Perks of Roleplaying games.

[Saint of M]

With zoom and Roll 20 taking care of some of my table top needs, i thought I do a youtube video on the perks of getting into a table top RPG. If there are any suggested RPG's that might be fun, mention them in the comments so I can have their pictures up for the opening to show how varied this is.

Otherwise these are what I see as the perks.
ALso, I will have pretty pictures every few paragrahs so its not just a wall of text.

Games I can think of are Dungeons and Dragons, Pathfinder, Vampire: The Masquerade, Werewolf Apocalypse, and Rouge Trader come to mind

1. A safe place to socialize and meet people.

For many people, meeting new people is a difficult experience. They are shy, they have cripling social anxieties, maybe they are conscientious about a scar, birthmark, or burn they have. Or they are like me and they are on the Autistic Spectrum and our ability to socialize is something that is met with much trial and error.

Especially with a first day on a game, or your first character, you are bound to make mistakes and good players more than happy to help you. As you are also playing the game as a character and not yourself, you are free to do things as a character you might be as a person. It also gives you some mental distancing. After a few games, you become comfortable and you have a group of friends.

2. Ability to express yourself more freely.

Like an actor on the stage or the screen, up to seven players take the roll of a character on an adventure. An additional player called the Dungeon Master or Game Master (depending on game and preference) acts as the narrator, None Player Characters, enemies, and referee. You can be who you want.

You are no playing an asthmatic kid that sucks at sports, you are Malekeith: Noble warrior and prince of the Elves.

You are not a kid from the poor neighborhood (though you can still play that), but Sir Markus the Brave; paladin of light and defender of the helpless.

You are no longer just a horrifically shy girl, but Kira the Enchantress, master of the sorcerous arts.

You are no longer a kid who feels they are not smart enough, but now Char, a master of lore.

Or maybe you can add some aspects of yourself. A player that does acrobatics might enjoy being a rouge, or a musician might enjoy the bard.

You can play any race, any gender, and as your class is basically a playstyle, you can find something that fits you.

Even in building your characters, you can focus on this. Will you be a charmer, a brutish thug; a smarty smart guy that is a master of all manner of schools of thought; or is your head just used to crack walnuts?

As many of us use little minitures, you can express yourself artistcly here. Yes, everyone's first model is a mess 9 times out of 10, but you will get better. I have also seen people use platic army men and even legos to represent their units.

3. Allows you to think creatively: While most things are a straightforward dice roll to decide something, you can still have fun with it. Maybe you have an idea on how to get through and you get to use it. Maybe you are really good at sweet talking in real life and you use that.

If you have options, are you going to talk your way out, fight your way out, or sneak around.

DId you build up a walking tank that will soak up damage and be the focus of the enemy while your friends deal with the enemy? Or is hurling a massive fireball the answer to all your problems in life?

There will be games where it is advantages to keep your weapon sheathed, and there will be games where you have to kill everything in sight, but most encounters you might be able to decide.


Thats what I have so far, is if there any other things that might get someone in (or allow parents to let the youngin to play), post down below. Thank you

 

[SckizoBoy]

You are no playing an asthmatic kid that sucks at sports, you are Malekeith: Noble warrior and prince of the Elves.

I find it amusing that Malekith is the name you chose for that character archetype.

Also, you might want to remove zoom from your list of potential methods of conference calling. Security issues hanging around zoom have made it a no-go for many.

Anyway, you've touched on most concepts, but it's a lot broader than you give it credit for (not a criticism, just that the choice of games you've provided will appear (very) narrow to some). There are RPG's and RPG systems to suit almost literally any taste or set of interests, a few of which are adaptations of franchises popular now, so there's always an easy 'in'. Like, while (typically western) high fantasy is the genre of choice, it can veer away from that as far as something like Night Witches, because sometimes nothing is more inspiring than playing as a badass that actually lived and died and learning about them at the same time etc.

