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Introduction
This article discusses tabletop (pen and paper) role-playing games (RPGs) contrasting them with live action role-playing games (LARPs) and massive multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs). The first section traces the development of tabletop RPGs from their beginnings as a spin-off from miniatures war games in the 1970s to much broader mainstream acceptance in the twenty-first century, and will look at the reasons why collecting these games is important to libraries and users. Historically these games spurred the design and growth of the massive multiplayer online RPGs. In addition, the games are played in social groups, are inclusive and provide a rich environment for learning and developing team skill and personal leadership. In a world of increasing social interaction and globalization these skills are very important. The last section develops a core list of RPGs to collect, limited by the availability - if it is not in print, it will not be on this list.
What are RPGs?
Tabletop RPGs are a set of rules of varying complexity where a group of people (the players) assume roles (characters, the protagonists) and cooperatively seek to overcome obstacles and resolve conflicts placed before them by the game master (the GM). The action in the game is narrated by both the players (for their characters) and the GM (for all other inhabitants) for the purpose of collaboratively crafting a kind of ongoing narrative. There will be occasional mention of non-fantasy RPGs in this history, but this will only be to introduce new concepts of styles in game design and social contracts[1] .
The history of fantasy RPGs
1974-1989: days of wine and roses
The history of RPGs[2] begins in 1974 when Tactical Studies Rules (TSR) published the first edition of Dungeons and Dragons . This rules set was derived from the Chainmail tabletop miniatures war game rules developed by Gary Gygax, at the University of Minnesota, in 1971. Concurrently, David Arneson developed a proto LARP based on his experiences at the University of Minnesota participating in David Wesley's Napoleonic wargame Braunstein where players played various individuals in the fictional town of Braunstein; Braunstein focused on individual characters who could establish their own goals in addition to goals generated by the GM. Arneson's game was called Blackmoor