Role-playing games, like Dungeons & Dragons, began in the 1970s. These games involve players taking on the roles of characters in a fictional setting, guided by a game master. Since then RP games have evolved from playing at a table with paper and pens to modalities that are app-assisted or can be played on-line.
This app is a digital role-playing game, although it simplifies some aspects of traditional role-playing games.
- Game Structure: The game has a clear start and a clear end. Each game includes several players, which can enter or leave the game at some point.
- Characters: Players create their characters according to rules at the beginning of the game. They are give certain amount of XP (experience points) to start with. It is a game goal to increase the XP points until the end of the game, but the XPs have to be spent also to navigate the adventure.
- Game Master (GM): The GM starts the game, adds characters, and is the director of the game after it has started. The GM decides whether to approve a chosen action from a player. The GM can set the XP points that an action costs or gives as a reward for a specific character, and can even give XP points to the characters independently of actions. However, the GM is not all-powerful and has to abide by certain rules too.
- Player Actions: Players make choices that are later approved by the Game Master. Once the game has started, they can use their XP to try to perform an action. These actions have a cost in XP but they also have rewards or penalties (depending on the outcome of the action). Games usually come with a basic repertoir of actions, which players can choose from or use as a template to suggest an action for their character. Each chosen action can then be modified by the GM before aproval, but it is up to the player to decide whether to execute the action at the end. Players can also decide to retrieve their character from the game.
- NPCs can be part of the game from the start or can be added later by the GM. The GM controls these characters, using them to interact with the playing characters or choosing to remove them from the game anytime.
A game is always a specific type of adventure. Adventures provide a thematic and a strategic context, and also serve to inform the players about the game expectations. There are these types of adventure:
- Dungeon Crawls: Exploring complexes filled with monsters, traps, and treasures.
- Quests: Missions to retrieve items, rescue characters, or defeat villains.
- Campaigns: Extended narratives over a longer time for character and plot development.
Missions are objectives within adventures, for example:
- Quest: Rescue at Griffin's Peak: Climb Griffin's Peak to rescue a famous royal botanist from ill-intentioned enemies.
A player will manage one or more characters in the game. Characters are described by its class, race, and detailed attributes:
- Lysias, the Northern Ranger
- Class: Ranger
- Race: Human
- Description: A skilled tracker from the northern mountains, reflexive and resourceful in wilderness survival and combat.
- Attributes: Strength: 14, Dexterity: 15, Constitution: 13, Intelligence: 16, Wisdom: 17, Charisma: 10
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Many ideas about the game development and rules are inspired by Dungeons & Dragons, a major influence in the role-playing game genre.