Christ Centered Gamer

Tabletop Roleplaying Games: An introduction, with a budget.

So, you heard about this thing called tabletop gaming and you want to get your feet wet. This article is the place for you to get the necessary resources (next to paper, pens, and your imagination) to get started. Perhaps you’re like me and you’re not an heir to a vast oil empire with disturbing amounts of money to throw around. Buying books is both intimidating and expensive, especially if you don’t know if this style of Roleplaying is for you.

So why buy, when free is amazing!

(Note: This article does not support the piracy of gaming materials. Please remember that behind each page, each piece of artwork is a person who created this with the hope that they would not have to work another job on top of pursuing their passion. Their hope is that their artwork or creativity would cover their bills and perhaps even more. Please reward those who took the time to create your hobby by paying for their materials.)

Now on to the free (and legal) stuff!

Dungeons & Dragons is the meat and potatoes of Pen and Paper RPGs. With that, this article will primarily focus primarily on this genre of pen and paper games. Created by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, first published in 1974, this legendary game spawned a gaming culture. Inexpensive books can be purchased for any edition at your local used bookstore or on wonderful websites like Ebay or Amazon. Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (1st Ed) and 2nd Ed are considered old school with 3.5 and 4 the current standard for D&D.

4th edition will require you to purchase a Players Handbook (at the very least) in order to play and is very combat and miniature heavy, requiring additional resources to be purchased or a substitute made. With that said, 4th edition is difficult to play on a limited or nonexistent budget.

3.5 edition was created by the current owner of the Dungeons & Dragons franchise, Wizards of the Coast. Initially, WOTC created 3.5 with an OGL (or Open Gaming License) with the intent of independent gaming companies creating content for the D20 (another name for the rules) system. With that, anyone can look to the OGL for the basics of D&D 3.5. The OGL content for D&D 3.5 can be found at www.d20srd.org. With this site, you can make basic characters and quests. The D20 SRD contains the contents of the 3.5 Player’s Handbook, Dungeon Master’s Guide and the first Monster’s Manual as well as Complete Psionics and Unearthed Arcana, two supplemental books. A great and free resource for the novice tabletop gamer!

The 3.5 OGL spawned many free and open source games. The biggest of which is the creation of Piazo Publishing’s Pathfinder (http://www.piazo.com). Pathfinder is D&D 3.5 with some added adjustments regarding feats and combat as well as some new classes (Often referred to as “D&D 3.6”).Unlike 3.5, all you need for Pathfinder is the Core Ruelbook. If you can’t afford a book, Pathfinder has an SRD that is more detailed that the D20 SRD (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/) with many expanded and variant classes.

If you want something with an “Old School” feel, then you want to go with a Retro Clone. Retro Clones start with the OGL and reengineer it to look and feel as AD&D and the earlier incarnations of the game do. Each Retro Clone has its own flavor so here’s a list of the available Retro Clones for you to experience and develop an opinion of your own:

OSRIC-A rules simulator for D&D 1e: http://www.knights-n-knaves.com/osric/
Basic Fantasy-A rules light AD&D Clone-http://basicfantasy.org/
Labyrinth Lord-Ranked as one of the best clones with a great old school feel-http://goblinoidgames.com/labyrinthlord.html

So you have the material to get started. If you happen to be short on friends who play pen and paper games, there’s a solution for that as well. http://www.meetup.com is an awesome resource for anyone looking to find a regular gathering of gamers. Most of these “meetups” are filled with seasoned gamers who do not mind teaching those inexperienced with the culture and rules set. All you have to do is create a free account and list your interests. From there, join as many Meetups as you like. Usually every major city has a Dungeons & Dragons Meetup. This is preferred alternative over posting on craigslist because the meetups are usually held in a public location, have a solid and positive reputation, and most likely will not be a serial killer looking to use D&D as a way to lure victims to their windowless hives. Shudder.

Dice is something you will want to purchase, though every smart phone has a free or inexpensive dice emulator. Dice can be found at most comic shops, gaming shops, or on the internet.

You’re all set! Now it’s time to sharpen your swords and reinforce your armor because danger, suspense, and probably a misunderstood reputation await! Good Luck!

-Fathom

Emwok wrote: Edit: My mom knows the Dungeons & Dragons TTRPG and says it has a lot of magic (inferred "no"). Are there any other Pen & Paper games similar to this one but without all of the magic?