Role-Playing Game

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This article refers chiefly to video games. See Tabletop RPG for old-fashioned pen and paper games.

A type of Games in which the player controls a character or party of characters in a statistically abstracted way. Most are based around one or more quests, items, stats, Character Customization, and experience points, as characters grow in power over time.

Roleplaying games (commonly known as "RPG") have their origin not as video games but pen-and-paper systems with dice-based combat and character generation, descended from a combination of tabletop wargaming and collaborative theater. Dungeons and Dragons was the first such system to be sold, followed by other early systems such as Traveller and Tunnels & Trolls. These type of roleplaying games are all now known as Tabletop RPGs.

The early video game RPGs focused mostly on simulating the combat aspects of Tabletop games, with other aspects following after. Video game RPGs can be divided in a number of ways, which are elaborated below.

• Western RPGs (WRPGs) often focus on greater character customization and free-roaming exploration. The main character in this genre tend to have little predefined personality, allowing the player to decide the personality and characterization of the main character via interactive dialogue. Western RPGs tend to bear a great resemblance to Tabletop RPGs. Examples of this genre include the Baldur's Gate series, Mass Effect, and The Elder Scrolls series.
  • Early Western RPGs bore much similarity to Turn-Based Strategy and Tactical RPGs as their roots came from tabletop gaming, but the genre has since largely distanced itself from those days. Many modern Western RPGs seem to go against their roots by emphasizing real-time combat with the player having full control of only one PC at a time. If the RPG gives you other characters they are often fully or partially controlled by an AI, potentially allowing you to select special abilities for allies to use. The decreased lack of control of party members in this style of modern Western RPGs tends to remove some of the tactical qualities of the original western RPG's and can lead to the AI controlled allies proving far less useful then the player controlled main character due to Artificial Stupidity. However as of late Western RPGs are quickly blurring together with Wide Open Sandbox games, and may cease to be a truly separate genre.
• Eastern RPGs (ERPGs) often focus on cinematic narratives and memorable characters, usually (but not always) with more linear gameplay and less direct customization than Western RPGs; Eastern RPGs typically feel like visual novels, movies or Anime. Until recently, most such games came from Japan, and are thus nicknamed JRPGs. A good point of distinction is that WRPGs typically have some Character Customization, whereas an ERPG will more likely have a preformed Player Character, who might have some customization applied to their abilities but always looks the same. Eastern RPGs tend to use a turn based or pseudo turn based system where the player individually inputs actions for every character in the team each turn. Good examples of this genre are the Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and Pokémon franchises.
• Action RPGs (ARPGs) use the combat interface of an Action Game (usually Fighting Game or Third-Person Shooter combat), incorporating the experience and item systems of a traditional RPG. Action RPGs often overlap or are related to games with RPG Elements, as Action RPGs are essentially an in-between, or RPGs with Shooter Elements. As such, distinguishing between Action RPGs and games that simply have RPG Elements is hard, but typically Action RPGs have all skills be viable options for winning the game, whereas games with RPG Elements focus more extensively on action. The best example of this genre is the original Deus Ex.
• Tactical RPGs are related to Eastern RPGs but with a high focus on moving around a gridlike system, often with abilities that take advantage of this to attack multiple people at once, or to fight from a distance
  • However, what seperates the Tactical RPG subgenre from other RPGs is that they tend to greatly resemble Strategy Games, but with RPG Elements. On TV Tropes, this type of game is thus lumped in with Turn-Based Strategy, as the two genres are very close. More recent examples of Eastern Tactical RPGs, however, have also incorporated Real Time Strategy elements.
  • A further subdivision is a Strategy RPG (SRPGs) which more closely resemble Real Time Strategy or TabletopRPGs. The distinction separates games that are on a grid system with standard Eastern RPG characters (with abilities, more attack options, and so on) and games that are on a grid system but characters are more properly units (they typically have only base attacks, may not have equipment, and so on). A good comparison would be Final Fantasy Tactics to the Fire Emblem series. The former is a "Tactical RPG" and the latter is a "Strategy RPG". .
  • The Growlanser series is an example of a real-time "Tactical RPG" that does not use a grid-based system. A character's movement range is represented by a circular area in which the character can move anywhere within its confines, avoiding obstacles along the way. The movement speed is based on the amount of MOV points each character has in the game.
• Roguelikes take their name from the early 1980s ASCII graphics game Rogue. They are defined by the combination of randomly generated worlds and permanent death, meaning that every time time your character dies you have to start completely over in a different set of levels. The focus also tends to be much more on very complex Nintendo Hard gameplay than story.
  • The best known example is Nethack, an open source game widely held in high regard. Interestingly, these can be both Eastern or Western in origin, though the Trope Namer and Trope Codifier are both Western, and the genre is laced with Western influences.
• Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs) can be any of the above genres, though they gravitate around a fusion of Action and Western RPGs (as the Trope Maker Ultima Online arose out of a Western RPG series). They also have their own distinct elements, mainly focusing around large boss battles known as "raids" and Player Versus Player interactions, as well as more tedious grinding such as fetching Twenty Bear Asses.

