@funkula @futurebird RPGs also need a theme, and the realization, from the players, that they can *create* their own theater play, instead of only watching.
I think that RPGs weren't created in Roman times or the Middle ages, because of lack of critical mass: too few people knew how to read/write, and paper was expensive. It would be much harder to find someone able to create a RPG system - an endeavor much harder to do than, say, create a theater play.