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Tabletop Roleplaying

jackieDemon

jackieDemon

Star
Joined
Aug 19, 2013
Hi everyone!
I've always wanted to try my hand at a tabletop roleplaying game. I can't remember how it started exactly, just that for as long as I've remembered I always find myself stopping to look at all the various games I pass by, especially at bookstores or collectable shops. The issues was I never knew where to start, and lacked time to figure it out. Luckily, I finally have time, at least. So I've been wondering what's the best tabletop game? There's so many and they all seem interesting in their own way.
From what I've gathered Dungeonss & Dragons is a good place to start, because its on every top table top roleping list? Should I start there? If so do I just need the core rulebook? I know that's a silly question but I tried looking it up on Amazon and there's so many sets full of different books I have no idea where to start. So once again I found myself feeling overwhelmed and just NOPEd out of there.
 
Hi there!

5e D&D is certainly popular, I can't say for sure if it's the 'best' system, but it's a very easy to learn/digest system, and you're usually able to find a game for it anywhere you look in regards to gaming stores and/or online avenues like roll20.

If you want to start with the 5e system as a player, all you need is the Player's handbook to begin with. That gives you all of the rules you need to know as a player. The dungeon master's guide is more oriented for the people running a game, and so is the monster manual. There are a number of supplemental books, but starting out with just the PHB is likely for the best.
 
Are there any other games you'd recommend? Do you have a favorite?

I'll likely be the one who does the GMing, as I'll be the one whose starting the game with others, who are completely new to tabletop roleplaying games as well. Do you think that any of the supplemental manuals will be necessary?
 
jackdlemon said:
Are there any other games you'd recommend? Do you have a favorite?

I'll likely be the one who does the GMing, as I'll be the one whose starting the game with others, who are completely new to tabletop roleplaying games as well. Do you think that any of the supplemental manuals will be necessary?
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There are so many different games, it's hard to suggest any. I suggest starting out with what looks good to you. If that's D&D, then that's totally fine! If you want to dip your toes into D&D without buying all 3 books, you can buy the starter set, which includes a premade adventure, premade characters, and a small book containing a distilled version of the rules. It'll help you dip your toes into the game and see how you like it, and it's cheaper than buying the PHB+DMG+MM.
 
Yeah. I noticed that. I figured there would only be one or two but then I started looking, and there weren't. Which I guess makes sense because roleplaying is such a big, vague thing. I mean, look at all the roleplay forums and websites. So I'm not sure why it threw me off so much.

That does sound good. Don't know why I made it so complicated. I guess I've been wanting to do it so long I just got overwhelmed with trying to make it perfect in a hurry.
Thank you Saber, I really appreciate it!
 
Thanks for tagging me in, @Tanakalian ! Sorry it took me so long to get back to this, but here are my thoughts and experiences on the matter:

There really is no "best" TTG, as that is all very subjective and there are so many different ones, each suited to different tastes. There are ones that rely more on role-playing than what we consider "roll-playing", in which pretty much everything you do requires a dice roll of some kind. But even then, there are things called homebrew rules in which some DMs will lean more toward one over the other. A happy medium is hard to find, especially with certain adventure paths and systems.

Personally, I'm the most familiar with Pathfinder 1E, though I have dabbled in Savage Worlds, Mansions of Madness, DnD 3.5 and 5, and the Doctor Who TTG.

In terms of books, always start with the core rulebook, and tread lightly with the supplemental stuff, because in most cases you can purchase them in .pdf format or find the information online. Plus, some DMs might not even accept certain things from these books, be it due to balance or something else. Always ask your DM. They get the final say, and getting on their bad side is definitely not something I'd recommend.
 
DnD is great because it's something most have played and so it will give you common ground. It is also archetypal fantasy so you already know the tropes. Elves, dwarves, dragons, wizards and swords.

The core rulebook or player's handbook (phb) in the case of DnD is the place to start. When it comes to DnD rule books and in fact most system books, there's a pretty simple layout. Whole lotta rules in the front, whole lotta magic in the back. Basically the first chapters will introduce you to the game and basic rules and tell you how to play and how to build a character. I generally recommend new players read these early chapters in their entirety. Later chapters act more as a reference and will generally have detailed listings of skills, feats, equipment and magic spells. These chapters don't need to be read in their entirety and are used as needed.