Whether any actual "Role Playing" is involved in many RPGs is often debatable. See also How to Play a Console RPG and PC vs. Console.

For the trope about assuming roles in order to practice something, see Comic Role Play.

This genre is home to many specific tropes.

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Types of Role Playing Games:

For Dungeons and Dragons etc. see:

• Tabletop RPG

Official Subgenres:

• Eastern RPG
  • Action RPG
  • Strategy RPG
• Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG)
• Roguelike
• Western RPG

Related Genres:

• Multi User Dungeon (MUD)
  • MUSH or Multi User Shared Hallucination
  • MUCK, a traditional roleplay-oriented MUD
• Text Adventure / Choose Your Own Adventure
• Turn Based Tactics
• LARP

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Tropes that are commonly found in Role Playing Games:

• Actually Four Mooks
  An enemy appears as a single sprite, but turns out to be a whole party of baddies in actual combat.
• Adam Smith Hates Your Guts
  The farther you get in a game, the more expensive stuff will be.
• Alliance Meter
  Getting the in-game factions to like or hate you
• All in a Row
  The party follows behind the leader like a lot of little ducklings.
• An Adventurer Is You
  A description of the class-based systems common to many Role Playing Games.
• A Homeowner Is You
  You get to buy a house, basically just because.
• All Swords Are the Same
  All weapons of a specific type look and play exactly the same.
• Arbitrary Gun Power
  Video game guns don't kill instantly, they do HP damage.
• Arbitrary Headcount Limit
  Arbitrary requirement that stops you from having too many characters in a party or unit.
  • Lazy Backup
    If you're only allowed to take three out of eighteen party members into battle, you get a Game Over if those three are killed, even if the other characters are nearby and could logically step in to finish the job.
• Background Music Override
  Let's keep the Crowning Music of Awesome going through this sequence's battles instead of the Battle Theme Music.
• Bag of Holding
  An object capable of holding other objects in Hammerspace.
• Bag of Sharing
  There are many characters but they share one inventory.
• Bag of Spilling
  Said sharing most likely won't happen between sequels.
• Battle Theme Music
  Feel those awesome riffs, man!
• Beef Gate
  The game prevents you from going to places out of order by putting very tough enemies in the way.
• Betting Minigame
  Let's pause our quest to play craps!
• Black and White Magic
  Hmm, do I get to roast the bad guys or heal the good guys?
  • Black Mage
    Prefers his bad guys extra cripsy.
  • White Mage
    Keeps the good guys from becoming extra crispy; may also stock a Holy Hand Grenade for emergencies.
• But Thou Must!
  A dialogue tree where your choices are irrelevant, because the game will not proceed until you pick the 'intended' option (or ignore your decision altogether).
• Capital City
  The biggest city in the game, the center of everything.
• Character Level
  You level up as you gain Experience Points.
• Combination Attack
  A special attack that occurs when two or more characters use certain attacks at the same time or in rapid succession.
• Convenient Questing
  Your next destination will be the closest area that you haven't been able to get to before.
• Critical Encumbrance Failure
  You're perfectly fine with 87 pounds of weight, but add one more item and you'll collapse in a heap.
• Critical Hit
  An attack randomly does extra (often double) damage.
• Damage Increasing Debuff
  A negative status ailment which in some way increases the damage its subject takes.
• Damage Over Time
  A unit receives a negative status that inflicts a small amount of damage at regular intervals.
• Defend Command
  A command that lets you take less damage, but you don't get to do anything else in the meantime.
• Diminishing Returns for Balance
  As you increase your stats, each increase has less effect, forcing you to balance your stats more.
• Disc One Final Dungeon
  A dungeon that pretends to be the last one in the game, but is nowhere near it.
• Disc One Nuke
