Episode: 2550
Title: HPR2550: Howto get started playing RPGs
Source: https://hub.hackerpublicradio.org/ccdn.php?filename=/eps/hpr2550/hpr2550.mp3
Transcribed: 2025-10-19 05:23:54

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This is HBR episode 2550 entitled How to Get Started Playing RPGS and is part of the series
Tabletop Gaming. It is hosted by Klaatu and is about 25 minutes long and Karima Cleanflag.
The summary is Lost in Drunks and Klaatu Tagdima Intro to Tabletop Rowl Playing Games RPG.
This episode of HBR is brought to you by an Honesthost.com.
Get 15% discount on all shared hosting with the offer code HBR15. That's HBR15.
Better web hosting that's Honest and Fair at An Honesthost.com.
Hello, this is Lost in Drunks. Today, Klaatu and I are going to attempt to give you a very
quick grounding in the basics of role playing games. What are they and how do they function?
In-depth answers to those questions are worthy of a series all their own because for every
generality worth mentioning there are no worthy exceptions. There are RPGs that seem to be
about little more than dice rolling and statistical analysis while there are others that don't
rely on dice, chance or statistics at all. Certain generalities are common among most role playing
games though and that's what we'll be focusing on here today. Just a quick note we might use the
terms Game Master or GM and Dungeon Master or DM interchangeably. For the purposes of this discussion
they mean the same thing, the person who is in charge of the game setting and plot.
While the GM is indeed playing the game along with everyone else they are considered to be distinct
from the players of the game. GM and players are terms used to describe two different positions
in RPGs. This will become clear as we go along so don't fret if it's confusing right now.
Two other phrases we might use are Player Characters or PCs and Non-Player Characters or NPCs.
A player character like it sounds is any character controlled by a player while an NPC is any
character controlled by the Game Master. And with all that out of the way let's get started.
What is role playing? Well it could be described as collaborative storytelling.
Now does that mean it's acting or narration? Well it can be both but it isn't necessarily either.
At its most essential RPGs are stories that the GM and players participate in and tell to
each other by pretending to be different people. This can be as expressive as you'd like,
ranging from simply describing what you want to do to trying to embody the character along
with their voice and accent all the way up to dressing like them. Though this last one is rare
and I've never played with a group that did it, so I've heard stories. Now RPG also involves
problem-solving. This is an essential part of most games and that includes everything from
traps and puzzles to dealing with NPCs and their problems to trying to outweather, out-strategize the
villains. It covers everything and pretty much from day one you're trying to solve problems either
your own or someone else's. Another important and I would say essential part of RPGs is teamwork.
This type of gaming is about the entire group of players. No one player can be a rock star here
because that comes at the expense of the others. Some players are naturally more outgoing than
others. It is everyone's job to make sure that those players don't dominate game time and
action over the others and to see that the less expressive players are having a good time.
Everyone needs the chance to express themselves in the game. If you're all playing, then you're
all playing together. Another important aspect is social interaction. This might seem obvious to
you but it might not. Spending time doing something fun with the same family members or group of
friends week in and week out builds a special bond. Like a bowling team, a sewing circle, a choir
group or any other dedicated collection of people who come together for the love of a particular
avocation, you will grow closer to your fellow players. If you don't look forward to being with
them from session to session, either they're the wrong people for the group or you are.
Another important aspect and it's something you really need to understand and it's a fundamental
difference in this game over many others is that the GM controls everything in the game except for
the player's actions. The universe, the world, the story plot and specific scenarios of the game
world in which you adventure are all controlled by the GM. The animals, monsters, spirits, gods and
all the people of this world are controlled by the GM. All of them accept yours.
The GM can tell you what's happening to you but cannot tell you how to react.
You can do something in the game and find that there are consequences but the choice to do the
thing in the first place is entirely yours. Barring mind control of some sort, which happens from
time to time and nearly every game regardless of genre, your character is entirely under your
control and you can do whatever you want, reaping the benefits, penalties, fun or disappointments that
result. Okay, now that we're on the same page as to what role playing is, let's talk about how to
get started. So the first thing that you need is, well, honestly, a will to play. If you have a
will to play, you're going to play. Trust me. That's what you need first and foremost. I've had
friends who I've invited over to play a role playing game and they've declined. And then three
months later, I've called them up to talk, I haven't actually called them up. I don't call people.
I've talked to them when I bumped into them on the street and it turns out that they've started
their own role playing group and they just made up a game. They didn't bother getting a game.
They just made it up and they're playing it every Thursday now. So just the will to play is
really all you need. Setting that aside and saying, maybe you want to do this a little bit more
formally, then what you need is a rule book, any rule book. You just need a rule book to
an RPG game so that you can kind of get familiar with what an RPG rule book usually contains.
So that means you're free to get something that costs anything from $0 all the way up to $50.
You can get whatever rule book you want, whatever really sort of speaks to you. Now,
I think that the most popular rule book out there and it's popular because it's fun is Dungeons
and Dragons. It's super easy to find. You can go to your friendly local gaming store or your bookstore
or an online bookstore, ask for the latest version of Dungeons and Dragons. They will hand you the
player's handbook. That's what they call their rule book and you will walk out with 315 pages
of rules that you should then read from cover to cover. You might doubt yourself as you start to read.
You might think, well, this is a lot of text for something that I'm not even playing yet. But trust
me, getting to know those rules is really, really useful. It'll make you a better player. It'll be a
lot more fun because you'll actually understand what's going on during the game and I think it's
just good. But if you're not the type of person to read a big book like that from cover to cover,
don't worry about it. Just have it on hand and we'll talk about building a character and other
things that you might need out of that rule book later. If you don't have the 50 bucks to spend on
a D&D player's handbook, you can find several rule books online that are creative common or open
game license for completely zero dollars amount of money. You can find these frequently at drivethroughrpg.com
and other sites. People have just invented games and they post them online and they sell them for
like $1 or $2 or $0 sometimes. So you can find a rule book. So go and find a rule book for a
system that seems to appeal to you and read it through. Just kind of browse through it and see what
an RPG game entails. But the rule book is really important because if you're going to play a game,
you do need to know the rules. I mean, that's why when you open up that new board game,
the first thing you do is you look at the rules. So do that. At this stage, if you don't have
anyone to play the game with yet, don't worry too much about getting the wrong rule book. I mean,
if you're just looking for a group of people to play an RPG with, getting any rule book
of an RPG will help you understand how an RPG works. And so even if you purchased the D&D book,
but you end up finding a Pathfinder group instead or a Shadowrun group instead or a
Callica Thulu game group instead, it's okay. They won't not let you play because you don't have
their rule book. They'll just share the rule book with you. They'll explain the system to you.
