Are role-playing games art?

I’m pretty much entirely centred on finishing off the NUNA Quickstart right now, so time for a mental (procrastination) break to think of something larger.

New NUNA art!

So the titular question, are role-playing games art? Here are my thoughts.

They are definitely spaces for art. From their inception, they supported writers and world builders, and gave a discernible boost to fantasy fiction. I won’t get into the downside, which is the D&Difucation of the fantasy genre, and how fantasy without any dungeon exploring tropes is now hard to come by. Just look at the history of D&D novels and current domination of works like Dungeon Crawler Carl and Frieren. Role-playing games have definitely contributed much to the continuance of the publishing industry during the digital age, both in the form of novels and gamebooks. And there are many role-playing games that are equally important as pieces of art than as playable games, from Stormbringer to the art books of Tales From the Loop and Alien.

In return, role-playing games have also given a huge boost to visual artists. In Japan especially, the master of fantasy art, Yoshitaka Amano, cut his teeth on art he did for the Japanese edition of Stormbringer, as well as the original Sword World RPG and the CRPG Final Fantasy. Frank Brunner's Stormbringer cover is equally iconic, and I will fight anyone who says its deeply atmospheric depiction of Elric isn't art.

Russel's shadowing and mastery of form here is breathtaking

Amano did both the game and novel translations, and adds a dreamlike quality

If you are a gamesmaster, then you’ve served as both script, writer and director for your own narratives. Josh Whedon reportedly based Firefly on a college Traveller campaign, which could explain his career success in those roles.

Similarly, players are also actors, and the role-playing table is a space that allows people to polish their acting chops without fear of sanction. The professional actors I know have all had to deal with a high level of criticism for pursuing their art, whereas playing in an RPG is decidedly nonjudgmental. Go look at Audrey Plaza's performance in the Harmonquest series, and you can see what heights an unfettered actor at a gaming table can aspire to.

With all these examples, it is pretty clear that rpgs are an integral and modern inspiration for many artists, from a variety of art forms. They may not have the cachet of exclusive high art, but that is an elitist domain and thus not a great loss.

But I think asking the question our role-playing games art is actually an example of looking in the wrong direction, barking up the wrong tree.

Instead, if we see role-play games as essential incubation spaces for various genres of art, then we can see both their social and artistic relevance. And at this moment of history, rpgs are also an important canary in the coal mine in the conflict between AI and human art. The debate over AI art in games, the rise of AI GMs who will run your game for you, both point out the danger of not defending art - that we will be cut off from others and turned into captive individual audiences for corporate AI products.

And that would be the end of art, of games, and of our humanity, which is rooted in interaction with others.