Explaining Role-Playing Games

[Drakeburn]

Well, I have been trying to teach people what Dungeons and Dragons is, and I've had some luck with my little sister, who is really interested. She likes reading, fantasy, creativity, etc.

Now, her friend (and our next door neighbor) doesn't seem to understand what pen-and-paper RPGs are.
The only RPG she ever plays is Runescape, but she finds it hard to understand what kind of RPG D&D is.

Needless to say, I tried videos to explain what it is, I let her read the What Is A Role Playing Game in the Player's Handbook, but of course she still doesn't get it. (With the book, she kind of had the attention span of [Insert name of a dim-witted bird]. I was merely expressing my frustration).

I figured I needed to better explain what D&D (and probably the type of role-playing game that isn't played with a keyboard or a game controller), especially if they're around the age of 10 or so.

So, can anybody help me how to explain it better?

[warty goblin]

It's the make-believe games kids play, but with loads of rules and some funny dice. This is because adults would feel ridiculous without these vital props, and probably wouldn't be very good at it without them.

[Jay R]

It's like playing "Cops and Robbers", only instead of arguing over whether you hit me and I have to fall down, we roll dice.

[Gavran]

You say that like kids are really good at it without them. :P

We all have a "Nah uh you missed" kid somewhere in our past.

[warty goblin]

It's like playing "Cops and Robbers", only instead of arguing over whether you hit me and I have to fall down, we roll dice.

This is why we never played Cops and Robbers as kids. We just hit each other with sticks. Took more skill, and you always knew when you got a hit.

[jedipotter]

So, can anybody help me how to explain it better?

Have you tried: It is a game where you play a role? You, the player, make a character and then play it out in the world. Then you have fun fighting goblins, trolls and dragons.

[erikun]

It is a game of play-acting, where you take the role of a make believe character and go on an adventure in an imaginary world. The biggest distinction of RPGs is that they have rules, which can tell you how well something happened, rather than everyone just needing to guess if something worked or not.

(in theory)

[Zavoniki]

It's a cooperative story telling game where one set of people play the main characters of the story and one person plays everyone else.

[Rhynn]

"Let me show you... I put on my robe and wizard hat."

Seriously, though, why explain? Just get a really simple RPG (Labyrinth Lord or one of the other free simple retroclones in my sig works great) and run a simple adventure (a short dungeon module is good)*, and once the basics are done, explain that you can pretty much (try to) do anything you can imagine.

* Fine, fine, substitute whatever RPG you like, but make sure they don't need to understand any of the rules beforehand and that most of the game-time isn't taken up by mechanics; learning while doing has always worked best for me, with all RPGs.

[Knaight]

This is why we never played Cops and Robbers as kids. We just hit each other with sticks. Took more skill, and you always knew when you got a hit.

This sounds familiar. Though there was the occasional helicopter parent trying to put the kibosh on it, and the occasional kid lacking in sense who thought that fighting with slicks on fire was a good idea.

[TuggyNE]

This sounds familiar. Though there was the occasional helicopter parent trying to put the kibosh on it, and the occasional kid lacking in sense who thought that fighting with slicks on fire was a good idea.

"I use my mouth to hold a third torch to qualify for multiweapon fighting!"

[warty goblin]

This sounds familiar. Though there was the occasional helicopter parent trying to put the kibosh on it, and the occasional kid lacking in sense who thought that fighting with slicks on fire was a good idea.

Oh, sticks on fire, we never tried that. We did spend one happy afternoon chucking bits of lumber with sharp tipped lag bolts fastened to the tip at each other as spears though. Good times.

[Knaight]

Oh, sticks on fire, we never tried that. We did spend one happy afternoon chucking bits of lumber with sharp tipped lag bolts fastened to the tip at each other as spears though. Good times.

We managed to avoid sharpness pretty well, though some of the sticks didn't exactly have the largest surface area on the tips. Also, I distinctly remember knobbed tipped throwing sticks.

[BWR]

I try explaining it like this:
"You know that really awesome fantasy book/movie you read/watched and you wished you could be there having that sort of adventure? Well, now you can.
You know how when watching/reading scary movies/books like X you always say 'don't open that door' or 'don't go there'?
Well, now you don't have to.
You know that really deep and engaging political/romantic drama series you like and always wanted to take part in?
Now you can."

Then once they understand that, explain there are certain rules, likening it to a board game or something, to determine how good you are at something.

[Sith_Happens]

The only RPG she ever plays is Runescape, but she finds it hard to understand what kind of RPG D&D is.

Compare and contrast to what she knows.

"It's kind of like Runescape, but instead of having graphics you use your



Oh, and if you don't want to solve the lever puzzle to get the key for the locked door you can, say, break it down, or pick the lock, or burn it with magic, or whatever other way you can think of to make a lock or door go away.

[EDIT:] Also you get to act."