And it will all make sense to you because you already know the basics because you've read
the rule book that you got because I told you to go get a rule book. The second thing that you
absolutely need probably is dice. Lots of dice maybe. And the kind of dice will depend on the game.
So if you're playing for instance Shadowrun, you will need lots of six-sided die, D6.
If you're playing Dungeons & Dragons, you will certainly need a D20 and you'll probably need
others like a D8 and a D12 and a D10. Maybe a D4 sometimes, it kind of depends. How to find all that
dice? Well, first of all, there are gaming stores out there. They sell all those dice and more.
There are also gaming stores online, which will sell you sort of a collection of starter dice,
just kind of like all the typical ones that you will need. A D20, a D12, a D10, a D8, a D6,
a D4. And you'll have those and you will be able to, sometimes you might have to roll them twice
because it will want two rolls from you, but whatever. It doesn't matter. Just have some dice
for the system that you're playing. How do you know which dice you need? Well, that's the kind
of thing that will be in the rule book. It will tell you what kind of dice you need. It might not
tell you all in one place, but if you read it, as I say, from cover to cover, then you will learn
all the different kinds of dice that you absolutely need to play what you're trying to play.
Ah, but then last but not least, you must acquire one more item. And this one's kind of optional,
because if you're the game master or the dungeon master, then you may just come up with this
yourself. But so far, what you've done is you've acquired the rules and the tools that you need
in order to play the game, but where's the game? An experienced game master or dungeon master
might just invent their own stories and present these scenarios to you and have your characters
respond to them and react to them. If you don't have time for that or if that's just not your
style, then you can also purchase pre-written scenarios for the characters to go through. And that
really in the sense of this being a game, that's where the game is. Now, these are called modules
traditionally. They're pre-written adventures with a story and a set of scenarios and problems
for characters to confront and solve. Most modules that I've ever used do a pretty good job of
not assuming you know what you're doing. And so they tend to ease you in and help you if you're
the first time you've ever run an RPG game, figure out what to do and what to say to your players
and what not to say and so on. Here's a good one to start with or at least to take a look at to
kind of get an idea of what these things are like. Go to dmsgild.com and do a search for caves of
shadow. It's by a guy named Monty Cook and was written for Dungeons & Dragons 3.0 and it's so old
now that Wizards of the Coast, the publishing company, is offering it for free. They just give
it away. And you'll get an idea of what an initial Dungeons & Dragons or any role-playing game
will likely involve. The story may or may not be to your liking and you may not even be playing
Dungeons & Dragons. But the advantage to looking at something like this is that it kind of steps you
through the process of playing your first game. And since RPGs are so flexible, even if the game
system of your choice doesn't have nice fancy, professionally written adventure modules for you to
play through, you might be able to adapt existing ones for other games to whatever you are playing.
So to reiterate, your quest is to get three things, a rule book, some dice, and an adventure module.
How about a few examples? Imagine there's a guy walking down the street in a city. Suddenly,
he sees a man come running around a corner up ahead of him. The man clearly intends to run by
him. And then the guy lets him. That's it. Now much of a story, right? Okay, same situation.
Except you're the guy walking down the street. You see a man come running around the corner.
He's coming towards you, but it looks like he wants to run by you. What do you do?
Now, see, at this point, you probably want more information, and that's when quizzing
the GM about what's going on comes in handy. You might want to ask, is it snowy or icy out?
Is this guy having trouble running? Is it a beautiful day? Is it a nice day?
What's this guy look like? That's coming. Is he a big man? Is he a desperate looking man? Does he
look like he's running away from something or maybe running towards something if you can tell the
difference? Does he look dangerous? Does he have a weapon? Does it? How's he dressed? All of this
information might be stuff that you want to know before you decide what it is you're going to do?
Okay, let's jump back a bit. Exact same situation. You're walking down the street,
and this man comes running around the corner towards you. But instead of just asking what this guy
looks like and what the general situation is, let's pull out a little bit and find out a little
bit more about you. Maybe you are a spy, and today you were supposed to go to an embassy that's
right around the corner and meet a friend of yours. You're casing this joint. You're surveilling
it because you need to break into this later, maybe tonight, and get an important piece of
information, some sort of secret that you have to get back to your government. You may ask,
do I recognize this guy? And the GM may say, yes, that's your fellow spy that you were supposed
to meet. And he comes tearing around the corner, running towards you, looking like he wants to get
past you. Now what do you do? See, that question suddenly becomes very different than before.
The context has added so much to your decision right now, having all of that information and
having the freedom to make a choice. You can let this guy go by. You can try to stop him. You can
ask him what's going on. You can maybe follow him or run towards the situation to see what he was
running from. All of these options become available to you and the decision is entirely up to you.
In order to play an RPG, you do need a character and the way that you build a character for an
RPG differs on the system, but they're all basically the same. They all basically will have you do
the same broad set of action. And the way that you learn to do that is, again, basically the same.
And that is refer to your rulebook. It will tell you how to build a character. The Dungeons and Dragons
rulebook, which I'm going to use as a guide for this segment, tells you in part one, chapter one,
how to step by step character build. So the first step, choose a race. It talks a little bit about
races, but mainly it refers you over to chapter two, which is all about races. And there's going to be
a lot of that during the character build, probably no matter what rulebook you're using. Most of them
have kind of a master list of what you need to do and then they refer you to the place where they go
into greater detail about that choice that you're going to make. So break out the post-its for the book
marks or whatever so that you can flip back and forth. You'll be doing it a lot. So in chapter two
of the Dungeons and Dragons player handbook, they describe all the different races to you and they
give you a lot of information that will probably make very little sense to you if you're a beginner.
