Get The Dice Rolling / Take a Seat at the Tabletop – A Starter Guide to TTRPGs

I didn’t play my first TTRPG until I was in undergrad. I fit all of the expected boxes: nerdy, shy, a fondness for numbers, and theatertics. But I never met any other players or would-be dungeon masters in high school. I was fortunate enough to find an accepting one within weeks of  starting school in a new state. The first game I played was in the d20 Modern system. 

I played a Bat-Moreau Detective. In hindsight, I was playing my take on Batman. In hindsight, it’s like super obvious, like oh my god, how silly was I that I did not realize I  was playing a literal Bat-Man Detective. Goodness gracious kid, come on. But the point stands, that was my first taste of the game and soon enough, I started playing more and more regularly. I learned that some DMs take Cleric alignments in D&D way too seriously and that other DMs would applaud your audacity and the insinuation that enough ranks in Engineering would allow you to repair an airship.

A World of Adventure I learned about other TTRPG systems, specifically the Storyteller system, and I got to be a player and a DM. I’ve gotten to play a Goblin Swashbuckler and an improvised Imperial Torture Droid. I’ve gotten to lead teams through a mysterious twenty-sided world, laden with a variety of pop culture references, and I’ve gotten to roll and reroll and reroll more characters than I get to count.  I’ve been playing for twelve-ish years, which is both a long time and no time at all. And this last year has very much highlight…