A BEGINNER'S GUIDE

(What You Need To Roleplay)

I'm asked this question often enough for me to pen this short article in hopes it will answer this question and similar questions to those would-be players still waiting in the wings. But it's not that easy to answer since the whole field of roleplaying is highly subjective and often dependent on personal preferences. Therefore, what I like, for example, may hold little interest for you. Still, I will try.

To begin with, all roleplaying systems have some primary rulebook or collection of books (or even a few free pages found on the Internet). Depending on the system you choose, these may range from a single book, a single box set, or a small collection of core rulebooks. There may be a CD for your computer, but books are often handier to have, to carry, and to read most anywhere, and are handier around the game table, while a desk top computer isn't, and a lap top often drains batteries or is too expensive to so carelessly pass around the game table. Books, particularly hard covered books, are nice to own, easy to share, and make good bedtime reading.

Supplements are too numerous to mention in most systems. There may exist a plethora of extra books, numerous detailed campaign settings, hundreds of prefabricated modules for individual scenarios, dozens of complete handbooks of this or that, etc. It is really quite staggering when you realize some systems have more than a hundred such supplemental books or settings you could buy, and their total cost could be thousands of dollars. But you don't need any of those. Not really.

Roleplaying is about imagination, and it's often best when it is your own imagination, or perhaps even your interpretation of some work of fiction you happen to really like and would like to 'borrow' for your game setting. This is fine. It's also about the imagination of your players. Together, you will form a campaign setting and delve into the intricacies we call roleplaying.

A framework upon which to start and to build and to have common points of references is practically a must for smooth play, however, so some roleplaying system should be decided upon. Perhaps after you gain some experience with a variety of systems, you might start using parts of one in another, mix and match them, and alter them more freely, but usually one system is the foundation upon which your game resides no matter what you do or how much you alter it from its original form.

EXTRAS

In addition to a few friends as players, and the core rules, you may need a few extras that help. You may need dice, for example. Diceless games exist, but many systems use a variety of dice, far often less familiar than the traditional 1d6, or six sided dice. Dungeons and Dragons, or D&D, for example, uses d4's, d6's, d8's, d10's, d12's, and d20's. A combination of these dice, or interpretation of these dice allow even peculiar valued rolls, such as d3's, d5's, d7's, d100's, or whatever else you need. Many hobby shops even sell tubes of dice, or complete sets for under $10, and those should suffice for the Game Master's needs. Players are always encouraged to buy their own set of dice. But once you have them, they are all the dice you'll probably ever need for any system you play.

Many games use miniature figures. These can be costly or relatively inexpensive. They may be fully painted, or you may paint them yourself. They may be pewter, lead, brass, plastic, or anything else for that matter. Or you could even represent your character's position on some battle board with a coin, a hex nut, a Monopoly token, or anything unique and easily identifiable as YOUR character, really. However, though figures often help and convey a bit of realism and firmer grasp of the setting when such details are important, they are not necessary. Even though they add fun, they are certainly never needed, and if one does wish to buy them, they can buy them long after the game is underway.

I mentioned a battle board. This could be just paper with blank hexes or squares drawn on it to help judge distances. Some use a plastic sheet laid over such a grid, and grease pencils whose marks can be rubbed off or washed off. I've even used a table vinyl tablecloth that way with a permanent marker grid and grease pencil marks for that day's game.

But my favorite method, however, was buying a large, dry-erasable white board and dry-erasable markers and just having little figures move on and over whatever setting I roughly drew on the board for that encounter. Using a few colors, such as black, blue, green and red - typical of a set of dry-erasable markers - you could represent land, water, walls, blood, or whatever. And rather than grids, a handy tape measure was used if exact distances ever became important - such as 10 feet/inch might be the scale - or if line of sight was required, a simple string would tell. Stones, train model landscape figures, like trees, etc. could fill the occasional scene with added flare. Large stones or rocks could even represent high cliffs or mountains compared to one's tiny figures that always roughly showed the scale of distances in and of themselves. This device also saved a great deal of time during the game since the GM didn't have to endlessly describe the floor plans or twisting roads while another player mapped it step-by-step, but the GM simply drew in what the characters could see as they went along. If the players wanted to map, they could draw what they could see on the board far more quickly than they could absorb the GM's verbal description and translate that to a piece of paper. It's nice, this white board thing.

Looking in the store the other day, I saw a white board - even larger than the one I used - that cost a mere $7.95, and each dry-erasable marker was about $1 or so. Almost as nice, and even less expensive, is just some colored chalk and a regular, child's chalk board you can lay down on the table. It's messier, but serviceable.

But even a battle board is not a requirement. It can just be handy, and it certainly isn't something you need to buy just to get started.

Many roleplaying games are often called "pen and paper" or "pencil and paper" games for a reason - you need little else to play them, aside from a few friends, your imagination, and the time to get into it.

