The Complete Guide to Tabletop Role-Playing Games

Chapter 1: What Is Tabletop Role-Playing Games and Why People Love It

Let me paint you a picture of what this hobby actually is, because I suspect you've heard about it in a way that's either too vague or too intimidating. You might have friends who disappear into a basement every other Saturday and come back giggling about something called "a natural 20." Or maybe you've listened to a comedy actual-play podcast and thought, "That sounds fun, but what are they actually doing at the table?"

Here's the simplest version: tabletop role-playing games, or TTRPGs, are collaborative storytelling games where you and a small group of friends invent a fictional world and act out characters within it. One person, usually called the Game Master (GM), sets the scene and describes the world. Everyone else plays one character each — their hero, their scoundrel, their eccentric traveling librarian. The GM also acts as the referee for the rules, but the direction of the story belongs to everyone at the table.

But that's a dry summary. Let me walk you through what it looks like from the inside, session by session.

The Foundation: Dice and Rules

Most TTRPGs use dice to decide what happens when the outcome of an action is uncertain. The most famous game — Dungeons & Dragons — uses a full set of polyhedral dice: a d20 (a twenty-sided die) for the most important rolls, plus a d12, d10, d8, d6, and d4 for things like weapon damage or