Tabletop Roleplaying Games as Procedural Content Generators
This work connects TTRPG design to PCG research, potentially aiding game developers and researchers, but it is incremental as it primarily draws analogies without introducing new methods.
The paper argues that tabletop roleplaying game (TTRPG) design can be viewed as procedural content generator (PCG) design, linking concepts like possibility spaces and expressive range analysis to TTRPG concepts through case studies.
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.