Dungeons and Dragons and other RPGs

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Can you tell me how to play RPGs?

I'd really like to learn so I can go to one of those shops and make friends and play.

Thanks for reading!

Depending on the group, playing an RPG can be pretty simple - at its base, it's "Let's Pretend" with rules. You create a character, decide what that character is like (motivations, likes, dislikes, all that sort of thing), create stats (numbers that describe how well your character can do certain things), and outfit the character (the Game Master should help with that, when you're just starting out). You should try to learn about the basic mechanics of the game you're playing - GURPS, for instance, decides things with a roll of three 6-sided dice, and you want to roll high, while D&D uses a number of different dice, but usually a twenty-sider (or d20 - the number is how many sides the die has, from d4 to the truly ridiculous d30 and d100) - but at first all you should need to know is which dice to roll and when. (Your D&D fighter is trying to hit something with a broadsword? Roll a d20, and if you hit, roll a d8 and add your strength bonus for damage. Your GURPS private investigator is trying to talk his way out of being kidnapped by an evil cult? Roll 3d6, compare to your Fast-Talk skill, and see how you did.)

Ideally, your gaming group will be nice to a beginner, and show you the ropes. Unfortunately, a significant minority of the players at any given shop are going to be real-life equivalents of Mike in Something Positive, and will be rude, condescending, and critical of everything everyone does. Don't let them get to you - just insist that you're "playing your character", or, for D&D, "playing your alignment". (As one of those players learned once, at a D&D game I was running, that can extend to "playing your character" practicing dissection on the offender while the offending character is asleep. )

Don't let the complexity of the full rule-set for whatever game you start with throw you - nobody but the Mikes will expect you to memorize the entire D&D Player's Handbook or Vampire: the Requiem main book anyway. Ask questions when you're unsure, and don't be afraid to try something that seems strange (I managed to keep my first D&D character from losing a hand that way, when he got suspicious about the magic item behind the small waterfall and tried probing at it with his staff; he pulled back half a staff, as it turned out the "waterfall" was in fact slivered diamonds). Sometimes, the locked door can be bypassed with a Stone to Mud spell on a nearby wall, or a chainsaw taken to the wood - just because the rogue is supposed to pick the lock doesn't mean that's what you have to do...

you sir, rock out loud. I thank you!

check it out, I found some nice D6's:

http://www.gmdice.com/promo/metal-d6/16 ... metal-dice

absolutely love brass. Prefer bronze but I can't seem to find them

Many DnD players do expect you to know quite a bit before you start playing. But if you do buy a handbook and learn the rules beforehand, it will help out a ton. You don't have to memorize it; just get the basics and you'll learn the rules along the way.

Another thing: don't cheat. By cheating I mean don't roll into your hand and then lie about the number you get. It's annoying and pathetic. Yes, there are people out there who just deperately need to crit or roll a passing die, but it's not that big of a deal. Even if you roll a one, sometimes that can lead the game in a different direction that is just as (or more) interesting than the way you'd have gone if you passed. It's just a game afterall

If your looking for some groovy dice, go to the ThinkGeek website. We got my uncle a D20 that flash red when you roll a 20. Now we just need some that call out "fail" when you roll a 1.

Oh, yes, on any roll, failure is going to be an option, and it's possible that your failure could be more entertaining for you than a success. For that matter, a grand failure could be just the ticket for a character's dramatic exit from play. I recall one classic D&D character I had, a barbarian warrior named Mordo the Spaz (a name stolen from an old C64 game - "Careful! He who laughs at Mordo the Spaz soon eats aimlessly-flailing death!"). Mordo once got a magic sword, with a curse - when drawn, it had to be used in the destruction of a foe within ten minutes, or he would be forced to go berserk upon the nearest possible target. If there were no enemies about, he would berserk upon the nearest party member. If alone, he would beserk upon himself. He didn't see the drawback here...

One day, Mordo had drawn his sword, and the party leader, a paladin, talked their way out of the encounter. Mordo went charging ahead through the dungeon, where eventually he encountered a monstrous creature that could fill a room with magical darkness when attacked. (If anyone has Chaosium's All the World's Monsters, it was a Giant Ground Octopus.) He ran headlong into the room, hacking away blind, wildly failing most of his attack rolls, while the rest of the party waited outside, firing the occasional arrow. When the darkness finally dissipated, they found the corpse of the monster, with assorted cuts and arrows in it, and shreds of Mordo scattered about the room. It may be significant that while resurrection had been made cheap and easily available in this game, the party declined to resurrect Mordo... I like to say that Mordo died the way he lived - in a spasm of pointless, mindless violence.