  An exploit where a powerful item or technique is achieved early on in the game.
• Dronejam
  When annoying NPCs get in your way and prevent you from getting where you need to go.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?
  You've saved the world, but durnit, you're not too good to deliver my apples to the baker!
• Dungeon Maintenance
  Game mechanics may be a given to the players, but they're a lot of work for the locals.
• Easing Into the Adventure
  Before you start the adventure properly, you'll be shown cavorting around your tiny home town.
• An Economy Is You
  All stores in a city are centered around selling things you in particular will need.
• Elemental Crafting
  The most important aspect of a piece of armor? What material it's made from!
• Equipment Spoiler
  Finding an unusable piece of equipment means that someone able to use it will join the party at some point.
• Evolving Attack
  Your attacks and skills can Level Up on their own, if you use them enough.
• Experience Points
  You get them by killing enemies (or possibly completing other tasks or objectives), and when you get enough your Character Level or abilities increase.
  • Experience Booster
    You get more Experience Points when this is in effect.
  • Tech Points
    Like Experience Points, but they're only good for unlocking abilities.
• Exponential Potential
  As you level up, you get so many spells that gameplay starts getting confusing.
• Fairy Battle
  Something that looks like a normal random encounter, but isn't.
• Fake Longevity
  Things that pad out a game's length so they can brag about having "100 hours of gameplay!"
• Fake Ultimate Mook
  A massive, terrifying monster that is surprisingly easy to defeat.
• Fantasy Character Classes
  The most common character classes in a medieval fantasy setting.
• Fetch Quest
  A subquest unimportant to the actual plot which must be completed to continue.
  • Broken Bridge
    Any arbitrary obstacle that blocks your progress until you finish a Fetch Quest or something.
• Fight Woosh
  Graphic effect that happens when you go into a Random Encounter.
• Follow the Plotted Line
  You somehow always end up where the plot says you should be, no matter how little sense it makes that you should be there.
• Game System
  • Point Build System
  • Character Class System
    • Class and Level System
    • Common Character Classes
      • Fighter, Mage, Thief
• Gladiator Subquest
  At some point, you will have to fight in an arena in gladiatorial combat. Either as part of the main quest or as a subquest.
• Get on the Boat
  In an RPG, at some point you will have to cross the ocean to reach another continent.
• Global Airship
  A mode of transport that lets you reach any part of the world map easily.
• Good Morning, Crono
  The main character starts the game in bed, as his mother or friend wakes him up.
• Go Wait Outside
  You are asked to wait outside while something is finished; even if you come back in immediately, it's already done.
• Guest Star Party Member
  Someone who joins your party temporarily as a "guest".
• Guns Are Worthless
  In RPG systems, guns are generally weaker than swords.
• Health Damage Asymmetry
  Playable characters have low health, high damage output, while monsters have high health, low damage output.
• Heroes Prefer Swords
  In an RPG, the main character always uses a sword.
• Hit Points
  A number attributed to your health that indicates how close to death you are.
• Impossible Item Drop
  Enemies drop weapons that they could not plausibly have.
• Improbable Power Discrepancy
  Enemies are given statistics based on how powerful you are expected to be at that point, not how strong that enemy would be based on common sense.
• Inevitable Tournament
  If there is a fighting tournament held somewhere in the game, chances are 99% that you will compete in it.
• Inexplicable Treasure Chests
  Where did they come from? Who put them there? Why does nobody else but you ever open them?
• Infinity+1 Sword
  The absolute most awesome weapon EVER! You must collect twenty thousand bear asses first.
• Informed Equipment
  Characters' equipment won't show up visually on their character model; they may be wearing Diamond Armor, but it looks like the same old Stripperiffic costume to me...
