"== Old talk ==
Please, do not add Computer RPGs here - they are already listed in Computer Role Playing Games article.

 07:46, 14 Nov 2003 (UTC)

26/7/2001
Should the games listing come out of the main page and instead go to somewhere like RPG/RPG Listings?
Well, there are also listings in the subgenre articles, so I think we should merge them.  07:28 Jan 16, 2003 (UTC)

I think the more useful distinction is between Role-playing games and Role-playing generally. I'm taking the latter from this page and making a new page just for the more general case.

Also note that I use ""role-playing"" as the generic term more commonly linked to psychological uses because it is so cited in Webster's New World College Dictionary. Moreover, I am adopting the ""role-playing game"" usage (hyphen between role and playing) in order to follow that convention and because it makes sense grammatically (hyphenate compound adjectives modifying a noun). 

However I am thinking that ""role-play game"" follows common usage better than ""role-playing game."" But I'm not going to redirect the page now, anyway (Dec. 26, 2001)  

No one I know of (and I know lots of gamers) says ""role-play game"".  It's always ""role-playing game"", and I am sure that's the most common usage.   

Not to sound like a nerd or anything, but White Wolf is not, strictly speaking, a role-playing game. They are a publisher. Their role-playing game universe, World of Darkness, encompasses between 5 and 12 or so (depending on how you count them) role-playing games... OK. I'm really not that much of a nerd... OK. Maybe just a bit.  10:39 Dec 6, 2002 (UTC)

I added the ""Notable RPG Developers and Publishers"" heading for links to companies (and maybe individual creators).  16:15 Dec 6, 2002 (UTC)

Isn't Battletech more a table-top war game and not an RPG? I have never played it, but isn't there Mechwarrior, which is an RPG based on Battletech's world?  07:24 Jan 16, 2003 (UTC)

Battletech was purely wargame, then Mechwarrior was made to turn it into an RPG, however they are basically the same thing, Mechwarrior is like AD&Ds; Player Handbook and BattleTech rules are simply the rules for combat, battletech being more complex than AD&D.; Battletech is notable from other RPGs in that correctly played one's character is as mortal as all the enemies one fights, so usually you die. Its basically a wargame where the units have stats which change over the course of a campaign, and most people generally have the commander of their forces represent themselves, thus, an RPG and a wargame. Also its common for the GM or DM to be replaced by a classical referee and then the players, instead of playing as a team, go to war with each other. 

Battletech was a miniatures game, based on Japanese anime, in the ""mech""  genre. Later a set of rules was developed that allowed one to play a mech pilot in an ongoing campaign. Battletech was published FASA, which is now out of business. Along with Battletech FASA also published games such as ""Behind Enemy Lines"" (World War Two skirmish game), ""Shadowrun"" (cyberpunk/'magic returns' roleplaying), and ""Earthdawn"" (fantasy roleplaying). At present both Battletech and Earthdawn have found new publishers.

For a list of RPGs I recommend trying the Yahoo and Google directories You will find listings for literally hundreds of games. Have fun.

Finally, when I have it composed I will be uploading an essay on roleplaying games, and why they really aren't games at all. At least not in the traditional sense of a game as something with victory conditions and competition among the participants.

Hope this finds you all well. 15:14 Feb 9, 2003 (UTC)

Sounds interesting, but remember that Wikipedia tries to maintain a neutral point of view.  It may be better to simply provide a link to your essay.   15:43 Feb 9, 2003 (UTC)

Merriam-Webster's definition of game includes as its first entry activity engaged in for diversion or amusement and then equates it with play.  Dictionary.com defines, again as the first entry, a game as being an activity providing entertainment or amusement.  Just by these two references alone (and you'll find similar in any good dictionary) attempts to declare role-playing games as somet