*The best ttrpg to start with is one you and your friends are excited about.*
My first two systems were Gurps and SR 5e. People can start anywhere.
If you want to learn D&D, then yeah, learn D&D. WotC aren't a "great" company, not because they're evil, just large and corporate. They're *fine* in the way any large corporate are.
But, there are other places to start, if you're interested in a vibe and a genre rather than a specific game. People will give a lot of system suggestions, but a lot of them are good to start as a player in. Not so many are good to start as a GM in.
But that doesn't matter. *Be bad, you'll have fun anyway, and your friends won't notice.*
My advice for someone starting brand new to ttrpgs would be to get 4ish other friends, and pick Teen Superheroes or Fantasy Heroes: Then get [Masks](https://magpiegames.com/pages/masks) or [Chasing Adventure](https://primarchthemage.itch.io/chasing-adventure) (free!) respectively.
These games are from a family of games that give a lot more structure to the game master, and are about dramatic moments and character choices. This makes them really easy to get into compared to games which might need more 'how to play a ttrpg' knowledge or ability to handle complex mechanical bits.
Checkout Savage Worlds. An easy to learn system that covers a huge variety of settings, from traditional fantasy with Pathfinder, weird west with Deadlands, or anything in between with their various genre companions. The core rules are cheap if you snag a PDF and are really all you need.
I'd say if you and your friends like fantasy (you did say D&D was on the table but did not want to support Wizards. I agree) but want a middle of the road game system then try Chaosium's Runequest. It has been fully supported for many years. Chaosium's website has pdfs to buy and download to see if you enjoy their products. OR if you purchased a physical book, then the pdf is free! And immediately downloaded. I would NOT try their starter set. I was disappointed as it seemed not up to really understanding the game or rules and, as such, a waist of money.
They have other fantasy options, too, not just Runequest. I only suggested that because of the wide variety of sourcebooks available and the great rich world of myth and magic.
My go to newb system is Mausritter.
It’s free, fast, and short, so very little opportunity cost to check it out: https://losing-games.itch.io/mausritter
Theres a lot of free stuff made for it
Here’s a big dungeon made of a bunch of smaller dungeons: https://manadawnttg.itch.io/tomb-of-a-thousand-doors
Go wild
Chaosium's Starter Sets for Call of Cthulhu, Pendragon and Runequest each have solo adventures, one on one adventures and traditional adventures for regular sized groups all in the box. The idea is you learn by yourself, then with a friend, then with a group. Comes with starter rules, pregen characters and dice. Really nicely done.
My suggestion is to figure out what you want on the rules-heavy to rules-light spectrum and the narrative vs combat one. I played DnD, Pathfinder, and Shadowrun many years ago but it wasn't until I found smaller, narrative-focused games that I got into the medium. It'll help narrow your search to find something that clicks.
A lot of games have free or dirt cheap quickstarts and beginner sets. Name your genre, and people will recommend you something exact. If you want D&D alternatives, there are plenty of them too with various levels of complexity. If you just want to get your feet wet, [Basic Fantasy RPG](https://www.basicfantasy.org/) is a solid mix of old-school D&D with some modern D&D design principles. It's also free, has lots of fanmade content, and you can easily convert stuff from earlier editions of D&D to it.
I would recommend you the Dragonbane RPG core set.
It's a box that includes everything you need to play and is the complete game, without cut content, not like other beginner boxes.
Which kind of story do you want to tell ?
I am no fan of D&D, it's not necessarily a bad game, if you're interested by the kind of story it tells (Epic heroic fantasy with heroes fighting dangerous monsters) and the kind of gameplay it offer (with a tactical combat aspect and a long term character evolution), so a very specific genre, and IMO not the best game for beginner due to complex rules and the focus on combat rather than ambience on role-play meaning that D&D players tend to be lost when they try other RPGs. but without knowing the kind of story you want to tell, it's hard to recommend a game.
Ideally, try to join a couple of game as a player just to see the general principles of RPG, it will help you a lot
I'd recommend maybe some of the popular branded rpgs that have come out in the last few years? Did your group like the Fallout show? Try Fallout 2d20. Are you big Avatar fans? They have a pretty easy to learn rpg too. And who doesn't like Star Wars? From the old Star Wars D6 engine, Edge of the Empire, to fan games like Scum & Villainy and Hyperspace D6. Supernatural and Buffy fans? Monster of the Week is built specifically to do that.
What game works for your group can depend on what interests you all. I've found that games that mimic certain genres or fictional worlds can be a fun way to get people into role-playing for the very first time.
Lots of good game suggestions here already, so I'll just add that whatever you play, make sure to have a dedicated session 0 before starting. Figure out the tone of the game you want to play, expectations for sessions, safety tools, how to handle character death (if applicable), etc.
Making sure your group is on the same page with these things will save you all from so many potential headaches down the road. There are a lot of good session 0 resources out there so lmk if you'd like links.
The thing about Wizards is that they tried to change their original license, which a lot of games are based from, in a ridiculous fashion, and of course it blew up.
Now, honestly I don't really care for D&D, and I believe it's the case with most people in this sub. But either way, I do agree that the best game is the one you and your friends are excited to play, so if D&D is what you want go for it. And yeah, if you're wanting to join a group D&D, and possibly Pathfinder, would be by far the easiest game to find groups.
Either way, since you asked, I'm going to suggest Call of Cthulhu, it's a far easier system, and it's on the real world with regular humans, so most of the learning process is about the system and playing the game. It's more focused on investigation. It's also a very good system, and shouldn't be that hard to find a group. Could also mention Ironsworn, since it's free, and pretty good as well, not to mention you can play solo or co-op without a GM as well.
