Tabletop RPGs like Dungeons and Dragons can seem very intimidating at first. This guide is intended to help people start playing tabletop RPGs without any prior experience. It might also help some people explore new games or strengthen their existing campaigns.
Don’t be intimidated! Much of the tabletop RPG community is very welcoming to new players, since that just means a larger pool of people to play with! In other words, there’s a lot of material geared toward onboarding newcomers. Finally, if you’re disappointed with how long this guide is and just want to get the goods and get going, I’d say the absolute easiest way to get playing SOMETHING is to download the 17-page PDF of the Coyote and Crow Rules Light Adventure from DriveThruRPG, which is a full hour-plus adventure that can be played entirely with the PDF by people who are totally new to tabletop RPGs. My Dpad also has its own level 1 5e adventure for purchase on DriveThruRPG (but since you’re reading this on My Dpad, you can email me and I’ll send you the PDF for free).
For everyone who’s sticking around, let’s dive in!
Some questions you might have about tabletop RPGs:
Let’s start with an FAQ of sorts; feel free to skip forward to the next section, titled “Guide to start playing tabletop RPGs from zero”. Remember, there are no stupid questions, especially when it comes to something as complicated and thrilling as tabletop RPGs!
What is a tabletop RPG (TTRPG)?
A tabletop RPG is a game that is intended to be played with one or more people, traditionally around a tabletop (though often played online these days), where the narrative is driven forward through a combination of imagination, improvisation, and dice rolling. This focus on imagination and improvisation separates them from board games while also allowing you to play them over and over without ever having the same experience. They’re also more social experiences than typical board games because of this.
What is Dungeons and Dragons?
Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) is by far the most well-known tabletop RPG, and it is one of the pioneers of the genre. It is currently published by Wizards of the Coast. Its first edition was released all the way back in 1974, and its fifth and most recent edition (often simply referred to as “5e”) was released in 2014, with a revision of the fifth edition coming in 2024, though as of this writing the full materials have yet to be released. Later on, this post will describe how to access materials to play D&D with both free and paid options, along with other TTRPGs! As its name implies, you can think of it as a game where you explore caverns and dungeons to fight monsters and dragons, though there’s much more to it than that.
What is Pathfinder/Starfinder?
Pathfinder is an alternate take on edition 3.5 of Dungeons and Dragons. It was first published by Paizo in 2009. It is possible that you may have even played Pathfinder, as people often just play it while calling it D&D. Starfinder is a science-fiction take on Pathfinder that is also published by Paizo.
What is Call of Cthulhu?
Call of Cthulhu is a Lovecraftian RPG that is more focused on elements of horror as well as research and investigation than D&D. It was first published in 1982 with its seventh and most recent edition coming in 2014. It is currently published by Chaosium.
There are all sorts of tabletop RPGs out there but we’ll leave it at that for now.
What is a DM/GM?
A dungeon master (DM) is the person who leads the other players through the adventure in Dungeons & Dragons, while a game master (GM) is someone who leads the other players through the adventure in games that are not associated with the Dungeons & Dragons license. Some games have other names for GMs, such as the Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG, which uses the term “The Director”. There are also “GM-less” games (sometimes called “GM-ful” games) that can be played without a DM, which are slightly more niche but still great.
Are TTRPGs hard for new players?
Not necessarily! In fact, a skilled DM/GM (or a good adventure module for newcomers) should have many tricks to help new players figure out how to start playing the game in an intuitive way, and their customizable nature means it is very easy to make sure that adventures are properly balanced for new players, even people who have never played before. This is also where the improvisational and imaginative nature of TTRPGs comes into play, as the DM/GM can ease the player along and help them have a thrilling experience while also stepping in to stop their character from being killed, if that is not something the player would enjoy for their first game. If you’re playing a solo game, you’re kind of the DM/GM, so you can always just fudge it to keep your character alive as you learn the ropes. Of course, you’ll eventually want to raise the stakes by letting the dice decide your fate, but there’s nothing wrong with starting with some guardrails!
Are TTRPGs expensive?
Again, not necessarily! You can play many many hours of TTRPGs without ever spending a dime (with many free materials listed later in this post). Even if you do pay for rulebooks, it’s usually a pretty good deal, as you can usually expect to pay $20-$50 for a rulebook that could last you through years and years of gaming sessions.
What do you need to start playing Dungeons and Dragons or another tabletop RPG?
Your imagination, a group of people (unless you’re playing a solo RPG, which can be as fun as anything!), paper(s) and pen(cil)(s), and the rules of the game you’re playing, either on a digital screen, in physical form, or printed out… having a printer is definitely not necessary but it can help bring a lot of immersion to your games.
