Tabletop role playing games and creativity: The Game Master perspective

Tabletop role playing games (TRPGs) offer players the possibility to create and enact the actions of a character in a fictional game world, guided by a human “game master” (GM). The GM is the storyteller and facilitator who co-creates dynamically the world with the players. In this sense, creativity is a key aspect of TRPGs, both for the players and the GMs, confirmed by a number of existing studies. In this work we focus on the perspective of the GMs on creativity through a user study with 17 participants. They provide feedback on different aspects of creativity as expressed while preparing or executing a story. Our results, among others, highlight the importance of the creative aspects of the game for the GMs as motivation for assuming this role as well as their view of the game as a dynamic co-creation process where the player group dynamics are also a key factor.