I wouldn't overthink this if you were a beginner. Just go with whatever you want to do, like what you
feel like doing. Don't worry about people who talk about I chose this race because that would
optimize my combo attack once I reach the sixth level. Don't worry about things like that. That
doesn't matter yet. Use your imagination. Read over the races, see if anything inspires you
particularly and go with that. Here's one called the tiefling. It looks like it's kind of like a
demon child. That sounds cool. I think I'll take that one there. See how easy that was. Now your
rulebook will probably have a character sheet in the back of it or somewhere in it for you to make
a copy of but more likely or more commonly you'll just get one off of the internet. If you do
print it out, print many copies because part of maintaining a character across a game usually
means that you're going to transcribe your old character sheet to a new one when the old one
starts to get too messy to read anymore. Okay, so in the character sheet, in the race
blank, I would write in my case because I just chose tiefling. I would write tiefling. Next step,
choose a class. Well, I don't know what a class is yet because I'm new to this game but it does
refer you to chapter three. I told you you'd be flipping back and forth a lot. So in chapter three,
it has a table for you describing each class. Now whether you're rulebook, if you're not doing
Dungeons & Dragons, has that or not depends of course but somewhere in your rulebook, it will
describe what kind of classes or what kind of character jobs exist for your character. This one
lists a bunch of different ones. I'm going to choose randomly because again, a lot of this information
that they give me doesn't mean anything to me yet but I just feel like it would be cool to play a
warlock. Warlock sounds really cool. It's a wizard who has made some kind of packed with an extra
planar entity. In my character sheet under the class section, I will write down that I am a warlock.
Now it says class and level. I don't know anything about levels yet so I'll go back to chapter one
in my character build and keep reading and sure enough here in the choose a class, there's a sub-section
called level and it describes what levels are, how I get a new level and where I start. It says
that I start at level one so I'll go back to my character sheet and I will write down that I am
level one warlock. Further down, it talks about hit points and hit dice. Now again, that doesn't
mean anything to me yet. I mean, the concept is kind of there. I don't know a whole lot about it.
How do I know what my hit dice are? Well, it refers me back to my class. It tells me that the hit dice
depends on my class. So I'll go back to chapter three. I'll find the section on the warlock and
under class features, it tells me very explicitly that my my hit die is a d8 and my starting
hit die amount is a d8 plus my constitution. I don't really know what constitution is yet either,
but I'll keep that in mind. Now, I also don't know where the hit dice goes in my character sheet because
for whatever reason, I've never seen a rule book. That's not true. I've seen two rule books that do
this, but generally they don't like sort of have little inset pictures of where, you know, the hit
dice enter this into this blank on your character sheet. You just have to kind of search around on
your character sheet. So I would write d8 in my hit dice box and my current hit points. I don't
really know what that is yet because I don't know what my constitution is, but I will keep that in
mind. I'll just put that off to the side random access memory and I will come back to it. So I'll
keep reading and it says at first level, your character has one hit dice and the hit dice is
dependent on your class. You start with the points equal to the highest roll of that dice. So I
was a d8. I read in my class. So that means that I start out with eight and it says you also add
your constitution modifier which you'll determine in step three. Oh, cool. And this is also your
hit point maximum. Okay, cool. Well, now we know a little bit more than we did before. Section 2 also
notes under the heading proficiency bonus that first level characters get a plus two proficiency
bonus and it talks a little bit about what that will do in the game like when that actually comes
into play. And again, if you search around on your character sheet near the top, you'll eventually
find a slot for proficiency bonus. So in that slot, you would write plus two. The next step in building
your character is to determine your ability scores. There are lots of different ways to do this.
Different rule books or different rules games are going to do it differently. Heck, D&D itself has
like five different options for you to choose when making your ability scores. But these are the
scores that kind of build up your character. They kind of define how strong they are, how intelligent
they are, things like that. Their advantages and disadvantages to all the different options. You
can either roll for your scores or in this edition of D&D, it says that you can just choose from
this pre-baked assortment 8, 10, 12, 13, 14, and 15. And then you plug those numbers in however you
want to. Now there's math that you can do to come up with how that's actually going to affect your
dice rolls. There's also a table right here in the player's guide that tells you exactly what
they all mean. So if you gave yourself, for instance, a 15 in strength, this table says that your
modifier then is a plus two. Now on your character sheet, you will notice, if you're following along
specifically with Dungeons & Dragons, that there are down the side of the page six ability scores
and in sets into each one of those boxes is a little circle. So in the big box, you put 15,
for instance, for strength, let's say. And then since the table said that your modifier is a plus
two, then you can put a plus two in the little inset. And you would do that for each score,
strength, dexterity, constitution, hey, there's constitution. So now we know what our hit die is.
So we said that the hit dice was a D8 and we get our maximum amount as a first level character.
So that's eight plus our constitution modifier. So we now know that whatever we give ourselves
for constitution, the modifier to that becomes part of our hit points. Since I've only got eight,
I'm going to actually give myself 15 in constitution. I'm going to take that plus two and put it
on my D8 hit die and I'm going to give myself a current hit point of 10. Okay, so things are
getting filled in. I told you this big blank sheet is not as scary as it seems. The fourth step is
to describe your character. And this is the really fun part. It's the part that, like I say,
it's a game within a game. You can come up with the character's backstory, why they might be
adventuring what they're after in life. Just really flesh out the character. Now if you have no ideas,
that's okay. Because the Dungeons & Dragons rulebook has a whole chapter providing ideas to you.
Specifically, it's chapter four called personality and backgrounds. And it just kind of talks about
what characters, what what makes a character. But more than just rambling on about it, it actually
provides random tables for you. So that if you have absolutely no idea what direction you want to go,
you can just roll a die against these tables and build a character randomly. It's best generally
speaking to write a character as they are now, rather than what they are to become. Because what
they're to become is that's what the actual game is going to be. That's their life being told
in an RPG game. So you kind of want to bring them all the way up to being a first level person,
which isn't that far along in an adventurer's development. But who knows what that's been for
their actual life? I mean, I don't know how old your character is or how long they live. So you
would come up with that as well. The fifth and final step in this process is to choose your equipment.