Another great failed roll involved another stupid D&D fighter, Big Phil (or, as the others liked to call him, Meatshield). Going through an underground passage, the party had found a mysterious ring which one person put on to no ill effect, then later a door set into a rock wall. The party gathered around the door, discussing in hushed tones the best way to Detect Traps and look for locks and hidden mechanisms and the like, until I had Phil make a Will save - which he failed, of course, as Will is based on your Wisdom score, and Phil had a Wisdom of 6 (on a 3-18 scale). Phil announced loudly that he was tired of "waiting for you wimps to do something", and kicked the door clean off its hinges - alerting the monster on the other side. (The party survived the ensuing fight because it turned out the ring they'd found earlier gave its wearer the ability to command this particular monster...)

Losing is fun, as we say...

thanks everyone! Big help, really!

One suggestion might be to see if a local gaming store is running the "D&D Encounters Series" -- these are weekly games designed to be introductions to the 4th Edition System, people are ok to just drop in at any time during the story and play and they also have lots of pre-made characters for people. I've found that this can be easier somewhat then trying to work into a gaming group where people may already know each other. Another good introduction might be the the new "Red Box D&D" set. It has a single player "choose-your-own adventure" kind of setting to get new people introduced to the game and then information on how to get a Dungeon Master (DM) to run the rest of the story.

Also keep in mind different groups can play very differently. So if you have a bad experience or awesome experience it can come down to the style of the group as well as it's players.

For example, my first steady DnD group was very RP heavy. We'd playing the role of our characters and throw in quirks and likes or dislikes. It was a bit more like improvisational theater with dice. I think on one occasion we spent two evenings just buying supplies to go out adventuring because the DM loved RPing so much and one guy in the group would insist on RPing every major purchase so he didn't get ripped off. That was a bit too much for us, he may have suffered a completely accidental friendly fire incident shortly after that. We didn't really use graphs or miniatures to show our positioning during combat. The GM might ask where everyone was, people would answer verbally and we'd just picture the places in our head, roll for who gets to do what while we called out what we were doing.

It was only if the fight was really high stakes and someone was about to have their character sheet join the hallowed halls of the fallen that he'd ask for more precise positioning. We'd use the state of the art miniatures back then almost 20 years ago known as 'stuff that's already on the table cuz we were eating, drinking or throwing it'. Someone would say stuff like "I'm the red d12" and move the red d12 on whatever shape had been scribbled up on a notebook 20 secs ago to represent the cavern we were in as a dragon would be represented by an empty coke can. It worked just as well and was just as fun as using the official maps and miniatures today.

Then on the other hand I've had a more recent group that focused more on the numbers game and used computer programs with everyone clearly marked on the official DnD map and tile set. Not too much RP, mostly just having fun adventuring and killing things that have stuff. It had a bit more tactics and less "You're casting chain fireball WHAT now down the narrow tunnel at the troll I'm in melee with?!" friendly fire moments. Different styles but both had their good and bad points, it just came down to personal preference.

My first GM might have gone with this way of describing things
GM:: "You stand before the twisting tower, it's stones look black as midnight as the heavy rain pounds down hard. Above you ravens caw in the twisting evil looking trees, eager for more carrion to feast upon. Trepidation strikes your hearts as you realize this must be the tower the Inn keeper's missing virgin daughter had last been seen near. At a narrow entrance to the south almost obscured by thorny brambles you find a torn piece of white cloth with delicately sewn blue flowers on it, just as the missing girl was last seen wearing."

But the more recent one would be more like:
GM "Ok, so spooky tower with creepy ravens where the chick was last seen, you guys going inside?"
Player 1: "Naw, we're going back to the pub, that's a trap"
Player 2: "wait, a profitable trap?"
GM: "Maybe...undead always have the best stuff"
Player 1: "Dude, trap! Also, best stuff is dragons"
Player 2 "So? Loot's loot! C'mon, I need more gold to make that +2 sword"
Player 1 "Oh, ok fine, we're going into the undead infested trap!"
GM: "Great! places everyone, 10 skeletons spring forth and ambush you! Roll for initiative".

Bit of a difference between the two.

DnD 4th edition would be the best game to start with. I learned the rules pretty quickly. 3rd and 3.5 are a bit more complex and the books are harder to get ahold of because they're older. Essentials which is very similar to 4th could be used too and is in many cases better. 4th and Essentials are both intercompatible and have basically the same ruleset.

The real problem is finding people who will play with you. Most of the nerds of my generation are into anime or video games and would be uninterested in DnD or other roleplaying games because of theme or the slowness of gameplay. Also, they don't like to visualize because imaginations have atrophied over the years due to the rise of visual representation.

However, people of older generations still play. The trouble is finding and befriending these people. And for playing with existing groups, only some would require you to know the game backwards and forwards. The people I've met weren't bothered by my lack of experience. Gamestores and comic shops are the best places to go to meet people who play. MAny of these stores run a series of DnD quick campaigns called DnD encounters. Go to the DnD website and they have a store locator that tells you where it's played and at what time.

I've been playing DnD for about 2 or so years now. Maybe longer. I was nervous at first when I started, but plenty of patient pros will help you. It's extremely fun and quite addictive. I am just now painting my miniatures, and was given a great compliment. It seems I am a die-hard DnDer now. Especially since I am experimenting playing other editions too.