Hello Veeky Forums, newfag here. Wanna start a rpg with some friends but have no experience WHATSOEVER...

All the rules for a given game system tend to be in a single core rulebook, available for purchase online as a hardback or pdf. In many cases, you can also obtain the rule pdfs through less legal methods for free (there's a recurring pdf share thread for this purpose) if you don't want to buy things.

As far as a board goes, most games don't require any materials beyond: Rulebook, character sheets (free online legally, print one for each player), writing utensils and dice. Different games will use different dice; D&D principally uses a d20 with scattered use of d4/6/8/10/12, while some other systems rely heavily on just d6s or d10s. Figure out what your game uses and get appropriate dice. Most games don't need a specific board, though some games feature tactical combat, where the nuances of positioning are important for resolving fights. D&D is among these games. For these, you /can/ use something like a battle-mat (washable, marker-writable mat that has a grid on it), or you can use a whiteboard, or just random objects. As a kid, I used pencils to construct walls, colored erasers for players and coins for enemies. You can go fancy, if you want, and buy things like miniatures and terrain, but you really don't need to if you don't want to.

thanks again, thats all very helpful!

This is not an expensive hobby if you don't want it to be. Rulebooks can be pricey, but are one-time purchases and can be avoided with shared pdfs (I have a collection of hardbacks because I love them). As I said in materials don't cost much. Maybe $10 for some dice, you can get a battle mat and markers cheap if you want them.

Principally, tabletop games are games of shared imagination. You don't need a lot of props, just your voices.

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Thanks a bunch man! gonna check it out

Welcome to the fold, user.

happy to get started dude

Also, do not expect everyone to get thrilled by it, rpg is not made for everyone so you may have friends who'll not like it, but don't despair, it's normal, as also the fact that starting dming is not that easy, but ends up being really great.

You can also listen to podcast of games to have an idea of how it works (I only know CoC podcasts which will not be helpful) but some people here might have better ideas), or join a one-shot game at a con/LGS

you are right user. my friends are thrilled to play (got the idea from listening to some medieval music) but whoever wants to proceed proceeds.
im currently watching some players on youtube to understand the flow of the game.

These other anons have given some good idea of games, but just remember to be flexible in your story, if they decide to skip that dungeon you built, or they kill of an NPC, keep things loose. That good guy npc that was going to show them to a dungeon to free his family? Well now he is a bandit with a map on him and he was going to try to enslave your players. Then have the slaves have the family member, (the guy they killed), actually be in the next town, and he will give them a reward.

Just be loose with names and exact locations, so you arnt boxed in and forced to have your players to mess up and ruin the fun. Keeping distance vauge is key. So if they miss something, you can re-add it back up ahead of them again. Like "there is another mysterious stone with runes on it, this time with a path near by" if the skip it again, maybe just let them go on, you have to feel out what they WANT to do, so make sure they atleast know there are options to do stuff. If they complain that they arnt doing anything, add in bandits that run away with a big sack of loot, even the most sense players will follow that, then have him enter the dungeon, like literally showing them the path.

It's quite fun twisting things around on your players, if your good, then they will think that they are quite smart and doing exactly what they should be.

>We don't know this to be false.

Good luck!

Apocalypse World and FATE, as previously mentioned, will run whatever you want.

GURPS is good but the entry barrier's too high for new players, so don't bother with that for now.

Any idea of what specific genre you want? Generic systems don't always have the right feel for certain types of game.

AD&D 2nd edition: most of the source material is available online. Also, if your friends can't figure out THAC0, then you need to find better friends.

This user gives good advice. The best advice I can add is: "Nothing exists until the players learn about it". A lot of people who run RPGs go overboard populating their imaginary worlds with characters who are plotting against each other, and create all these elaborate webs of connections, then wonder why their players just want to hang out in the forest and kill goblins.

It's because all those great political dramas are locked up inside the DM's head. The only stuff that matters to the players are the things they can actually interact with. Play it fast and loose when you describe things, and don't be afraid to add more details later as the ideas come to you. It doesn't matter if the players decided not to take the path that leads to the tiny village, because unless they already know about the tiny village, it doesn't exist yet, and you can move it somewhere else where they're already headed.

The other advice I can give is to occasionally ask the players what they think is going to happen. This gives you a good idea of how well they're understanding your ideas, as well as giving you a lot of good ideas for things you might not have considered from their perspectives.

Check out Outside Xbox, they did a cool little session recently. Critical Role and The Adventure Zone are noteworthy but have less in common with a typical RPG campaign.

Now making a fully real world is awesome, but it's also time consuming as hell and the players won't notice or care.

Finally, top 3 pieces of advice.

>1. Ask your players about the tone.
If you want to run Batman and your players want to play The Punisher, nobody has fun.

>2. Set some groundrules.
It's easy to say ahead of time "Fun is more important than the rulebook" or "no using profanity at the table" or "no phone calls except for emergencies." It's much harder to enforce that behaviour AFTER people have been getting away with it.

Personally I use a standard "don't spoil people's fun" tacked onto a "no pvp without consent" with a dash of "steer clear of rape or torture porn" to make sure people don't get creepy.

>3. Respect a player's decisions.
This means two things. Firstly, give your players a chance to do things their way. Let them play Coldsteel Darkblayde and teleport behind people if it doesn't spoil other people's fun.

The second thing is to make sure player actions have consequences. If a character does something stupid, punish them. If a character dies, don't make it easy to resurrect them. Make sacrifices and penalties MEANINGFUL and give character's strengths a chance to shine.

i see, thanks a lot guys!

Is this rulebook the one i'm suppose to start with?

s3.amazonaws.com/files.d20.io/marketplace-download/Fate Core Electronic.pdf

yes, i would like to start a medieval themed game

That is indeed the core rulebook for FATE! It also has an active SRD, it would appear: fate-srd.com (should be the same info)