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Post by lizzythenerd on Dec 24, 2014 1:23:41 GMT
I found this forum through a post on Tumblr so word is getting out. (hooray) My question is very broad. I have next to no experience in table top role playing games but I'm very interested. I played part of a Pathfinder story with my brother once, but it was only for an afternoon. What I do have some experience in is mini painting. I have a small collection of about 8 that I've worked on, two were my starting ones and are a little unflattering (the one on the left I eventually repainted), two unfinished, and 6 that I'm pleased with. I guess my question is, where do I start? Do I need to learn the rules first, or are there groups to join where learning-while-playing is possible? Is D&D, or Pathfinder, or another game, more beginner friendly? |
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Post by Winterbourne on Dec 24, 2014 1:32:08 GMT
Well, I haven't been a beginner in so long that I don't know which system would really be the easiest to start with, but if you can find an understanding group, it's definitely possible to learn D&D with a minimum of rule-reading up front.
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damonkies
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Post by damonkies on Dec 24, 2014 1:34:13 GMT
I'm recommend D&D 5e because it just came out and it's pretty beginner friendly. I've used it to expose some of my friends who were unfamiliar with RPGs and have been met with success. The other cool thing about the system is that the publishers also came out with some good beginner resources that can be found here. dnd.wizards.com/products/tabletop-games/trpg-resourcesYou can download all the basic rules and character sheets for free and you don't have to buy anything unless you want the full set of rules. They also have a store and community locator so you may be able to find groups from their website to play with. I haven't heard of people having much success with that but, if you can't find a group to learn with, you can still read the basic rules for yourself and play from them with a couple friends of yours. |
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Alexandra
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Post by Alexandra on Dec 24, 2014 1:35:32 GMT
Not sure what age group you fall into but I found most of my roleplay friends through college. Most colleges have a roleplaying game club of some sort.
If not then, talk to the folks at your local hobby shop that sells that stuff, sometimes (if they have space), they will have nights where gaming groups meet for games and are occasionally looking for players. Often the folks who run gaming stores are players themselves.
Also, you could always join a game played online through something like Roll20 or Skype, it isn't quite the same as being around other players though.
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caristormlark
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Post by caristormlark on Dec 24, 2014 1:37:05 GMT
from what i've seen, Pathfinder is about as beginner friendly as it gets, since it's basically a slightly simplified version of 3.5
it's pretty easy to pick up as you play (as long as you have a full character sheet filled out), but it might depend on your GM's style of play
also, all the information from the rulebooks is readily available online in a pretty well organised archive made by the creators, but there's also d20pfsrd.com which i think is even better
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Post by lizzythenerd on Dec 24, 2014 1:53:44 GMT
Not sure what age group you fall into but I found most of my roleplay friends through college. Most colleges have a roleplaying game club of some sort. Yup I checked and my college has some roleplaying groups. I definitely will look into them when I go back for next semester. |
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Alexandra
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Post by Alexandra on Dec 24, 2014 2:00:33 GMT
Not sure what age group you fall into but I found most of my roleplay friends through college. Most colleges have a roleplaying game club of some sort. Yup I checked and my college has some roleplaying groups. I definitely will look into them when I go back for next semester. My college only had one group, but it had a decent membership and the Alumni visited (as I do now that I am one) to play and run games. I made a lot of lifelong friends there. |
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Post by mercurialarchivist on Dec 24, 2014 2:50:07 GMT
I think I actually started playing with my parents, back when they still had their first edition manuals... Not very user friendly, those. I still have nightmares about it.
As for easy to start things... Depends on the genre you want to play. If you want horror, Don't Rest Your Head is pretty easy to pick up. I also had very little trouble with World of Darkness in general. nWoD, anyways. Never played the old one.
My wife would like to recommend Pathfinder as an easy one and second World of Darkness.
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Post by Dr Archeville on Dec 24, 2014 4:23:43 GMT
To expand a bit on what Alexandra said, many stores that sell Pathfinder products also host Pathfinder Society Organized Play (PFSOP) games, or at least advertise/know where such are being held. The PFSOP is a worldwide fantasy roleplaying campaign; play is organized into Seasons, throughout which the actions and achievements of you and your fellow Pathfinders create an ongoing storyline. Each season consists of at least 28 Pathfinder Society scenarios (short, 4-hour adventures) set in a variety of exotic locations across Golarion. They're designed to be quick & easy to both join and run through, though there are some restriction on character creation and leveling is handled a bit differently from home (non-PFSOP) game. |
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Moonjuice7
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Post by Moonjuice7 on Dec 27, 2014 4:21:51 GMT
Personally, I think the system matters a lot less than the group you are playing with. Pathfinder is what I started with. It was a slightly challenging system to get started with, but with a good GM and maybe a few tools to help with character creation. If you do start with pathfinder, take a look at YAPCG. It is a great excel based character creation tool. |
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Post by Sheena on Dec 27, 2014 5:34:22 GMT
Ruleset shouldn't matter, what really matters is your DM and other group members!! Look for people who are knowledgeable and willing to teach you, good nice people. I started my tabletop career with D&D 1E, a convoluted old-school system that took our group literal years to figure out how to play correctly, but it didn't matter, we're a great group and we've always had an awesome time!
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stlaughter
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Post by stlaughter on Dec 27, 2014 5:50:03 GMT
Moonjuice and Sheena are both right- your group matters much more than the system! Roleplaying is difficult to get into for a modern day person. It requires an ability to step outside yourself, to be comfortable acting in front of others, and to have a safe, supportive environment in which that acting can be carried out. Ruleset might matter once a group gets going- they may find one that fits their sensibilities better than another- but it is the group that matters. A willingness to have fun and a love of storytelling- or just being a big old ham who likes playing pretend- also help.  |
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jfm3
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Post by jfm3 on Jan 10, 2015 6:40:25 GMT
One other thing about 5ed is WotC has given game stores a lot of incentives to run D&D in their stores. Talk to your FLGS about if there's a game you can join, and when you can sit down with the GM to go over things. The stores generally pick GMs that are willing to teach the basics and bring in new players
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Xalian
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Post by Xalian on Jan 12, 2015 12:35:04 GMT
As others have said, it does mostly matter on your group. However, even though it isn't the best system around and a lot of people actually don't like it, D&D 4e is very beginner friendly as it simplifies a lot of things and kind of balances the classes out more.
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