l2 RPG, nubz0r.

So, a friend asked me "How do these 'RPGs' work, exactly?"

Of course, I over did it:


Here's an example of how a Tabletop, or Paper and Dice, Roleplaying Game works. This example is geared towards people who have never played a Paper and Dice RPG before, and the "VERY IMPORTANT" examples afterward are geared towards the White Wolf gaming systems. Feel free to link back to this page.

Tom, the utterly awesome and badass and generally great person that he is, has invited Dick and Harry, the near mongoloid simpletons that they are, to participate in a roleplaying game. A date, time, and place is agreed to; and they meet. Tired of playing futuristic space marines fighting aliens, and tolkeen-esque elves trying to save their world from Hitler-esque douchebaggery, they've decided to play a detective/mystery game set in Huntsville Alabama in the modern day.

Tom, Dick, and Harry sit around a dining room table, gaming books- and computers- assorted around them for easy reference. After all, it's easy to remember where the rules are, than the rules themselves. The game has started. Tom is the Game Master (GM).

Dick and Harry have previously made characters according to the rules- which differ from game system to game system. Dick is playing a Hard-nosed private investigator named Dick Tracy. Harry is playing Dick's long-time best friend, and professional magician, Harry Who. If the game was a play, these characters would be the parts played by the actors Dick and Harry.

Tom: "Dick, you've gotten a frantic voice message from a contact who has frequently helped you on cases in the past. He sounds anxious. The message says, 'Dick? Dick? Shit! Voicemail. Look, Dick, remember how I did you that solid a bit ago? I need a favor, and I need it now-like. Meet me at midnight in the rear of the alley behind McLeary's.'"

Dick: "What does my character know about this contact that I don't?"

Tom: "The incident he's referring to was a case you worked about six months back. It had hit a dead end and you were worried that it was going to languish and end up unsolved. Fortunately, this contact- we'll call him Bill- pulled some strings and got you the information that solved the case. It was a clutch rescue, and netted you some much needed cash. Generally, the guy's an excellent source of information, and he's never lied to you- a rarity in itself, among contacts. In other words, he's good people. If you want to know more, you're going to have to make some rolls."

[Tom and Dick look at Dick's character sheet. They decide that Dick's character isn't just trying to remember his dealings with Bill; but trying to figure out some things that might not have been obvious. Now that they have decided on some rolls Dick can make, Dick picks up the appropriate dice and makes the rolls. Tom interprets the rolls into actual information.]

Tom: "Well, you've known the guy for a few years, and he's always reliable- the type that won't jerk you around for a handout if he doesn't actually have information- which is unlike most of your other contacts. The only real problem is, he has a thing for cloak and dagger stuff- preferring to meet in alleys and use dead drops, instead of just calling you when he's alone. He really hates phones and voicemail. But he's never steered you wrong in all the time you've known him."

Dick: "Alright, well this sounds serious, and the guy's 'on the level' so I'll give Harry a call and go meet him."

Tom: "Gotcha. Harry, your ol' buddy Dick, the Dick, Tracy gives you a ring."

Harry: "Hello?"
Dick: "Yo, Hair, how's the magic business?"
Harry: "Good. What's up?"
Dick: [Explains the situation] "So, you wanna come along? Might lead to some fun."
Harry: "Sure, sure; I'll meet you there- I got a gig I'm about to do. Will I need anything?"
Dick: "Just your sparkling personality."
Harry: "Cool, see ya there."
Dick: "Oh, and Harry?"
Harry: "Yeah?"
Dick: "You might wanna ACTUALLY get a sparkling personality..."
Harry: "Dick."

Tom: "Nice. So, your show it great, as always, Harry, and you both arrive at McLeary's a few minutes before midnight. Though your characters have known each other since childhood, this is the first time we've played these characters. Go ahead and describe yourselves to each other."

Dick: "Remember Warren Beatty in the Dick Tracey movie? I'm him, but more Same Spade- no yellow, all browns, with a voice like Humphrey Bogart."
Harry: "I look like Harry Houdini."

Tom: "Right, so you're at McLeary's and you walk around back. The Alley buts up against an apartment building. McLeary's is a popular greasy spoon, run by a crotchety old bastard- but the food is good, and you've been going there since you were kids.
"The Alley is disgusting. Rubbish lines both sides, and the dumpsters- halfway down- are overflowing with week old trash. It smells putrid, and the humid air of the southern summer doesn't help. You're not surprised that it's dark- the old man who owns McLeary's is cheap. Whatever lights might be down there are either off or burned out. You hear the distinct sound of rats and other vermin crawling through garbage, and the thought of actually seeing what's there is slightly less appealing that traversing the dark, dank, corridor. What do you do?"

