Want to learn more about Tabletop Role-playing Games, and what you need to start playing? Here are the basics.

 

What is a TTRPG?

When you hear the words, Tabletop Role-Playing Game (TTRPG), there are probably several things that come to mind.

 A group of nerds gathered around a table with one guy behind a propped-up screen, saying things in a funny voice. A single die with a million sides. A popular TV show where strange things happen. Or maybe you just think of a dragon that’s trapped in a dungeon.

Wherever your thoughts may take you, there is a good chance that you have heard of at least one TTRPG, but you might have never played before or have been curious to learn more. 

 

The Foundation

Stories. Everybody loves them. 

We all have our favorite TV show that we have watched and rewatched a thousand times, or a favorite book that we can’t put down.

Movies in particular love to attempt to tell a complicated story about love, action, loss, and character growth, all within 90 minutes. Sometimes movie directors like a story so much that they keep making movies about it over and over again with a small twist in hopes that we won’t notice, but that’s a separate issue.

Heck, even grandpa has that one story he likes to tell every time he sees you about the “good ole days” and how rough he had it.

Although I personally enjoy each of the story sources above, even grandpa’s stories, one of my favorite ways to tell a story is through Tabletop Roleplaying Games.

A TTRPG is basically another way to tell a story, one where you can gather around the kitchen table with your family and friends and make it your own. 

You can read books, watch tv, or go to the movies but these stories will always be about someone else. 

With a TTRPG, instead of watching or reading about other people and their epic adventure, the main character of this story is you and the epic adventure is yours. 

What do you need to play?

So now that we have a basic idea of what a tabletop role-playing games are, how does it work, and what do you need to play? 

 

1. Imagination:

The very first thing that you need to play a TTRPG is a healthy imagination. Sounds like a kid show about magic doesn’t it? But it’s true.

One thing that sets TTRPGs apart from other types of games is the concept of role-playing.

Basically roleplaying is pretending to be someone else during the game, namely your character.

Each player creates their own character and then uses that character to interact with the world of the game. You make choices, battle monsters, interact with people, and progress both as a character and in the overall story.

During the game and as part of roleplaying you try to act, talk, and make choices not as yourself, but as the character you created, which takes lots of imagination and the ability to push through the fear of looking silly.

Without imagination, and the bravery to use it, a TTRPG would not be as immersive or as fun.

 

2. Rules/ Systems

With imagination in place, and all its boundless possibilities, it's time to limit that imagination a little bit by applying rules.

Don’t worry, you will still have plenty of chances to use your imagination, but
to get the most out of any TTRPG, you need to have a system of rules in place.
The rules of your game are determined by the type of system you are playing.

Some of the most popular systems are names that you might recognize such as
Dungeons and Dragons, and Pathfinder, but there are much, much more.

The rules determine everything that you do in tabletop role-playing games.

 In terms of character creation, it determines the races you can pick, the classes, and in many cases your character's culture as defined by the history of the game world. 

Another example is combat. The game system that you use determines when you can attack, the way your character attacks according to their class, and even the type of enemies you fight and their stats.

For those of you who can’t stand strict rules, there is some good news. Any TTRPG system provides a foundation of rules of how to play the game, but you and your party can choose to tweak or change any of the rules to better fit your gaming experience. 

 

3. The Game Master

With imagination and rules in place you now need someone to create the world that the players explore, and perform as the various Non-player Characters or NPCs that the players interact with. That person is the Game/ Dungeon Master.

When you think of a Game Master you probably think of a guy sitting at the head of a table behind a screen, the wind rippling through his hair as he uses his silver words to craft a tale that his players will never forget. Or maybe that's just how I see myself. So I like to use a fan when I’m GMing to help add dramatic effect. It feels nice, don’t judge me!

In any case, at least a portion of that description was correct. A Game Master is someone who sits behind a screen, tells the story, and runs the game. 

This can be one of the hardest roles to fulfill in a TTRPG, mostly because of the amount of work that it takes to prepare and run the story, but in my opinion, it's also one of the most rewarding. 

The Dungeon Master creates the world that the players live in and explore, the story that they follow, and the characters that they interact with. They basically keep the game running and make sure that the other players are having a good time.

 

4. Players

Now that you have someone to run the game, you need someone to play it. This is where your epic adventure begins.

As I mentioned earlier, when you start playing a TTRPG, each player will create their own character to play with and use that character to interact with the world. 

Although it depends on the TTRPG, many game systems share a common structure when it comes to creating your character.

The first thing that a player needs to decide is the race of their character. For classic fantasy games, the choices usually include elves, dwarves, humans, and more.

The second task is to pick a class, which is basically your character’s job and role in the game. Is your character a stealthy rogue, a powerful wizard, or a god-worshiping cleric? 

Third, your character needs a backstory. A backstory is the history of your character, how they were raised, and their overall goals in life. A character’s backstory is often influenced by their race and class, and vice versa. 

Of course, there can be a lot more to consider when creating a character, but those are the basics.

The whole point of playing a TTRPG as a character that you create is that it allows you to do things that you wouldn’t want to do, or couldn’t do in real life. 

Have you always wanted to shoot fireballs out of your hands, or be a thief, but don’t want the real-world consequences of getting caught and imprisoned? Now is your chance!

 

5. Dice

Finally, the last thing you need to start your epic adventure is dice.

Dice are essential for many TTRPGs, but not just any dice. 

To play everyone needs 6 types of dice to start, the D4, D6, D8, D10, D12, and  the D20. Now if you are not fluent in Nerdspeak the big “D” might be a bit intimidating. (Get your mind out of the gutter). 

When referring to dice, tabletop gamers usually say D20 instead of “a twenty-sided die”, mostly because it saves time and is easier to read in various game manuals.

Dice affect almost everything in a tabletop game. When you think about it, everything that we do in real life has an element of chance to it, and there is always a risk of success or failure. Dice are the game’s way of adding the element of chance as you play.

For example, say your character is trying to jump over a large crevice. You take a running start, begin your jump, and roll a die to see if you succeed. In most cases, a higher roll means that you have a greater chance of success, and a lower roll means you have a greater chance of failure. 

If you roll high enough your character makes the jump, but if you roll too low something bad happens like the edge of the cliff crumbles in your hand, and you have to make another roll to see if you can save yourself. 

Dice are also often used in combat, determining who goes first and how much damage their attacks do. 

Conclusion

There you have it, the basics of a Tabletop Roleplaying Game. The exciting thing is we are only just scratching the surface of the amount of depth in these games and the amazing experiences that you can create just by playing. 

This post was all about the basics of Tabletop Role-playing Games, and what you need to get started.