Do you ever sigh wistfully while at work dreaming of lands of adventure and possibility? Do you ever find yourself sitting down with friends and being all totally completely bored and having nothing to do? Do you like to make stuff up for fun? Do you enjoy doing math occasionally? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then buddy, do I have a hobby recommendation for you! Tabletop Roleplaying Games, sometimes referred to as TTRPGs, are a great way to tell a collaborative story with your friends and fill an evening with suspense, drama, and laughter. You might be familiar with some of the classics, like Dungeons and Dragons, but there are so many more out there, and what’s better, there are plenty of fantastic games to play for the price of Zero Dollars! So let me give you some suggestions for TTRPGs to play on a budget.
First off, a quick description of what a TTRPG is: it’s all about telling a story! One player plays as a narrator-style role, usually known as the GM, controlling the world, and everyone else plays as protagonists of that world. There are rules and dice rolls, but these are only there to help moderate the story (and should be ignored on occasion if everyone at the table thinks that would make things more fun). It’s not an interesting story if everything goes exactly right every time: stories are about hardship and difficulties! The rules and the random outcome of the dice help to create that uncertainty and risk, as well as make stories that have the qualities that you and your friends are looking for. Anyone of any age can play a TTRPG, though it’s important that everyone is on the same page about what the story is about. If one person wants to have a gripping drama and one person wants to do a silly comedy, problems might arise. So be sure to talk to everyone you’re going to play with about what they’re looking for before you start. TTRPGs mostly just need a couple of things to play: dice (there are tons of free dice apps out there, if you don’t have any lying around, and they work just fine!), pencils, paper, and a book of rules.
So if all that sounds good, you might say “Hey, this is a library right? Don’t you have those Dungeons and Dragons roleplaying books with those rules?” and to that, I say: of course. We've got lots of Dungeons and Dragons resources, including all the books you need to play, and even some famous adventure modules! But to be fair, you don’t even need those to get started with Dungeons and Dragons if you’re itching to jump into it! The basic rules of Dungeons and Dragons are just out there for you to use on this website. Sure, there are more options and things in the books, but this is more than enough to get you started and have nights of fun, and when you’re wanting a little more, hey, those books are here at the library!
However, Dungeons and Dragons is focused on swinging swords and fighting monsters. That might not be for you. Similarly, Dungeons and Dragons has a level of complexity that can take some time to learn. Maybe that’s not your style either. Luckily, there are tons of free, incredible TTRPGs out there. Let me share a few for you.
Lady Blackbird (and its many spinoffs) is an excellent game to start your roleplaying journey with. Often, a new player will have trouble figuring out what to do, since in a TTRPG you can do… well… anything. Lady Blackbird’s system of Keys and straightforward (but flexible) story fix this. You and your friends always start in a position where you need to go do things (a prison break!) and your characters have Keys, which are elements of their personality. For example, Lady Blackbird herself has the Key of the Impostor. She’s trying to pretend to be a commoner and not a Lady. So when she works to conceal her identity, she gets a little bonus. By looking at your character’s keys, you can always get some help if you’re unsure what to do.
If you’re looking for something more silly, I have the perfect game for you: Honey Heist. You and your friends are bears. You are also about to do a heist while wearing elaborate disguises to pass yourselves off as human. You’ll come up with your elaborate heist plan and pull it off together, with all the hilarity that being a group of bears trying to covertly steal something entails.
Another great game that can go from something very silly to something like the best episodes of Star Trek is the game Lasers and Feelings. Your spaceship Captain is incapacitated for some reason. It’s up to the crew to solve the mystery and save the ship without him! You only really have two stats in this game, and one decision to make stat-wise to get started, so this is an incredible game to jump into quickly and have a blast.
If you want a fantasy adventure-style game but with more of an independent, lighter bent, Cairn might be for you. As part of the Old-School Revival (often abbreviated as OSR) It’s a system that has tons of free content out there for it, ready to go, and the basic rules you need to follow can be printed out on half of a piece of paper to pass around to everyone at the table. It also has charts to just roll up a random hero if you’re the kind of person who would prefer to just get started instead of meticulously plan out your character.
If you’re looking for a great game to play with younger (or young at heart) players, here’s a deep cut for you: The Nighttime Animals Save the World is a game where you play as Nighttime Animals and then save the world. Weird how that works. The cool thing about this system is that there are no dice rolls. Everything is negotiated with the trading of coins. So if the GM shows you a nickel-level threat, if you want to beat it, you’re going to have to swap at least a dime with them! Of course, that means the GM has a dime to work with in the future to throw something even harder at you. It’s honestly a great system to play a more free-form, less childlike game too, as it grants a really clear back-and-forth to the storytelling.
Finally, if you’re more of a sci-fi adventurer sort, may I suggest Stars Without Number, which is available for free (if you make a free DriveThruRPG account) and has plenty of great ideas and mechanics to tell any kind of space opera you might desire. From dramatic space dogfights to battles with twisted AI foes, this game is often used both piecemeal and complete in many different contexts.
Hopefully, this has some great ideas to get you started on blazing your own adventures with a cost of near zero! And if you still need some help, or are just looking for a game, might I suggest our upcoming Adult TTRPG Night, Library Legends? Starting in October, I’m going to be GMing a variety of games in short, month-long campaigns for you to jump into and see what this space has to offer. No experience is required, so I hope to see you there! In any case, though, happy adventuring!