Curious about tabletop role-playing games, also known as RPGs, but not sure where to start? This guide will get you started on the basics!
Find out more about some of the popular RPG game systems below. Plus check out the further resources available through the library and how to find resources in your own community. Then use the other pages of this guide to tackle the basic rules of RPGs and a step-by-step on building a character.
When you've gone through this guide, be sure to check out the Gumberg Library of Things, which has the D&D Starter Set available for check-out! It comes with 5 pre-generated character sheets, 6-game dice, a rule book and a ready-to-go adventure called The Lost Mine of Phandelver.
In tabletop role-playing games, one player acts as the Game Manager, or GM, and leads the other players through the games. The rest of the players create one character each and play as that character. The GM describes the world to the players, usually based on RPG books like those available for Dungeons & Dragons or Pathfinder. The players then cooperate to make decisions, fight battles, and accomplish goals while the GM enforces the game roles. Actions often succeed or fail based on dice rolls and character scores.
The world of tabletop RPGs is limitless. Here are some suggestions of systems to help you get started. Once you have a grasp of basic rules, have fun and try your hand at creating your own world!
1. Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons is possibly the most well-known RPG system. It was designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson in 1974. Part of D&D's appeal comes from the versatiliy in both setting and character design. Gumberg's Library of Things features a Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set. If you're interested in playing, be sure to stop by and check it out for a week.
For our purposes, because it's a popular game and the starter set is available through the Library of Things, a lot of what we'll talk about on this page will refer to D&D.
2. Pathfinder and Starfinder
Both of these systems are published by Paizo. Pathfinder is their fantasy-inspired world, and Starfinder is their science-fiction inspired world. You can find official game resources for Pathfinder as well as the rules for both Pathfinder and Starfinder on Paizo's website.
3. Warhammer 40,000
“Warhammer 40,000 is a tabletop game of dark, futuristic warfare that sees carnage erupt in a spectacular scale. Whether playing narrative battles with friends or leading your forces to victory in gaming tournaments, you’ll find that every tabletop battle you play is unique, exciting, and tells its own tales of havoc, horror, and heroism.” Dive into the 41st millennium on their website.
4. Call of Cthulu
If you're not interested in traditional fantasy or science-fiction settings, you might want to look at Call of Cthulu. First published in 1981, it takes inspiration from H. P. Lovecraft's story of the same name. Set in the 1920s, the game makes robust use of Lovecraft's weird world and monsters. Buy a starter set or a PDF of the basic rules on the Chaosium website.
5. Star Wars
With the popularity of both RPGs and Star Wars, it's no wonder they joined forces. There are multiple game systems within the Star Wars universe. You can experience the Rebellion against the Empire, live on the Edge of the Galaxy, or find out if you have what it takes to be a Jedi Knight. Get started with the beginner set to see if you like the system before hopping into new adventures from Fantasy Flight Games.
Looking for More?
The Aesthetic of Play by
A game designer considers the experience of play, why games have rules, and the relationship of play and narrative. The impulse toward play is very ancient, not only pre-cultural but pre-human; zoologists have identified play behaviors in turtles and in chimpanzees. Games have existed since antiquity; 5,000-year-old board games have been recovered from Egyptian tombs. And yet we still lack a critical language for thinking about play. Game designers are better at answering small questions ("Why is this battle boring?") than big ones ("What does this game mean?"). In this book, the game designer Brian Upton analyzes the experience of play--how playful activities unfold from moment to moment and how the rules we adopt constrain that unfolding. Drawing on games that range from Monopoly to Dungeons & Dragons to Guitar Hero, Upton develops a framework for understanding play, introducing a set of critical tools that can help us analyze games and game designs and identify ways in which they succeed or fail. Upton also examines the broader epistemological implications of such a framework, exploring the role of play in the construction of meaning and what the existence of play says about the relationship between our thoughts and external reality. He considers the making of meaning in play and in every aspect of human culture, and he draws on findings in pragmatic epistemology, neuroscience, and semiotics to describe how meaning emerges from playful engagement. Upton argues that play can also explain particular aspects of narrative; a play-based interpretive stance, he proposes, can help us understand the structure of books, of music, of theater, of art, and even of the process of critical engagement itself.