And this for a lot of people is is another really, really fun part. I mean, people who like shopping
like in game really love this part because you do. You get to go shopping. You get some gold pieces,
which is determined by your class. And that's that's given to you in chapter five, which is the
chapter on equipment. And you can look through the chapter and look at all the equipment available,
whether it's armor or weapons or just random supplies like an iron pot for making herbal
potions or ink and a pen for transcribing spells. And that's what your character starts the game with.
So it's a lot of fun because you're now gearing up for the game. Now, the unwritten other rule
to this is that you need to get to know your character. And by that, I mean you need to look at your
character and determine if they're a spellcaster. What kind of magic do they have access to? And
that's all described as part of your as part of your class description. And you'll you'll want to
go in and read over your class and learn about that class and what kind of abilities they have. And
what kind of skills they're good at specifically. And fill in the rest of your character sheet based
on what your class description tells you. Character building is a hugely fun part of the game. Don't
shortchange it. Don't look at it as a chore. Look at it as the solo edition of Dungeons and Dragons
or the role playing game of your choice. It's actually the only Dungeons and Dragons I'd played
for a long time because my parents wouldn't let me play Dungeons and Dragons with my friends because
they thought the game was satanic. So I would simply build characters with my friends and never play
them. So it's a really important and fun part of the game. It can be the entire game in a way.
But it's not. So don't make it be the only part of the game. But it is a healthy part of the game.
It's the part that you can do on your own. So sit down, build some characters, get ready to play.
Statistics are stats. What are they in terms of RPGs? Character stats represent physical
and mental characteristics of a character. Depending upon the game, they might also represent
spiritual, magical, or general luck-based aspects. By in large, the higher the statistic,
the better they are. High strength means you're strong. High intelligence means you're smart,
etc., etc. The way you derive these statistics for your character varies from game to game.
But a common method is to roll a certain number of dice for each one. But there are many, many
other ways to do it. And some games have many ways to do it. So in D&D, for instance, Dungeons and
Dragons, I have played in games where the dungeon master, in this case, the DM would allow you to choose
from a variety of ways of rolling up your character. And generally that means, including not just
creating the name and the race of the character, the gender of the character, if that applies
the profession of the character or class, sometimes it's referred to, but also specifically rolling
up their statistics or stats. And that can be done in a lot of different ways, and every game is
different. And you really do have to check with the game master of that game to find out what's
approved. What are some typical statistics you might find in games? Well, in classic Dungeons and
Dragons, which is the oldest and best known RPG, the stats are strength, intelligence, wisdom,
dexterity, constitution, and charisma. Different versions of D&D have also introduced other statistics
while other games have other statistics entirely for player characters. Some things are generally
common to all or most games, something that measures the intelligence or mental ability of a person,
something that measures the physical strength of a person, and very often something that measures
their dexterity of some sort. These things are very common, and a lot of them all derive from D&D
ultimately. Let's do an example to see how that might be applied in regular gameplay.
Same scenario as before, you're walking down the street and this guy comes running around the
corner. Maybe you're a spy? Maybe you're not. However, you are an avid jogger with a strong
constitution or stamina. You think you could catch up to the man running by you and keep pace with
him. You don't have to. You could just let him run by. What do you do? In this case, knowing that
statistic will inform your decision. Same scenario. Maybe you're a spy, maybe you're not. You are,
however, a couch potato with poor stamina and you couldn't punch your way out of a paper bag.
You know you'll never catch up to the man if he gets by you. Also, if you try to stop him,
he may attack you. You might be able to trip him up when he runs by though. What do you do?
Now, in this case, knowing your statistic is poor, it's a low number. That might inform your
decision. Again, same scenario. Maybe you're a spy, maybe you're not. Except that you were an
amateur boxer once. Unfortunately, you've become a couch potato over the years and are out of shape
now. You're still very strong and you remember how to fight, but you have a poor stamina these days.
If you try to stop the man, he might attack you. He certainly looks desperate enough.
If this happens, your strength and fighting skills give you an advantage. But your stamina
means you can't chase him far and an extended fight is out of the question. What do you do?
See, in this case, you can't catch this guy. If he gets by you, he's gone. If you try to stop him
and he attacks you, you've got to put him out fast or you're probably going to lose this fight
because you can't keep the fight going. You're going to get winded. Your statistic is informing
your choice. Statistics can often give bonuses or penalties to certain skills or activities,
depending upon how good or bad the stats are. Very strong characters might get a bonus in combat
and do extra damage, while very dexterous characters might get a bonus to their chance to say
pick locks. Something to do with their hand-eye coordination or maybe jumping out of the way of
things or walking a balance beam, that sort of thing. Anything you do with coordination or whatever
that stat specifically covers in that game. Everybody knows you need a GM or a DM to run an RPG, right?
Well, first of all, not exactly. There are some RPG games out there, some systems that are
specifically designed so that you do not need a game master or a dungeon master or whatever you
want to call them. They're built around the storytelling and there are usually some things put
into place so that the story is kind of guided in some way. Sometimes it's by cards or sometimes
it's simply by an agreement between the players. Hey, this is what's going to happen or this is
the direction we're going to go in or whatever. It's a little bit almost improv-y, so if you're
really into the storytelling aspect of an RPG game, or you may or may or may not even know whether
you are or not yet, it will be different though. I mean, if you're looking for the classic RPG
experience, like the stuff that you see on television where people are sitting around and there's
a DM and there's the players, then that's not the same thing, but it is an RPG, so it just kind
of depends on what you're looking for. In other words, possibly you don't actually need a GM at all.
You could find a system out there, a GMless RPG game, and go with that. That works. Now, if you
do want a GM, or DM or whatever, I've had people tell me, hey, I'm already, I've got a group of
people to play this RPG, but we don't have a DM, so we can't play. And look, that's wrong. If you
have found someone else to play with, then you have found a DM, and that is one of you, or more
specifically, and better yet, each of you, I suggest that if you have any number of people that are
going to play an RPG together, that you simply rotate DM duties every time that you play.
