How to get into RPG games?

[Boo8er]

I am 19 and I have been interested in playing RPG games. I have played a lot of video games before and I want to broaden my horizons a bit and look into some more traditional Tabletop RPG games. What are some good games to start out for beginners and what were your first experiences?

[The Dark Fiddler]

This is probably going to sound kind of stupid until you get some roleplaying experience under your belt, but the best system to start with is whatever you can find. Roleplaying typically isn't a common enough hobby that you can pick and choose groups, and you're usually stuck with what's being played nearby and searching for new members, unless you have a significant number of welcoming groups in your area or several other friends who are willing to start a group with you.

If you are in a situation where you can choose, though, I suppose there's two ways of going about it. You could either go for a mechanics-heavy system, since you're coming from video games where everything is about what mechanical effect every action has; D&D 3.5 or Pathfinder, Mutants and Masterminds, and GURPS come to mind at the moment. On the other hand, you could go with a rules-lite narrative-based system so you don't need to get hung up on the rules, something like the new (and free) Fate Core.

There's also the matter of what sort of game you want to play. Some games are pretty tied to their setting, or at least a specific genre; 3.5 won't work well outside of psuedo-medieval fantasy without significant tweaking, nor will Don't Rest Your Head work well outside of psychological horrors, and the various World of Darkness sub-systems are very much tied to the species of supernatural creature they focus on. Others are pretty generic, and can be used for most genres with at most minor tweaking; Mutants and Masterminds (though it's designed for superheroes, it works well as a generic system), GURPS, and Fate work well.

That said, the system matters a lot less than you'd think. So long as you're playing with a group you mesh well with, the game itself doesn't matter all that much. There's a few exceptions, though it's usually when it comes to the focus of the system clashing with what the campaign you're playing is supposed to be like. There's several Warhammer RPG systems (Dark Heresy, Rogue Trader, Warhammer Fantasy etc.), and they work well for Warhammer... but their grittier and more lethal rules mean that, despite being space-based games, they're not much good for a game that's trying to emulate, say, Star Wars or Star Trek. Much too lethal.

In summation, focus on finding a group and learn to play what they're playing. Failing that, read as many systems as you can afford the time and money to do, because chances are you'll end up playing more than one.

[Grinner]

The first and most important question: "Do you have anyone to play with?"

If you have friends that play, great, but common courtesy dictates that you play what they play. This means you'll probably get stuck playing D&D.

Your other option is Play by Post or chat games. Be warned that PbP games tend to fizzle out after a month or two, but chat games are harder to organize. You have a little more flexibility as to what you play with online games, but it seems that most people stick to D&D anyway. Shop around and find something you really like.

[Jay R]

The final option is to go to a game store and ask around. That's usually a good place to find gamers.

[Slipperychicken]

My first tabletop RPG was dnd 3.5. It's an incredibly complicated ruleset (you can play it for decades and still have it surprise you now and then) with dozens of official rulebooks, but 3.5 and Pathfinder (more or less the same game) are popular, so you can usually find players for them.

You can usually find ongoing games at hobby stores, places like toywiz which host MTG tournaments often host tabletop RPGs too.

If you're in college, there might be a dnd club (or RPG club) there which might be able to hook you up with a real-life group. I personally go to a huge school, so I didn't have much trouble finding one.

Pretty sure there are websites out there for connecting people for RPGs. A search should reveal some.

[Ravens_cry]

Is there a local hobby store? That's how I got into this delightful, wonderful, mess. I went in, expressed interest and curiosity if anyone was looking for some players and the guy at the counter said they were trying out Fourth Edition that Sunday, so I could try out then.

[Eldan]

The hardest part by far is finding anyone else who plays. I was lucky enough that two of my friends were actually interested, but we only got into it once one of them found the books for it on a holiday to the UK.

I'll agree with others, though. What system you play isn't actually all that important. Now, there are some horrible systems out there, and some are a lot more complicated than others, but most are, at least, playable. If you can find a store, pick up what looks fun. Chances are, you won't be going wrong.

[Firest Kathon]

Paizo has a page where all upcoming Pathfinder Society events are posted. You can find an event near your location and check it out (after contacting the organizer first). Obviously, they'll only play the Pathfinder system, but as the previous posters have pointed out the system itself is pretty irrelevant to get a first idea about tabletop RPG.

[The Dark Fiddler]

If you have friends that play, great, but common courtesy dictates that you play what they play. This means you'll probably get stuck playing D&D.

My first tabletop RPG was dnd 3.5. It's an incredibly complicated ruleset (you can play it for decades and still have it surprise you now and then) with dozens of official rulebooks, but 3.5 and Pathfinder (more or less the same game) are popular, so you can usually find players for them.

Now that I'm awake and can actually make a point, I will say this: Grinner and Slipperychicken are right when they say that D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder are by far the most common games. If you can't find a group right away, but want to start studying the rules to a game, starting with these games could be a good idea. That said, don't worry too much about learning every rule before starting, because unless you have a group full of asses they won't hate you for forgetting a rule every now and then.

Aside from D&D 3.5, your other options for "pre-learning" would be systems that are available for free. And, hey, look at that! There are online SRDs (self-reference documents) for 3.5 and Pathfinder, giving you a good chunk of the rules free, completely legally! I've also manage to find an SRD for Mutants and Masterminds, 3rd Edition. The new Fate Core is supposed to have an SRD coming out soon, but since both Core and Accelerated are available on a "pay what you want" basis, so basically free unless you want to pay for them. I'm sure there's even more systems available for free, especially if you're only looking quick start rules to get a sample of the system. With all the games available, at least partially, for free you have no shortage of reading to do before finding a group, if you choose to.

Reading a variety of games is a good habit, anyway; it gets you out of the rut you can sometimes get into when you stick with a single game, and breaks you out of bad habits you've gleaned from them. My group has problems getting out of the "kill and loot" mentality that D&D 3.5 has instilled in them... still working on it. Just don't overwhelm yourself by reading too many different games.

[DavidK]

Well, I suggest you to play Final Fantasy which is one of the popular RPG game of all time and it has also easy and interesting game play and cool graphics.

[Slipperychicken]

Well, I suggest you to play Final Fantasy which is one of the popular RPG game of all time and it has also easy and interesting game play and cool graphics.

I think the OP means tabletop games.

Like this kind.

Spoiler

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[TheOOB]

I'll agree with the group here, play whatever you can find a group for, which means most likely D&D as WotC hosts D&D events at stores every Wednesday.

If you can't find an existing group to play with, you'll have to learn a system and make a group of your own. While D&D is very complicated compared to other systems like say mouseguard or fiasco(both of which are GREAT gateway games if you can get people to play them), it is very popular are more people are going to be willing to play it rather than say, panty explosion.