Dungeons and Dragons.

[fusion_cell]

If your new 4e is good place to start, head down your local gaming store and ask about clubs. Most clubs near me still mainly play 3.5 but are willing to play 4 if you ask nicely and they always love people who are willing to learn. Once you found a club go along one night and see what its like. From there if you like it pick up the books!

Pretty simple. Don't waste your money on miniatures or anything just yet. We the two groups near me have different nights, ones they call 'classic' so no miniatures or layouts, its all in your head. Then on another night they play with the miniatures. Personally I prefer the miniatures one but then I love miniatures from playing Warhammer 40k and the miniatures add something to the game in my opinion.

While learning its always more fun to start with the 'classic' D&D because it gives you a bit more freedom and its also a great way to stretch your imagination before you start restricting it with dungeon maps and miniatures, which while adding something to the game play it does take away the fun for most people.

Also look into other table top games. I originally played D&D but now I'm older and working I have less time to invest in a full blown campaign, so I play more skermish style table tops now such as 40K, Flames of War, Warmachine and just starting with Malifaux and Dystopian Wars. Another really good alternative to D&D is Star Wars Miniatures, the rule books are out of print (as far as I am aware) but there is still a fairly large community built up around it.

If its D&D you really want to play but you want a more miniature focused game there is actually D&D miniatures as well. Again slightly older and I don't think they make the game anymore but there are masses of figures available from online shops and trading forums as well as ebay. That is a skirmish style game set with the D&D character rules.

It takes a time investment to play D&D and you cannot just drop in and out as you please. Our current groups campaign has been running for nearly 5 months now and we meet once a week and really its only just starting to get into this thick of things. People do play shorter games but there is generally less character development and story. You can learn to play D&D in a night easily but the rules are just the guidelines, which is what makes it so great! Anything can happen while questing, its really exciting and a great way to spend time with people and meet new friends.

 

[Space_Titanium]

Just to point out, if money is a concern Paizo releases all their rules for their Pathfinder system for free online. However, with more companies releasing more PDFs you can probably get what you need for cheap.

 

[live2laugh]

I play pathfinder atm, as me and my friends hadn't played any tabletop RPG's before. Has really nice and easy rules and is great fun. Though I think that the group is by far the most important thing.

 

[FastLogan2400]

I've played both 3.5 Edition and 4th Edition on a regular basis, so here's my advice. If you want to get in to the game and play and enjoy yourself, study the rule sets and find which one you think you would like the most. Also, it does really help if you have a good DM, without one the game will fail. Other than that just try and have fun, that's the point of table top games, to get some friends together and have some escapist fun while rolling some dice.

 

[felix1942]

Might I recommend Paranoia, it is the most silly RPG ever created...except fatal.

ADnD 2 works well for teaching new players

 

[Zykon TheLich]

Well now...personally I ever only got familiar with 2nd ed ADnD, however I only had a couple of abortive attempts to play it, I still remember the ruleset pretty well as I wrote an adventure with a bit of a setting added to play with a group of people but they were too into vanilla Forgotten Realms. There's a ton of material out there for D&D and it has a huge player base so you can always get help and advise as well as downloads and such for it.

Other than that I've played Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay V1 and V2, mainly V1, the famous Shadows over Bogenhaffen etc campaign but a bit of V2 and they are great fun if you want a low fantasy approach, you'll never cleave your way through an army of 1000 orcs armed with your magical sword of instant monster annihilation to rescue the kings comely daughter but the fun comes more from human interaction and comic desperation. V3 was recently released by FFG who took over the licence from GW and V3 completely changed the ruleset much to everyone's extreme hatred and bloodlust so you could go for that, or if you aren't a dribbling idiot you could try buying V2 for a much cheaper price on pdf from rpg.now or drivethrurpg.com

I also played Cyberpunk 2020 a lot when I was younger. It was an awesome game, generally very simple yet flexible rules although there were a couple of minor kinks (slightly confusing hand to hand combat and an inexperienced GM could have players walk all over them) in them and the netrunning rules were problematic, they were sort of functional but really interrupted play as it was just the player with the netrunner character and the GM, everyone else had to sit around twiddling their thumbs.

