Cooperative fiction. Interactive storytelling. Improvisational exercises. I have so many other phrases to use in place of "tabletop role-playing game." I sometimes forget that's the technical term. It tries to explain it all in one neat package - it takes place around a table, it's a game (it's fiction), and "role-playing" accurately says that participants play a role. I think "interactive storytelling" is my favorite - it seems to describe the activity much better. Game implies inherent winning and losing - but in the world of fiction, as in the world of these "games," a "lost" encounter means little more than a "won" encounter - both propel the story forward and force characters - and players - to stop and think about themselves and their respective worlds.
In fact, I've lost on purpose in games, because that's just what the character wanted to do. Okay, she didn't want to be scared stiff and still fail to overcome her crippling paranoia, but like authors know when to push their characters and when to stave off for a redeeming moment further down the line, I just knew that she wasn't ready to let go of her fear. Stare it down and say pretty words, sure, but because she was completely alone - and because she had the Aspect* of Damsel in Distress - she couldn't hold on to her conviction. The GM gave me a Fate Point** later for good storytelling when I explained to him the rationale (and proved that I had known how to "win" the encounter, but refused to for a better story). Now, is that something you typically see in a game - board, video, or otherwise?
*Aspect, **Fate Point - terms from the highly acclaimed RPG system "FATE." Aspects are character traits that can be used to help or hinder the character. Fate Points are a currency in the system that allow GMs to bribe characters to make bad choices to accelerate the plot, and that allow players to get a temporary boost to sway an encounter to their favor. The FATE system is a magnificent tool for tabletop RPGs - it is very focused on characterization and heavily story-driven, making for a wonderful story every night we play.
I realize that as I talk about things I am most passionate about - this style of gaming being one of the foremost after my reading - I will ramble and expect you to just keep up. But for those of you turning in whom I lost at "Tabletop RPG" up in the title, I invite you to read this excellent introduction to the genre by Steve Johnson. He slows down and describes it concisely (and I still don't know how to make Blogger give me page cuts to save your computer screen when you're browsing the main page).
But I hope that what I've said - and what Steve Johnson has said, if you read that article - has enticed you to learn more about the subject. Already an expert? Share what you know beyond the well-known realms of Dungeons & Dragons (don't get me wrong - I learned this game when I was eight and it was my gateway to this world, but there are so many other options out there that one D&D game is enough for me, complimenting currently The Dresden Files RPG and Vampire: The Requiem and soon, I hope, Changeling (White Wolf), Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple, Happy Birthday, Robot, Spirit of the Century, and other Evil Hat productions). Eager to know more? Give me the reason and I will talk your ear off (or write your... eye off?) about this subject for as long (or as short, you might want to make it short) as you'd like.
The next chapter might just be a supplement to this post detailing some more of the benefits of tabletop RPGs and relaying a few other good stories from the table.
