Two popular forms of gaming include video games and tabletop roleplaying games (ttrpgs or trpgs). Each has improved significantly, offering a plethora of options to gaming enthusiasts.
TTRPGs involve people assuming a fictional character’s persona in a collaborative storytelling environment, while video games provide digital interactive experiences via visual and auditory stimuli. It is natural for gamers to wonder if TRPGs are worth playing, especially with technological advances increasing the allure of video games.
Definition of Tabletop Roleplaying Games (TTRPGs) and Video Games
Tabletop roleplaying games, often referred to as TRPGs or TTRPGs, are a form of interactive storytelling that takes place around a table with players assuming the roles of fictional characters. These games typically rely on rulebooks, dice rolls, and the imagination of the players and the game master (the one who guides the story).
Dungeons & Dragons is perhaps one of the most well-known examples, where players explore dangerous dungeons, encounter creatures, and embark on quests.
In contrast, video games are electronic interactive entertainment experiences that can be played on various devices such as consoles, computers, or mobile phones. These digital adventures offer visually stunning graphics and immersive audio effects to transport players into virtual worlds with diverse challenges and captivating narratives.
Why Video Games
Video games already contain story, characters, classes, and more that players don’t have to put any time and energy into creating. Video games, put simply, are pre-generated stories ready for players to engage with.
This means that you can just sit down, boot up and start playing. No amount of effort on your part is needed to create it, only to play through it. Since it is all programmed, only certain outcomes can occur. When you know how the AI will respond, how you can manipulate monsters into choke points etc., etc., the game becomes predictable in ways a TTRPG isn’t.
Why Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs allow players to do things you can do in video games, at least currently. Specifically, the ability to interact with the environment and other NPCs. While many video games have options for these two things, they are often very limited.
Advantages of Tabletop Roleplaying Games
Flexibility and Creativity
Tabletop roleplaying games (TRPGs), such as Dungeons & Dragons, offer players flexibility and creativity in multiple ways. One major advantage is being able to create characters of your own design. Where video games have fixed characters or limited choices of ability combinations, TTRPGs do not.
Being able to choose your race, class, background, skills, personal quirks, and, most of all, personality is not something you can do in a video game. Since you create your character, you are the best at roleplaying it because you know it best!
The creative environment in tabletop roleplaying games is hard to simulate in a video game. At the end of the day, when playing a video game, you know it’s all programming and often can take advantage of that. Standing around corners to glitch a mob so it can’t hit you, or running away far enough so it “de-agros” is not something you can do in a tabletop roleplaying game.
Social Interaction and Bonding
There is some amount of social interaction and bonding you can do even in video games, sure, but the level you can do so in tabletop games is much better-especially if you are in person. Playing games at a table where you can see each other, go and get snacks and food during a break, etc. is much more fulfilling than playing via the internet. I have been playing with the same 4 people for nearly 10 years over the internet, and we all would like to meet in person because it’s just so much more enjoyable.
The experiences you create together can become memories you will treasure for decades to come. There’s nothing like being able to see the reactions on others’ faces as you come up with a clever or dumb idea that perfectly fits your character’s personality. Plus, the creative problem-solving you can implement in a tabletop roleplaying game is far more fun than what is possible in video games.
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Immersion in Tabletop Roleplaying Games
Tangible Experience
The key aspect that sets tabletop roleplaying games apart from video games is the tangible experience of it. The use of physical dice, miniatures, maps, and acting out your activity all further enhance the immersive experience.
You’ll never forget the one time you roll a nat 20 for that absolutely needed crit to win the fight for you and your team. Regardless if it’s a super high-level game or early in the character’s journey, the look on your group’s faces or the frustration on the game master’s face when you trounce a boss are all totally worth the time to get together. Moving miniatures around on a time-crafted map also adds to the immersive element of tabletop roleplaying games.
Character sheets can also be a great source of immersion as you add new notes and gear to it. Throughout the game, referencing your character sheet is a great way to connect with the alter-ego of your character.