How do you play a TTRPG without a DM/GM?
There are solo RPGs as well as “co-op” RPGs for multiple people where either nobody or everybody guides the story through a combination of imagination, improvisation, and dice rolls (you might begin to sense a pattern here). A very popular example is Ironsworn, with its follow-up, Ironsworn: Starforged, being an improvement in a lot of ways, although it is also a paid product whereas the original is free.
What is a d20?
A d20 is a 20-sided die, and it is the most commonly used die in D&D (I haven’t done the math on this but I feel good about it), which means it has come to be a stand-in symbol for TTRPGs in general. Just think of the typical die that you’ve seen as a “d6”, since it’s a 6-sided die.
What is a nat 20?
A nat 20 is a natural 20, meaning someone rolled a d20 and got a 20. It is contrasted with a non-nat 20 (sometimes called a dirty 20), which is typically achieved through bonuses, such as rolling a 17 with a +3 bonus from a particular stat or ability. It is considered to be a critical hit and has associated benefits.
What is a nat 1?
A nat 1 is a natural 1 (a non-nat 1 is less common than a non-nat 20, since many stat modifiers are positive). It is considered to be a critical failure and has associated consequences.
What are a character’s “stats”?
In D&D, a character’s “stats” are the six main stats that determine their ability to do different things, specifically by modifying their rolls that tap into those stats. These six stats are Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Charisma, Wisdom, and Intelligence. Other games often have different stats that are somewhat similar.
What is advantage? What is disadvantage?
Advantage means you roll twice and pick the higher number to benefit your character. It is often given in situations where your character should easily succeed, such as trying to strike at an enemy with their back turned. Disadvantage means you roll twice and pick the lower number to not benefit your character. It is often given in situations where your character should not easily succeed, such as trying to persuade someone who already has a negative opinion of you.
What is a DC?
DC means Difficulty Class, and it refers to the number you need to match to be able to succeed in what you’re trying to do. For example, if you need to roll a DC 15 persuasion check, that means that you are trying to persuade somebody within the game, and that you have to hit or exceed a 15 to succeed. If you do not succeed, that means you failed to persuade your target, which will affect what happens next!
What is a saving throw?
A saving throw is similar to a DC check but is usually used as a response rather than a proactive move, which is what a DC is typically done for. For example, you might be walking along a path that has traps, so you might need to roll a saving throw that is equal to or better than a 17 to avoid all of the traps.
What does it mean to roll a persuasion check or an investigation check?
A persuasion check or an investigation check is a move you can use to “do something” or push the narrative forward. Actions like this will be met with DC checks, as described above, where you would roll and add the appropriate stat. In D&D, you would add your charisma bonus to a persuasion check and your intelligence bonus to an investigation check… don’t worry too much about this type of thing yet!
What does roll to hit mean? How do you attack an enemy in D&D? What do AC and damage mean?
Let’s say you’re fighting a goblin that has an armor class (AC) of 12. Let’s also say your character has a sword that gives you +1 to a hit and which rolls 2d6 damage. If you’re trying to swing your sword to hit this goblin, their AC of 12 means 12 is the target you’re trying to hit with your d20; however, your sword has a +1 to hit, so really, you just need to roll an 11 or better (since 11+1 would of course match 12). If you roll a 10 or under, you miss. If you roll an 11 or higher, you hit! If you hit, you “roll damage”, which with this sword is 2d6. This means you roll two d6s (the common six-sided die you’re most likely to see outside of D&D) and add the result together. If you roll a 3 and a 5, that means you hit the goblin for 8 damage! This damage would then be subtracted from the goblin’s current hit points (HP), which is like their health bar.
There are a million more rule specifics/dice rolling mechanics we could get into (and this guide will later tell you how to find the relevant rule reference books!) but let’s leave it at that for now.
In TTRPGs, what does race mean? What does class mean?
In D&D and many other games, race is used to distinguish between humans and other species such as gnomes and halflings. In the past, certain races had stat advantages and disadvantages, and although “human” is a single race in this context, the obvious parallels to discredited attempts to claim that different races of humans are born with certain disadvantages led to much discomfort, so this is no longer the case in the fifth edition of D&D. Instead, different races have only positive advantages (i.e., no disadvantages) along with certain traits that might guide their story.
Class can be thought of as what “type” of character you have, with examples being fighter, rogue, and wizard. A character’s class determines much of what they can do and how they will play. It is not related to social or economic class in our world (something like a character’s “Background” would be more likely to get into that kind of thing).
What are safety tools?
