the niche aspects. Many gamers themselves have never tried them: PnP is still an alien to everyone except its own community. Today I’ll tell you the basics, give you some examples and hopefully; you’ll have an idea about what it is, and maybe even willing to try!
What?
Let’s start with the name. Why is it called Pen and Paper? Why is it called Role-playing? Well, it’s pretty straightforward. These games are so old school, you play them by using *gasp* actual pen and paper! Of course, you could find technological alternatives, especially when playing online; but the “original recipe” requires hand drawn maps, players taking notes on their character sheets and then spilling drinks on them, drawing a quick battleground when there is combat and so on. And it’s role playing because you take on the persona of a character and you need to play that person, with their restrictions. So you may be a genius “in real life”, but if you D&D character is an illiterate half-orc barbarian, you have to act stupid!
How?
Important Note #1: There are many different games, with many different systems. There are different ways to play. What I’ll be talking about is more or less “the average”, at least in my experience.
So! The game has two kind of players. One is… a player, typically there are 4 or 5 of them. The other is the game master and there is only one per game. The names can change between systems. For example, in Dungeons and Dragons, the game master is called the Dungeon Master (the DM henceforth.)
The game will also have a system and a setting. The setting for a game is a combination of time and place. For example, Middle Earth (world of Lord of the Rings) right before the events of Hobbit is a game setting. California during Great Depression is also a game setting.
A system is basically a set of rules that govern how the game works. For example, to break a door in Dungeons and Dragons, you have a Strength score and you’d have to roll a 20-sided dice and add your Strength score. In World of Darkness, you’d also have a Strength score. But instead, you’d roll as many 10-sided dice as your strength score and get as many above-average rolls as possible.
I’d like to build an example as we go on, to give you a better understanding. Let’s say our setting is a basic fantasy setting. There are wizards and knights, dragons and bandits, mythic gods and demons.
Important Note #2: Explaining Pen and paper sounds way more complicated than it is actually to play. Believe me. Don’t try to completely memorize or understand things wholly. Just keep rolling and get an overall sense of things.
So, once the setting and the system is established, players create their characters. Of course, they need to fit. You can’t be a hipster from 2010s in roaring 20ies (unless you are a time traveler), nor you can be a Blade Runner in Lord of the Rings. The Game master will write a story, create the characters and the locations and decide the challenges players will face. This is typically done before the actual game, on the GM’s on time. But it’s also possible to use pre-created adventures.
Let’s say we have 4 players. One created an elf “wizard”, the other two created dwarf “fighters” and the final player wanted to create an evil sorcerer, but the GM tells him there are no sorcerers and the group can’t be evil, so instead he makes a “rogue”.
The DM/GM decides that the players start in a town as friends who want to start adventuring. They’ll go explore a tomb but accidentally awaken an old vampire, who will enslave their town. So the party will have to find ways to defeat the vampire.
From now on, the players will be responsible of their characters actions, while the DM is responsible for everything else. When anyone wants to do something, the dice will tell if they can do it or not.
For example, let’s say the group is cornered by a horde of zombies. There is a door, but the person on the other side locked it out of fear. One player may want to talk with that person. In this case, the player and the DM will act out the conversation and probably roll a dice to decide if the player could successfully convince the other person to open the door. Or maybe one of them will want to pick the lock. Again, a roll will determine if the character was successful. If all else fails and they have to fight, the players decide who they want to attack; the DM decides who the zombies attack and to see if these attempts are successful, they will roll dice. How the dice works, what dice you roll etc depends on the system.
Point
One question at this point is: What then? Let’s say our party defeated the vampire. Do they win? Does the DM lose? The answer to both of the questions is No! In P&P, there is no win or lose. The experience is the point of the game.
So if the vampire is defeated, this adventure is over. A new game may be initiated, or but the same characters could also go on new adventures! Maybe they just decide to move to a different city or maybe they’ll find out that the vampire is actually the founder of their town and decide to explore the town’s history through the dark tombs lying beneath!
Typically the DM will prepare some hooks for a long-winded game called a campaign. These games can go on for years and they are really fun! Playing your characters, seeing them level up and grow, working together as a party… But it’s always possible to play “one-shot” games alternatively or in addition to campaigns.
Conclusion
To summarize, a p&p game will have a system, a setting, one game master, a few players and some dice! The players will be actor for their characters while GM will write, direct and be the actor of everything else. The GM will be the one throwing dangerous monsters their way, but also helpful characters and patrons too. Together, they’ll go through adventures.
As I noted above, this sounds more complicated than it feels. What matters most is to have a good DM who can understand the players’ points of entertainment and a good group of players who play nice. Once you have that good energy, details will never bother you. If you have any questions, please drop a comment!