I'd recommend giving DiceBreaker (YT channel)/TheTrove.net a look if you want ideas on how to express the sheer breadth of the medium, 'cos while you have all the popular character archetypes down, sometimes you want to be a cowboy/be a pirate/not be bothered with magic/be part of a film noir/honour the bushido/be that tongue-in-cheek backstabbing bastard you always wanted to be etc.

 

[Saint of M]

I find it amusing that Malekith is the name you chose for that character archetype.

Propaganda by the usurpers, all hail the With King

There are RPG's and RPG systems to suit almost literally any taste or set of interests, a few of which are adaptations of franchises popular now, so there's always an easy 'in'. Like, while (typically western) high fantasy is the genre of choice, it can veer away from that as far as something like Night Witches, because sometimes nothing is more inspiring than playing as a badass that actually lived and died and learning about them at the same time etc.

I'd recommend giving DiceBreaker (YT channel)/TheTrove.net a look if you want ideas on how to express the sheer breadth of the medium, 'cos while you have all the popular character archetypes down, sometimes you want to be a cowboy/be a pirate/not be bothered with magic/be part of a film noir/honour the bushido/be that tongue-in-cheek backstabbing bastard you always wanted to be etc.

Why I asked for other RP games. These are the ones I know of but there has to be dozens from around the world

 

[SckizoBoy]

Propaganda by the usurpers, all hail the With King

View attachment 103

LOL, [insert snarky joke about End Times here], except we don't talk about End Times/Age of Sigmar(!) -.-

Why I asked for other RP games. These are the ones I know of but there has to be dozens from around the world

Sure thing. It's weird because for general discussions, I tend not to talk about the TT RPG games I personally play because the main system I play is that halfway house that it's big enough that it's linked to a skirmish game that has a decent following worldwide, but that skirmish game has a very strange reputation amongst table top skirmish game players, and it's small enough that most RPG players have never heard of it. It's Iron Kingdoms RPG, if you were wondering and it's more mechanically driven than narratively driven, but it's still very easy to make a compelling story out of it (steampunk/high fantasy setting, but it turns a fair few standard tropes on their heads, voodoo croc-men for example). Strictly 2d6 (plus modifiers and additional for abilities etc.) based, it's the only system that I'm aware of that divides the player's (and higher level/boss NPC's) health pool into three distinct and non-sequential parts. Anyway, the ongoing campaign my group has is based on a module from the guys who wrote Call of Cthulu, so it's easy to adapt (just need to research stuff and figure out which character classes won't be so practical).

The game I mentioned before, Night Witches, is the polar opposite of what anyone expects of a TT/PnP RPG, because it's has one of the most obscure WWII settings ever and I'm surprised it managed to sell. Everyone plays as someone associated with a squadron of the eponymous Night Witches, mostly female aircrew on the eastern front as they deal with... well, just existing, and gameplay can be pretty varied and even intimate (ranging from the 'playing' of daily activities and missions of the squadron to a post-war grandmother recounting her wartime experiences). There's 7th Sea, though haven't played this in so long, where you play as not only a character, but can also play as a ship (whether as a group or individually, depends what kind of campaign you want out of it). I remember writing fluff for a oneshot original campaign (group of merchant captains whose convoy gets picked off by privateers over the course of a few days until everyone scrambles onto one last tradeship missing a mast, got pretty tense, ended with a rendezvous with friendlies, the players took them over and shot the privateers to shit). Browsing TheTrove, something I didn't realise was how many RPG's exist based on anime. -__- Would've though Legend of the Five Rings/Bushido were weebie enough(!)

 

[Kae]

If your friends are a pretentious as you are you can also have really interesting philosophical discussions in-game, under a context that maybe you hadn't thought of before the situation was brought up in game.

Honestly I feel pretty lucky that my friends tolerate my pretentiousness and indulge me in having those discussions in character, which becomes even more interesting if your playing a character that doesn't match your own views on the topic.

