What is a RPG?

A role-playing game (RPG; often roleplaying game) is a game in which the participants assume the roles of fictional characters and collaboratively create or follow stories. Participants determine the actions of their characters based on their characterization, and the actions succeed or fail according to a formal system of rules and guidelines. Within the rules, players can improvise freely; their choices shape the direction and outcome of the games.

A role-playing game has no winners, the main purpose of the game is to have fun playing it. That makes role-playing games fundamentally different from board games, card games, sports and most other types of games. Role-playing games are more collaborative and social than competitive. A typical role-playing game unifies its participants to play as a group, instead of in competition. Like serials or novel sequences, these episodic games are often played in weekly sessions over a period of months or even years, although one session games are also common.

Role-playing games are a form of interactive and collaborative storytelling. Like novels or films, role-playing games appeal because they engage the imagination. Interactivity is the crucial difference between role-playing games and traditional fiction. Whereas a viewer of a television show is a passive observer, a player at a role-playing game makes choices that affect the story. Such role-playing games extend an older tradition of storytelling games where a small party of friends collaborate to create a story.