What Makes a Good Beginner Tabletop RPG?

I tried to write about a subject for my newsletter, but I usually try to restrict myself to about 2000-4000 words for that and this is... more than that. I don't maintain a blog anymore, so I thought I'd put it here for people to download and read if they want. If you really feel like I opened your eyes or something, you can throw me a couple bucks if you feel so inclined, but please feel no obligation about it. And if you want more like this, definitely subscribe to the free newsletter, it's monthly, I don't spam, and I cover all kinds of gaming topics.

I think we tend to have two goals when we talk about good beginner RPGs: 1) making people want to play more, and 2) being as easy as possible. I think those are both good aims, at their core! But I think we can do better. I think we can look to a third goal: helping new players build skills and confidence to set them up for success in a wide variety of games.

Topics:

• Part One: Reducing Friction
• Part Two: Good Beginner Skills
• Group One: Character Skills
• Group Two: Playing Together
• Group Three: Mechanically-Bounded Roleplay
• Group Four: Not Getting What You Want
• Group Five: Worldbuilding and Scene-Setting
• Group Six: Narrative Structures
• Part Three: What's Next?
  • Intermediate Skills