Table Top Gaming

[SheWhoRoars]

Eliste, that was so adorable! And I think the rpg ones might be more of what I'm interested in?
And thank you Yurtle! I'll have to look him up and see if I'm up to the task of standing him XD

[lcockitt]

That was a brilliant link, Eliste! If only my little neice was a bit older...

[Eliste]

Eliste, that was so adorable! And I think the rpg ones might be more of what I'm interested in?

In which case you might try Fiasco first. It does not need a GM, but is very fun and designed to be done in one sitting (a long one though in my experience!). Basically everyone in the group creates characters in a set scenario and you play it out. Its almost like making a movie script. Its got a huge amount of replay too as you can choose a different scenario, or the same one with different characters, or or or. There's also an episode of Tabletop you can watch where Bonnie Burton just kills it and you can get an idea of what its like. Part 2 of that video is here.

I'd actually suggest trying to get a game in with someone who knows what they're doing as the GM, regardless of what the system is. Gaming conventions can be great for this as they will have tables of RPG games you can join with a GM already, and you can choose a couple different ones and "try them on" within a short amount of time.

One thing I've found is that who you play with is at least as important as what you play. If you have friends who already play, ask if you can join their group. Most gamers are ludicrously happy when someone new expresses interest and then you'll have people you know who can guide you through it. You can also see if there's anything at your local gaming store as they often hold games or know people who are doing games that you can get involved in.

The other game suggestions I have are:
Easy to Play-
FATE Accelerated- My boyfriend actually suggested this. I haven't played this version, but FATE itself is very easy to get the hang of and this is a simplified version. You can get it at from the authors for pay as you like.
A little bit more work-
Star Wars D6- Definitely not as easy as FATE or Fiasco, but pretty easy when it comes down to it and heck its Star Wars. This is much less complicated than the new Star Wars RPG that has come out recently. You will have difficulty finding actual books of this as it is out of print, but PDFs are out there and its a lot of fun. The system is designed so that it doesn't get in the way of the storytelling, which is nice.
Fate Core itself has some nice options too- Dresden Files for example is a FATE variant. Its also usable for whatever setting you want to play in- magical, sci fi, real world, etc.
Definitely more complicated but still good-
D&D- Its a classic for a reason. 4th Ed is a little easier than other versions imo (which is one reason a lot don't like it), but 3.5 is still very popular. There's lots of resources out there for it, but it definitely is more effort. There's tons of different things you can do with it, lots of pre-written scenarios & campaigns, and lots of people out there on the intertubes who will help out if you have questions on various forums.

You will need someone to take on the motherload of the work- which is becoming a GM unless you find another group to join. Whoever chooses to be the GM (or ends up GM by default) will be the one who has homework every week, making sure they know the plot and the system well enough to guide everybody else through things. This is one of the main reasons I suggest trying Fiasco or an RPG at a convention as you get to see what its like without all the extra work.

[SheWhoRoars]

Okay. Okay, awesome! Thank you!! The town I live in sadly doesn't have a place to play, but I know a couple places in surrounding cities do because I have a teacher who plays there. I also just went and talked to her the other day and she said she could teach me a few of the games she plays a lot. She also does D&D 3.5 and 4, so that's good? Thank you so much for the links and help!!

[MonkeyCatcher]

I love Settlers of Catan; it's good for several players.

Agreed! As long as you play with friends who don't hold grudges...

[SheWhoRoars]

Agreed! As long as you play with friends who don't hold grudges...

Haha, I take it you've been the victim of more than one grudge at the hand of games?

[MonkeyCatcher]

Agreed! As long as you play with friends who don't hold grudges...

Haha, I take it you've been the victim of more than one grudge at the hand of games?

A couple My sister used to get very heated if I didn't trade with her in Monopoly, and I've had a few friends get grumpy when I chose to deal with others in Settlers of Catan. Maybe I need to pick games that avoid trading!

[no_need]

Ahh, the contentious issue of trading in Settlers! In my group, we've learned never to trade stone to one guy as he always, always wins, and 90% of the time it's by building loads of cities. So we have this stone embargo, which builds up this sense of camaraderie among the rest of the group, and then the guy wins anyway :p