Gameplay 1

I think gameplay is a term that gets used in computer games all the time, but I’ve never noticed it used in reference to tabletop RPGs. Maybe there are bigger marketing budgets and more review sites for computer games, and the use of language to describe different types of gameplay have arisen to discuss those games. The language used to describe TTRPGs seems to discuss them at the rulebook level, at the campaign level, or at the session level. The equivalents for computer games would be the product level (e.g. Tomb Raider), the game level (e.g. my first play-through of Tomb Raider) or the session level (the time I spent playing Tomb Raider today).

If I watch a promotional video for a new computer game, I’ll generally see all the major gameplay elements of that game in action, so I’ll know if the ones I like are present. I think publishers of TTRPGs don’t describe their games in the same way, they try to appeal to customers by talking about their mechanics, or the setting they use, which are at the rulebook level. If you go somewhere like Reddit and ask about an TTRPG you’re interested in, you’ll often get people replying on the session level or the campaign level, as well as the rulebook level. If you watch an actual play video of the RPG though, you’ll see the game in use and you can see the gameplay elements that are there, but the elements you see don’t come just from the product the players are using, they come from all the people and all their previous experience with TTRPGs and even other games and media.

In a computer game, especially a single player game, the gameplay that you experience while playing is pretty much what the designers made for you. There are exceptions, but if they don’t put in any cars then you won’t get to enjoy any driving in their game. But if I pick up the rulebook for a new TTRPG I might run a completely different game to someone else with that same book. Gameplay is essentially what the game is made of for the people involved, but it’s not determined by what the designers wrote in the book. There are players who just do the same thing in every game, regardless of the system, setting, genre, or group they’re with. They are attempting to enjoy the gameplay elements that they like, and if they can then great for them. The problem with TTRPGs is that any type of gameplay could conceivably work in any game. In the example I gave above of a computer game with no cars, a player will likely not be frustrated that he can’t do any driving, because he accepts that it’s not part of the game. But TTRPGs can be whatever the group makes them, so there’s never a game where you can’t do any driving. Anything can be imagined and invented and added to the game. That’s a reason why TTRPGs can be more enjoyable than computer games, but also I think it’s a reason why more players can be frustrated. They can be frustrated because the rest of the group refuse to allow something that would enable their enjoyment, or they can be frustrated that the group has enabled such a thing that they didn’t want to deal with.

I’ve mentioned TTRPGs as products, and I’ve mentioned the books associated with them, but a lot of tabletop role playing is done without any particular commercial product. Freeform games, DIY D&D, homebrews, they are not commercial products that have been bought and are being consumed. But that’s the norm in computer games, where a game that you can play on your computer is a product that is released globally and is the same for many many players around the world. I wonder if people who play computer games first, and then try TTRPGs find it difficult to figure out what they’re supposed to do? I’ve been playing TTRPGs for a long time and I sometimes find myself in the middle of a session wondering the same thing, but at least I know how to find out the answer. But then again, I don’t think most of the people I play with read a lot of rulebooks, forums, and blogs about TTRPGs, and they aren’t necessarily able to define the kind of gameplay they like and want. Again, computer games can have a trial where you just play it and find out if you like it, without having to explain why you like it. In TTRPGs I think you’re unlikely to enjoy a game unless you are able to discuss it with the other players.

I want to examine types of gameplay in TTRPGs next time.