The infamous name conjures up the mental picture of greasy nerds sitting in their parents’ dingy, wooded-panel lined basements surrounded by stacks of well-worn players guides and empty bags of potato chips. The concept of pen and paper role-playing has definitely suffered an image problem thanks to hysteria about its connections to the occult on one side and its “uber-nerd” perception from the other.
If you’ve never tried pen and paper roleplaying, set your biases aside and give it a shot.
Perception vs. reality
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While its is definitely a geeky hobby (I don't debate that), its a great way to spend time with friends and explore each other’s imaginations. At its core, pen and paper roleplaying is simply a group of people crafting a malleable story that can change on a whim. And its a tremendous amount of fun.
Its not just about tediously exploring dungeons
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Sure, exploring dusty tombs and fighting massive dragons is part of the game, but I’ve played plenty of sessions where I didn’t even touch my weapon. As much fun as exploring and fighting is, developing an interesting character and how they interact with the others is a huge part of the game. They might be a jerk, naive, ruthless, aloof, greedy, insane or secretly in love with one of the other adventurers. Building these relationships in the party makes the entire experience more immersive.
I’ve played everything from a noble, stern paladin to a barbarian who was suffering from schizophrenia. Each character you create gives you the chance to play out how they would approach certain situations and how they interact with the world and the other players.
Its not restricted to swords and sorcery
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While Dungeons and Dragons laid the foundations of pen and paper RPGs, its one of many gameplay systems and settings that you can dive into. Cthulhu, Shadowrun, Star Wars and more have roleplaying systems, rulebooks and everything you need to create campaigns in those worlds. Playing a character in the Star Wars universe is quite a bit different than one from a fantasy world. And if you like the setting of one system and the rules of another, you can mix and match. Its your game, after all.
So what do you need to play?
One of the great things about pen and paper RPGs is they don’t require much to actually play...or you can go all out on books, maps and miniatures. Some systems even have free online player’s manuals and guides.
A group of friends
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Of course, you need people to play with and a minimum of 3. One person will serve as the DM (dungeon master). The DM reveals the story, acts out the part of non-player characters, controls monsters and enemies and guides you through the adventures. If the party is too large, it can take a long time to complete an encounter, so in my experience 5 is about the maximum number of characters, so there’s room for a total of 6 participants (1 DM and 5 players).
Rulebooks
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No matter if you buy an actual book or download a PDF, you’ll need a copy of the rules of the game. A basic player’s guide has information about basic races, character classes, equipment and combat. More in-depth guides can be added to expand choices of both players and the DM.
Dice
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There’s countless types of dice out there, from funky color combinations to exotic materials. Dice are used to determine if an action you’re performing in the game succeeds or fails. Every system handles dice differently, but the basics are usually the same.
Pencils and character sheets
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You keep track of your character’s traits, experience, equipment, skills and more on character sheets. Its also good to have a notebook or scrap paper for tracking your hit points, keeping notes and jotting down icons or symbols you might encounter. And use pencils, not pens. You’ll be erasing stuff all the time, so don’t write with something permanent.
Imagination and performance
Letting loose with your creativity really helps to make the game more fun for everyone. Creating compelling characters with well-conceived backstories and motives make them feel like a real part of the world you’re exploring. Additionally, speaking and acting the way your character would can be a blast for everyone involved, especially for those of you with bold personalities.
Talk with the DM about your ideas for the campaign too. In one of our campaigns we had the idea for a test for the characters to pass. That test was to each take 3 fortune cookies from a chest, eat the cookie and then read the fortune. The fortunes were various positive, neutral or negative effects that the character was effected with, from gaining an endless supply of dancing bunnies to turning oneself into a shapeless blob. My wife actually created real fortune cookies that we slipped the status effects into and we had a small chest to put them in, so we actually drew and cracked open these cookies during the game. It was epic and very memorable.
Grids and figs (optional)
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Not a necessity, but if you plan on adhering strictly to movement rules and want to clearly render the environments of the game, these are nice to have. My grids, I mean using a laminated grid the DM can draw maps on. Your character figures will use the grid to determine how far they can move and how they are oriented during battles.
Snacks
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Cause you gots to have snacks when you D&D. That is all.
Turn off the screens and turn on your brain
While video games are wonderful in their own right, there’s nothing that can replace a group of friends heading off into adventures that you all contribute to in various ways. It becomes a story that you’re all part of and which you all help write.
And its just a great way to bond with old friends or make new ones.
Do you play any pen and paper RPGs? What was your favorite game systems? Do you have any memorable moments to share? Let’s discuss!
Thanks for reading. As always, upvotes, resteems and comments are appreciated!
Cover Image Source: Wizards of the Coast