GDC 2024 Session Viewer

If film, video games, and fiction can have elements, what are the elements of tabletop roleplaying games? This panel presents a rubric for general elements that can be found in most, if not all, tabletop roleplaying games. It is less about establishing universal principles that will make a tabletop roleplaying game "bad" or "good," and more about starting a discussion about tabletop games that players and designers can both benefit from.

Any kind of review or critical discussion about a games medium cannot start without definitions. By dissecting these nine elements —Fantasy, World, Body, Tension, Design, Principles, Form, Touch, and Intent—the panel presents important questions that designers may ask themselves during the practice of their art. And, through providing starting definitions and presenting examples of tabletop games themselves, create critical scaffolding for tabletop roleplaying games as a vehicle for storytelling.

Takeaway

Attendance will be able to use the elements presented in this panel through their own praxis. They will be invited to interrogate any shortcomings that the elements will have and start thinking more critically about design in tabletop roleplaying as a medium that stands on its own.

Intended Audience

This is mainly for new game designers in tabletop, but designers of all experience levels in the industry are welcome. Video game designers may also find this presentation useful with respect to the translatable skills that exist between video games and ttrpgs. There are no prerequisites for attendance.