Roleplaying games have evolved dramatically since their inception, and along with this evolution have emerged various cultures of play that shape how games are run, enjoyed, and even designed. Understanding these different play styles is crucial for game masters seeking to broaden their perspective and facilitate richer, more engaging experiences for their players. In this post, we’ll delve into six distinct RPG play cultures, examining their origins, development, and unique characteristics.

By understanding these cultures, you’ll not only gain a deeper appreciation for your own style but also foster better cross-cultural discussions in the broader RPG community.

Classic Play: The Origins of Challenge-Based Roleplaying

The “Classic” or “Traditional” play style revolves around a focus on mechanical challenge, adventure, and the incremental growth of player characters. At its core, Classic play is about players facing obstacles and threats that steadily increase in mechanical difficulty, matching their characters’ rising power levels. The aim of the game isn’t necessarily to tell a cohesive story but to engage in tactical play, where resource management, combat encounters, and overcoming mechanically-driven external threats form the backbone of the experience.

A quintessential example of this style is Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (1e), which was originally shaped by Gary Gygax’s desire to standardize and stabilize the gameplay experience. Rules in AD&D ensured that both challenges and PC power remained in balance, giving the dungeon master (DM) a clear structure for adjudicating encounters fairly. Modules such as Tomb of Horrors perfectly illustrate this approach, placing heavy emphasis on skill, strategy, and surviving deadly traps.

In the early 2000s, this play style saw a revival through the internet. The Old School Reference and Index Compilation (OSRIC) also played a significant role in reviving this culture, allowing players to legally access AD&D mechanics through the Open Game License. OSRIC serves as both a tool for classic-style games and a symbol of the resurgence of challenge-based play.

Story-Focused Games: GM-driven Storytelling as the Heart of Roleplaying

The GM-driven, story-focused play style is perhaps the most recognizable to modern players of narrative-driven RPGs. However, its roots go back to the early 1980s with games like the narrative-focused Dragonlance modules for Dungeons & Dragons.

Story-focused play play emphasizes narrative and world-building, with the game master (GM) acting as the primary storyteller and creative force. The players’ characters contribute to the story, but their input is guided by the GM’s vision, leading to a narrative-driven experience that feels akin to reading or watching a piece of fiction unfold. The Dragonlance modules, for example, introduced more structured narratives and character-driven plots, pushing RPGs toward more emotionally resonant and story-focused gameplay.

This style matured with the growing popularity of the “roleplaying, not roll-playing” mantra, emphasizing that the focus should be on the characters and their story arcs rather than tactical combat or dice rolls. The GM-driven, story-focused play style is heavily inspired by other media, such as novels and films, and seeks to evoke those kinds of emotional and dramatic experiences in the players.

Nordic Larp: Immersive Experiences and Character Bleed

While LARP (Live Action Role Play) may conjure images of medieval fantasy battles, Nordic Larp is a specific subculture that emerged in Scandinavia. Its key focus is immersion, with the goal of making the player fully embody their character’s experiences. Rather than merely playing a role, the player is encouraged to “bleed” – letting their character’s emotions, thoughts, and conflicts influence their real-life feelings, and vice versa.

The Manifesto of the Turku School, published in 2000, is a foundational text in this movement. It emphasized that immersion is the highest priority, and that the distinction between player and character should be as fluid as possible. This play style doesn’t focus on narrative cohesion or game mechanics, but on creating a deeply personal, emotional experience. It can often include long, intense debrief sessions after a game, allowing players to process the psychological and emotional impact of their characters’ journeys.

While Nordic Larp originated in live-action formats, its principles have influenced tabletop RPGs as well, particularly in games where immersion and emotional realism are key goals.

Storytelling Games: Collaborative Narratives with Minimal Rules

Storytelling games represent a radical departure from more traditional RPG structures. Emerging from the Forge indie RPG community in the early 2000s, this culture seeks to align game mechanics and narrative to minimize ludonarrative dissonance – the conflict between gameplay and story. In Storytelling games Games, the rules are often light, allowing the story to take center stage and empowering players to take an active role in shaping the direction of the narrative.

One of the most well-known frameworks within Story Games is the Powered by the Apocalypse engine, used in games like Apocalypse World by Vincent Baker and Dungeon World. These games provide a narrative-driven experience where the mechanics focus on facilitating dramatic and collaborative storytelling, rather than tactical combat or strategy. Another example, Fiasco, forgoes traditional gamemastering altogether, allowing players to collaboratively create a story about characters whose poor decisions lead to disastrous consequences.

Storytelling Games empower players to influence not just their own characters, but the broader narrative world. This creates a highly collaborative environment where storytelling is dynamic, fluid, and often surprising.

OSR (Old School Renaissance): Player Agency and Decision-Making

The Old School Renaissance, or OSR, hearkens back to early play style of Dungeons & Dragons before its focus shifted for dungeons towards story-driven gameplay. OSR play emphasizes player agency, especially through diegetic decision-making – choices made within the game world that influence the unfolding events.

Game systems like Labyrinth Lord and Into the Odd typify this style. They are designed to encourage player ingenuity, with mechanics that are loose and flexible, giving DMs the freedom to improvise and challenge players in unexpected ways. Unlike the Classic style, which focuses on the balance between challenge and power, OSR often rejects fairness in favor of unpredictability and the thrill of survival. There’s a significant emphasis on “player skill” over character power, meaning the player’s decisions and creativity are what drive the game forward.

OSR games also utilize minimalist mechanics to promote faster play and a more open-ended experience, where the unpredictability of the world can create truly memorable moments.

OC: A Modern Synthesis of Story and Player Empowerment

OC, short for “Original Character”, or rarely Neo-Trad, blends the narrative-driven focus of post-Dragonlance play with an increased emphasis on player agency. In this style, the GM is less of an authorial figure and more of a facilitator, guiding players as they realize their characters’ personal stories. The goal is often to create “fun” by aligning the game world with the players’ aspirations.

This approach has led to the term “Tyranny of Fun,” coined by OSR enthusiasts, who see the instant gratification of OC as a departure from more challenging, consequence-heavy styles of play.

Dungeons & Dragons 5e and Pathfinder are the most popular systems for this style of play. These games combine the GM-driven narrative elements of post-Dragonlance play with a more flexible approach to gameplay, where rules are often bent or adjusted to better suit the players’ desires. This makes them particularly well-suited for online streaming games, where the characters’ personal stories often take precedence over the external plot.

Broadening Perspectives Through Play Cultures

Understanding these six distinct play cultures can help game masters not only recognize their own preferences but also appreciate the diversity within the RPG community. By acknowledging the values and goals that drive different play styles, GMs can facilitate more productive discussions and collaborations between communities that might otherwise seem at odds.

This post was inspired by John Bell’s 2021 article on his blog The Retired Adventurer, which explored the taxonomy of RPG play cultures and offered insightful commentary on the evolution of these distinct styles.

Through greater cross-cultural understanding, GMs and players alike can create richer, more varied gaming experiences – whether by incorporating new ideas or simply better articulating their own play preferences.