 

[Saint of M]

Will add that in. Although being pretentious is basically trying to sound smarter than you are to impress people. What you just described sounds more like a polight philosophical debate.

Something I just thought of to add to this list to get new blood interested in tabletop RPG gaming (and in the case of the younger players, convince them to let their kids play) is something that it shares with video games.

Failure is not just ok, but always an option. As a general world, most modern societies place a great deal of pressure on people to get it right and punish mistakes. Yet, its through mistakes that we get better. John Williams didn't become a legendary composer by never makeing a few errors here and there, nore did Sir Ben Kingsly become a legendary actor without a few less then steller performances.

Video games like wise have much trial and error. Ignoring intentionally difficult games like Dark Souls, Devil May Cry 3, and Mario the Lost Chapters, most games need some trial and error to get from point A to B, and often times that means dying alot. Alot alot. Alot alot alot alot. Pokemon fans of the second generation will tell you horror stories of Whitney's Miltank. Mario Fans will have that little mini heart attack where they almost didn't make it. And I can attest to nearly wanting to break my controler in half trying to get the ject ball right.

Perseverar, and you play the rest of the game with confidence.

RPG's have a simalar case. You are going to roll badly and repeatedly. You will not pass a skill check that you needed. Your will not convince the guards these are not the droids you are looking for when you need to. You will hit an enemy with your best shot and just tickle them. And you will have a few charecters die, often because its your own fault.

But you can lean from this without haveing to suffer the consequences of fighting a grizly bear, or annoying a guard having a bad day, or casting a spell that makes fire while surrounded by highly combustible substances,

 

[Kae]

Will add that in. Although being pretentious is basically trying to sound smarter than you are to impress people. What you just described sounds more like a polight philosophical debate.

It is, I use the word pretentious mostly as a joke, as using a game as an excuse to have Phylosophical debate seems very unnecessary & even if honest it sounds like what a pretentious person would do, though if I'm honest I'm pretty pretentious & almost always I manage to convince people that I'm the smartest person in the room despite being a High School dropout that hangs out with engineers & Doctors, all of whom are far more knowledgeable in pretty much everything than I am, they are definitely smarter than me, I'm just good at looking & sounding smart.

Something I just thought of to add to this list to get new blood interested in tabletop RPG gaming (and in the case of the younger players, convince them to let their kids play) is something that it shares with video games.

Failure is not just ok, but always an option. As a general world, most modern societies place a great deal of pressure on people to get it right and punish mistakes. Yet, its through mistakes that we get better. John Williams didn't become a legendary composer by never makeing a few errors here and there, nore did Sir Ben Kingsly become a legendary actor without a few less then steller performances.

Video games like wise have much trial and error. Ignoring intentionally difficult games like Dark Souls, Devil May Cry 3, and Mario the Lost Chapters, most games need some trial and error to get from point A to B, and often times that means dying alot. Alot alot. Alot alot alot alot. Pokemon fans of the second generation will tell you horror stories of Whitney's Miltank. Mario Fans will have that little mini heart attack where they almost didn't make it. And I can attest to nearly wanting to break my controler in half trying to get the ject ball right.

Perseverar, and you play the rest of the game with confidence.

RPG's have a simalar case. You are going to roll badly and repeatedly. You will not pass a skill check that you needed. Your will not convince the guards these are not the droids you are looking for when you need to. You will hit an enemy with your best shot and just tickle them. And you will have a few charecters die, often because its your own fault.

But you can lean from this without haveing to suffer the consequences of fighting a grizly bear, or annoying a guard having a bad day, or casting a spell that makes fire while surrounded by highly combustible substances,

Definitely a great point that's always forgotten, I'd say it's even better than video-games in conveying failure, since in an RPG it cannot be undone, there's no going back to a checkpoint or save state, you just have to deal with the consequences of your failure, which I think could be a very good way to teach that even if you fail you can always continue to have a victory another time, but yes really good point.