Good tabletop games for beginners?

The Munchkin card games are fun little games that take inspiration from D&D and super-simplify it. If you want something more complicated (and less silly), there's a board game called Chaostle that essentially is D&D with simpler rules and pre-made characters. As a warning, though, it's on the pricy side for board games, and my friends and I had to discuss some house rules for the thing. There are a couple scenarios where your character gets stuck somewhere (a pit or something) and it's very difficult to get out, and there are a couple characters that are clearly overpowered.

Also, while I think long-time fans of D&D don't care as much for the 4th (most recent) edition, looking over the player's handbook, it seems to be designed to accommodate new players a bit more. It's still really hard to play without a DM who already knows the game inside and out, though. You're probably better off to join an existing group than starting your own.

To find local players, your best bet is a local games shop. They'll often have various events going on. (They'll also be able to introduce you to new board games.) Alternatively, you can attention a fantasy/science fiction convention in your area.

Best of luck!

When I was a beginner I found the White Wolf games (i.e Vampire, Werewolf etc) to be pretty good. There's a balance between storytelling and dice-rolling. If you can pick up an old copy of the Vampire: the Masquerade sourcebook (not expensive on ebay from a quick look) it's not a bad place to start IMO. It's not classic fantasy RP like D&D but it has that fun vampy goodness.

Disclaimer... I haven't played a WW game since Vampire:the Masquerade so I don't know about the latest editions and story development so don't know if their recent stuff is any good.

Second Alessandra's suggestion. We have an excellent local games shop (three outlets around town) which caters to gamers, comic collectors, etc., and is chockfull of all manner of interesting stuff. I rarely shop there except at end-of-year gifting time, but it's a great place to find stuff for younger relatives. Last time I was in there they had a rack of intriguing tabletop RPG-style games, similar in concept to the Catan series, but based on things like the Lovecraft Mythos, Pratchett's Discworld, etc. Many of these also have expansion packages. Definitely worth a look if you have a shop like this available.

We need to get some of these based on classic literary fiction:

Bleak House: navigate your hero through the labyrinthine intricacies of the 19th-century British legal system.

Yoknapatawpha: Work your way around the decayed aristocracy of antebellum Mississippi, and may the least loathsome character emerge victorious.

Kafka: Find out what the crime you're being tried for really is, and try to get to the Castle.


caw

Do you have a particular genre you like to play in?

Meanwhile, I will plug 7th Sea until the cows come home, even if AEG no longer supports the game. Thankfully, DriveThru RPG still sells the pdfs of the game. If you're interested in a melange of pirates, musketeers, vikings, King Arthur, the Spanish Inquisition, trade wars, Machiavelli's "The Prince" and Baba Yaga (and that's just a fraction of the sources!), I highly recommend trying it.

Following on from blacbird's suggestions - if you're interested in board games with an RPG element and like the cthulhu mythos then I heartily recommend Arkham Horror and expansions. It's complicated and takes vast unimagined eternities of time (seems to average about 4 hours) but if you like that kind of thing it is awesome.

SmallWorld is fun. We discovered it during the last TableTop Day and bought it right then and there!

May I suggest the Tabletop web series? Wil Wheaton and company go through a lot of games and you'll probably find something there!

I've played some of the D&D board games, like Castle Ravenloft, and they're pretty decent if you don't want to play full RPGs.

I'd recommend strongly against Pathfinder or D&D 4e for beginners, because both can be a slog to get started with. Both of them have faster-running intro boxed sets, though, if you can get them.

Of course, if you'd prefer an RPG that's not medieval D&D-esque fantasy, there's plenty more out there, often with free introductory rules that are sometimes cleaner and more playable than the full games. If you've got any particular genre you're interested in, I'm sure I could name some newbie-friendly games that don't involve loooooong character creation and other stuff.

Korabas said:

This is what i've been looking at - the D&D board games. I know that WE would like them, but I would quite like to drag a few friends on board as well, and not sure how they would get on.
Do you think the D&D board games are a good starting point for less geeky folk to get involved in this as well?

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They're still fantasy and geeky, but they're a _heck_ of a lot easier to get into than full-fledged tabletop RPGs. You can hand someone a character card and some tokens and they're pretty much ready to play.

I've played Castle Ravenloft--it was fun and easy to get into. As for getting less geeky folk to play, one of the players in my old D&D group hadn't done anything geekier than watch Star Wars before our first campaign. Fun is fun, though, especially when a half dozen adults are sitting around a table playing pretend and rolling dice.

I haven't played in about a year--college ended, people scattered, but it really is great fun. I say either go for the board game or (as others have said) wander into a game shop--they are usually great places to find new games and other players.

There are a few good sites for online play.

http://www.myth-weavers.com/forumhome.php
http://rpol.net/

Maybe try the Ravenloft D&D board game. It's a long one, but was pretty fun. Same with the Battlestar Galactica board game.

If you want to try something that runs shorter, I suggest Munchkin or House on Haunted Hill.

If you want to try an actual tabletop RPG, then old White Wolf (3rd or 3.5 edition) vampire/werewolf is a good place to start. Can't speak for the newer stuff.

Welcome to the wonderful world of gaming!

Katrina S. Forest said:

The Munchkin card games are fun little games that take inspiration from D&D and super-simplify it. If you want something more complicated (and less silly), there's a board game called Chaostle that essentially is D&D with simpler rules and pre-made characters. As a warning, though, it's on the pricy side for board games, and my friends and I had to discuss some house rules for the thing. There are a couple scenarios where your character gets stuck somewhere (a pit or something) and it's very difficult to get out, and there are a couple characters that are clearly overpowered.

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Katrina, there is a new and improved Chaostle rulebook with copyright 2012 along the bottom. You can request a free copy by providing a mailing address to [email protected].

You could also find the game much cheaper if you shop around online. An expansion was released recently too!

I enjoy using the Savage Worlds rulebook for basic table-top role-play games. It's got a reasonably simple system that works for just about any genre you can think of. They even have a free test-drive version online you can use to test the system and see if you like it.

http://www.peginc.com/freebies/SWcore/TD06.pdf

Savage worlds is a good easily learnt RPG. I'd start there.