One person starts out as a DM, everyone plays, and then the next time you get together,
the next person takes a turn. Eventually, you'll find someone in that group who really, really digs
being a DM, or maybe you'll all settle on taking turns. Maybe that's how your group will do it.
It doesn't really matter. Whatever works for you guys is good enough. It's a weird thing about
the station of the DM is that some people really, really love it. I mean, some people love it so much
that that's all they ever want to do. Other people don't really like it. It just doesn't sit well
with them. They don't feel comfortable in that role, so I wouldn't say to force it on anyone,
but I would strongly encourage each person to try it at least once, and see if they like it.
And if it seems intimidating, don't let it be intimidating. The role of the DM is not some kind of
social status that you earn. It's just another player, instead of playing one specific player,
you're playing the entire world. But believe me when I tell you that anyone can DM. I mean, after all,
when people sat around and learned D&D when it first came out, like kids in the 80s, they didn't
have a special DM that appeared and ran their game for them. They had to do it for themselves.
So if a 12-year-old kid can take on the DM role and run a bunch of friends through a virtual dungeon,
I think you probably can too. And if it seems intimidating to you, then find a really well-developed
system, and I guarantee you that they will have a lot of tools for you to make it all very smooth
and easy, and something that you don't really have to try too hard at. The Dungeons and Dragons
system and the Pathfinder system both, they have a specific, well in Pathfinder, it's in their core
rulebook, and the Dungeons and Dragons, it's a separate book from their player's handbook,
which I advised you to purchase previously. But these Dungeon Master guides have all kinds of
information in them for a dungeon master. They aren't a required read by any means, but if you're
if you're not really sure on the whole dungeon mastering thing, you could certainly read through
them and get a lot of great ideas. It tells you how to build monsters, it tells you how to build
dungeons, but even more importantly, at least in my experience, it's got a bunch of tables in it
that you can roll against for random things, whether they're random items that your players might
find in a treasure chest or random monsters that they might encounter in a hallway. It's all in
the Dungeon Master's guide, and so you don't really have to think a whole lot about what's
happening. You can just roll for things, and that way the adventure kind of develops, well,
I was going to say organically, but actually randomly. In addition to that, there are published
adventures that have been written for you, so that you don't even have to think of a setting or
an idea for an adventure. It's all written out, and as a Dungeon Master, you read a head chapter
and then describe everything to your players and set them loose and arbitrate any combat that occurs.
And play all the different monsters that they encounter, a lot of fun. But okay, I hear you,
you really don't want to DM yourself, you're not comfortable with it, no one in your group wants
to do it either. So if all else fails, you can always find a DM at your friendly local gaming store.
Go there, find out when they have either a Pathfinder Society game or a Dungeons and Dragons
adventure league, and you can show up, pay zero money, and play a game with DM included.
Complexity of the game. An RPG can be as complex or as simple as desired. They call that
being rules heavy versus rules light. This usually does follow the GM's predilections.
There are literally thousands of RPGs out there to choose from now. Some are professionally
published, some are not. Many of these games and game systems focus heavily on dice rolls and
statistics in order to determine what happens in any given situation where the outcome is uncertain.
Other games rely primarily on the GM and players role-playing the situation out in order
to see what happens, and still other games fall somewhere in between or try to offer rules for
either experience. Let's do an example. Same scenario as before, okay? Let's say you are a spy.
We'll assume you let your spy partner because you've identified that guy. He comes around the
corner. You see it's your buddy that you were going there to meet. We'll assume that you let
your partner who is an NPC controlled by the GM run by you. Several police officers come running
around the corner, hot on his heels, okay? They see you standing there. Perhaps you try to bluff
them and send them in the wrong direction. In a rules light game, this can be done with role-playing
alone. You could point toward an alley across the street and say, he went that away!
Under the circumstances, the GM might rule that they simply believe you and run into the alley.
This could also be determined with a skill check or a statistic check, or there's a bunch of
other names, but it means the same thing. Specifically, a check to see if you actually have a particular skill.
Perhaps in this game, there is a skill called lying. If you have it, the GM could rule that being
actually trained in deception at all is enough for this circumstance and that they believe you.
So in other words, they come around the corner. You point across the street and say, he went that
away towards the alley and the GM asks you, do you have the lying skill? You look on your paper
and you see that, yes, indeed, you do have the lying skill and you say, yes, I have it. The GM
says, okay, that's good enough. Under the circumstances, just knowing how to frame a lie is good enough,
you point they believe they go. But you had to have that skill otherwise there might have been
consequences, because in fact, you are lying. Okay, now then, this could be done with dice rolls.
The GM could ask you to roll a die against your lying skill, okay, because a skill generally
has statistics of their own, the higher the number, generally the better in most games.
You roll a die depends on the game situation, what die you're going to roll if it's percent dice,
if it's a 20-sided die, if it's a 10-sided die, whatever, every game is different. And the GM
will tell you what that is. If you're successful, the cops believe you. If you fail, they either
don't listen to you at all or they think you're acting suspiciously and the game goes on from there.
We'll step back one more time. This can be done with dice and a skill challenge of a sort. Okay,
you roll against your lying skill and if you're successful, the police get to roll against their
street smart skill because in this game, maybe that's a skill you can have. And they get to roll
to see if they can see through your deception because cops are trained to do that. They know people
lie all the time and they're trained to look through that sort of thing. This can go on and on
and it can be as complicated or as easy as the players in the GM want it to be. By and large,
if a GM likes a game that is more complex and has more dice rolls or statistics or tables
that need to be consulted in order to get an accurate depiction of what's happening,
that GM will run a game that's like that, right? So you have to find some sort of happy middle ground
because not every player likes a game like that, they feel it makes slow the action down. I mean,
picture it. All of this would take place in the course of a second or two. The cops come around
the corner and you're pointing. Now at this stage, if it's a rules heavy game, you're stopping the
game and you're rolling dice. Sometimes that's important. Sometimes that matters. Other times maybe
not so much and finding a medium that works for everybody is really important in a game. Any combination
of role-playing or skill or stat checks or dice rolls can be used. The GM can impose penalties or
bonuses to these roles depending upon the situation at hand or outside details that may be entirely
unknown to the player. So same scenario. You're rolling dice. You're pointing across the street.