Safety tools are intended to make sure that everyone is comfortable while playing a TTRPG. They involve a lot of imagination and improvisation, and it is likely for people around the table to have different comfort levels when it comes to certain topics. Safety tools allow the DM/GM to make sure that people aren’t subjected to things that they don’t want to experience against their will. For example, a group might decide that their game won’t involve things like depictions of self-harm, as that might just not be worth the discomfort it would put one player or multiple players in. As another example, a DM/GM might hand out cards with a big X printed on them that any player can submit to the DM/GM at any time to express their discomfort, in response to which the DM/GM could have everyone take a break and regroup.
Page 26 of Fundamentals of Tabletop Roleplaying (a free PDF) has a brief introduction to safety tools along with recommendations for further reading.
Guide to start playing tabletop RPGs from zero (or how to introduce TTRPGs to someone else who has never played a tabletop RPG):
Optional: Start by watching/listening to actual play like Dimension 20 or Not Another D&D Podcast.
Optional: Buy a set of RPG dice. You can buy these at your local game store, or maybe your local Walgreens or Target; otherwise you can order some online from a ton of places: One random example is this beautiful set from a seller on Etsy. A typical set that can be used with just about any TTRPG imaginable will include seven dice: a d4, a d6, a d8, two d10s (one normal d10 and a percentile d10, which can be used together to roll a “d100”), a d12, and a d20. However, to start you can also just find some “normal” d6 dice from another board game and just use those for the time being, although this will either limit your options or force you to “hack” a game to work with what you have, which is a proud tradition of tabletop RPG lovers everywhere.
Learn how to roll dice to advance a story: Start with the Coyote and Crow Rules Light Adventure. As a bonus, this only requires six-sided dice (d6). It will guide you through an entire adventure, even if no one in your group has ever played a TTRPG before, as it tells you the GM exactly what to read and offers the players three options to resolve each scene.
Learn how to create a world, characters, and stories by rolling dice: Next, a good exercise is to just roll dice on different tables to create worlds to soke your imagination. Multiverse of Mystery has good oracle tables for this but is a paid product, so a free option is to use Ironsworn‘s oracle tables (along with its world workbook). Creating worlds in this way will get your creative juices flowing, and it will also get you used to rolling dice for narrative outcomes.
Learn how to play Dungeons and Dragons specifically: If you want to play Dungeons and Dragons specifically, One Page 5e can be combined with The Horror at Solum Slaughterhouse from the same author to serve as a beginner’s adventure. My Dpad has also created its own starter adventure which can be purchased on DriveThruRPG (but since you’re reading this on My Dpad, you can email me and I’ll send you the PDF for free).
Put it all together to create a world and play within that world with or without a DM: Once you’ve done everything else, you’re ready to take on something like Ironsworn (or Starforged), where you can create and play in all sorts of worlds, with or without a DM, and even by yourself with no one else (though you can also play with friends).
Where to legally obtain free TTRPG materials and buy paid materials:
If you want physical rulebooks and games, your local game/comic book store is the first best choice, as they should be able to help you find the exact right setup for your interests. If you don’t have access to a local store like that, many games (such as Dungeons and Dragons, Pathfinder/Starfinder, Coyote and Crow, etc.) sell physical books and materials on their websites. These games also sell “starter packs” or “beginner boxes” that typically includes condensed versions of the rules along with a prebuilt adventure module to get you started, and you might even be able to find D&D starter sets at big box stores like Target. These types of kits can be nice because they typically include a map and can often be more immersive than an adventure made by a DM who’s just starting out. You can also browse general local bookstores and online bookstores like Bookshop for various TTRPG materials, though of course you have to know what you’re looking for first.
If you want digital content (and remember, you can always print things out to turn digital content into physical content, often at a cheaper price!), DriveThruRPG is my favorite place, although Humble Bundle bundles often involve TTRPGs. itch.io also has some TTRPGs (including My Dpad’s very own 5e quickstart, Escape From Castle Calamity).
Quickstarts:
Quickstarts are, as implied by the name, intended to help you start quickly. They are often kind of like demos for a larger game (which has the added benefit of making many of them free), but since you can always build on your campaign by using your imagination, using these as a starting point can be just as fruitful as diving into a “full” game. They typically give you at least some setting information to work from as well as some starter characters and adventures to get your feet wet.
Free quickstarts:
Adventures in the Household Quickstart
Coyote and Crow Rules Light Adventure
Anne Stokes’ Lillithea Quickstart
Spaceships and Starwyrms Beginner’s Kit
The Ultraviolet Grasslands Free Introduction
Paid quickstarts:
One Page 5e: The Horror at Solum Slaughterhouse
My Dpad’s own Escape From Castle Calamity
Full games/Rulebooks:
Right here is where you’ll find the books that contain everything you need to play a full game. For a game like D&D, there will always be a million books available that provide things ranging from full adventures to lists of additional monsters, but the core rules will always be enough to play for 100 lifetimes when paired with an active imagination.
