How to Create an RPG on Paper

While many people might first associate role-playing games with video games, the first RPGs were written down on paper. And many still are. All it will take is your own imagination to create your own role-playing game and then write it down.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. Create a world that your game will take place in. Be sure to create plenty of forests, mountains and towns where adventures can take place. You'll also want to design some caverns and dungeons where the real action will take place.

2. Design a system of character classes from which your players can create their player characters from. You'll need to include their abilities, including hit points, special skills and whatever weapons or magical spells they can wield.

3. Create obstacles and encounters for the characters to deal with. This includes monsters or other non-player characters, traps and treasures. Some of these will be placed at fixed locations while others should occur at random.

4. Write a storyline for the game with a mission for the players to complete (for example, rescuing a princess, finding pirate treasure or infiltrating an evil army). For every game you play, create a different story with new challenges.

Tips & Warnings

• If you're not using things like figures and dice, this means that the success of your players' actions can depend entirely on your whim. You should always remember to be fair in these situations--give them a challenge but don't overwhelm them.
• Always remember that the limits of creating such games go as far as your imagination. True, most role-playing games center around the medieval shield-and-sword genre, but your game can have any setting you want.