Dark Heresy...I don't like it. The rule system is derived from WHFRP, which I like, but applied to DH and with a fair few additions I really dislike it. As someone else said, the character creation process is a bit complicated, not mind bendingly so but enough to be a bit offputting. One of the things I didn't like about WHFRP V2 was the expansion of "Talents" lots of little rule additions and exceptions that are applied to characters or NPCs etc with those talents, and they expanded them massively for DH. Too many little rules and whatnot to remember. Just generally it feels a bit overly complex and rule heavy.
The game setting is...well it's 40K given a more sensible off battlefield treatment. It's better than the standard level of fluff writing but it's still modern 40k (full disclosure here, I started off with Rogue Trader [i.e. 1987, Warhammer 40,000 rogue Trader] and don't like what has been done to 40K in the meantime so I'm always going to be a bit critical of the setting, it isn't the RPG's fault). That said if it wasn't for the ruleset I'd really like it, it adds the depth that 40K is lacking, even if I would have preferred it to go in another direction.

Rogue Trader is another one based on 40K, same ruleset which annoys me again, but more freedom to go out and explore space, it still has the taint of modern 40K attached to it but the stench is lessened due to the idea of the game being to go out beyond Imperial space and explore.

 

[IncredibleTurnip]

3.5e is definitely my favorite. And you don't really need to buy anything to play it with sites like d20srd.org and such.

But you really do need a good group. DnD Online Games isn't terrible.

 

[unclediddles]

Everything that can be said has been said already. I played 3.5 for years, 2nd ed once, and am about to start a 4th ed campaign with my roommates. Try out a lot of different things, go to comic stores and see if they have DnD groups there. great way to get into the game.

 

[Ultra_Caboose]

If you're just getting started with the game, I'd recommend 4th edition. As far as I've heard, it simplifies a lot of things for character creation and combat, so if you're looking for something to jump right into, that'd be your best bet.

Afterwards, if you want something with a bit more meat on the bones, I recommend pathfinder or D&D 3.5. Pathfinder's my RPG of choice, but 3.5 is - apart from a few differences - the exact same game.
Another thing to take note of is the D20 Modern RPG. It takes D&D Version 3 and gives it a modern twist. It's out of print, but it makes for a very interesting game as well.


One last thing, if you can, find someone who's played the game before. Having someone to DM or at least go over basic rules is a huge help when learning how to play the game.

 

[ace_of_something]

I've been playing D&D since about 1989 or so. Gone thru 4 editions. I'd say start with 4th ed, the most recent and easiest to get ahold of. It's also by far the easiest to learn. After you got a good grasp on that i think branching out to other editions or Pathfinder is pretty easy.

A lot of people will tell you there are better p&p games, and that could be true, but D&D is a good place to start nearly everything else builds SOMETHING off of D&D (or one of it's past editions)

Dark Heresy seems very good. Is this the book needed? http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dark-heresy-owen-barnes/1101960235?ean=9781589944541&itm=3&usri=dark%2bheresy%2bbook

Dark Heresy is VERY rules heavy with a skill system of hundereds of skills (or it seemed like hundreds) Definitely want the rule book for that.

 

[Princess Rose]

Hello, Escapians! I've recently gotten it into my head to learn how to play dungeons and dragons, and I was wondering what I should get to start myself off. For discussion value: What are your experiences with tabletop RPGs?

Since people have already mentioned 4E (which is always good fun) I thought I'd go ahead and mention Pathfinder (which has also already been mentioned, but whatever).

I would recommend Pathfinder to you for many reasons, not the least of which is this:

The Pathfinder Reference Document [http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/]

The creators of Pathfinder RPG have their rules posted on the internet. Sure, you could go buy the book... but you don't have to.

I own all the Pathfinder rule books, because I want to support a company that treats it's customers as well as the people at Pathfinder do. And, if I leave a book at home and need to look up a rule in it, I can just use the internet. That's service. ^^

So yeah - just wanted to post that link. Enjoy the wonderful world of tabletop! ^^

 

[Folio]

Buy The Red Box. Best start ever, I swear to it.

Also, look for the Essentials line of D&D, it may not look like it's better or worse at first glance than 4th Edition, but it is. Although all the 4thE books can be combined with eachother.

I've read a thread like this some time ago and got this:
Follow this series for a quick run down of the way most RPG's are played.

Finally, I need to know if you have ny experience with traditional games or RPG's in general?