Free full games/rulebooks:
ba5ic (kind of a cross between old school D&D and 5e that is compatible with 5e)
Dungeons and Dragons Basic Rules
Dungeons and Dragons System Reference Document (SRD) (this is technically for use with publishing materials that are compatible with 5e, but it can be used as a rules reference as well)
Paid full games/rulebooks:
Ironsworn: Starforged (along with its expansion, Sundered Isles)
My Dpad’s own Bombs & Burgers
Dungeons and Dragons also sells its three “core books” (the Player’s Handbook, the Dungeon Master’s Guide, and the Monster Manual) in digital form for Roll20 but they will not just give you the PDF, which I do not agree with… However, they do offer the Basic Rules and SRD for free (as mentioned above), so I will respect that for as long as they continue to do it.
An Option for Younger Kids:
I have not played it, but Hero Kids has caught my eye as it seems to be a good inexpensive way to introduce young kids to TTRPGs without having to slog through as many rules… though the Coyote and Crow rules light quickstart is certainly appropriate for many kids, as it involves discussions of general violence but does not dwell on it or include darker content such as sexual assault. Finally, it should be noted that one of my dad’s friends introduced us to D&D by DMing us through an adventure, so that’s always a classic too, especially since the DM has full control over the story’s content (and can therefore make the adventure as age-appropriate as necessary).
Supplements to help you play that are not their own game:
These are neither quickstarts nor full rulebooks but supplements that you can use to strengthen your campaigns. For example, you can use the Journals of Puzzle Encounters to add puzzles to a campaign or even replace battles with puzzles, if you’re playing with people who might not enjoy combat-focused campaigns as much. The 5e Game Master Screen for Lazy GMs will replicate the old school DM screen (think of a stand-up binder that literally blocks the view of the players while also offering valuable information) by giving the DM/GM a bunch of tools to help them improvise and push the story along. Finally, the Coyote and Crow adventure modules are full stories you can play through with your friends, which are available for many games from both the publishers and the community (for example, you can buy adventures modules for Fifth Edition Dungeons & Dragons on DriveThruRPG).
Free supplements:
Worlds Weird and Wonderful (technically a solo game but useful for idea generation)
Paid supplements:
100 Missions and Quests for Mages
5e Game Master Screen for Lazy GMs
Coyote and Crow adventure modules
Wally DM’s Journal of Puzzle Encounters (and the second one) as well as Wally DM’s Dice Mini Games
Digital Tools for TTRPGs
If you’re using digital rulebooks, you can still make your game physical by printing out character sheets, rules, and even art for inspiration. However, there are also some great digital tools that you can use to either enhance your physical game sessions or play remotely with friends.
5etools is basically an online rulebook for the fifth edition of D&D, and you can learn quite a lot about the game by just clicking around here and learning about different classes as well as different spells, items, and enemies.
Foundry and Roll20 are virtual tabletops (VTTs) that many TTRPGs can be both played through with integrated content. I have used Roll20 but have not used Foundry, but Foundry seems to be very popular. Update: I have since started using Foundry and am a big fan. It is a paid product (a license costs $50, with occasional sales down to $40, while Roll20 is free but has certain features that are only available through a subscription… in both cases these costs only apply to GMs; players can play for free while making use of the GM’s paid perks), but I appreciate that it is self-hosted, which makes me feel better about the idea of buying content for it.
Both Roll20 and Foundry allow you to share content that you’ve bought as the GM with your players, although sharing in Roll20 is limited based on your subscription. One last note: If you’re going to play with people outside your home’s WiFi network, you’ll need to set up port forwarding in Foundry, while you won’t have to do this with Roll20. Foundry users can also use Forge to host their servers if they don’t want to mess with port forwarding, but that involves further costs which might change your cost calculations when comparing Foundry versus Roll20. Just some things to think about!
Tabletop Simulator is a video game where you can play many board games, but it’s also a VTT that you can use to play TTRPGs virtually.
Ironsworn has some digital tools on its website’s community resources page that allow you to track your progress in Ironsworn and Ironsworn: Starforged.
Well, it would be impossible to cover everything in a single article, so let’s stop there for now. Go forth and play! I hope this guide has given you the confidence you need to bring TTRPGs to your own table, no matter what direction you (and your friends) end up taking it in.
Note: This article includes affiliate links for DriveThruRPG, including in the banners embedded within this article.
This work includes material taken from the System Reference Document 5.1 (“SRD 5.1”) by Wizards of the Coast LLC and available at https://dnd.wizards.com/resources/systems-reference-document. The SRD 5.1 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode.