Tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs) and procedural content generators can both be understood as systems of rules for producing content. In this paper, we argue that TTRPG design can usefully be viewed as procedural content generator design. We present several case studies linking key concepts from PCG research – including possibility spaces, expressive range analysis, and generative pipelines – to key concepts in TTRPG design. We then discuss the implications of these relationships and suggest directions for future work uniting research in TTRPGs and PCG.
Cite this work
@inproceedings{guzdial2020tabletop, author= {Guzdial, Matthew and Acharya, Devi and Kreminski, Max and Cook, Michael and Eladhari, Mirjam and Liapis, Antonios and Sullivan, Anne}, title= {{Tabletop Roleplaying Games as Procedural Content Generators}}, year= {2020}, booktitle= {{International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games}}, pages= {1--9}, abstract= {Tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs) and procedural content generators can both be understood as systems of rules for producing content. In this paper, we argue that TTRPG design can usefully be viewed as procedural content generator design. We present several case studies linking key concepts from PCG research – including possibility spaces, expressive range analysis, and generative pipelines – to key concepts in TTRPG design. We then discuss the implications of these relationships and suggest directions for future work uniting research in TTRPGs and PCG.},
}