Meanings
- uncountableAn approach to roleplaying games that focuses excessively on numerical scores (such as those obtained by rolling dice) at the expense of character and realism.
1996, Jean Carrières, Dream Pod 9 Inc, Heavy Gear Rulebook This method is the easiest but it lends itself to "roll-playing" instead of roleplaying since it focuses much of the players attention on dice and bookkeeping tasks.
2 more examples
After all, this is role-playing, not roll-playing—a distinction commonly made when this question comes up. It's kind of painful when the actual dialogue and behavior is wildly inadequate, but the dice say that no, that was the most persuasive argument you ever heard.
2017, Marie Brennan, Dice Tales: Essays on Roleplaying Games and StorytellingRole-playing not “roll-playing,” in-character interaction more so than the rolling of dice and meta-talk, this is what is required to achieve maximum impact.
2018, René Reinhold Schallegger, Matthew Wilhelm Kapell, The Postmodern Joy of Role-Playing Games
Origin
Blend of roll + role-playing.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
roll-playing. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/roll-playing
“roll-playing.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/roll-playing. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “roll-playing,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/roll-playing.
Source: roll-playing on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.