[Red Fel]

I'd probably explain it something like this:

D&D is one part interactive "Choose your own adventure" novel, two parts high fantasy, three parts epic hero saga, two parts improvisational drama, garnished with a sliver of statistics and a twist of bookkeeping. Stir well, chill in a Crown Royale bag, serves 4-8. Best served with pizza or Chinese food. Leftovers can be reheated.

If I had to give more definition, I would use what others have described:

Imagine your favorite fantasy novel, but you could control one of the characters. There are rules, generally based on dice rolls to represent chance, as to what your character is capable of doing. The GM/DM/ST is like the author, controlling anyone who isn't your character. This is the story of your character's epic ascent to greatness, or his humiliating defeat.

[SimonMoon6]

It's like one of those multi-player computer games... but where one of the players acts like the computer.

[Raimun]

"We all put on capes, hit each other with padded swords and read Tolkien. Sometimes we roll dice. No one knows why we roll them."

Heh, okay, I usually tell them about imagination, improvisation, GM, player characters, shared story telling, rulebooks and dice. And bad jokes.

[warty goblin]

We managed to avoid sharpness pretty well, though some of the sticks didn't exactly have the largest surface area on the tips. Also, I distinctly remember knobbed tipped throwing sticks.

That was a one-time thing, although a lot of fun. And compared to the things we did with the tire swing, it was really remarkably safe.

"We all put on capes, hit each other with padded swords and read Tolkien. Sometimes we roll dice. No one knows why we roll them."

Wait, people ever take their capes off?

[Knaight]

That was a one-time thing, although a lot of fun. And compared to the things we did with the tire swing, it was really remarkably safe.

Now I'm curious. What things did you do with a tire swing?

Also, given our age gap - did you get in on the whole scooter jousting thing, or had those not caught on yet?

[Kid Jake]

It's like one of those multi-player computer games... but where one of the players acts like the computer.

I had a player explain it exactly like this to his girlfriend tonight. He said "It's like Jake is the Xbox and we've got the controllers. We give our input and he tells us how things work out."

Which I thought was pretty spot on until he started rambling about how also like an Xbox if I take too long to respond the easiest way to make me start working again is to hit me.

[Arbane]

Best description I've heard of RPGs is "Part improv radio drama, part strategy game."

[endoperez]

"Roleplaying has a rules system a bit like Runescape, but it's also co-operative storytelling.

Imagine playing RuneScape with guys who do improv theatre, doing a custom quest that was written by a friend who knows what sort of stories you all like. Since it's storytelling, there's no graphics, but also less limits, so you can swing from chandeliers and stuff."

[warty goblin]

Now I'm curious. What things did you do with a tire swing?

The tireswing in question was at the base of a very long steep bank. A person could climb the bank and swing down on the tire like a bat out of hell.

We had a tightrope strung almost parallel to the tireswing. Almost. Right at center of the tireswing's arc, it hit the rope.

The game was thus for one person to sit on the rope, about where the swing would hit it. The other person sat on the rope and tried to stay on while the swinging person attempted to strike and dislodge them.

Now this obviously was painful for the person on the rope, since they were getting a facefull of swing and rider, followed by getting smashed into the ground. It also could be quite damaging for the person on the swing, since the swing ended up rubbing along the rope for about fifteen feet at the end of its arc, subjecting the rider to substantial robe-burns.

We called it the Killing Game. So far as I can remember, only four of us ever had the nerve to try it.

Also, given our age gap - did you get in on the whole scooter jousting thing, or had those not caught on yet?

Scooters were just barely beginning to catch on when I was a kid. I never had one, since we lived in the country. We did try bike jousting, but never found it to work very well.

We did have another game that involved harvesting the woody stems of annual weeds - these things could be five or eight feed long - and throwing them at each other as spears. Ideally you could pull up the center of the rootball when selecting your spear, since it was heavier and pointier, and made it fly better. Close range stabbing was also allowed.

Hey, some kids had Summer Bible Camp. I had the Iliad.

[Jay R]

Wait, people ever take their capes off?

Absolutely!

[Frozen_Feet]

This is why we never played Cops and Robbers as kids. We just hit each other with sticks. Took more skill, and you always knew when you got a hit.

More importantly, you knew when the other kids got hit because they started bawling, and then you could say "pffft, I didn't hit that hard". Now that we're adults, that is considered poor form. Also, we have this weird tradition of dressing in all-whites and being all serious about it.

But yeah, there is a number of ways to explain RPGs using well-known children's games as examples. My take would be "it's like playing chess and telling ghost stories at the same time, and the pieces are the people in the story".

Kids usually get it fairly quickly. I mean, me and my friends got it at 9 and we didn't have older, experienced roleplayers actually teaching us.

[Brookshw]

My usual explanation: we're making a story together, think of a full improv play where one person designs the backdrop and the rest the main characters. Plus board game elements, roll dice to see if something succeeds or not. Sadly the big bang theory seems to be bringing roleplaying games to the forefront of media more than any players.