What are Table-Top Role-Playing Games?
Today, we’re looking at Table-Top Role-Playing Games (or TTRPGs), one of the best analog ways you and your friends can have fun! Simply put, TTRPGs are games where players act as specific characters they’ve created in a world and story that is created by one of the participants (often called a Game Master). Some players act as characters in the story you’re designing while another player describes the world and presents problems for the characters in the narrative to solve. The nature of the world, challenges, and characters all come down to you and the story you want to tell.
And the greatest part? It can be any story.
A lot of people I’ve spoken to, before learning what Dungeons & Dragons is, assume it’s a video or board game. While this is a fair assumption to make, D&D actually falls into a completely unique category; one that’s been growing extremely popular over the last decade. In this article I’m going to explain, from the ground up, what a TTRPG is and why it’s one of the most creative, adaptable, and engaging hobbies you can have.
Story
The story you explore can be as long, detailed, and fantastical as your playgroup likes. Your group might want to explore the fall of a mighty Elven Empire over a century, or a week in the lives of regulars at a coffee shop. Maybe you’ll discuss the intricate politics of warring cyborg factions, or develop a comfortable township in the countryside. The scope, genre, key elements, and tone are all up to you and your fellow players. You can play through your favourite TV series (I’ve played in an off-brand Scooby Doo game), you can try out an exciting genre or trope (I was a big fan of the campy/B-movie style slasher I played through), or you can explore something completely original (like the magical fantasy adventure I’m currently running). There will be a game out there for any kind of story you’d like to try out, and at that point all that’s left to do is explore the story as a character of its world.
Characters
One of the most engaging parts of TTRPGs is the character you play. You have the complete freedom to create and play as whatever your heart desires, as long as it fits within the established story. From looks to personality to history, they are entirely yours to imagine and shape, but keep in mind the setting in order to create a cohesive and consistent character - work alongside the player who is running the campaign!
A swashbuckling zombie, an elite mech pilot, a dapper Victorian mafia boss, or a steampunk spider woman - the world is your oyster. Whatever suits the game and your tastes - just discuss it with whoever is running the game! Below is a quick description of a character I designed (who I’m currently playing):
Name: Ophelia
Role: Vampire Wizard
Personality: Comes off as snobbish and conceited, is struggling with her moral compass after becoming a noble in a cruel vampire society, desperately protective of her human husband.
History: Studied as an academic in philosophy and psychology. Worked her way through upper vampire society and is now a noble. After joining her current party and seeing more of the world, she has come to realise the atrocities she committed in the name of her leaders and is seeking redemption for herself and safety for her husband.
Ophelia was designed around the gothic horror world of this game, my desire to play a spell caster, my love of vampires, and my personal academic pursuits. She suits the world and I love playing her. Inspiration for a character can come from anywhere; art, hobbies, memes, personal experience; but ultimately, they can be anyone, as long as you enjoy playing them.
Role-Play
Once you have your character, you get to play as them! This is where Role-Play comes in. Think of Role-Play as playing a character in a movie or on stage but rather than learning a script, you consider your character’s values and backstory and decide how they would react to different scenarios. This can seem intimidating, as many new players fear they aren’t ‘good enough actors’ or that they won’t be able to make decisions that accurately reflect their characters. Role-Playing is a skill like any other and it gets better with practice, but ultimately, it’s more about imagination than acting.
If I were reading about this character in a book, what do I think would happen next? Because of these events in my character’s past and these personality traits, how do I think they’d react in this scenario?
Role-Play is an exercise in seeing someone else’s perspective and ultimately boils down to “What do I think is satisfying, fun, and makes sense to do or say at this moment?”. There’s no right or wrong way to pretend to be someone you’ve invented, and in the end, it’s all about play and having a good time.
Mechanics
A game can be played just with these elements (Story, Characters, Role-Play)but what can really give the story tension and the feeling of the unknown are the mechanics. Mechanics and rules limit what you’re able to do within the story, and add consequences and realism. Mechanics dictate what abilities your character has, how they’re able to pursue their goals and influence the world around them, and how easy it is for them to die. Each game has unique rules which work together to shape the tone and genre of a game. A TTRPG where you can’t heal after being hurt is going to be a lot scarier than one where you have endless healing magic. One with extensive mechanics around weapons is going to encourage a lot more fighting than one that focuses more on conversation prompts and knowledge checks. The amount and variance in rules will shape the feeling of your game and will reinforce the type of story you want to make.
For example, Dungeons & Dragons has an extensive rule set (especially around weapons and magic), so combat is often heavily featured. However, backstories, history, and culture are also extensively covered, so travel, exploration, and social interaction are highly encouraged too.
Call of Cthulhu is another popular TTRPG which focuses heavily on character skills, so problem-solving and investigation are the main draws of the game. However, in this system characters are very easily injured and upgrades to your character and gear are often scarce. This helps to push Call of Cthulhu into the horror genre. Kids on Bikes has fairly few rules, leaving more room for role-play and story exploration. It also has a dynamic dice rolling system that helps to push its theme of overcoming adversity.
Chance
Speaking of dice rolling systems, dice rolling is often a prominent part of many TTRPGs. Dice add chance to your story; if you got to pick the outcome of every situation, you’d always win and always know what was going to happen next - which immediately reduces the tension. The dice add random potential to the mix, increasing the chance for the unexpected to happen. Whenever your character is making a choice, you’ll always get to control their intentions, but if they’re doing something with risk involved, you’ll likely have to roll a dice. There’s a chance I’ll slip if I try to climb a tree, there’s a chance my shoe will squeak when I’m trying to be sneaky, there’s a chance my poker face will falter when I’m trying to lie.
