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RPG Museum
1,298
pages
Explore
Main Page
All Pages
Community
Interactive Maps
Basics of play
What actually happens?
Gather at a (real or online) table
Play the game
Narrate what happens
Follow game rules
Chat with friends
Talk like a normal person
Play for a while then stop
Who participates?
Players
GM
Group:
Who do we play?
Character
Player character
Non-player character
Character creation
Character voice
In character
Out of character
How does the game create story?
Story
The fiction
Campaign
One-shot
Scene
Encounter
Confict
What are the rules for?
Rules
Game mechanic
Resolution
Trait
Action
Rulebook
Supplement
Where does the story happen?
Game world
Setting
Genre
Lore
Aren't there dice too?
Dice
D20
D6
D8
D10
D100
D12
Game design
Statistics
Attributes
Skills
Approaches
Affiliations
Emotions
Safety tools
X-Card
Safety tool
Script Change
Lines and veils
Hit points
Initiative
Dice pool
Degree of success
Promise
Theory
Social contract
Lumpley Principle
Fruitful void
IIEE
Intent
Initiation
Execution
Effect
Bell curve of experiences
Stretch
Spotlight
Culture
Specific RPGs
Apocalypse World
Blades in the Dark
Dungeons & Dragons
Fate Core
Smallville
Talislanta
Actual play
Game tales
itch.io
No fascists
The Gamers: Dorkness Rising
RPG Museum Community
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Old school role-playing games
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===Lack of conventional wisdom=== Most old school RPGs tend to be either [[fantasy heartbreaker|slavish imitations]] of successful designs, or truly unique creations. With few guideposts and an undefined target demographic, creators often verved away from supposedly common sense design philosophies. The results ranged from sheer folly to pure genius. Examples: *''[[Boot Hill]]'' was part [[miniatures game]], part [[RPG]], and had little in the way of [[traits]] besides combat statistics. *''[[Villains and Vigilantes]]'' suggested you play yourself as a [[super-hero]] *''[[Marvel Super Heroes]]'' generally assumed you would play existing Marvel characters, but otherwise encouraged you to simply make up appropriate [[characteristics]] for your own unique heroes or roll randomly *''[[DC Heroes]]'' also assumed you play published heroes, but included rules for [[point-based]] [[character creation]] that would eventually become a main selling point of the game. *''[[Paranoia]]'' had you play a clone with six lives. *In ''[[Ars Magica]]'', you played a magician who spent as much time copying spells, researching, and politicking as going on adventures, [[fighter]]s were treated as lackeys and communal property, [[troupe style play|players had more than one character in play]] and downtime was an important play element. *In ''[[Teenagers From Outer Space]]'' you simply could not die, and had to worry about succeeding too well at tasks. *''[[Vampire: The Masquerade]]'' cast players as vampires, traditionally a monster adversary, and emphasized narrative structure over rolls or game mechanics, making it practically the last old school game and the first [[new wave role-playing games|new school game]]. [[Category:Terms]] [[Category:History of role-playing games]]
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