Some systems may be found for free on the Internet. Most are not free, however, but may be purchased at your nearest hobby store, bookstore, or off the Internet.

RECOMMENDATION 1

If you've never played before, and the system that inspires you most has multiple core rulebooks for running a game, I recommend you first buy just what you need to play the game, and not what you need to run it.

For example, in D&D there are really three core rulebooks. The Player's Handbook, The Dungeon Master's Guide, and The Monster Manual. There are various editions to this game, so be sure to pick an edition and stick to it. Currently, Third Edition is on the shelves as of this writing. But of these three core rulebooks, I'd start off with just the The Player's Handbook, also known as the PHB, or even just the PH. This may cost around $20 to $30 or so, but prices vary, and shipping and handling charges, especially for countries outside the United States, may run into some serious money. You might also be able to find a decent used copy for less on e-Bay, in a garage sale, or a used bookstore.

Once you have the PHB, hopefully you can find a game someone else is running and get involved. That is always the best way to learn the game - from experience and a hands-on approach and by seeing the game in action in the hands of experienced players, rather than reading it in such a cold and dry manner. These books, you see, are really reference manuals and not meant to be exciting novels. You can learn the rudiments in a single day, true, but it will probably take weeks to plow through most of it and get a firm gasp of the game mechanics and most other nuances of the game, whereas you might pick up the gist of it all in a single session or two while participating, or even just watching a game while other experienced players play. This would especially be true if they didn't mind answering questions as you waded in, and if they are mature players, they probably wouldn't mind at all, and even would welcome the opportunity to help a beginner who is where they were themselves not so very long ago. If you can watch such a game, reading the books later will naturally make a lot more sense, too, after you've already seen what they're describing.

Also, Game Masters are usually better GMs when they draw upon their experiences as a player for that game system, so it's helpful to start out as a player and not a Game Master. But one can't always arrange for this, and if they want to play, ready or not, they have to take up the mantle of GM themselves. Hopefully their players will understand these difficulties and help out all they can by being more forgiving of any mistakes or missteps.

Unfortunately, all too often it is not convenient or possible to find a local game so handy, and one is forced to learn it on their own. So be it! In such a case, unless you only have one opportunity to visit the hobby store, or you are in a hurry, or you don't mind spending a chunk of change on multiple books for something you may later discover isn't your cup of tea, it is best to buy just the player's book at first. Take it home, look it over, think about it, and then if you are still keen to proceed, go ahead and buy the other core rulebooks, or the Game Master's Set. If not, you can likely unload the nigh pristine copy on e-Bay and recoup most of your money, or find a local player willing to buy it. But I think you'll like it and want to keep it if you're the sort who is already giving this serious consideration and reading this article.

This sometimes may mean acquiring a duplicate book when dealing with sets. For example, the Player's set may be considerably cheaper than the Master's set, but the Master's set also contains everything the Player's set does and more. You COULD just buy the Master's set to begin with, and I even suggest you do this if the difference in money is trivial, but if it is not, the Player's set may be a better buy for an added reason. As a potential future Game Master, it is often quite helpful to have an extra Player's set to lend to someone - hopefully a responsible person who will care for your property - so they may look it over for free and perhaps join the game if it sparks their interest. Besides, multiple copies of the Player's book around the game table are often very helpful for the GM. Most serious players will eventually want to own their own copy of the Player's set or own Player's book, anyway. Some of these sets may already include dice, too, and extra dice rarely get in the way.

RECOMMENDATION 2

For D&D, this means buying the PHB first and getting the feel for the game. After you have done that, and assuming you still wish to proceed, only then should you buy the Dungeon Master's Guide and The Monster Manual, and even the dice. Now you have the CORE RULES and the necessary equipment. That's it.

Still, it takes time to develop your own world, and it takes a vivid imagination, and not everyone has an abundance of one or the other. This is where supplemental volumes come into play. Whether used to save time, or to spark your own imagination and create your own scenarios, or as complete ideas fully placed into your campaign as staring points or supplements, it matters little. They are there to help. Even I use references outside the CORE. I've just never felt the need to buy dozens of them or anything and everything available, and often prefer to use my own imagination. Most supplements I do buy I end up heavily modifying anyway. But that's not the point.

The point is, you don't need numerous supplemental volumes to play, you sure don't need them to start, and you may never want or need them at all. And quite frankly, the best games I've ever been in were ones mostly conceived in the mind of the game master and built upon the CORE rule foundation only, and did not come from any supplemental books. Your own work is your own labor of love, and far more likely to convey your interest and enthusiasm for your world and your game to your players.

Now, this seems like a long winded way to say start out slow, buy the basic book or basic set first, and only IF you like it, then expand, but it sometimes helps to be complete. I hope this helps new players. If not, let me know. And if you are an experienced gamer already with some advice you think would be helpful for beginners, or think some useful advice is obviously missing from this article, let me know so I may include it as well. Thanks.

In the meantime, Good Luck, and Happy Gaming ;-)

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