# Tabletop Roleplaying Games - Genre: Tabletop genre - Date: 1974 (Dungeons & Dragons); proto-roleplaying from 1969 (Braunstein) - Canonical: https://www.lanternhall.org/atlas/tabletop-rpg/ > The game in which you play one person, in a world a friend describes, with no board, no fixed ending and no winner — invented in the Midwest in the early 1970s and descended from miniature wargames. **Why it matters:** The tabletop RPG is the hinge of this museum: born from wargames and fantasy fiction, it gave rise to the computer RPG, the MUD, the MMORPG and actual-play entertainment. Its core ideas — hit points, levels, character classes, the party — are now the grammar of games. ## Quick answers **What is Tabletop Roleplaying Games?** The game in which you play one person, in a world a friend describes, with no board, no fixed ending and no winner — invented in the Midwest in the early 1970s and descended from miniature wargames. **What are the hallmarks of Tabletop Roleplaying Games?** Each player portrays one character who persists and changes across sessions; A game master describes the world, plays everyone else and adjudicates outcomes; An open action space: players may attempt anything they can describe; Rules and dice resolve uncertain actions; much else is settled by conversation; No fixed ending and usually no winner — campaigns can run for years; Published settings, adventures and endless homebrew. **When did Tabletop Roleplaying Games emerge?** 1974 (Dungeons & Dragons); proto-roleplaying from 1969 (Braunstein). **Where does the name “Tabletop Roleplaying Games” come from?** D&D (1974) billed itself as rules for "Fantastic Medieval Wargames Campaigns"; "role-playing game" became the hobby's name over the following years. **What are the key works of Tabletop Roleplaying Games?** Braunstein, Blackmoor, Dungeons & Dragons, Empire of the Petal Throne, Tunnels & Trolls, RuneQuest, Call of Cthulhu and Vampire: The Masquerade. ## What it is A tabletop roleplaying game (TTRPG) is a structured conversation. Each player takes on a single [Player character](https://www.lanternhall.org/lexicon/player-character/) and describes what that character does; one participant, the [Game Master](https://www.lanternhall.org/lexicon/game-master/), describes the world, plays every [Non-player character](https://www.lanternhall.org/lexicon/non-player-character/) and decides what happens. When an action's outcome is uncertain, rules — usually involving [Polyhedral dice](https://www.lanternhall.org/lexicon/polyhedral-dice/) — resolve it. There is no board and no fixed scenario, the game has no set end, and nobody wins in the usual sense: the goal is a shared story and the survival and growth of the characters, often across a campaign that lasts months or years. "Tabletop" and "pen-and-paper" distinguish the form from computer RPGs and live-action roleplay; neither the table nor the paper is required, and online play over video became common during the COVID-19 pandemic. ## Origins The TTRPG was assembled from the [Miniatures & Board Wargames](https://www.lanternhall.org/atlas/wargame/) hobby. In 1969 [David Wesely](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/david-wesely/), a Minnesota wargamer, ran [Braunstein](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/braunstein/), a Napoleonic-era scenario in which each player took one individual role in a German town, with goals of their own; the result was chaotic, open-ended and unlike any wargame. Among the players was [Dave Arneson](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/dave-arneson/), whose [Blackmoor](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/blackmoor/) campaign, started in 1971 using the fantasy rules of [Chainmail](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/chainmail/), added the elements that define the form: individual characters who persist and improve, a referee-run world, and underground dungeons to explore. Arneson demonstrated Blackmoor to [Gary Gygax](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/gary-gygax/) in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, and the two developed it into [Dungeons & Dragons](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/original-dungeons-and-dragons/), published by [TSR, Inc.](https://www.lanternhall.org/houses/tsr/) in January 1974 in a first printing of 1,000 copies. The box described itself as rules for "Fantastic Medieval Wargames Campaigns," and it assumed buyers were wargamers. Instead it found a new audience, and within a few years the hobby had its own name: role-playing games. ## Evolution Competitors arrived within a year. [Ken St. Andre](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/ken-st-andre/)'s [Tunnels & Trolls](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/tunnels-and-trolls/) (1975) simplified the rules; [M. A. R. Barker](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/m-a-r-barker/)'s [Empire of the Petal Throne](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/empire-of-the-petal-throne/) (1975) offered a deeply realized alien world; Traveller (1977) took roleplaying into space; [RuneQuest](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/runequest/) (1978) introduced skills and a mythic setting; [Call of Cthulhu](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/call-of-cthulhu-rpg/) (1981) made horror playable. The late 1970s and 1980s were D&D's golden age — [Advanced Dungeons & Dragons](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/advanced-dungeons-and-dragons/), [Gen Con](https://www.lanternhall.org/culture/gen-con/) crowds, and the [The Satanic Panic & D&D](https://www.lanternhall.org/culture/satanic-panic/) — while generic systems (see [Universal & Generic RPG Systems](https://www.lanternhall.org/atlas/universal-rpg-systems/)) and story-centered games such as [Vampire: The Masquerade](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/vampire-the-masquerade/) (1991) diversified the field. The 1990s brought a slump as computer games and [Magic: The Gathering](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/magic-the-gathering/) drew players away; TSR, overextended, was bought by [Wizards of the Coast](https://www.lanternhall.org/houses/wizards-of-the-coast/) in 1997, and Hasbro bought Wizards in 1999. The [The Open Game License](https://www.lanternhall.org/culture/open-game-license/) and [Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/dnd-3rd-edition/) (2000) opened D&D's rules to other publishers, while online forums nurtured the indie design movement (see [Narrative & Story Games (incl. Powered by the Apocalypse)](https://www.lanternhall.org/atlas/narrative-rpg/)) and the [Old-School Renaissance (OSR)](https://www.lanternhall.org/atlas/old-school-renaissance/). [Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/dnd-5th-edition/) (2014), [Actual Play](https://www.lanternhall.org/atlas/actual-play/) shows such as [Critical Role](https://www.lanternhall.org/culture/critical-role/), [Virtual Tabletops](https://www.lanternhall.org/culture/virtual-tabletops/) and crowdfunding produced a boom that continued into the 2020s. Beyond fantasy, the form proved infinitely adaptable: horror, science fiction, superheroes, noir, romance and comedy all have their games, and the craft of running them spawned a vocabulary — [Railroading](https://www.lanternhall.org/lexicon/railroading/), [Sandbox](https://www.lanternhall.org/lexicon/sandbox/), [Homebrew](https://www.lanternhall.org/lexicon/homebrew/), [TPK](https://www.lanternhall.org/lexicon/tpk/) — that this archive catalogs in its glossary. ## How to tell it apart This is the atlas's most important border; the [Board Game, Wargame, or Roleplaying Game?](https://www.lanternhall.org/tours/board-vs-rpg/) tour walks it in detail. - **RPG vs. [Miniatures & Board Wargames](https://www.lanternhall.org/atlas/wargame/):** in a wargame you command a force — regiments, squadrons, a warband — and the aim is to win a battle or campaign against an opponent. In an RPG you play one person, usually cooperating with other players, with no victory condition. Both may use a referee and miniatures; Braunstein and Blackmoor are exactly where one became the other. - **RPG vs. board game:** a board game has a closed set of legal moves, fixed components and a defined end with a winner. An RPG's action space is open: anything a player can describe may be attempted, and a human referee adjudicates. TSR's own [Dungeon!](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/dungeon-board-game/) (1975) shows the difference — the same dungeon, but with a board, a finish line and a winner. [HeroQuest](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/heroquest/), [Talisman](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/talisman/) and [Gloomhaven](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/gloomhaven/) are [adventure board games](https://www.lanternhall.org/atlas/adventure-board-game/) or [dungeon crawlers](https://www.lanternhall.org/atlas/dungeon-crawler-board-game/) that borrow RPG trappings, not RPGs. - **vs. [Live-Action Roleplay (LARP)](https://www.lanternhall.org/atlas/larp/):** LARP is roleplaying performed physically, in costume, in real space; tabletop is described. - **vs. [Western Computer RPGs (CRPG)](https://www.lanternhall.org/atlas/computer-rpg/):** a CRPG replaces the human game master with software, trading open-ended adjudication for automation. - **vs. [Gamebooks & Interactive Books](https://www.lanternhall.org/atlas/gamebook/) and [Solo & Journaling RPGs](https://www.lanternhall.org/atlas/solo-rpg/):** gamebooks pre-script every choice; solo RPGs use prompts and oracles to replace the GM. ## Where to start - [Dungeons & Dragons](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/original-dungeons-and-dragons/) — the three little brown books that began it. - [Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/dnd-basic-set/) — the classic introduction, especially the 1983 "Red Box." - [Call of Cthulhu](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/call-of-cthulhu-rpg/) — a different kind of RPG, where knowledge kills. - [Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/dnd-5th-edition/) — the modern entry point for most new players. - [Blades in the Dark](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/blades-in-the-dark/) — for a taste of contemporary indie design. ## Hallmarks - Each player portrays one character who persists and changes across sessions - A game master describes the world, plays everyone else and adjudicates outcomes - An open action space: players may attempt anything they can describe - Rules and dice resolve uncertain actions; much else is settled by conversation - No fixed ending and usually no winner — campaigns can run for years - Published settings, adventures and endless homebrew ## Facts - [David Wesely](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/david-wesely/)'s [Braunstein](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/braunstein/) (1969), a Napoleonic-era game in which each player took one role in a town, is widely treated as a proto-roleplaying game. - [Dave Arneson](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/dave-arneson/)'s [Blackmoor](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/blackmoor/) campaign (from 1971) combined individual characters, dungeon exploration and experience — the core of D&D. - [Dungeons & Dragons](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/original-dungeons-and-dragons/), by Gygax and Arneson, was published by [TSR, Inc.](https://www.lanternhall.org/houses/tsr/) in January 1974 in a first printing of 1,000 copies. - [M. A. R. Barker](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/m-a-r-barker/)'s [Empire of the Petal Throne](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/empire-of-the-petal-throne/) (TSR, 1975) was published as a standalone game and introduced critical hits. - By its first major reprinting in 1977, D&D was being positioned as a roleplaying game rather than a wargame. - Hasbro bought [Wizards of the Coast](https://www.lanternhall.org/houses/wizards-of-the-coast/), D&D's owner, in 1999 for an estimated $325 million. - In 2023, after a community revolt over changes to the [The Open Game License](https://www.lanternhall.org/culture/open-game-license/), Wizards placed the D&D 5th Edition core rules document under a Creative Commons license. ## Sources and further reading - [Wikipedia — Tabletop role-playing game](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabletop_role-playing_game) - [Wikipedia — History of role-playing games](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_role-playing_games) --- From The Lantern Hall (https://www.lanternhall.org/), a museum of fantasy literature and roleplaying games.