• Inn Security
  Whenever the plot requires a stay at the inn, you will always wake up in the middle of the night for a plot event.
• Irrelevant Sidequest
  Everyone seems to constantly ask you to do sidequests that have absolutely nothing to do with your main objective.
• Item Crafting
  Creating your own items and equipment out of handy-dandy ingredients.
  • Just Add Water
    Items can generally be created by just sticking two or three things together and hitting "MIX".
• Job System
  Eastern RPG system whereby classes have distinct equipment and abilities but can be changed at any time.
• Joined Your Party
  You now have 18 party members! Good luck figuring out which ones to use.
• Karl Marx Hates Your Guts
  Where it's impossible to make money because everything always costs the same, so you can never sell at a profit.
• Kleptomaniac Hero
  Looting is a very important aspect of RPG. Everything that's not nailed down is yours to take.
• Last-Disc Magic
  In Eastern RPGs, although magic is usually less efficient than melee attacks, a spell or set of spells later in the game will be much better than the rest.
• Law of Cartographical Elegance
  Land masses will never extend across the edge of the (usually square) World Map.
• Leaked Experience
  Characters not in the active party will get some percentage of the experience that the active party gets.
• Let's Split Up, Gang!
  At some point your party will be split up into two or more independent groups.
• Level Grinding
  You gain statistics and abilities by killing monsters over and over again.
• Level Scaling
  As you level up, so do your enemies.
• Level Up At Intimacy 5
  As you build an emotional (or sexual) relationship with an in-game NPC, your character gets physically stronger or gains skills because of it.
  • More Friends More Benefits
    Games where the best result can be gotten by seducing or wooing every single person who seems even remotely interested in you.
• Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards
  Melee classes are better at lower levels, while wizards are better at higher ones.
• Low Level Advantage
  Don't level up as much as possible for optimal advantage.
• Mass Monster Slaughter Sidequest
  Annoying quest to kill X number of a specific enemy, frequently randomly encountered enemies.
• Match Maker Quest
  A Quest where the player helps an NPC win over their true love.
• Metal Slime
  A monster that appears and runs away very quickly, is hard to kill, but gives very good reward if you do kill it.
• The Minion Master
  A player character whose role is to create many, many NPC minions.
• Modern Day Sci Fi RPG Class Equivalents
  A collection of classes or class-equivalents for non-fantasy RPG-settings.
• Money Spider
  Even monsters need to carry money. (What do they spend it on?)
• Monster Allies
  Where monsters fight alongside the party instead of against it.
• Mutually Exclusive Party Members
  Certain characters will refuse to join you if other characters are already in the party, or will leave when someone else joins. Sometimes controlled by the plot, but other times it's just that the two simply can't be in the party together.
• News Travels Fast
  As soon as something important happens in the plot, everyone in the world will know about it.
• Nintendo Hard
  Want to defeat that Bonus Boss? Get ready for a long and brutally hard battle.
• No Hero Discount
  Even though you're out there saving the world and their lives, shopkeepers will still charge you full price.
• Nominal Importance
  Only people that are relevant to the plot or a Sidequest will be blessed with names. Everyone else will be Nameless Narrative or be referred to with generic or descriptive titles.
• No Experience Points for Medic
  Only killing nets a character rewards, healing and defending don't.
• No Stat Atrophy
  Once you raise a stat, it will never go down again.
• Now Where Was I Going Again?
  OK, I saved my game three months ago and I'm picking the game up again... so where was I supposed to go?
• One Man Party
  An RPG where one character can easily become far stronger than the rest of his party.