Harry: "I turn to Dick. 'Do we have to meet this bag of fuck down there?'"
Dick: "'Fraid so. What's the matter, scared of the dark?"
Harry: "No, it's just..."
Dick: "What?"
Harry: "These shoes are expensive!"
Dick: [laughing]"Oh, get to steppin' you prissy bitch!"
Harry: "Alright, alright! But if my shoes get stained, you're buying me new ones!"
Dick: "Fine, whatever, let's just go meet Bill."

Tom: "Oh, ho! We're gonna let the fates decide this. Dick, grab a ten-sided dice. Harry, grab one, too. Dick, your dice is the tens place; Harry your dice is the ones. If it's low, Harry needs new shoes, if it's high, Dick is off the hook. Roll 'em!"

[Dick's roll places them in the: singles, teens, twenties, thirties, all the way up to nineties. Harry's roll puts the polish on the number. If Dick rolls a 4, they're going to roll between 40 and 49- depending on Harry's rolls. The Dick rolls a 10 on a ten-sided dice (also called a "d10"). If Harry rolls a ten as well, that would mean they have rolled a 100 (00). Otherwise they have rolled a 01,02,03,04,05,06,07,08, or 09. Harry rolls a 5.]

Tom: "Uh-oh, Dick- looks like you've just bought little Miss Priss some new dancin' shoes!"

Dick: "Stupid metrosexuals..."
Harry: "Don't hate the playa, hate how you rolled!"

Tom: "Now I need you both to roll your Perception!"

[In the system they are playing, Perception is a roll that players make to see what, if anything their characters might notice beyond the general description of the scene the GM has given. A Perception roll is based on some of the stats recorded on the character sheets, and both Dick and Harry tally up how many dice they need to roll. In some systems, only one die might be rolled for a Perception roll. Usually, in those systems, the character sheet will record what type of dice (six-sided (d6), eight-sided (d8), ten-sided (d10), twelve-sided (d12), twenty-sided (d20), etc) needs to be rolled. Sometimes, there might even be a bonus- either to how many dice should be rolled, or to the number(s) rolled. All of that information is found on the character sheet, and GMs will help players who don't know where such things are located- a very frequent occurrence, even with experienced players.]

[Dick rolls his dice, Harry rolls his. Tom interprets the rolls into actual information.]

Tom: "Harry, you rolled bad and don't see anything, still too focused on whatever it was you just stepped in. You can feel some wetness in your shoe- which means Dick is buying you new ones!"

Harry: "Aw, motherfucker! I just stepped in something! Fuck! I hope you have good credit, asshole, we're going shopping tomorrow!"

Tom: "Dick, you notice a glinting on the ground, and a familiar smell. You follow the glint of moonlight, and sure enough it's as you expected. Bill's dead, and the glint is his pooling blood. His body lies on the rubbish against the apartment building. Before you can say anything, you hear Harry step in the blood, and start cursing."

Dick: "Watch out, there's...! Nevermind."
Harry: "There's what? What were you gonna say? And where's this Bill dude?"
Dick: "Bill's right there. (I point to the partially concealed body) And that's his blood you're wearing on your high-heels."
Harry: "Aw, fuck!"

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End of Example.

Some notes you should be aware of: (Ignore any of it, if it doesn't make sense)
* Not everyone says "I" when referring to their character. Some people say "My character goes and looks at Bill's body." Some might say their character's name: "Amy goes and looks at Bill's body." Some people use combination of any of those approaches. It's just however the player feels comfortable.
* There's a concept of "Player Knowledge vs Character Knowledge". Player knowledge is what the Player knows. Character knowledge is what the character knows. As the player, you might know calculus; but if your character is a medieval knight, it probably has no idea about anything beyond basic mathematics. If your character is that knight, it knows things about chivalry, and the rules, rights, etiquette, expectations, and constraints of being a medieval knight. Things the player might not know. The GM is there to help fill in the gaps from a Character's Knowledge to yours, while it's your job to have fun you should refrain from having your medieval knight glibly go drive the automobile that just appeared from the future. in fact, your knight shouldn't have any concept of what he's seeing. This is a fact that crops up in almost every game; and something to keep in mind, but not something to be overly concerned with (that's the GM's job).
* Different systems use different mechanics. Let's take something similar: Throwing a stone at someone, to hurt them. In two different systems, you might roll based on your Athletics skill level. In the first, that might be 1d20 (one twenty-sided dice [Yes it can be either "dice" or "die" in this context]) plus some bonus based on how many levels of the skill Athletics you have. In the other, that might be a number of dice based on the combination of your dexterity and athletics- both attributes recorded on your character sheet. Additionally, determining if that roll has hit your opponent is different depending on the system. These rules can get rather arcane and complex. It's not the job of the players to know how to do any of this- though that tends to help speed up game play- it's the job of the GM. And the GM may be called somethign different in different systems. In RIFTS and GURPS, the GM is called a GM. In D&D the GM is a "DM" for Dungeon Master. In the World of Darkness games, the GM is an ST, or Story Teller. These mechanics are different because they are copyrighted- like software code- by the company that made them.


