Computational Tools for Table-Top Role-Playing Games: A Scoping Review
Fiona Shyne, Seth Cooper · 2025
Table-top role-playing games (TTRPGs) are a form of gameplay that often requires a variety of complex tasks to be completed both in preparation and throughout gameplay: from tracking game state to the creation of fictional worlds.This has presented an opportunity for computational assistance in TTRPG sessions, both in the creation of artifacts and throughout the gameplay.We investigate the current research in computational tools for TTRPGs through a scoping review of academic works and present the major trends and opportunities from these works.We screened over one thousand works sourced from three different academic databases: ACM Digital Library, IEEE-Xplore, and Google Scholar.Papers were included based on relevance to TTRPGs, computational interface, and academic venue.In total, we evaluated 46 works in terms of produced artifacts, computational methods, evaluation, and outcomes.These papers include a diverse set of produced artifacts and computational methods, with an emphasis on tangible interfaces and generative AI systems.However, we found an opportunity for future work in terms of long-term studies, mixed-initiative methods, and different aspects of gameplay.