• One Size Fits All
  Clothing and armour can be worn by anyone, regardless of its source or the wearer's size or gender.
• Only Shop in Town
  When a town you pass through only has one shop for buying and selling weapons and armour.
• Opening the Sandbox
  The point in a game where you're finally able to do all the sidequests, go anywhere on the map, and so on.
• Optional Party Member
  Someone who may not join your party, if you don't fulfil the requirements to get them.
• Outside the Box Tactic
  Certain enemies are weak to tactics that are bizarre or otherwise not intuitive at first glance.
• Overly-Long Fighting Animation
  An animation attack in which the Rule of Cool is applied in excess, making it just too long.
• Pamphlet Shelf
  Whenever you see a bookshelf, there will never be more than one book (and often one line) that you can read.
• Parabolic Power Curve
  A situation where, as your character gains levels, they begin getting less effective in certain tasks.
• Party in My Pocket
  Only the main character is shown walking around; other party members will appear when needed, or even walk out of his body.
• Perpetually Static
  Rules in an MMORPG that prevents the game from being changed unduly by the players.
• Player Party
  A set of characters whom you control together throughout the game.
• Player Personality Quiz
  A quiz during character creation that determines your alignment or statistics.
• Plunder
  Frequently referred to as 'loot', and like Experience Points, it's rewards (but of a physical manner) from defeating your enemies, from money to useful equipment. Arguably, stuff you get from other people as a reward for completing tasks from them count as well (the tasks of which may involve collecting Twenty Bear Asses.).
• Plot Tunnel
  Linear plot sequence that forces you to put your usual sidequests on hold while important plot events develop.
  • Point of No Return
    There is no turning back once you cross this line near the end of the game -- you can only finish the game or die trying.
• Power Equals Rarity
  The more powerful an item/Mon/etc. is in a game, the harder it is to find.
• Preexisting Encounters
  Encounters with enemies which you can see coming (as opposed to Random Encounters).
• Prestige Class
  A character can choose to advance from a basic starting class to a more powerful, but more specialised class.
• Quest Giver
  An NPC designated somehow as someone who will give you a sidequest.
• Rainbow Pimp Gear
  When players equip their characters with gear solely based on stat bonuses without consideration to how it will look on them.
• Random Encounters
  Encounters with monsters that occur randomly as the player travels.
• Randomly Drops
  You have a 1 in 128,983,234 chance of getting the Infinity+1 Sword from that Metal Slime. Happy grinding!
• Rat Stomp
  Rats - the ultimate noob enemy.
• Relationship Values
  A usually hidden meter that measures the depth of your relationship to other characters.
• Required Party Member
  Someone who you have to have in your group, usually due to plot reasons.
  • Can't Drop the Hero
    The main hero of an RPG can never be taken out of the active party.
• Restart At Level One
  When a powerful character is given a plot-powered "level down" so he isn't statistically overpowered.
• Romance Sidequest
  A sidequest which has the player character enter a romantic relationship with a party member or NPC.
• RPG Elements
  Where a non-RPG is given some aspects of one (menu battles, equipment, levels).
• RP Gs Equal Combat
  The only way to get equipment, skills and levels is to fight things.
• Resources Management Gameplay
• Save Point
  A specific spot where the player is allowed to save their game and restart it should they get a Game Over.
• Scratch Damage
  All successful attacks must inflict some damage, no matter how little.
• Sidequest
  Any part of a video game that is not required to complete the game.
• Sidequest Sidestory
  A sequence of optional sidequests reference/join up to each other to create a seperate story.
• The Six Stats
  The six attributes that help or hinder you in gameplay.
• Skill Point Reset
