Tabletop Role-playing Games (TRPG) and Group Coherence

Sammanfattning: Tabletop role-playing games (TRPGs), also known as Pen-and-Paper role-playing games(PnP-RPGs), are games that can be described as a mix between board games and improvisationaltheatre. Each player takes on the role of a single character, while the game’s leader(GM or DM) is in charge of both simulating the game world, acting out all remainingcharacters and facilitating the game rules. The games are often played in campaigns,continual stories told over several gameplay sessions. This thesis investigates whetherplayers’ types/characteristics and preferences affect the enjoyment of play, and in particularwhether being coherent with the rest of the role-play group in these respects affects theenjoyment of TRPG play. The research questions were addressed primarily by a surveyamong TRPG players that received 1,982 completed questionnaires. These were thenanalysed by correlation and factor analyses in order to find connections between responses.The thesis work shows that the length and depth of previous experiences have almost nocorrelation to the level of enjoyment. Some aspects of the game itself contributed to theenjoyment, but a clearer factor was that of group coherence – if the player perceives thegroup to have the same or similar stances as him/herself on game preferences.Keywords: tabletop role-playing game, pen-and-paper role-playing game, groupcoherence, game enjoyment, satisfaction