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A role-playing game (RPG) is a game in which players assume and play out the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting or through a process of structured decision-making regarding character development. Actions taken within many games succeed or fail according to a formal system of rules and guidelines.
There are several forms of role-playing games. The original form, sometimes called the tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG), is conducted through discussion, whereas in live action role-playing (LARP), players physically perform their characters' actions.
The design of role-playing games may include the creation of game systems, game settings, and scenarios for roleplaying; game designers engage in one or more of these activities as they create, revise, and develop role-playing games. For each designer, this list includes notable games that they designed or authored.
ENNIE Awards are presented for tabe top role-playing games. The Origins Awards are presented by Game Manufacturers Association for outstanding work in the tabletop gaming industry. The Charles S. Roberts Award and the Charles Roberts Awards Hall of Fame are given in recognition of excellence in manual tabletop games, with a focus on conflict simulations.
Following is a list of individuals who have designed one or more role-playing games, including live-action role-playing games and tabletop role-playing games, but excluding role-playing video games (see List of video game industry people and its children for video game creators). Artists are listed separately on the annotated List of role-playing game artists. Publishing companies are listed under List of role-playing game publishers.
But roleplaying is not purely educational. It's also one of the most creative possible entertainments. Most entertainment is passive: the audience just sits and watches, without taking part in the creative process. In roleplaying, the "audience" joins in the creation, which may introduce a huge impact on the project. The GM is the chief storyteller, but the players are responsible for portraying their characters. If they want something to happen in the story, they make it happen, because they're in the story.
As suggested by the name, TRPGs are played face-to-face (around a table, most likely), and involve players 'acting out' a role. This acting is not always literal. Players do not arrive in costume or speak exclusively in character – something that differentiates TRPGs from live-action role-playing games (LARPs). Instead, players develop characters based on certain rules and are responsible for deciding what those characters do over the course of the game.
The variety of role-playing games makes it inherently challenging to provide a common definition. However, all forms of role-playing games – be they PnP RPGs, CRPGs, MMORPGs, or LARPS – share a group of characteristics, which makes them identifiable from other types of games: storytelling with rules, control of fictional characters, a fictitious reality, usually the presence of a game master (or game engine), and at least one player.
LARPs can be viewed as forming a distinct category of RPG because of two unique features: (a) The players physically embody their characters, and (b) the game takes place in a physical frame. Embodiment means that the physical actions of the player are regarded as those of the character. Whereas in an RPG played by a group sitting around a table, players describe the actions of their characters (e.g., "I run to stand beside my friend")