

You could be a detective uncovering a mystery, a general commanding an army, or a tiefling druid seeking to restore the vitality of a great forest. For these games, each person takes on a specific role (could also be considered a persona). There might be a game board and there might be pieces, but alternatively it may only be comprised of pen and paper. More specifically, let’s focus on tabletop roleplaying games. These types of games typically take place, if you can believe it, on a tabletop. Other examples you could point to include The Chronicles of Narnia, Harry Potter (a bit more modern with high magic, but fantasy nonetheless), or A Song of Fire and Ice. It contains all the basic tropes: wizards, elves, dwarves, dragons, rangers, and orcs.

This series is a perfect jumping off point if somebody is completely new to the genre. A classic that you could point to would be Lord of the Rings (both the films and the books). The easiest way to explain “general fantasy” is probably to give them examples. Ideally at a minimum they will be familiar with “general fantasy” – meaning that there’ll be swords and magic and probably some castles and goblins too! However, for the sake of this article I’ll assume that they have absolutely zero experience or knowledge whatsoever. Since they’re a new player I wouldn’t expect them to know too much about D&D specifically. The more familiar they are, the smoother the process will go. Their answers here will dictate how in-depth you have to go in your academic journey of getting them learnt up. A Crash-Course in Fantasy Settings, Tabletop Games, and D&D 5eĪ Crash-Course in Fantasy Settings, Tabletop Games, and D&D 5eīefore starting, determine the new player’s level of familiarity with a few different things.The next step, and in fact many of the subsequent steps, is figuring out how to turn random dice rolls into a character who is ready to adventure and explore the realm. First of all, congrats! That is by far the most difficult part – at least in theory. So you’ve been able to successfully recruit somebody into the demonic cult, I mean hobby, that is Dungeons and Dragons.
