For people unaware of all the role-playing game (RPG) subgenres, here’s a brief explainer:
TTRPG – Tabletop RPG. The original RPG. Played on a literal table. Dice, paper, friends, arguments. Everything else evolved from here.
Examples:
Dungeons & Dragons
Pathfinder
Shadowrun
LARP / LARPG – Live Action Role-Playing Game. The version where people physically dress as their characters and act things out in person. Foam weapons, costumes, fake accents, and enough in-character drama to power three soap operas. LARPing as a concept goes back to the 1970s, right alongside early tabletop like D&D, but it didn’t get the “LARP” acronym until the 1980s.
Examples:
Vampire: The Masquerade LARP events
Amtgard
Dagorhir
CRPG – Computer RPG. Born from tabletop, moved onto computers. The CPU handles all the dice rolls you don’t want to argue about.
Examples:
Baldur’s Gate
Fallout (1997)
Planescape: Torment
TBRPG – Turn-Based RPG. Everyone takes turns. This is the “classic” RPG format, so people often just call it an RPG.
Examples:
Divinity: Original Sin II
Wasteland 3
Trails in the Sky
SRPG / TRPG – Strategy (or Tactical) RPG. Same turn-based idea, but on grids—squares or hexes—with multiple units to command.
Examples:
Fire Emblem
Final Fantasy Tactics
Tactics Ogre
RTwPRPG – Real-Time with Pause RPG. You pause to assign orders, unpause to watch them happen. Baldur’s Gate fans still swear by this.
Examples:
Baldur’s Gate II
Pillars of Eternity
Dragon Age: Origins
ARPG – Action RPG. Real-time combat. No turns, no waiting—just swing when you feel like it.
Examples:
Diablo II
Dark Souls
Kingdom Hearts
IRPG – Idle RPG. The game mostly plays itself. Perfect for people who like progression bars but don’t like playing.
Examples:
Clicker Heroes
Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms
AFK Arena
DBRPG – Deck-Building RPG. RPG progression tied to card decks. You level up by upgrading your deck rather than just your stats.
Examples:
Slay the Spire
Monster Train
Griftlands
SurRPG – Survival RPG. Harsh environments, resource scarcity, and RPG progression systems. The game’s main plot is “don’t die.”
Examples:
Outward
Kenshi
The Long Dark
RLRPG – Rogue-like RPG. Procedural generation, permadeath, and heavy RNG baked into an RPG framework.
Examples:
Darkest Dungeon
Stoneshard
Tangledeep
SLRPG – Souls-like RPG. RPGs built around Soulsborne-style combat: stamina-based melee, brutal bosses, minimalist storytelling.
Examples:
Dark Souls III
The Surge 2
Lords of the Fallen
JRPG – Japanese RPG. Made in Japan or heavily inspired by Japan’s approach. Console-heavy. Drama-heavy. Usually turn-based or action hybrid.
Examples:
Final Fantasy VII
Persona 5
Dragon Quest XI
KRPG – Korean RPG. Similar to JRPGs but usually more PC-oriented. Often online.
Examples:
Lost Ark
MapleStory
Vindictus
WRPG – Western RPG. Pretty much any RPG from the West that isn’t imitating JRPGs.
Examples:
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Mass Effect
Fallout: New Vegas
PRPG – Polish RPG. Technically a WRPG branch, but with its own personality. Darker tone, folkloric influences, and PC-first mentality.
Examples:
The Witcher series
Seven: The Days Long Gone
The Thaumaturge
GRPG – German RPG. RPGs developed in Germany, usually open-world Eurojank epics with handcrafted maps, tough early-game difficulty, and an earnest-but-campy tone.
Examples:
Gothic II
Risen
ELEX
LatRPG – Latin American RPG. RPGs from Latin America, often mixing local folklore, indigenous mythology, and JRPG/ARPG elements. “LARPG” isn’t used because Live Action Role-Playing already took it.
Examples:
Mulaka
Tunche
Cris Tales
MORPG – Multiplayer Online RPG. Small-scale online RPGs, often instanced or lobby-based.
So yeah, there’s a lot of alphabet in the RPG soup. Some of it’s legit, some of it’s marketing garbage, and some of it’s just fans inventing labels because that’s what fans do.
But they’re all chasing the same dopamine hit: numbers go up, loot gets shinier, and suddenly your “quick session” has eaten the entire weekend.
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MUDs, I think, have a place on this list.