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How to Play a TableTop Role Playing Game (and a few to get you started)
A couple of years ago, I wrote a guide to playing Dungeons & Dragons. In the years since, I’ve accumulated a significant number of other roleplaying games (or RPGs) that have really broadened my sense of what kinds of games are out there, and made me rethink my feelings about D&D. See, D&D is fun, but I have found that it ends up being the game of choice for most people in Table Top because it happens to be everywhere. Nearly everyone in the hobby has a copy of at least the player’s handbook, and nearly everyone is familiar with it, making it feel like an obvious choice absent another clear suggestion or with new players. But there’s a whole world of TTRPGs out there, and many of them are not only better for beginners than D&D, they may just be better overall.
Table Top Roleplaying Games (or TTRPGs) are games in which a group of people collaboratively create a story by playing a character and overcoming various challenges. You “win” at a TTRPG when everyone feels like they are satisfied with the story they are telling. The best RPGs allow you to win even when your characters are failing. RPGs are great because they allow you, as a group, to forge your own path. Unlike a video game or board game, you have nearly infinite options in how you want to tackle the problems placed before you. If the idea of limitless possibilities…