3. A Game Is:
An activity governed by rules,
which are meant for entertainment.
Whist, Tag, Dungeons & Dragons,
Fallout 3, Checkers and Chess; How To
Host A Murder; these are all games.
4. A Roleplaying Game Is:
An game which includes roleplaying a
character whether by through performance,
narration, or displaced action (tokens).
Dungeons & Dragons, Fallout 3, How To
Host A Murder, World Of Warcraft;
These Are All Roleplaying Games.
5. A Tabletop Roleplaying Game Is:
A roleplaying game in which the roleplaying
is restricted to “around a table” forms, and
has no digital dependencies.
Dungeons & Dragons, Ars Magica,
Vampire: The Masquerade, Fiasco,
GURPS, Breaking The Ice;
these are all tabletop roleplaying games.
7. TTRPGs Happen
At Social Events:
At a gathering, a barbecue, or other event,
usually held specifically to “hold” the game.
Event
8. Some Things Are “Playing”,
Some Things Aren't.
A TTRPG group that doesn't agree on what
play is, and what it isn't, in terms of
acceptable methods and actions, has a
serious problem. Rules cover this.
Event
Gameplay
9. Gameplay Creates
And Uses Fiction.
The imaginary “stuff” - characters, scenes,
items, and so on - of a roleplaying game are
the fiction of the game.
Event
Gameplay
Fiction
11. The Fiction Can Be Altered
With A Variety Of Methods.
Three easy categories for these methods are
Gaming, Roleplaying, and Authoring
12. Roleplaying:
Altering the fiction by portrayal of a
character, speaking as that character and
narrating their actions. In general,
roleplaying tends to the first person.
13. Gaming:
Altering the fiction by manipulating tokens
and abstractions covered by the rules.
If you roll dice to hit an enemy, you're
gaming when you do that.
14. Authoring:
Altering the fiction by directly describing
said fiction, without necessarily including
any mediation through rules. In general,
authoring trends towards speaking in the
third person.
15. Mixed Action:
The above categories are handy!
But they are not absolutes.
For example, Improv-style play means using
authorial power in a roleplaying voice.
Describing stunts or detailing the
environment as part of action mixes up
authoring and gaming. “Ritualized speech”
rules, such as in Polaris and Wushu, can
scramble all three.
17. CATHARSIS is a feeling of release that follows
an intense or overwhelming experience. Not
necessarily a tragic or traumatic experience, but
usually an emotional one. Catharsis
generally can only occur as a payoff to
Roleplaying (and having author rights, as in
Improv, can actually get in the way).
18. IMMERSION is the feeling of being deeply
engaged in a character or in the 'reality' of the
fictional world. Players looking for this (especially
really serious kinds) generally want to avoid
gaming that strongly pushes one of the other
kinds of enjoyment, and often want to avoid
authoring (including creation-oriented Improv)
completely.
19. AGON is the thrill of winning against another
person at the table. When the GM takes on the
role of some adversaries and plays to whup the
players, that’s agon. When a couple of players
engage in creative one-upmanship, trying to
spout the coolest thing (in theatre terms, trying
to upstage each other rather than collaborate),
that’s agon again. Agon can be good, but only if
it’s acknowledged, constrained, and used
deliberately. Most Agon comes out of Gaming
behaviours.
20. ALEA is the gambler’s thrill - the fun of taking a
big risk, the tension that comes with it, win or
lose. Games with dice rolls, and especially ones
where big stakes are riding on that
one throw of the dice, are good at giving alea.
Alea is pursued through Gaming.
21. FIERO is the joy of beating a challenging
encounter, or overcoming a difficult obstacle. A
pushover task isn't a source of Fiero – a knock-
down, drag-out fight that requires tactical know-
how to merely survive? That's where it lives.
Gaming is where Fiero comes out most reliably,
but not the only place; ask an Old School player
about beating a bastard encounter with wits, and
you may hear about some roleplayed Fiero.
22. LUDUS is the fun of pure mechanism, of
exploring the game-as-rules-simulation.
Character optimizers are often getting Ludus fun
“offstage” when they build and refine characters,
and merely “fulfilling” it when they use those
characters in action. Complex rules engines that
model things are reliable sources for Ludus fun.
23. KAIROSIS is the feeling that of fulfilment that
comes when an arc of fictional development
completes – a character is tested and changes, a
situation grows more complex, and is resolved.
Actively seeking kairosis often means authoring,
though it may only be authoring certain details
relevant to you (revealing yourself from stunt-
level disguise in Spirit Of The Century, picking
out character developments from Fallout in Dogs
in the Vineyard).
24. THERE ARE many other kinds of enjoyment
to be sought (at least a dozen more); the ones
given were selected as the ones that most
contrast with other theory, show how a drive for
fun can push you towards a certain kind of
action in play – If you're playing a heavy-
authoring improv game, searching for Fiero is
not likely to work out well.
25. Part Five:
In Sharp Relief
(Stuff That's Especially Obvious In This Light)
26. “Roleplaying vs. Roll-Playing”
Is snark directed from people who dig
Immersion, Catharsis, and some kinds of
Kairosis, at people who are chasing 'Gaming
fun' like Ludus, Fiero, or Alea.
27. “Traditional vs. Story-Gaming”
Is a division of games that is mainly used to
differentiate games where only the GM has
any strong Authorial voice, and ones where
players have some explicit and notable
degree of access to Authoring.
29. “Step On Up” or “Gamism”
Usually just means
Fiero-chasing, gaming-heavy play,
in most casual discussions.
(Though this isn't the original meaning.)
30. “Story Now” or “Narrativism”
Usually just means
Kairosis-chasing, authoring-heavy play,
in most casual discussions.
(Though this isn't the original meaning.)
31. “Simulation”
When used casually, typically just means
Ludus-seeking play that's aimed at the world
rather than the characters (GURPS wants to
give you Ludus, baby. Hardcore.)