In the case of DnD the players hand book and dungeon master's guide (dmg) are seperate. This is not the case for all systems however as some systems have game master rules within the main book. The dmg is not required reading for players starting out, although I know in earlier editions the dmg did contain listings for magical items and prestige classes for mid and high level characters. Otherwise the dmg serves as a reference for Dungeon Masters and contains rules, references and advice about making a game work behind the scenes. So basically as a new player you only really need the phb. But it wouldn't hurt to buy the phb, dmg and Monster Manual together if you have the money.

As for other systems there are a lot out there. Here are a few popular ones I've played.

Exalted: you play as overpowered characters influenced by eastern mythology. Known for extremely high powered characters and for throwing a lot of dice down on the table. It's rules heavy but still has a lot of room for roleplaying.

FATE - where DnD and Exalted are generally considered rules heavy, FATE is the opposite and is very rules light. It is a generic system which means it has no default setting. There are also no preset skills or abilities for characters so you work with the GM to build a concept for your character and create abilities for them, although it's a lot simpler than that makes it sound.

World of Darkness - may well be the second biggest gane after DnD. In fact many of the games you may have heard of are based on World of Darkness rules or settings. The rules are simpler than DnD and the game focuses on a world not unlike our own, but with a supernatural underside that most people don't know about. Most people run World of Darkness with one of the more specialized books that flesh out the setting as appropriate for their campaign such as Vampire the Masquerade or Werewolf the Apocalypse. I haven't played this for quite a while and last I heard there was some confusion regarding different editions and splat books though so you'd need to do some research if you're interested.

ALIEN - yes that Alien. By no means anywhere near as popular as the games listed above. I ran this recently and loved it so I thought I'd put it here as an example of an RPG that is heavily tied to it's setting as there are many out there. This game is based not only on the Alien franchise but specifically on the first film and the Alien Isolation video game. The rules are very specfic and streamlined to recreating that experience but like many games of it's type, if you remove it from that very specific setting the game falls apart. There are very few rules that don't have to do with trying not to be killed by a xenomorph on a space station or spaceship. Great for recreating the feel of the first Alien movie, not really good for much else. So be careful before picking up a system that relies on an existing intellectual property.

All these games are great in their own right, I've had fun times with all of them and couldn't reccomend one over the other without knowing what specific type of game you're looking for. But I hope I've managed to help a little bit. And remember, your first rpg is probably not going to be your last. try out a bunch and see what works for you.
 
I'm gonna put another check by the World of Darkness system. The stats and dice are much simpler than D&D (only 20-sided die). Then, you've got the sub-genres for vampires, werecreatures, mages, fae, ghosts, etc. You can play pure games or mix-and-match to suit various player cravings. For me, I loved reading the lore because they put a lot of effort into overlapping supernatural history with IRL history, whereas reading D&D lore to me feels like I've been dropped in the middle of the ocean with no landmarks or context. When my WoD TT group wanted to take a break and do a D&D campaign, I was really frustrated with going into D&D from WoD. I was never confident in my rolls and there always seemed to be some extra stat modifier that I didn't know about. I had to self-teach WoD because I started online, and that was way easier than having 4 friends flipping D&D pages for me and pointing at charts that I didn't know applied to me. WoD also values narrative much more than combat. That system calls the GM the 'Storyteller'. So, unless you prefer the narrative simplicity of room after room of goblins and kobolds to kill, I recommend World of Darkness for simpler stats/dice and focus on a story.
 
I have no experience with these kinds of games. Maybe Catan counts? Don't laugh at me if it doesn't. Those who play seem specifically passionate about it.
 
I would like to put another "check" by D&D and also I'd really like it if someone knows of a virtual group that's accepting new (unknown) players. I also feel intrigued by the idea of S/ERP-ing with a female character off to the "side" of a campaign but I've yet to find my footing on that front. Just putting that out there I guess.
 