  Optional reset of a Player Character's skill and ability scores, allowing you to redistribute them.
• Sole Entertainment Option
  In the entire in-game world, there is only one kind of entertainment or only one city where you can find it.
• So Long and Thanks For All the Gear
  A party member leaves the party for some part of the game, taking whatever you equipped them with in the process. Hope it wasn't anything you needed!
• Sorry I'm Late
  When you're separated from your party, they will join up with you in the course of one or more random encounters.
• Sorting Algorithm of Evil
  Villains must appear in strictly ascending order by menace.
• Standard RPG Items
  We got potions, ethers, remedies, and revives, and dangit if they aren't all the same color!
• Standard Status Effects
  If you're poisoned, blinded, mute, and confused... better take it easy on the magic mushrooms.
• Starter Equipment
  The equipment you're given by default at the begining of the game.
• Stat Grinding
  As you do specific actions, your statistics related to those actions will increase.
• Statistically Speaking
  No matter how high your strength, speed, etc. goes, you still will not be able to, for example, just smash that Insurmountable Waist High Fence to pieces.
• Take Your Time
  The only time you actually need to hurry is if there's an onscreen timer counting down.
• Talk to Everyone
  It's the only way to get that sneaky clue about the dinosaurs!
• A Taste of Power
  Where you are given a strong character or ability early on, but lose it quickly.
• Teaser Equipment
  Shopkeepers in video games sell powerful equipment, but you won't be able to afford them until later.
• There Are No Bedsheets
  When a character lies down on a bed, they will never get into sheets or blankets, but just lie on top of it.
• There Are No Tents
  You can only rest the night at an inn; you can't just set up camp somewhere.
• Thriving Ghost Town
  Cities and towns are much, much smaller than they should be for sustainability.
• Took a Shortcut
  You spent all that time going through the dungeon and beating all the puzzles, so how the heck did these guys get here first?
• Trauma Inn
  Got killed in combat? Just spend a night at the inn, and you'll be healed up by morning!
• Treacherous Quest-Giver
  The person who sends you off to kill the Big Bad is actually manipulating you for their own unsavory ends.
• Twenty Bear Asses
  Annoying Fetch Quest where you have to collect a certain number of whatever item, usually dropped by randomly encountered enemies.
• 24-Hour Armor
  You wear your armor everywhere. You eat with it, you sleep with it, you take baths in it.
• Underground Monkey
  Enemy types get recycled from one area to another, with stronger stats.
• Universal Poison
  There is only one type of poison, and generally one type of antidote for it.
• Vendor Trash
  An item that's useless for anything but selling for cash.
• The Very Definitely Final Dungeon
  The Final Boss lives here; you'll know it when you see it.
• Video Game Geography
  The world map is square and wraps around on both edges. How exactly does that work? Who cares?
• Video Game Weapon Stats
  Common attributes for weapons.
• Villain Forgot to Level Grind
  Where the villain is still at the same level he was at ten hours ago, but the heroes are ten levels higher and therefore beat him handily.
• Wallet of Holding
  Where you can collect millions of gold coins and not have your pants fall down.
• Warp Whistle
  Instantaneously teleport to any location you've been to before.
• We Buy Anything
  Want to sell that rusty suit of armor at a grocery store? They'll take it, no questions asked!
• We Cannot Go on Without You
  You get a Game Over when the main character is killed, regardless of how many of his companions are still alive or whether they can quickly revive him.
• Welcome to Corneria
  NPCs keep saying the same thing over and over again.
• You All Look Familiar
  There are only a few NPC models; you'll see it repeated over and over again.
• Zip Mode
  A subtype known as Dash Mode is extremely popular: holding a button will make the party run. May increase the chance of Random Encounters