The Best Tabletop RPG for Beginners. (Part 1)

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The best tabletop RPG for beginners probably isn’t what you expect. It doesn’t mean there is one particular game out there (especially the-game-I-refuse-to-mention-by-name here or anywhere else). Popularity doesn’t mean it’s the best game for you to start with as a beginner. We’ll get to that later on.

However, before we start, I need to take this post to set up the answer to the statement. 

There are many details to consider that most people who attempt to bring new players into the hobby never address. Most are horrible tabletop RPG evangelists. On the flip side, beginners don’t know any better to ask. 

The Best Tabletop RPG for Beginners Is About Mindset

What I will focus on in Part 1 of this two-part series is education and mindset. Approach. Philosophy. 

One goal of the RPG Elite network is to expose people who have never played tabletop RPGs to the hobby. However, it’s not just to get more people to play, but to get more people to play with the RPG Elite philosophy in mind.

To that end, there is a particular process I suggest in order to keep the tabletop RPG exodus recidivism rate low.

This series will present three of what I consider the best tabletop RPGs for beginners. But there are some questions we’ll ask for the tabletop RPG beginner first before we get to those. So hang in there for Part 1, and I promise to deliver in spades in Part 2. But I want to be thorough. This stuff is important.

What Is a Tabletop RPG?

This might seem too basic for people who are familiar with tabletop RPGs. It’s not when you are trying to find the best tabletop RPG for beginners. They are beginners. They don’t know what’s different about tabletop RPGs than other games. That needs to be explained.

In addition, the definition I will present will be from an RPG Elite perspective. There are  different definitions you can find in just about every tabletop RPG. It’s one of the first things  they assume when you pick up their game and read it — that you may not know what a tabletop RPG is. So they explain it from their perspective. We will do the same thing here.

A tabletop RPG is a storytelling art form where the players take on the persona of an individual and use that persona to express their creativity and imagination to create an impromptu story.

Another way to look at this is to go back to when you were younger and played make-believe with your friends. Maybe you cast yourself as the hero from your favorite Saturday morning cartoon (when there was such a thing), movie, or streaming show. You didn’t have a script. You winged it, reacting to what your friends did in character.

That’s it in a nutshell.

This Is a Time Investment

Tabletop RPGs aren’t like other games. You don’t play in an hour and then you’re done. At minimum, you’re talking about a two-hour investment. That’s something really bare-bones. On average, it’s 3 to 4 hours. I’ve even encountered one GM who says he doesn’t even consider playing unless the session is six hours long.

You have to understand this going in. Every GM will be different, but the time investment will be the same — hours. You need to expect this and set time aside, like an afternoon or evening. If you can’t stay seated and focused for that amount of time, tabletop RPGs will not be for you. However, if you’re not running for the hills and are still interested, read on.

The next question is one that never gets asked but needs to if you want to find the  best tabletop RPG for beginners. 

Why Are You Playing Tabletop RPGs?

Yes. Why? The way most in the tabletop RPG community would answer this is that they want to have fun. I understand that, but that is not the end all for an RPG Elite. To be frank, for an RPG Elite, fun is not enough.

The RPG Elite approaches tabletop RPGs not only to have a pleasurable time, but primarily to have an experience with substance. For the RPG Elite, a tabletop RPG session with substance is their pleasure. Without this, it’s a vacuous waste of time which we do not want to invest in because we consider our time valuable, which I talk about in RPG Elite Quality #1.

To determine the best tabletop RPG for beginners, you have to find your why in playing tabletop RPGs. Maybe you’re doing this to expose somebody else to tabletop RPGs. Then you need to ask probing questions in order to get the answer. This really will inform how you will proceed in discovering right tabletop RPG for you as a beginner. 

Are you curious what tabletop RPGs are about and want to find out more? Have you seen others play tabletop RPGs and want to try your hand at it? Are you drawn to the story aspect of tabletop RPGs? Do you enjoy taking on the persona of other people? Or is it something else? Find your why first because then you know exactly what to look for in terms of the experience you want to have.

One Size Does Not Fit All

The number one mistake people make when determining the best tabletop RPG for beginners is they believe one size fits all individuals. They don’t think about serving the individual. They think about the game before they think about the person. It is the game that needs to fit the person, not the person who needs to fit the game. The latter is called railroading, which we do not want to do.

As I said above, playing tabletop RPGs is a time investment. Even if you’re playing a one-shot, where you sit down and play the game in one sitting, it’s not done within a half an hour. You’re talking about hours of your time just to finish one adventure, quest, or mission. If you spend that much time playing, you want to make sure it’s not in vain playing the wrong game.

In Part 2, I will get specific outlining the process in how you to go about discovering the best tabletop RPG for beginners, whether that’s you or someone else.

Happy gaming, and keep it Leet. 👊🏿