What is a roleplaying game?
A roleplaying game by Vincent Baker
answering What is a Roleplaying Game? by Epidiah Ravachol
A roleplaying game is when you pretend to be an elf.
Look around. Pretend you're in an elven wood and you're an elf.
A roleplaying game has a GM.
Find a friend to be the GM for this game. The GM's job is to tell you interesting things about the elven wood, things you wouldn't have thought to imagine yourself. Ask your friend the GM what you see, and pass these rules over to them. From now on, follow their lead.
A roleplaying game has a GM, and that's you.
Your job is to suggest details for the other player to imagine. Trouble, challenges, rewards, and other elves and creatures. Take a second to think of some kind of trouble or danger that might be in an elven wood, then tell the other player what it would look like to them, if they were an elf there looking at it. Ask the player what they do (meaning, of course, what the elf they're pretending to be would do).
In a roleplaying game, you roll dice when you don't know what would happen next.
Do you know what would happen next? If you do, awesome. Say what it is, and what it's like, and what comes of it, and ask what the other player's elf does next.
Do you NOT know what would happen next? Awesome. Roll dice.
Is the result good? Then think of something good that can happen, and say that. If the elf happens to be in a fight with a monster, the good thing should be that the elf hits the monster.
Is the result bad? Then think of something bad that can happen, and say that. If the elf happens to be in a fight with a monster, the bad thing should be that the monster hits the elf.
Now say what it's like, and what comes of it, and ask what the other player's elf does next, same as always. Keep going back and forth, rolling dice whenever you don't know what will happen, until the game ends (see below).
If one straight die roll doesn't seem like enough, you can make opposed rolls. You roll a die for your monster, for instance, while the player rolls for their elf. You can add even more drama by using dice with different numbers of sides, like a 6-sided die for the elf and a 10-sided die for the monster.
A roleplaying game has hit points.
If it comes to a fight, use "hit points" to keep track of who's hit whom how many times. An elf has 3 hit points. This means that when the elf gets hit the third time, it's killed and goes to elfheaven. An antielf also has 3 hit points. A human person has 4. A giant monster might have 5 or 6 hit points, and a dragon might have 10. You, the GM, get to decide.
A roleplaying game has experience points.
Whenever the elf kills an enemy, the elf gets 1 experience point. Each time the elf's experience points double - 1, 2, 4, 8, etc. - the elf gets one more hit point.
In a roleplaying game, the GM's style matters a lot.
Your main jobs are to say what it's like and to call for the player to roll dice. Take both jobs as an opportunity to develop your own style and skills as a GM. Set the tone and the pace. Describe things in detail or leave them sketchy. Plan ahead or improvise. Keep practicing and experimenting until you're really good at it.
A roleplaying game ends when the elf dies.
The player might be sad, because now they can't pretend to be an elf anymore. You should play again.
