Getting Started

Getting Started
CYOA is best played with at least three people, although two is technically enough. One person plays as the "Game Master" or "Dungeon Master" (GM or DM), while the others play as "player characters" (PCs). The players explore the gameworld of the GM by going on adventures within it. Their capacity to perform the exploits and deeds on these adventures are checked with the roll of 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, and 20-sided dice (depending on the situation).

The Game Master
The GM or DM's responsibility is not only to create and define the boundaries of the gameworld, but also to create and play the non-player characters (NPCs) who will interact with the PCs throughout the adventure. GMs can create their own lore and game world, but new and old players alike are encouraged to use CYOA-lore. GMs are also expected to have a firm grasp over the game rules, and they are expected to settle game-rule disputes whenever they should arise. The word of the GM is final, but good GMs rarely need to enforce this policy or remind their players of it. For more information on the subtle art of being a GM, visit our GM page.

The Player Characters
Before meeting to play, both the GM and the players should meet and create characters together. Character creation is an extremely important component of the role playing experience, and should not be taken lightly. Often, the more effort one puts into character creation, the better he/she will be able to roleplay/imagine/immerse himself/herself in the game.

Player characters are the protagonists of the story, and generally work together towards a common goal as a party. However, in-group conflict has been known to occur. This is often when the transition from player-versus-environment (PVE), transitions into player-versus player (PVP) content. While traditionally this has been seen as an uncomfortable or undesirable play style, not every party is the same, and PVP can often be as cathartic as PVE. Further, depending on the actions of the respective characters, it may become literally "out of character" (OOC) for one of the player characters not to react violently towards another player character. Doing things which are OOC ruins immersion, and should therefore be avoided.

Often, roleplaying is difficult because players find it impossible to divorce their knowledge as a player from the knowledge that their character has. For example, it may be obvious to someone as a player that the GM would put a trap in a certain place. However, the player must honestly estimate his character's ability to predict the proximity of traps, rather than relying on his own knowledge as a player. Using player knowledge to influence the actions of player characters is known as meta-gaming. Meta-gaming should be avoided as it is a subtle, but nevertheless very common example of OOC play.

Playing the game
Once the characters have been created and the GM has adequately prepared for the first adventure, the party should choose a time to play. Traditionally, tabletop roleplaying games are played in person. However, with today's technology, games can be played remotely with nearly the same level of immersion and excitement through the use of VOIP software like Discord, and apps like Roll 20 or Tabletop simulator.

While polyhedral dice are technically required to play, dice-rolling applications also exist which can compensate. However, playing a game like this without real dice is roughly analogous to drinking fine wine out of a coffee mug. To learn more about the function of dice and how to use them in tabletop roleplaying games, visit our dice page.

Table-top roleplaying games have been known to carry out extremely long storylines by maintaining continuity with the previous session. A continuous story line which takes place over multiple gaming sessions is called a campaign.

Campaigns which carry on for months or even years of real-world time have been known to occur, and the heroic moments of those adventures often can live in the memories of those players for years afterward. However, because each session is typically 2-4 hours in length, the sessions together make for a sin-wave of an adventure. Rather than leading up to a campaign-wide climax, each session has its own climactic event, and therefore the stories do not lend often themselves well to being written down as fiction unless heavily modified to fit a typical story narrative.

To learn the finer details of how to run a session of CYOA, visit our core ruleset page.