Manyfold7
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This document defines key concepts in tabletop roleplaying games (TRPGs) such as the difference between TRPGs, other roleplaying games, and digital games. It also distinguishes between events, gameplay, and fiction in TRPGs. Additionally, it outlines different methods for altering the fiction through gaming, roleplaying, and authoring. Finally, it identifies various motives for player actions such as catharsis, immersion, and agon that relate to different play styles and types of enjoyment sought through gaming.
Manyfold7
- 1. Manyfold Theory Iteration 7
- 2. Part One: Defining Tabletop Roleplaying Games (For our purposes)
- 3. A Game Is: An activity governed by rules, which are meant for entertainment. Whist, Tag, Dungeons & Dragons, Fallout 3, Checkers and Chess; How To Host A Murder; these are all games.
- 4. A Roleplaying Game Is: An game which includes roleplaying a character whether by through performance, narration, or displaced action (tokens). Dungeons & Dragons, Fallout 3, How To Host A Murder, World Of Warcraft; These Are All Roleplaying Games.
- 5. A Tabletop Roleplaying Game Is: A roleplaying game in which the roleplaying is restricted to “around a table” forms, and has no digital dependencies. Dungeons & Dragons, Ars Magica, Vampire: The Masquerade, Fiasco, GURPS, Breaking The Ice; these are all tabletop roleplaying games.
- 6. Part Two: Event, Play, Fiction
- 7. TTRPGs Happen At Social Events: At a gathering, a barbecue, or other event, usually held specifically to “hold” the game. Event
- 8. Some Things Are “Playing”, Some Things Aren't. A TTRPG group that doesn't agree on what play is, and what it isn't, in terms of acceptable methods and actions, has a serious problem. Rules cover this. Event Gameplay
- 9. Gameplay Creates And Uses Fiction. The imaginary “stuff” - characters, scenes, items, and so on - of a roleplaying game are the fiction of the game. Event Gameplay Fiction
- 10. Part Three: Gaming, Roleplaying, Authoring
- 11. The Fiction Can Be Altered With A Variety Of Methods. Three easy categories for these methods are Gaming, Roleplaying, and Authoring
- 12. Roleplaying: Altering the fiction by portrayal of a character, speaking as that character and narrating their actions. In general, roleplaying tends to the first person.
- 13. Gaming: Altering the fiction by manipulating tokens and abstractions covered by the rules. If you roll dice to hit an enemy, you're gaming when you do that.
- 14. Authoring: Altering the fiction by directly describing said fiction, without necessarily including any mediation through rules. In general, authoring trends towards speaking in the third person.
- 15. Mixed Action: The above categories are handy! But they are not absolutes. For example, Improv-style play means using authorial power in a roleplaying voice. Describing stunts or detailing the environment as part of action mixes up authoring and gaming. “Ritualized speech” rules, such as in Polaris and Wushu, can scramble all three.
- 16. Part Four: Motives For Action (A Partial Selection)
- 17. CATHARSIS is a feeling of release that follows an intense or overwhelming experience. Not necessarily a tragic or traumatic experience, but usually an emotional one. Catharsis generally can only occur as a payoff to Roleplaying (and having author rights, as in Improv, can actually get in the way).
- 18. IMMERSION is the feeling of being deeply engaged in a character or in the 'reality' of the fictional world. Players looking for this (especially really serious kinds) generally want to avoid gaming that strongly pushes one of the other kinds of enjoyment, and often want to avoid authoring (including creation-oriented Improv) completely.
- 19. AGON is the thrill of winning against another person at the table. When the GM takes on the role of some adversaries and plays to whup the players, that’s agon. When a couple of players engage in creative one-upmanship, trying to spout the coolest thing (in theatre terms, trying to upstage each other rather than collaborate), that’s agon again. Agon can be good, but only if it’s acknowledged, constrained, and used deliberately. Most Agon comes out of Gaming behaviours.
- 20. ALEA is the gambler’s thrill - the fun of taking a big risk, the tension that comes with it, win or lose. Games with dice rolls, and especially ones where big stakes are riding on that one throw of the dice, are good at giving alea. Alea is pursued through Gaming.
- 21. FIERO is the joy of beating a challenging encounter, or overcoming a difficult obstacle. A pushover task isn't a source of Fiero – a knock- down, drag-out fight that requires tactical know- how to merely survive? That's where it lives. Gaming is where Fiero comes out most reliably, but not the only place; ask an Old School player about beating a bastard encounter with wits, and you may hear about some roleplayed Fiero.
- 22. LUDUS is the fun of pure mechanism, of exploring the game-as-rules-simulation. Character optimizers are often getting Ludus fun “offstage” when they build and refine characters, and merely “fulfilling” it when they use those characters in action. Complex rules engines that model things are reliable sources for Ludus fun.
- 23. KAIROSIS is the feeling that of fulfilment that comes when an arc of fictional development completes – a character is tested and changes, a situation grows more complex, and is resolved. Actively seeking kairosis often means authoring, though it may only be authoring certain details relevant to you (revealing yourself from stunt- level disguise in Spirit Of The Century, picking out character developments from Fallout in Dogs in the Vineyard).
- 24. THERE ARE many other kinds of enjoyment to be sought (at least a dozen more); the ones given were selected as the ones that most contrast with other theory, show how a drive for fun can push you towards a certain kind of action in play – If you're playing a heavy- authoring improv game, searching for Fiero is not likely to work out well.
- 25. Part Five: In Sharp Relief (Stuff That's Especially Obvious In This Light)
- 26. “Roleplaying vs. Roll-Playing” Is snark directed from people who dig Immersion, Catharsis, and some kinds of Kairosis, at people who are chasing 'Gaming fun' like Ludus, Fiero, or Alea.
- 27. “Traditional vs. Story-Gaming” Is a division of games that is mainly used to differentiate games where only the GM has any strong Authorial voice, and ones where players have some explicit and notable degree of access to Authoring.
- 28. Immersion Has been getting weirdly short shrift from theorists for a bit now. Seriously, guys.
- 29. “Step On Up” or “Gamism” Usually just means Fiero-chasing, gaming-heavy play, in most casual discussions. (Though this isn't the original meaning.)
- 30. “Story Now” or “Narrativism” Usually just means Kairosis-chasing, authoring-heavy play, in most casual discussions. (Though this isn't the original meaning.)
- 31. “Simulation” When used casually, typically just means Ludus-seeking play that's aimed at the world rather than the characters (GURPS wants to give you Ludus, baby. Hardcore.)