Dangerous Games: What the Moral Panic Over Role-Playing Games Says About Play, Religion, and Imagined Worlds by
The 1980s saw the peak of a moral panic over fantasy role-playing games such as Dungeons and Dragons. A coalition of moral entrepreneurs that included representatives from the Christian Right, the field of psychology, and law enforcement claimed that these games were not only psychologically dangerous but an occult religion masquerading as a game. Dangerous Games explores both the history and the sociological significance of this panic. Fantasy role-playing games do share several functions in common with religion. However, religion--as a socially constructed world of shared meaning--can also be compared to a fantasy role-playing game. In fact, the claims of the moral entrepreneurs, in which they presented themselves as heroes battling a dark conspiracy, often resembled the very games of imagination they condemned as evil. By attacking the imagination, they preserved the taken-for-granted status of their own socially constructed reality. Interpreted in this way, the panic over fantasy-role playing games yields new insights about how humans play and together construct and maintain meaningful worlds. Laycock's clear and accessible writing ensures that Dangerous Games will be required reading for those with an interest in religion, popular culture, and social behavior, both in the classroom and beyond.
Dungeons and Dragons and Philosophy: Read and Gain Advantage on All Wisdom Checks by
Do demons and devils have free will? Does justice exist in Menzoberranzan? What's the morality involved with player characters casting necromancy and summoning spells? Dungeons & Dragons and Philosophy probes the rich terrain of philosophically compelling concepts and ideas that underlie Dungeons & Dragons, the legendary fantasy role-playing game that grew into a world-wide cultural phenomenon. A series of accessible essays reveals what the imaginary worlds of D&D can teach us about ethics, morality, metaphysics and more. Illustrates a wide variety of philosophical concepts and ideas that arise in Dungeons & Dragons gameplay and presents them in an accessible and entertaining manner Reveals how the strategies, tactics, improvisations, and role-play employed by D&D enthusiasts have startling parallels in the real world of philosophy Explores a wide range of philosophical topics, including the nature of free will, the metaphysics of personal identity, the morality of crafting fictions, sex and gender issues in tabletop gameplay, and friendship and collaborative storytelling Provides gamers with deep philosophical insights that can lead to a richer appreciation of D&D and any gaming experience
Minds on Fire: How Role-Immersion Games Transform College by
Why are so many students intellectually disengaged? Faculty, administrators, and tuition-paying parents have been asking this question for nearly two centuries. And the answer is always more or less the same: students are so deeply absorbed in competitive social play (fraternities, sports, beer pong, World of Warcraft, social media) that they neglect academics. In Minds on Fire, Carnes shows how role-immersion games channel students' competitive (and sometimes mischievous) impulses into transformative learning experiences. His discussion is based on interviews with scores of students and faculty who have used a pedagogy called Reacting to the Past, which features month-long games set during the French Revolution, Galileo's trial, the partition of India, and dozens of other epochal moments in disciplines ranging from art history to the sciences. These games have spread to over three hundred campuses around the world, where many of their benefits defy expectations. Students think more critically by internalizing alternative selves, and they understand the past better by filtering it through their present. Fierce competition between opposing sides leads to strong community bonds among teammates and develops speaking, writing, leadership, and problem-solving skills. Minds on Fire is a provocative critique of educational reformers who deplored role-playing pedagogies, from Plato to Dewey to Erikson. Carnes also makes an impassioned appeal for pedagogical innovation. At a time when cost-cutting legislators and trustees are increasingly drawn to online learning, Carnes focuses on how bricks-and-mortar institutions of higher education can set young minds on fire.
One of the wonderful things about RPGs is you get to play with a group of your friends. However, sometimes it's hard to get a group together for regular games. In that case, here are some resources to help you connect with other RPG players.