You get a successful dice roll. They should be able to believe it. Maybe it was a highly successful
role in some games. They have what they call critical successes and failures. A critical success
means it was one of those sublime moments. It was just perfect. Everything aligned. Your skills were
at their peak and the situation was perfect. It was like a perfect win and yet maybe they still
don't believe you. That should have been an automatic success. They should have automatically
believed you and yet they didn't. Why? Well, it's because of a factor you don't know about
that the GM does and perhaps it's the reason why your buddy ran by you. Perhaps earlier that
morning you were betrayed by someone and your pictures were circulated among the police. They've
been on the lookout for you too since this morning. You didn't know that. So nothing you say is
going to make them believe you because they've identified you as the people thereafter.
So the game can be as complex or as simple as the players in the GM are comfortable with.
And some games are naturally more complex or simple than others. Finding the right game,
the right scenario, the right game style, all of these factors come into how much enjoyment
someone is likely going to have. And some games, the really expansive games, try to mix that
capability. So some games like D&D can be really, really rules heavy sometimes or you can ignore a
lot of it and just say, yeah, it happens or not. And just let it go with that. GURPS is a game
to URPS and that's by Steve Jackson games. And that's considered a universal role playing game.
And that can be extremely complicated or extremely rules like depending on how you play.
Some games really fall into one camp more than others and a lot of them, almost all of them
can be adjusted as you go along. I like to plan for the worst. So let's assume that the worst
has happened. You've got all your dice, you've got your rulebook, you've got your character
built problem is you don't have any friends, much less friends who want to play an RPG.
Here are some ideas. None of them are fail safe. Some of them aren't going to work for you. Some
of them may work for you. It'll just all depend. But here's some ideas on how to find people.
To play an RPG game with first of all, ask a friend if they're interested. I know I just assumed
that you have no friends. This is the worst case scenario, right? But broaden your definition of
what a friend might be to just someone who you bump into at work or at school or something like that.
And just kind of start looking around for people who may be interested in role playing games.
And then throw out all your preconceptions and just assume everyone's interested in RPG.
Because frankly, if they know what's good for them, everyone would be interested in RPG
game. It's a lot of fun. I don't know what your approach will be. I mean, I don't know if you're
this sort of person to just sunture up to someone and say, hey, I'm going to try it. Form an RPG
group. You want to join? Or maybe you're a more subtle type and you'll just kind of mention it
in passing and see if anyone perks their ears up as you stretch and say, oh, I can't wait
until I get to play D&D later today. See if anyone bites. Or maybe you'll just send a group
email out. Like that's worked for me before. I've said, hey, I'm thinking about forming an RPG
group after work. Does anyone want to to play? People may surprise you with their response. It's not
like you're asking them on a date. It's just it's like, hey, do you want to go do this thing that you
may never have done before or you may have done back in college or you may have done as a kid,
but you haven't done it in a long time. So now you want to you want to try it again. So believe me,
it's it's worth a shot if you've if you've got any amount of courage in you, you can you can do
this. And if that doesn't work, that's fine. Or if you just can't bring yourself to do it,
that's fine. There are other options. One option is find a long distance friend. And I say a long
distance friend because a lot of times, at least in my life, long distance friends mean that
there's someone from my past. There's someone I have moved away from, but wouldn't mind keeping
in touch with. Maybe if they're interested in RPG and I'm already comfortable with them because
we've known each other for some time, maybe that they would be a perfect person to ask. Just
email them, say, hey, I'm thinking about this thing. What do you think? And they may again,
they might surprise you and actually be into it. And then you can start doing like a video conference
or a voice chat or whatever where you're playing a game together. I mean, I've done this before.
You know this. If you listened to HPR a lot, I did a little mini series with Taj and Low Bath
of us playing an RPG over Mumble. And it was a lot of fun. It was great. I don't think if you asked
any three of us, I don't think any of us would say, oh, yeah, that was a, that wasn't a great
experience. I think we would all say that that was a great experience. So another option is to ask
your life partner, whoever that may be. If you have a life partner, just go up to the one one
evening and say, hey, do you want to roleplay? See how they respond. You can always find a game,
almost always find a game going on at your local game store. There's probably either a D&D
adventure league or a Pathfinder society game happening at your gaming hoppy store, whatever.
Get their calendar of events and you can show up and play. It will be a group of strangers.
So if you're really not into new people and talking and socializing, that will be problematic. But
if you, if you try it, I can almost promise you that you'll love it, assuming that you have a good
group of people there. Now, I've, I can't speak for your local game store. I have never been there
probably. But usually in my experience, the people there seem to be pretty friendly. And I don't see
why their games would be any less. So a variation on that is a local game convention. Now, I don't really,
I never went to a local game convention in the States. But in New Zealand, we have a couple of really
good little game tabletop conventions. And I go to them regularly and run games and play games.
And it's a lot of fun. If you're scared of the whole social aspect of it, that will be a sort of
a problem. But everyone's there for the same reason. They're all there to play a game. And at a
convention, you get a healthy to variety of people who've never played before and people who have
played for the past 20 years. So that's kind of a cool place to start actually because you get
that good mix. So what if you are really, really bad in the whole real life social situation,
or maybe you just want to practice, maybe you're one of those people who you really want to know
what you're doing before you go and tackle role playing with strangers or with other people at
all. Even if you know them, maybe you just want to really make sure that you have all the role,
the rules internalized. And you know exactly what to expect and when to expect it. First of all,
you can start with some solo game books. I did an episode here on Hacker Public Radio about a
series of solo game books that I really like. I highly recommend them. I think it's a great way
to role play. Now, it won't be exactly the same thing. It'll be different because you're just you
reading a book and the mechanics are different. But it kind of gets you into the spirit and the
lingo and just maybe you will get you acclimated to this experience enough that you're brave enough
to go to a public place and play with other people. Now, there's also for a more direct route.
