# How Tabletop RPGs Work

A painted tabletop: how a Game Master, players, character sheets and dice make a story together

By lexmirnov

Topic: Games

[Open the interactive Jig](https://ask.jig.com/j/ACC6N58ZXsQ0)

## Guide

### 1. A story you play together

A tabletop role\-playing game is a story that a group of friends tells together, around a table\. One person runs the world, everyone else plays a hero, and dice decide what happens when nobody can be sure\. Drag the table to look around\.

Dungeons & Dragons and Pathfinder are two of the best known\. Scroll or pinch to move closer\.

### 2. The Game Master sets the scene

Behind this folding screen sits the Game Master, or GM\. The GM describes the world and plays every character the players do not: the guard, the dragon, the shopkeeper\. The GM is a storyteller and referee, not an enemy to beat\.

In D&D the GM is called the Dungeon Master\. The screen hides notes and surprises\.

### 3. Each player is one hero

Every player looks after one character, written on a character sheet\. The sheet lists what the hero is good at, as six abilities: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma\. A small painted figure, a miniature, shows where the hero stands\.

Heroes grow stronger as the story goes on\. Some groups play the same heroes for years\.

### 4. Say what your hero does

The GM asks, "What do you do?" and players can try anything they can imagine\. Sneak through the forest, talk to the guard, or climb the tower wall\. Choose a plan and see the route it takes\.

Not everything needs dice\. Opening an unlocked door simply works\.

### 5. The dice

When the result is uncertain, dice decide\. A standard set has seven: four, six, eight, ten, twelve and twenty sides, plus a second ten\-sided die marked in tens\. Each is named by its sides, so the twenty\-sided die is called a d20\.

Dice with more sides give a wider spread of results\. The d20 is the star of both games\.

### 6. Roll for it

The rogue tries to climb the tower\. The GM sets a target, here 15, and the player rolls the d20 and adds 3 for the rogue's Dexterity\. Meet or beat 15 and the climb succeeds\. Roll the die, or tap it on the table\.

Each face of a d20 comes up 1 time in 20, a 5% chance\.

### 7. Meet or beat the number

The target is called the Difficulty Class, or DC\. Each tile is one face of the d20, and the lit tiles are the rolls that succeed once the rogue adds 3\. Raise the difficulty and watch the chance of success shrink\.

A DC of 10 is easy, 15 is medium, 20 is hard and 25 is very hard\.

### 8. Why people love it

Nobody wins and nobody loses: the heroes work as a team, and even the GM does not know how the story will end\. A bad roll often makes the best memory\. A few rules, some dice and imagination build a world that only your table could make\.

D&D was first published in 1974, in a box of three small booklets\. The first print run was 1,000 copies\.