D6 Things to Do with RPGs Besides Play Them

Table roleplaying games provide rules usually for nine or less players and a gamemaster to create characters, describe a world, and go on adventures. However, there are many other ways to experience RPGs besides playing home games. Here are d6 additional ways for you to enjoy tabletop RPGs.

Picture courtesy of Pixabay​

1. Read
RPG books can be mostly collections of rules. Other RPGs include stories. And some RPGs are beautifully laid out and illustrated while others have an engaging writing style. Some RPGs are worth getting just to peruse even if you can’t play the RPG right now. Paleomythic is an RPG I have simply read for enjoyment but haven’t run. I love plucking it off my RPG shelf and reading through the ideas and world and enjoying the art.

2. Collect
Settings like Dark Sun have not just a base setting but many adventures and supplements. Some gamers like to collect all of the released material for certain RPGs. Kickstarters that offer bundles of material often provide a collection of everything released for a new RPG. Alien is an RPG from Free League that I have collected everything for: core rulebook, adventures, cards, dice, map, and GM screen.

3. Research RPG History
RPGs have a history of over forty years. Details on previous publishing and old RPGs as well as interesting stories of RPG history can become a hobby in itself. Combined with collecting RPGs, being a history buff can make you an expert in the history of RPGs including the companies and publishing of the last few decades.

4. Modeling
Early RPGs grew out of wargaming using miniatures and tabletop terrain. Many RPGs still benefit from maps and miniatures. Assembling and painting miniatures and terrain can be a completely separate hobby or combined to help bring your RPG sessions to life on the table. Or you can use miniatures from board games for your RPGs. I have used the painted miniatures from the board game Clue as PCs for Call of Cthulhu for example.

5. Convention Play
If you want to either try new RPGs and/or game with brand new players, this option is for you. As a player you end up with a brand new GM who offered to run a game. The quality can greatly vary. But you will learn patience and every once in a while you will find a brilliant GM whose skills amaze and thrill you, perhaps using martial arts skills to visibly support descriptions of scenes of combat. And never forget these GMs are volunteering their time (although they can sometimes earn a small fee) to run a game for several hours for you.

If you GM a convention RPG you will learn how to think on your feet and really hone your social skills. You will be in the spotlight and providing real entertainment to new players. You may get the chance to introduce your favorite RPG to players who have never played it before. I ran an adventure for Basic Dungeons & Dragons at Gen Con and two players showed up thinking it was the D&D Basic Rules PDF. They tried a different type of game for the first time.

6. Write Reviews
If you really like an RPG, review it and explain why you like it. I use reviews to decide if I want to look further into trying a new RPG. Most reviews are unpaid, but you can sell reviews to some sites and some RPG companies will send you complementary copies to review. Receiving comp copies can expose you to RPGs you might not otherwise have ever tried. In return, you give an honest review and maybe try out a brand new RPG. The company, of course, wants their RPG work to be read and hopefully played and reviews are great advertising.

There are many more options to explore with RPGs: online gaming, forum posting and play by posts, YouTube watching and creation, article writing, game design and editing, and more. If these topics interest you, comment below and share any aspects of the tabletop hobby I might have missed.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

8) Reference work for high school Term Paper
....I used the 1E Unearthed Arcana for a term paper on knights

True story: I was a freshman in college and I was taking a class called “Biblical Themes In Literature” with Dr. Bates Hoffer. We were dissecting a passage from a book in which the author was using descriptive prose hinting that the child being described was devilish/demonic in nature.

As it happens, a lot of the stuff I had read in my love of mythology, horror, Sci-fi and fantasy was on the reading lists mentioned by numerous early RPG designers. And coincidentally, I had JUST reread the Devil and Demon sections of the AD&D Monster Manual the night before class while designing an adventure.

So, when he started picking out passages and asking which particular evil being the author was invoking, I- very uncharacteristically- raised my hand. He called on me, and I answered properly. I turned my head downwards to scribble notes, but he kept asking similar questions about other passages, and my hand would go up, and he’d call on me again. And again. And again.

When he finally called on me by name, I looked up from my note taking...EVERYONE was looking at me.

I answered correctly again, and class ended. I got lots of funny looks from my classmates as we filed out. I asked 2 other students whom I knew from my dorm why I was getting all the stares. They told me I was the only one who raised my hand for any of the questions.

 

[Eltab]

10) Fill up a bookshelf before anybody else can buy new books.
(Disguise this as cleaning up the stacks of stuff all over the house.)