 

[archvile93]

My advice to you is to not anger the game master. If you do, keep a sharp lookout for mind flayer and lightening, even in areas where you shouldn't see them.

 

[tehroc]

I like Pathfinder. I feel you get a lot of information in less books. Core Rulebook is a 500+ page monstrosity complete with Player and DM rules. The system is easily compatible with previous d20 books (We still use all the Monster Manuals, party members should count as +1 CR for Encounter Level). Rules are also further defined, ie like how spells interact with each other.

 

[Nigh Invulnerable]

I pretty much started out playing 4th edition and I enjoy it. We currently have a three person campaign going that is pretty good. We have tried multiple times to play with more people in the past but it didn't work out, partially because we tend to antagonize each other a lot and also because some people just weren't that interested. 4E might somewhat limit character options but at the same time it opens up may different options that are easy to use. You may need get extra source books if you want more options (which is a major problem with dnd in general) I have looked at 3.5 stuff but I couldn't wrap my head around character creation as there just seemed to be too many variables to work with.

Try out pathfinder. Its essentially DnD 3.75, it has a good combat system and also great roleplay mechanincs. It really just melds together DnD 3.5 and DnD 4th ed , into one great package

And I didn't know this. I had heard a little about pathfinder but maybe it's worth looking at. I might check it out.

I'm more of a fan of Pathfinder as well, since they took the few things I actually do like in 4th edition and meld it with the customization and uniqueness of 3.5 D&D. For an example of what I dislike, in 4th ed I find all the classes to be rather samey. Everyone gets the same number of powers every level, everyone trained in a skill is pretty close to equally as good at it as another guy of the same level, and HP are going to be pretty much the same as well.

In Pathfinder and 3.5 each class gets unique abilities and powers at different rates. Players who want to play a fighter who is also a gourmet chef can simply allot some skill points to that. Also, HP varies a lot depending on the dice rolls as you level up. I'm still not sure how I feel about some of the skill consolidation that happened, but it's a minor gripe.

 

[masterbazza]

But most of all you NEED a good crew. I tried to get my friends into it but they weren't really interested, I resapect their taste but I just wish that I had ppeople to play with

i have the same problem
i could easily get into d&d but there is no way my friends would go for it

 

[Johnny Impact]

The difference between editions of D&D is the difference between a Leatherman tool and a Bowie knife.

3.5 (or Pathfinder) is the Leatherman. It gives you the options you need and then some. There's enough complexity to provide tools for many situations and remain understandable. With this complexity, however, making choices can sometimes be difficult.

4th edition is the Bowie knife. There's nothing exactly wrong with it. It's just simpler than the Leatherman. It does only one thing (combat) and does it pretty well. It's a radical redesign of many trusted D&D game mechanics. Everything is pared down and made as simple as possible. Some greatly enjoy the simplicity. Others consider 4E to be the idiot cousin to true D&D.

Ignore the folks telling you to play older versions of the game. Those people are insane. After playing older versions of D&D for years, I found the changes in 3.5 to be 100% improvement over the clunk and clutter of older versions. Better organized, more balance, more options, just all around better. Don't go earlier than 3.5.

For SciFi, I have two games for you: Mage and Shadowrun.

For gritty-future, guns a-blazin', Robocop-type scifi, you simply can't do better than Shadowrun. I recommend the 3rd edition rules if you can get hold of them. They're out of print these days.

For brain-breaking, thought-provoking science fiction, Mage is your best bet. Use 2nd or 3rd edition rules if you can get them. Mage went through a fairly extensive redesign not too long ago, and was, if my 5-minute scan through the rulebook is any indicator, completely fucked over by its handlers.

 

[Matthew Ketchell]

Play 3.5 4.0 feels like wow. Just me 3.5 is the better.

 

[Rylot]

snip

I feel your pain. After trying for a year to scrape a game together I managed to get a trial encounter for the newbs... And a week later the Paladin and Ranger broke up and refuse to talk to each other.

 

[Jfswift]

I'm probably repeating what was already said but grab a players guide for version 3.5 or 4.0 (those are the most popular ones right now). Also, read on forums about cheap character builds. I never used to support playing power characters but trust me, if you end up in a group of power players it helps when you can hold your own.

(3.5 is a little complicated but offers a lot of flexibility as far as how to design your character. I don't know a lot about 4.0 though)