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The Power of Imagination
For those that have a strong creative personality, using your imagination can be a deeply fulfilling part of tabletop roleplaying games that you cant get elsewhere. So many possible scenarios, environments, magical forces, technological events and more are all possible to explore with the imagination.
The absences of visual elements allow you to make up for yourself what things would look and sound like. You can also decide in the imagination of your mind how different character builds work, plus many more elements that are part of tabletop roleplaying games.
Dynamic Storytelling
Tabletop RPGs are incredible for being open-world options or sandboxes to explore storylines you can’t do in video games. You can put only so much into a virtual world or even in a novel. With tabletop RPGs, you can do a lot of “what if” scenarios and see where it takes you all.
The ability to adapt an existing game world to just slightly different or vastly different “what ifs” can bring a tremendous amount of fun. You can enjoy looking at the game world from a different perspective with those at the table with you. What happens in Marvel, for example, if simple things were different, like Groot was angrier, or there was one more stone they had to get, etc?
These seemingly trivial elements can make a huge impact on the outcome. It would be up to each player and the game master, though, to work together to discover how that would turn out.
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What cant you do in video games that you can in TTRPGs
You may be able to dig, destroy, build, or similar things to the environment around you in some video games. In all tabletop RPGs you can do far more than these. When it comes to NPCs, the options are not just pop up options, rather they are extremely open to player choice.
The biggest thing a tabletop RPG lets you do is explore and adventure as you see fit. You can create a character unlike any available in video games. Go where you want, do what you want, and gain power and influence in a way impossible in video games.
Lastly, co-operatively building a story together with the game master is something not possible in video games. Players get to interact with the story and add their input via their choices and actions.
What elements of RPGs are best left to video games
I find reducing a tabletop RPG to a number-crunching session very boring. A really good example is ARPGs like Diablo and similar. In these games are dealing with trying only to get gear and deal damage in combat. Kill thousands of demons and monsters and get loot from them.
There is no roleplaying option for them, and it is best to let video games do that and let tabletop RPGs do what they are best at.
Advantages of video games
Visually appealing
Video games are getting better and better graphics that simulate many aspects. Whatever the game you pick is today, 10 years from now it will only be far better than now.
When you want to save some time and just enjoy a good show that you can interact with, then video games can be a good idea. I often find that video games can be a good way to clear the mind between long work sessions, exercise, and other responsibilities. Tabletop roleplaying game sessions can take a lot of effort to put together, which means if you need simple downtime, they can be more work than relaxation.
Better at combat than TTRPGs ever can be
Tabletop roleplaying games have made combat a part of the system since they were created, but let’s be real-they often leave a lot to be desired. Specifically, combat becomes exceedingly long-winded and drawn out. Video games, on the other hand, make it super simple, easy to grasp, and far more fun.
Games like World of Warcraft, for example, turn major boss fights into a 10-40-person event that would be exceedingly difficult to pull off for a TTRPG. Pugb and the like make arena combat fun where the shoot, die respawn idea is truly enjoyable and not something you give up.
More than that, you don’t need to understand all the game mechanics to play video games. The game engine is like the game master and a dice system all in one. It rolls dice at lightning speed, makes more calculations per second than an entire party ever could, and produces a result based on key clicks that is visually appealing and super fun.
Repetitive tasks made fun
Tabletop roleplaying games rarely ever focus on things like mining, logging, or gardening. These are tasks that would be really boring in a tabletop RPG setting to make any kind of story out of. Since most campaigns follow the standard “there’s a bad guy doing stuff and you have to stop him now”, there’s no time to sit back and do mundane activities.
Some people love doing those kinds of things in games like Eve Online, even WoW, Valheim, or many many other survival type video games. Due to how programming works, it is very easy for video games to offer these as activities that players can do and have fun at.
Conclusion
Tabletop roleplaying games and video games are two popular gaming experiences, each with their own advantages. While, ultimately, video games help you save time when doing combat and look damn cool doing it. When creativity and storytelling is what you want to focus on, tabletop roleplaying games are best at that.