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so you want to try an rpg, but don’t know where to start

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This came from my Ask Me thing on my Tumblr thing.

Q: You seem like a pretty good dude, Wil. Thanks for taking time to chat with your fans, and thanks for standing up for what is right. I love following you on social media. You’ve talked about D&D before, and I’ve been kind of curious about trying it out. I would be nervous though as I have no idea what to do. Any tips for 40-year-old beginners???

A: Thank you for your kind comments.

D&D! I love it. I love all RPG games (even the ones I don’t like to play. I’m just glad they exist).

I’ve been playing since the early 80s, and I can confidently direct you to the 5e Starter Set. It is the best introduction to the hobby, to the system, to the experience of collaborative storytelling that makes RPGs so much fun and so special, that I have ever read or played. It gently introduces you to the concepts behind the system and hobby, eases you into the rules, and is filled with sidebars and further reading if you need that as you get deeper into the adventure. By the time you’re finished with it (there’s several sessions in there, probably a few months of gaming if you meet once a week), you will have enough experience to know what questions to ask at the Friendly Local Game Shop about where to go next. It’s a small investment, and a really easy way to find out if D&D is for you.

If you want to make an even smaller investment, this page has TONS of information and resources. You could start here and spend hours without noticing the time pass. Or, at least, I can. YMMV.

I want to share a few warnings with you.

  1. Everyone has their definition of the “right” way to play D&D. You will find yours as you play. Don’t let someone else’s definition of “right” limit what yours may eventually be. Maybe you like minis. Maybe you don’t. Maybe you like homebrew rules. Maybe you don’t. Maybe you just want to roll dice and imagine you’re a fantasy hero. Someone is going to tell you you are doing it wrong. We’ve worked real hard to kick out the gatekeepers, but they just keep spawning. Ignore them. Send them to me if you need to and I’ll handle them.
  2. The D&D rules system is not the only RPG, or even the only popular one. Pathfinder is beloved by millions of people. FATE Core and GURPS have enormous player bases. Monte Cook’s Cypher System is filled with gorgeous lore and character inspirations (but I’ve never played it, full disclosure). I chose the AGE system for our series Titansgrave, and used a lot of what I learned from running D&D for decades to customize the experience for me and the players. What I’m saying is, RPGs do not begin and end with D&D. It’s as good a place as any to start, but it is only one of many systems.
  3. You are going to hear hardcores make impassioned arguments that continue long after you have lost interest about all sort of rules and setting and system crap. Trust me: tune them out. Eventually, you’ll know what you care to listen to/
  4. All those non-D&D systems support and encourage playing in different settings, from Science Fiction to Horror to modern warfare combat. The thing that I believe makes D&D VERY special is its singular focus on high fantasy and everything that means in our culture. All those other systems do fantasy very well, but D&D is kind of the canonical “storm the dungeon, kill the monsters, take their stuff” experience. It’s also the only one that is D&D, if that matters to you.

That’s a lot more information than I intended to deliver. I just get excited about this stuff because I love it so much. Whatever you choose, I hope you have fun!

And when it counts, may you roll high.

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28 January, 2023 Wil

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9 thoughts on “so you want to try an rpg, but don’t know where to start”

  1. Doc Cross says:
    28 January, 2023 at 2:41 pm

    Great post, Wil.
    Say, have you ever played TOON?

    Reply
    1. Wil says:
      28 January, 2023 at 3:15 pm

      I tried. I didn’t like it. I had a lot of fun with the rules, but just could not make a game deliver the promise of the premise.

      Reply
      1. Doc Cross says:
        29 January, 2023 at 12:40 pm

        You ought to come up to DunDraCon some year and play in my TOON game. I’ve been running one there for the last 33 years. I guarantee you’d have fun.

        Reply
  2. Chad says:
    28 January, 2023 at 11:53 pm

    I loved everything about this post. My “D&D” group is made up of folks from 41-63. We have been friends for a while and D&D is in quotes because we started with a hybrid of original rules and Advanced D&D and have moved over to Pathfinder and now just started a new campaign today and are trying out Pathfinder 2nd edition. There are some pretty cool things that the t folks over as Paizo came up with for pathfinder 2e.

    Anyways that was a long way of saying you rock and are a 100% correct in what you said. As far as playing correctly or incorrectly. The only way you can play incorrectly is by telling other that what they are doing is wrong. DONT YUCK SOMEONE’S YUM.

    Keep on being the awesomest badass ambassador for tabletop games!!!!

    Reply
  3. Steve Turner says:
    29 January, 2023 at 1:06 am

    Have you ever tried Chivalry & Sorcery, been around since 1977 and now in its 5th edition, published in the UK. A set of Basic rules have just been released at $1.99 for the PDF.

    Reply
  4. irishmansdiary says:
    29 January, 2023 at 2:42 am

    Great post! (There doesn’t appear to be a ‘like’ button on the retro UI, so I thought I’d post instead!) The one good thing to come out of Covid for me was the decision by lots of people to get back into regular roleplaying – playing in one game, running another. Love the hobby, and your advice is spot on!

    Reply
  5. Wayne Denier II says:
    29 January, 2023 at 5:55 pm

    Hello Wil, We met at Baltimore ComicCon. We have an RPG retreat in Maryland. You were very encouraging. Thanks for that! We are still in operation, and are constantly amazed at the wonderful people drawn to this hobby, especially newcomers.

    Reply
  6. Pingback: Cin13-KC20 with the dishwasher in the background – Rollingskull
  7. Eric S says:
    1 February, 2023 at 11:34 pm

    For the first time in years* my best bro and I decided to give tabletop games a try.This was about a month ago. Bought “Alien” because it looked kinda cool. And not terribly expensive. Kind of a steep learning curve.

    *Okay. So I was invited over to a friend’s house a few years back for Thanksgiving. He and maybe five of his very serene family members wanted to play “Ticket to Ride.” I had no idea what it was. But in no time, while I was gallantly trying to figure out what I was doing, they were viciously clawing at each other, competing for color boxes on the train paths. War was very visibly on the horizon. Murder not out of the question. I was glad I lost (and rather horribly). They most likely would have dipped me in chocolate and thrown me into the fire had I won.

    Somehow “Mr. Do” seems less dangerous (Bingo! Mr. Do reference! Crack me an apple and drop me a shimmering diamond!)

    Reply

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