Tabletop role-playing game

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A tabletop role-playing game (typically abbreviated as TTRPG or TRPG), also known as a pen-and-paper role-playing game, is a classification for a role-playing game (RPG) in which the participants describe their characters' actions through speech, and sometimes movements. Participants determine the actions of their characters based on their characterization,^[1] and the actions succeed or fail according to a set formal system of rules and guidelines, usually containing Dice-Rolling. Within the rules, players have the freedom to improvise; their choices shape the direction and outcome of the game.^[2]

The terms pen-and-paper and tabletop are generally only used to distinguish this format of RPG from other formats, since neither pen and paper nor a table are strictly necessary, though are usually used.^[2]

Some common examples of tabletop role-playing games include Dungeons & Dragons, Call of Cthulhu, Pathfinder, and Vampire: The Masquerade.