The Shape of things to come

By Gary Gygax
©2005 Gary Gygax. All rights reserved

Role-playing is a game form that is now over 30 years old, the beginning of it commencing with the release of the Dungeons & Dragons game (first published 1/74). Although it never had more than around eight or nine million players in North America at the peak of its popularity (1981-3), at least twice that number of persons have played it for a time, and most people have heard of the game. As the D&D game is a pop culture icon, the name is synonymous with role-playing. In its heyday the D&D game commanded well over half of the entire role-playing game market, and it remains the leading paper role-playing game today. This is true despite many errors on the part of its original publisher and its current one. The reason for this is that the game has done more things right than wrong.

A lot has changed over the three decades that have passed since the introduction of the role-playing game. The biggest thing is the use of the computer to facilitate play. Of course the computer role-playing game (CRPG) isn’t really a role-playing game at all. To whom does one role-play when engaging such activity? No matter! The CRPG also contains many of the vital elements that make the paper game so compelling. On the home computer, with LAN play, and in the massively multi-player online games, the CRPG commands a far greater audience that ever have played all the paper and pencil games put together. Why?

First and foremost, the paper and pencil RPG requires a dedicated participant, the Game Master, to prepare the adventure material, from the fantasy world setting, through the adventure scenarios, down to the nuts and bolts of overseeing each action dictated by players for their characters. In the CRPG, all of that is generally managed by the computer-not as imaginatively and creatively, but easier, faster, and usually with a lot of excellent graphics which are generally lacking in the paper and pencil RPG.

Second, the paper and pencil RPG requires that the Game Master and player group assemble in a chosen locale at the same time. The time for playing is limited by the availability of the GM and the participating group, so it might be too brief or too lengthy for many persons. Granted, the camaraderie and socialization resulting from such a gathering are highly enjoyable. However, this demand is often impossible to meet for many busy persons that have family and work requirements that interfere. The CRPG can be played virtually anytime, anywhere the computer is available, and for such time period as the participant wishes and has to expend. In short, it is more convenient to play a CRPG than it is to engage in a group session of paper and pencil RPG play.

What are CRPGs doing that are “right” according to the game form? Obviously, they are providing fantasy play entertainment to very large numbers of players. That is the purpose of any game, of course, to entertain and amuse. They do so by featuring the most generally popular sort of play-combat action of the seek and destroy sort. Of course the CRPG allows players to select a character class, arm and equip that game avatar, and then award better arms and equipment, greater levels of power through successful play. Those are key elements in the paper and pencil progenitor. As a matter of fact, the D&D game in its latest form features those very elements.

So as it now stands, far more persons play CRPGs than they do true RPGs, the paper and pencil ones. In fact, a surprising number of those playing electronically are unaware of the very existence of the paper and pencil RPG. That number is likely to increase, for the CRPG is growing ever more popular, while the RPG audience is basically static. As computer technology and internet connection speed improve, the number of persons playing home computer games will most assuredly increase dramatically. Better Artificial Intelligence, more powerful servers, advances in CGI, and the advent of live-streaming audio and video as standard features of the personal computer will guarantee the growth of electronic RPG play-and make up for some of the shortcomings of the CRPG in that actual role-playing will be possible with improved A.I. or the participation of Game Masters utilizing the audio and video components of the computer in LAN and MMP games. Of course, nothing can replace the experience of in-person play. It is far and away the most satisfying all-around form of play, and paper and pencil play will likewise benefit from the computer, that providing the GM with graphics and assisting him in the mechanical management of whatever he chooses, from combat resolution to map movement by the party of player characters he serves.

The paper and pencil RPG gave birth to the CRPG, but the “baby” is now a giant, the “parent” a small but still most significant entity. From the parent still come the most creative and innovative game ideas, world settings, and adventure modules. That may change, but probably not, for the inspiration engendered by the fellowship of others in live play, face to face, is unparalleled. What is certain is that the CRPGs will be the main recruiting ground for paper and pencil games to retain and hopefully build their participating audience. Those RPGs without some form of electronic version, a home computer game or an MMP will be hard-pressed to remain viable. Those with such compliment will be the ones likely to retain a following, remain in print.

In my opinion the paper and pencil RPG is headed for difficult times in the relatively near future because of what is happening with the D&D game, as well as what is not being done to promote it. That aside, there is no doubt in my mind that the paper and pencil RPG will remain as an active game form, relatively small in numbers when compared to the audience for CRPGs but significant in the devotion and creative contributions from its participants. As I have noted before, the analogy I envisage is that of the MMP RPG being akin to television, that of the personal computer RPG to the motion picture, and the paper and pencil RPG being like live stage plays. In short, expect to be entertained by role-playing games in many forms for decades to come!