Here’s where your character also comes into the mix. During character creation, you’ll build your character in accordance to their strengths and weaknesses, and as a result, get some advantage or disadvantage when rolling relevant dice checks. For example, if you’re a skilled swordsman but have no social skills, you’ll be favoured when duelling an opponent with blades but not words.
Some games use different mechanics; cards, tokens, jenga towers, but dice are generally the go to. Chance makes the story more interesting; a victory is always sweeter when there is a possibility of failure.
Play Order
There are many types of games with many scopes and styles, but the main type you’re likely to encounter will have one player acting as narrator/adjudicator (commonly referred to as the Game Master or GM) and the rest (usually an average of four players) will take on the roles of characters in the story. Typically, a GM will describe a scene or scenario and then the players will describe how their characters react. There’s no strict order to who goes when - it simply flows like a conversation. Think of it as a “choose your own adventure” story, but when you get to the bottom of the page, rather than having two options, you can do basically anything and interact with everything your characters could!. Below is a little example of how things might go. In this scenario, our GM is running a game for Sam (who is playing a character called Calypso) and Alex (who is playing Ophelia, who was mentioned earlier).
GM: “You and your group have been walking for about an hour. The sky is clear and most of the trek has covered little but wide grasslands, say for a few clusters of trees. As you round a small hill, you spot a tall tower nestled between the slopes.”
Sam: “Does it look old? Does it look like anyone has stayed in it recently?”
GM: “The roof is covered in moss and the grass surrounding it is overgrown, however you see a faint light in one of the windows. You’ll need to get closer to investigate further.”
Alex: “I run up to the tower. Is the door locked?”
GM: “The door is–”
Sam as Calypso: “Wait!”
Sam: “Can I check if it’s trapped first? I’ve been trained as a lockpick, so I’d know a thing or two about trapped doors.”
GM: “Sure thing. Roll to see if you spot any traps.”
Sam: “I got an 18!”
GM: “You spot a small, arcane engraving on the handle. You’ve seen these designs before during your lockpicking days - you think it might explode if you try to open it.”
Alex as Ophelia: “Ok, maybe we should try a window.”
Dice rolling and mechanics will come into play as they’re needed, but for the most part you’ll explore the world by asking questions and describing responses. You can switch back and forth between asking questions of the GM as yourself and talking to others as your character. Like above, it was Sam who asked the GM if they could check for traps, but Sam playing Calypso yelled out “Wait!”. As a player, you’ll both say your character’s ‘lines’ and describe their actions; they are totally under your control.
Creative Freedom
The world, and all other non-player characters in it, are controlled by the Game Master. There are prewritten stories they can follow but many Game Masters design, build, and write them entirely from scratch, or take inspiration from already established worlds. This is one of the reasons TTRPGs are so popular - they’re unique and creative all the way down. A real person is actively building a story for you to play in and explore, they can shape events around your actions and goals, and tailor the game to be fun for you and your friends specifically.
There are no limitations in this format. You can explore any genre, any experience, and there are no restrictions. I’m playing my vampire, Ophelia, in a gothic horror game at the moment, but if we wanted, we could suddenly turn it into a rom com, or a teen drama. My character could suddenly decide to open a restaurant, or overthrow the king, or become a highwayman. I could run a game about space pirates, or a mermaid speakeasy, or a cyborg football league. And the rules are only in play when you all agree to it. If your group doesn’t like a rule in your game, you can change it. Table-top role-playing games can fit any genre, tell any story, for any character.
Benefits
As fun as it is as a way to tell stories, TTRPGs fill an important space for friend groups - it’s an inherently social activity where everyone can bond together over a shared world. It’s a great regular activity to help maintain friendships and an incredible tool to connect with other people. Role-play is a very empathetic practice; having to explore another person’s experiences and explore a world from their perspective can be extremely insightful and can allow for a lot of social and emotional growth. In these games you’re often faced with difficult challenges, and problem-solving through deductive, conversational, and insightful means becomes an important practice. I think TTRPGs are a great hobby for adults, as an amazing way to connect with other people and explore personal creativity, but for kids and teens too, as a way to develop social and reasoning skills and to explore what is essentially a fantastical simulation of interaction and consequences.
Getting Started
The world of Table-Top Role-Playing Games is vast and colourful -I truly believe it is a hobby that anyone can play and enjoy. If you’re interested in looking further into this type of gaming, I highly recommend checking out some ‘Actual Play’ content (that is, recordings of people playing games). Dungeons & Dragons is by far the most accessible and popular (I highly recommend watching anything by Dimension 20), but there’s content out there for everyone. Try googling “[A genre you like] TTRPG” and see what pops up for you! Then look for recordings of those games; there are YouTube videos and podcasts galore.
Then, if you’re ready to give it a try, I recommend searching for TTRPG groups in your local area (there tend to be plenty of active Facebook groups), or do what I did 8 years ago and pop into your local game store! Many hold TTRPG nights, or at least, will be able to point you in the right direction. I walked into my local Good Games years ago, sat down at a table, and have been playing with the same group ever since! Good Games holds regular Learn to Play events, so if you’re interested, get in contact with your local Good Games today!
TTRPGs are an exciting, creative, and heartfelt hobby and I couldn’t recommend them enough. I hope that you now have a more solid grasp on what they are and that you’ll consider giving one a go yourself. I wish you all the best in your future games.
Good Journey, Adventurer!
- Alyshia