VERY IMPORTANT:
It may sound complex, but it's very very very easy to actually play, under the right circumstances.
For Instance: I might show you a White Wolf character sheet that has the following look:
STRENGTH * * *
DEXTERITY * * * * *
ATHLETICS * * * * *
You don't necessarily know what "Dexterity" means- in the context of the game, or what those asterisks represent. If you've been sat down and helped to make a character, you should have been told what each thing meant; but let's assume you've forgotten because of the sheer amount of information thrown at you (a very common occurrence with new players). So, I might say "Roll to hit with your rocks" and other players might grab some dice, roll them, and say "I got 6 successes!"

That sounds insane. How can you succeed at one task multiple times? Were they throwing multiple rocks? How did they know what to roll? And generally, "WTF?".

This is where knowing the rules speeds up the game. In White Wolf, the game is setup in such a way that to do something, you usually take an Attribute and an Ability, add them together, apply any bonuses or penalties to that number, and roll that many ten-sided dice. Each dice is a Failure, a Botch, or a Success, as determined by a difficulty set by the ST (ST, or Story Teller, is what White Wolf calls their Game Masters). But all of that is something that may still sound arcane.

Think about it this way: You have a certain chance to hit someone with a rock. They have a certain chance to dodge a potential hit, or even dodge into what would have been a miss. You make one roll to see if you CAN hit them. They make a different roll to see if they CAN dodge it. If you have more dice that say you CAN hit them, than they have dice that say they CAN dodge, you hit. If they beat you, they dodge.

Here's how it would look:

"Roll to hit!"

You roll to hit by rolling a number of dice equal to your DEXTERITY plus your ATHLETICS, a total of10 ten-sided dice (10d10). The ST didn't call out a difficulty, so it's assumed you have a 40% chance to hit on each of your dice. This means, a roll of 7,8,9, or 10 on a d10 is a Success. A roll of 2,3,4,5, or 6 is a Failure, and a 1 is always a Botch. Each Botch negates a Success.

You roll your 10d10 and the dice show: 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 9, 2, 3, 10, 10.

That's 1 Botch, 4 Failures, and 5 Successes.

The Rules also say that any dice that rolls a 10 may be counted as a Success and rolled again, to try and garner more Successes. You rolled 2 10s, but you also rolled a Botch. Botches negate Successes, and they take away 10s before the take away other Successes. So, your Botch kills one 10, leaving you a 10 to "reroll".

You roll a 1. Normally, this would be a Botch; however, when re-rolling, Botches only count as Failures.

So, you rolled 1 Botch, 5 Failures and 5 Successes. The Failures don't mean anything, but the Botch kills one Success, so your total is "4 Successes".

Your target gets a chance to dodge, using different Attributes and Abilities, bonuses and penalties, etc etc. But the basics of this is: if your target gets more successes to dodge than you get to hit, they have successfully dodged your attack.

What would normally happen, with a player unfamiliar with how the system works, is the following:
Player:"I want to hit that bitch with a bottle!"
ST:"Okay, Roll to Hit!"
Player:"Uhm.... say what?"
ST:"What's your Dexterity?"
Player:"Uhm, a bunch of asterisks."
ST:"How many asterisks/dots/pips/slash marks/whatevers?"
Player:"5"
ST:"How many asterisks for Athletics?"
Player:"5"
ST:"Roll 10 dice"
[Player rolls]
Player:"Now what?"
ST:"How many dice are a 7 or higher?"
Player:"5"
ST:"How many are 10s?"
Player:"2"
ST:"Did you roll any ones?"
Player:"Yeah, one."
ST:"Okay, that cancels out on of your tens. I need you to roll one more die."
Player:"It's a one."
ST:"Doesn't matter, this time. So, that's 4 Successes. Cool, your target only rolled 3 Successes to dodge."

This stuff is only hard when no one has played it before. But playing with even one experienced person makes it very very simple. After you've gone through that same conversation four, or OVER 9000!, times people tend to grasp it, and by the fifth time they only ask to confirm things. By the millionth time, the ST says "roll to hit" and they do everything themselves, replying with their successes.