This topic has come up before, but to me it's nothing to do with the visuals and more to do with the game's approach to inputs.

The thing that distinguishes a TTRPG from other forms of game is that the first step of a player's action is not using an input.

In a videogame, you can only do the things that game gives you explicit option to do. If you walk up to, say, a bottle that's not coded as being interactable, and click the button that normally picks things up, nothing happens.

In a TTRPG, there is no difference between set dressing and "interactable" objects. The player doesn't select from inputs, they choose a thing to do.

And RPG starts feeling like a video game to me largely when it presents itself as a menu of inputs to choose from, rather than a series of Capabilities that PC's have. It's about the connection between Fluff and Crunch.

To discuss abilities, think of it like this.

Imagine I have an ability, "Leaping Strike", where my character jumps 30 feet horizontally and makes an attack, bypassing short obstacles in my path and dealing extra damage.

In a video game, I would accept that Leaping Strike is a combat move that must always target an enemy.

In a TTRPG, "Leaping Strike" establishes that my character can, in fact, jump 30 feet horizontally. If I have "Leaping Strike", I should be able to use it to cross a chasm, regardless of if there's an enemy to kill on the other side.


An RPG feels video-gamey when the artificial constructions that exist in the relatively limited design space of a video game are brought over to the TTRPG.