It fully depends on what kind of setting you're interested in writing in, I suppose. D&D5e has been my best experience so far, and I prefer story to combat 99% of the time. Take my opinion with a grain of salt, however. I've only ever played with one DM, large groups (as in more than three people) terrify me, and I've known my DM for so long that I know I can attach to all the NPCs I want and we can write spicy stuff behind the scenes. There's definitely not just combat to D&D, not even close. It can easily be a good system for story-heavy campaigns.
 
Bumping this, I suppose, with a repeat of my plea for anyone to please, PLEASE point me to an open, virtual DnD group. ERP-ing in the DnD multiverse is fun and all, but I miss the ever-loving hell out of those two simple words: Roll initiative.

P.S. I'd like to shy away from Westmarch-style groups (on Discord particularly).
 
Not having any open groups atm sadly, but I know there's always loads of groups recruiting on the fantasy grounds forums. The software is free for players, not for GM's sadly. But especially if you're able to make American timezones there'll be groups for you.
 
In my opinion, D&D is not a great system. It's rules heavy and is usually overly heavy on combat, it makes up for that by being excessively popular and easier to find a group for than many other systems.
Good system include Trail of Cthulhu, some of the World of Darkness stuff, from what I can see Star Trek Adventures works well...then there are things like Legend of the Five Rings or Exalted both of which are fun, but exalted gets clunky with rules and the 'metaplot' of several editions of 'five rings just gets ridiculous.....
Then again it's all just personal taste.
You want to get into to the hobby, then D&D might be easiest, just don't forget there are other systems out there despite how people act.
 
I've played ST TTRPG, and PURELY based on mechanics (how to roll), it's not very intuitive (the entire party has to constantly refer to the rules and the DM to make sure we're rolling correctly, and since the DM is new to the system as well, basically anything that requires a roll takes five minutes or more to work out for those first couple of rolls). But it's sort of a case of to each their own, and it sort of works for what we're cannibalizing it for (homebrew sci-fi game).

I think what I've learned, and this is just my personal experience and may not hold true, is that what matters is the DM and people you're playing with. There are some DMs that will run any system as a DM versus player meatgrinder. There are others who use the basis of any system as a very loose guideline. My advice is to find people you click with, and worry about what system you're playing after that. Your mileage may vary.
 
That's salient advice more games I've been in have broken down because of the player mix (most of them) than because of the system (none of them).
 
I think it depends on what you want out of a game. I started with DnD 5e, but while it's easy to learn and get into, I certainly wouldn't call it the best system. I love vampire the masquerade because I love social encounters, and a large part of that system is developed for various social encounters a character may be good at, while DnD 5e is very lackluster by comparison. Of course, someone who'd be more interested in combat and such wouldn't enjoy vampire the masquerade. But even then, I imagine there are probably other games that do combat better than DnD.
 
Liminal Hope said:
That's salient advice more games I've been in have broken down because of the player mix (most of them) than because of the system (none of them).
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Agreed, compatibility and flexibility between players I've found to always be an issue. But I also agree with @gob bee that find a group of people you click with would definitely aid in whatever system is decided upon. However finding a group that mesh well can be if not impossible difficult no less.
 
Bubbly Boy Buns said:
FATE - where DnD and Exalted are generally considered rules heavy, FATE is the opposite and is very rules light. It is a generic system which means it has no default setting. There are also no preset skills or abilities for characters so you work with the GM to build a concept for your character and create abilities for them, although it's a lot simpler than that makes it sound.
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5E is certainly the most popular around, and if you can play it, you can play pretty much any other system out there (except for earlier versions of D&D which are more complex).

But I'd second FATE. It's entirely free online, and its focus is on translating roleplaying and narrative choices directly into game mechanics. In lieu of a class, it's your character's unique strengths, personality, and background that can be invoked to excel at specific things whether it be combat, sneakiness, outwitting opponents, etc. It is much simpler than D&D (skills, abilities, and modifiers all combined into one), but there are still rules, rolls, and the rest. I'm finding it the best system for roleplay, literary-focused RPs with custom themes and settings.
 
as many have said, fifth edition is a very good system for learning how to role play at the table, but it's certainly not in my top 5 list. That would be Exalted or any of the story telling systems, but they take a bit more learning to do.
 
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