There's play by post. There are online forums out there that exist today that you can go and
sign up for a game where it's all played by forum postings. So you post your move on a forum.
These games typically take a very long time to play out because you just have to wait for everyone
to check the forum and to respond and then for the DM to check the forum and to see the responses
and then to process it and then to respond. So it's a slow moving game, but it requires no
person-to-person interaction. It's entirely just you and a computer, but you get some person-to-person
reaction because there are people behind the other computers presumably. So that's not a bad way
to kind of sneak in and kind of get to where you possibly know the rules better or just kind of
get a feel for how a game is played. And then last but not least, there are a dozen actual play
podcasts out there. And actual play is like this term that someone invented, I guess, for when you
watch other people play D&D. As weird as that might sound. I mean, maybe it doesn't sound weird.
Just like I say, I've played a game of Pathfinder, a cyberpunk version of Pathfinder on a hacker
public radio and some people listened and enjoyed it. So maybe it's not so strange, but you can do
that. There's a official Wizards of the Coast who created Dungeons & Dragons channel on Twitch and
you can sit and watch them do interviews and discussions about D&D and a couple of times a week
probably they play various games. I think they have like three or four different games going on.
So they're all over the place nowadays. They're pretty popular. So if you're really, really nervous
and just not internalizing those rules and you just want to see it done, watch a couple of those.
You'll get the feel for it and you'll also, I think, it kind of breaks down some preconceptions of
of how scary it is. It's really not scary and sometimes seeing other people do it is all that it
takes to make you realize, yeah, that's actually not so bad. So those are my ideas. I hope they're
somewhat useful. I know it's a big, weird step to have to try to figure out how am I going to get
into this weird hobby and people are going to make fun of me and they're going to know that I don't
know all the rules yet and blah, blah, blah. It's just not like that in my experience. It has
never been like that. So I would just go for it if I were you. But it's easier to say that
on this side of the fence than it is on your side. So hopefully that's been somewhat helpful. And
if you're at all super nervous, shoot me an email. I'd love to talk to you about it. And if you want
at some point in the very far future, because I'm pretty busy right now, but at some point in the
future, I might even be able to arrange another hacker public radio game. And maybe you can
you can sign on and play a little bit with someone that you know and trust.
Lawson Bronx, I know that in your in your rebuttal, your infamous rebuttal to my one of my
RPG episodes, you said very clearly that the the real way to play in RPG is live in person
with a group of friends. And I have to say that at the end of the day, I agree. I think that the
the group dynamic is really, really fun and it's a big part of the game. Even if you don't like people,
it just is it's part of the the correct D&D experience or RPG experience I should say.
I still stand by what I said, but I probably should amend it to an extent just to say that that
has been my experience. Other people have had very different experiences or their circumstances are
different than other people's. They have to do it online or maybe they've moved away and their
friends are elsewhere and they don't want to play with other people. They want to play with them.
For them, that experience is just as valid as anything else. So yeah, I think I'm right,
but I don't think other people are wrong if they have that they hold a different opinion.
Yeah, absolutely. And I think one of the things, because I know that going to your first
you know, your first real RPG, if you don't know the people that you're going to play with,
can be very, it can just cause a lot of butterflies in the stomach, you know, it can be very nerve
racking if you're not that kind of person. But what I've found so far in the many times that I've
gone to strange groups to play RPGs with is that it's really, if you don't think of it as a game
and you just think I'm going to go to this place, I'm going to sit around at a table and eat snacks
and chit chat about pretend scenarios and how we would get out of them if they were to happen to us.
I don't know, I find that that's a little bit relieving, you know, it kind of takes the pressure off.
Yeah, I think so. And I myself, whenever I've gone to a new group, I have been really intimidated,
really, by the whole experience. Yeah, especially with a new group, or if this is your first time
getting in there, a lot of times you don't actually get a lot of gaming done that first night,
you're doing, you know, if you don't know how to roll the character that that does take a lot of
time because everybody's helping you and it can't get to the point where too many cooks are
spoiling the pot, but it is also fun. You get an awful lot of anecdotes, people talking about
their different games, things that they've done. In my opinion, that's a really good icebreaker,
you know, not jumping into all these rules and arcane dice rolls and tables books, but to have
just regular conversations with people really can go a long way towards breaking that ice.
Even if you are an experienced gamer, I have found that that can be very useful, just talking to
somebody new because I mean, you know, I've played with great, great people, some of the best people
I've ever met. I met around a game table, but I've met some weirdos too, and it's nice to know
what you're getting into. Okay, so let's talk a little bit about what people need to bring to their
to their first or second or any session really. What supplies do they need? The first one on my
list, whatever rulebook that your game provides, I say bring a copy because that's the way that you
know what your character can do, and you don't have to like sit with it open and read it as you play
or whatever, but it's just great to have that handy because sometimes you don't even think,
oh, I could cast this spell or I could use this weapon because you just forget that that thing
exists, but the rulebook, if you have it on hand and you kind of idly flip through it at times,
then you know that it exists and you get ideas and it's very inspiring, and I think it makes you a
better player to have that rulebook on hand. Oh, it absolutely does. However, I have played many,
many games where people coming are completely green to the game. They have no idea even what it's
about or what it's like. It's kind of unrealistic to expect someone like that to run out and spend,
I mean, what a rulebook's called. Yeah, like 50 bucks or something. Yeah, I mean, that's a huge
call. In fact, I would say that in this day and age, if you have people that, if you have a good
group, people that you can rely on that are very helpful, that want to play with you and are more
than willing to help you as you go along, you generally don't need more than one or two copies of
the rules floating around a table at any one time. People are always swapping these things around.
