What is a TTRPG?

Many people have heard of TTRPGs like Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, or Call of Cthulhu, but you might not know anything about them. One of the reasons I started in this business was to reach those kinds of people—to cultivate interest in and awareness of Tabletop Roleplaying Games as a genre.

TTRPGs, or Tabletop Roleplaying Games, are gaming systems that dodge many of the limitations of board games, video games, and Choose-your-own-adventure books. As I like to describe them, they’re guardrails for writing and playing your own unique games with a group of friends.

What distinguishes them from board games, for example, is their storytelling-based system. Players invent characters to control or select pre-made ones, the Game Master plans out the world, some of the plot, and the other characters that inhabit it before they meet for a session. The Game Master orally describes the beginning of the story–where the players are, what’s around them, and what’s just happened. Background music and ambiance, SFX, etc. can help set the scene and immerse everyone in the moment. Then, the players describe what they’d like to do. Depending on which TTRPG you’re playing, you’d probably roll dice to see if you succeed, and then the Game Master describes the result of your choices. 

Anything you’d like to do, any kind of game you’d like to play–you can. Dungeons & Dragons, for example, is intended to be used in fantasy settings, but TTRPGs allow for any genre of story you’d like. Spelljammer and the Star Wars TTRPG offers Sci-Fi options, while Call of Cthulhu focuses on horror. They’re all incredibly fun to play–but they’re also excellent bonding experiences, creative outlets, and opportunities to build problem-solving and teamwork skills. My services as a GM exist to bring that experience to you and save you the time and effort it takes to learn to referee games yourself.