Not all roleplayers are the same, nor are their styles the same. It is fully possible, in theory at least, to have a game in which the players and game master (DM, storyteller, etc) are indeed creating a literary work; an exploration of what it means to be human or of the human condition. I've seen it done in a LARP game of Vampire the Masquerade (yeah, we had more than just vampires in our game, and the most experienced player was playing a straight up normal human, and was doing quite well). It all depends on the levels of effort the players and game master want to exert in creativity and thought. Heck, in a way, I would have to say that the entire Storyteller line of games (World of Darkness stuff) from White Wolf was an attempt at forming a more literary style of roleplaying. Vampire was touted as a "game of personal horror" (italics mine); you were to delve deep into yourself (or not so deep) to find that personal dark side we all have, and then confront it face on.

Unfortunately, too many people who play RPGs (tabletop aka paper-and-pencil or even LARP) are simply hack and slashers (or political-stab-in-the-backers), not concerned with much more than getting the loot and beating the big bad (or taking over the realm).

Personally, I am into such gaming for the character development, the story of where my character goes as a person, and why. I am more likely to play a seriously flawed character than a standard ur-hero that so many want to play. Give me a Thomas Covenant or Tyrion Lannister before you give me a Luke Skywalker or King Arthur.

Don't get me wrong, I love political intrigue games (which is why my favorite version of d20 3.5 is the one Guardians of Order created for their A Game of Thrones RPG; I won't even touch 4.0!!), and I enjoy a good battle now and then, but some of my favorite of all game sessions were one where rolling dice or doing a paper-rock-scissors challenge (Mind's Eye Theatre by WW) was kept to a minimum.

I've been accused of being a major bitch of a GM when I run a game, the amount of pre-first game work I make my players do when it comes to creating their character. I require a written background within a month of the character being made up, taking into account just about everything on their character sheet. Even when running a d20 game, I require the players to choose a Nature and Demeanor (from the Storyteller games) as well as an Alignment for roleplaying guides. I offer use of the Flaws out of the aGoT d20 book, but I make those Flaws bite as appropriate.

When all is said and done, I borrow a scene from Babylon 5. The one in which Jack the Ripper is interrogating Delenn, asking her over and over three questions that appear throughout the B5 shows: Who are you? What do you want? Where are you going?

But, as Jack does, I do not accept their simple answers of names, classes, races, etc. I make them delve deeper than that.

The way I see it, after I have finished with the player, they will know their character inside and out, will be able to think as their character, to feel as their character.

Of course, I also bend the rules in the players favor slightly during character creation (ignoring bad dice rolls for Ability Scores, give extra Bonus Points for creativity and excellent responses to my Interrogation, and other stuff).