Now, yes, it is very, very helpful to have the rulebook in front of you, and especially more than
that to be familiar with it. If you're very familiar with the rules, a lot of times you don't need
the book. You can just say, hey, can't you cast such and such right now? Isn't that one of your
spells? And if so, doesn't the radius go this far? And then someone might confirm it for you,
but if you have the idea initially, a lot of times, that's all you need. If you're just starting off,
you don't need anything. You just got to show up. That's a good point. Yeah, so maybe rulebook
isn't the first session requirement. Maybe that's more like a third, fifth session when you're
when you're sold on a game and you think, you know what? I do kind of want to level up a little
bit personally, and then you start, then you go out and get that rulebook and bring it along.
Yeah, when you get hooked, forget it. And you want your own set of dice, and you'll want,
I don't know about you, but I found that I like having my own set of games or character sheets,
either ones that I've made up or favorites that somebody else made up or found somewhere,
anyone who's new to the game, this won't make any sense. But once you get into it, you'll find
that your character wants to written down on a piece of paper. Now you can do that on a blank piece
of paper, lined paper, whatever you want. That's more than adequate. And I've had plenty of characters
like that. The more you get into it, the more you start getting a little snobby about your
character sheet, you'll like, well, I like this one because I like the layout and I like my stats
to be laid out this way or that way. And then it's like, oh, isn't this pretty? Look at the font
on this one. This is really great. It's like, oh, they put ivy and scroll along the tops. This is great.
And of course, the more advanced and beautiful it is, the more heartbreaking it is when your
character dies. But you know, that that's neither here nor there. Those are those things,
at least for me, they helped personalize the character a little bit. But yeah, I would say honestly,
that first night, show up with a pencil, that first night, show up with a pencil and rely on
everybody else because you know what? You'll get a real sense of what these people are like.
If you walk in and you're completely green to the game, you'll get a real sense of what this
group is like because if they're going to be a good point, you know, if they're the snobby kind,
where the newbies somebody to, you know, to give a hard time to who wants to be around people
like that? I you don't want to spend time with those. Yeah, you're in the wrong group. You are
definitely in the wrong group. And you are not stuck with the first group that you come across,
even if it's a friend in there, you know, you can say, I don't think this, I'm not jelling with
these people. And you know, just find another one. I mean, there are these days, there are
plenty of ways to find groups, you know, even more so than in the old days. And it really
wasn't hard back then, you know, posting up at local game shops, they can find groups online,
Craigslist, you know, people looking looking for players. I mean, you know, you can go to the forums
that a lot of the game supply companies and stuff and post there saying I'm looking for people.
And going back to what we were talking about, if you can't find a local group or you don't like
the people or you you're having trouble dealing with people face to face, there's nothing wrong
with finding a group over the internet. And there are many ways that people approach gaming.
In the end, you're dealing with people. You want to play with other people and finding that right
mix can make all the difference sometimes. Yeah. And I think it's important to be picky and
choosy because I mean, if I think what you're really wanting is a long-term group probably. You
want someone to be able to play with over the course of at least a couple of months. If not,
I mean, in some cases years, like I've known people who have been playing together for, you know,
over five years. So you want to find the right group. My gaming group, I played with them for 15
years. Wow. Yeah. You know, off and on. I mean, that's a life commitment. Yeah. Some people came and
went and they'd come back. You know, they, you know, I'm working nights for the next six months and
you don't see them. You know, that sort of thing does happen. But, you know, I played with them for
all that time and then I moved away to New York and I came back to visit family, but it happened
to be on a game night. So I called up my old buddy and I said, hey, you mind if I pop in? This
and absolutely show up. So I popped in and we played an old game, a traveler, which is a science
fiction space opera game. And we used to play that off a lot. And we picked up, I swear to God.
Now, it had been probably eight years since I had sat down with them at that point. I sat down
and it was like no time had passed at all. It was like the world outside had just, it didn't exist.
Only this gaming group existed. Only only these people existed. And it was harkening back to things
that had happened in the previous games. And I was able to say, oh, no, no, no, we've seen this
before. Oh my God. And it broke open this big mystery that was going on because it was the same
game and it was the same. That's so amazing. You know, and this is, it sounds almost magical, but it's
just people coming together on a regular basis and knowing each other. You know, I spoke earlier
about, you know, how these things can be almost like any group that you might come together with.
Whether it's a bowling group or a sewing circle or something along those lines, if you come
together and you work on cars with your buddies on the weekend or something like that, you do that
enough and you get very close to these people and you know them. And the nice thing is they're not
just friends that you can chit chat with. You have shared experience, you know? Yeah, yeah.
Um, in that, as you say, infamous, uh, rebuttal to your RPG episode, I, I mentioned how I have memories
and experiences with people that I can't even express to other other groups without an hour and a
half of context. You know, it was, it was this shared environment in this shared world. It's not
magic. It's just being with other people on a regular basis. And when you find that group, it really,
at least for me, it became even more important than the game itself. Well, I think that probably
covers it unless you can think of anything else that people should bring. Well, you know what,
actually food, food, you have to bring food and preferably not just yet another bag of chips.
That's my thing. Like I do bring chips sometimes, but I mean, sometimes you have to branch out and
get like some celery or something that people can eat and not like, you know, the non-junk food.
It is really easy to eat bad when you're gaming. Oh, man. Yeah.
Easy to eat poorly. You know, we played for so many years and I drank so much soda that I finally
said, I can't, I can't do this anymore. And I started drinking tea and I drank like unbelievable
amounts of tea while we were playing. Everybody else was still drinking their soda, but I felt better
I was having tea. Yeah. It's really easy to eat poorly. So watch your waistline while you're
gaming because, you know, that bag of chips is going to be passed around and, you know, it's very
easy to sit there and just stuff your face. But yeah, it's just, it's a lot of fun and I hope that
this episode has helped people sort of know where to begin and then where to go from just getting
started. I guess probably both of us are open to questions anytime, right? I mean, you don't mind
if people email you. I'm sure I don't mind if people contact me either on mastodon or email. Oh,
I'm absolutely happy. They can find me at lostinbronsetgmail.com. That's L-O-S-T-N-B-R-O-N-X at G-Mail.
On mastodon, I am at David Collins Rivera at social.nascaron.org. Yeah, and I'm a, I'm a
clat2 on mastodon.xyz and clat2 at HackerPublicRadio.org. And I say happy gaming. You won't regret it.
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