Tabletop Games vs. Video Games

This is another sample post (for now) for seeing how the layout of the website will look.  Eventually, I’ll go into the differences between tabletop and video games – particularly as this pertains to RPGs (roleplaying games) – and what the pros and cons are for each as a storytelling medium.  For example, video games have expansive options for player-driven stories, with intense cinematic moments and compelling stories, but the dialogue options are always fixed, where in a more traditional tabletop RPG allows for limitless options, not just in dialogue, but also in actions one could take.  For example, in a video game – even a video game with base building – you can’t clear out a dungeon and begin fixing it up to turn it into a base of operations; but this is easily an option in a tabletop RPG.  Counter to that, a tabletop RPG doesn’t provide the same level of a visual medium that a video game can, and is ultimately more time-consuming than a video game (and a video game RPG can be pretty time-consuming).  Tabletop RPGs are also limited to gathering a group of players in order to be able to move the story forward, which presents an often insurmountable challenge in the form of finding common times in which all parties are free to engage in a gaming session.