Fundamentals of Game Design, Second Edition

Chapter 15. Role-Playing Games

Role-playing games allow players to interact with a game world in a wider variety of ways than most other genres do, and to play a richer role than many games allow. Most role-playing games also offer an experience impossible in the real world: a sense of growing from an ordinary person into a superhero with amazing powers. Other genres usually provide players with these powers immediately, but in a role-playing game, the player earns them through successful play and gets to choose which particular abilities he wants to cultivate. This chapter first defines the role-playing genre and then describes the unique gameplay features, modes, and mechanics of this type of game. The chapter focuses on single-player role-playing ...