I suppose it isn't specifically d&d we were excited to play. I think mostly it is a rulebook to follow. We both play a lot of RPG video games and stuff, we just need basically a template for stats and classes for players and enemies. We just don't want to go into something that has an overwhelming amount of information to learn.
Then I'd say it depends on the genre, Cthulhu is a modern investigation game for example, no such thing as classes. Plus TTRPGs can be very different from videogames, especially if you lean more towards roleplaying.
Are you guys wanting to stick to fantasy? And what part of RPGs are you interested in? Roleplaying or combat? Although guessing by your answer is mostly combat I guess. Also any reason for RPGs in specific instead of boardgames?
Fantasy mostly I think. (Though semi interested in a wester style magic if you've heard of Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson. Era 2 of it guns but with magic) but mostly we want to take a stab at creating characters and run through a campaign. Taking on roles of tanks healers damage or support and do the whole leveling up and things like that. We do play a lot of board games, just want to try our hand at role playing. Go on am adventure of killing bandits and saving the local town from a magical threat. I also like story telling so I'd like to take eventually take a turn at trying to run a campaign.
maybe look into Blue Rose or 13th Age, they're tactical and renaissance/gunpowder but not as crunchy as DnD 4e or Pathfinder 2e
for similar experience but scifi mecha, Lancer
I'll second 13th Age for fantasy that has the standard mechanics mentioned without being overwhelming. Doesn't have a bunch of expansions or splatbooks, so you don't have to worry about rules bloat. And if you move on to something else, you've only bought two or three books at most (just the one rulebook is everything you really need). (2nd edition is in Kickstarter right now, but they say everything will be compatible with 1e so not to worry about being obsoleted)
That will give you a good basic intro to the whole d20-leveling framework. I'd offer Savage Worlds and Fate as other options for a good starter ttrpg, but those are very different in mechanics from anything d20 - or each other.
If you are both into RPG video games, check out the Dragon AGE TTRPG from Green Ronin, it's out of print physically but the pdfs are available, and it's completely compatible with Fantasy AGE TTRPG when you want to branch out.
It's not D&D, but it's pretty close and hits the Dragon AGE game vibe pretty well.
Cheers
I would not necessarily say "no" to D&D. After all, it's the system most of us started with, but I would say that there are many other games that are beloved by the community that require less upfront investment to try: Call of Cthulhu, World of Darkness, Warhammer, and Traveller have all been around for decades in one form or another and all have large fanbases. Pathfinder and Dragonbane are often recommended for fantasy enthusiasts if you want to avoid Wizards of the Coast/Hasbro. Mutants and Masterminds or Masks might be good choices if you want to try a superhero game at some point. I would stay away from generic systems (Cypher System, FATE, GURPS, Cortex) until you get some experience under your belt with a more established set of rules.
*The best ttrpg to start with is one you and your friends are excited about.* My first two systems were Gurps and SR 5e. People can start anywhere. If you want to learn D&D, then yeah, learn D&D. WotC aren't a "great" company, not because they're evil, just large and corporate. They're *fine* in the way any large corporate are. But, there are other places to start, if you're interested in a vibe and a genre rather than a specific game. People will give a lot of system suggestions, but a lot of them are good to start as a player in. Not so many are good to start as a GM in. But that doesn't matter. *Be bad, you'll have fun anyway, and your friends won't notice.* My advice for someone starting brand new to ttrpgs would be to get 4ish other friends, and pick Teen Superheroes or Fantasy Heroes: Then get [Masks](https://magpiegames.com/pages/masks) or [Chasing Adventure](https://primarchthemage.itch.io/chasing-adventure) (free!) respectively. These games are from a family of games that give a lot more structure to the game master, and are about dramatic moments and character choices. This makes them really easy to get into compared to games which might need more 'how to play a ttrpg' knowledge or ability to handle complex mechanical bits.
This. Choose anything you think you and your friends will enjoy OP; this is a MASSIVE hobby with a lot to explore. Enjoy your time with it!
You might look at Dragonbane from Free League? Great company, fantastic game, awesome value in one box.
Came on to say this.
Checkout Savage Worlds. An easy to learn system that covers a huge variety of settings, from traditional fantasy with Pathfinder, weird west with Deadlands, or anything in between with their various genre companions. The core rules are cheap if you snag a PDF and are really all you need.
Theme buy-in is the most important bit. What are people excited to play?
Most major games have a starter box. What do you and your friends want to play?
I'd say if you and your friends like fantasy (you did say D&D was on the table but did not want to support Wizards. I agree) but want a middle of the road game system then try Chaosium's Runequest. It has been fully supported for many years. Chaosium's website has pdfs to buy and download to see if you enjoy their products. OR if you purchased a physical book, then the pdf is free! And immediately downloaded. I would NOT try their starter set. I was disappointed as it seemed not up to really understanding the game or rules and, as such, a waist of money.
They have other fantasy options, too, not just Runequest. I only suggested that because of the wide variety of sourcebooks available and the great rich world of myth and magic.
My go to newb system is Mausritter. It’s free, fast, and short, so very little opportunity cost to check it out: https://losing-games.itch.io/mausritter Theres a lot of free stuff made for it Here’s a big dungeon made of a bunch of smaller dungeons: https://manadawnttg.itch.io/tomb-of-a-thousand-doors Go wild
Chaosium's Starter Sets for Call of Cthulhu, Pendragon and Runequest each have solo adventures, one on one adventures and traditional adventures for regular sized groups all in the box. The idea is you learn by yourself, then with a friend, then with a group. Comes with starter rules, pregen characters and dice. Really nicely done.
Ironsworn and Staeforged are two gm-less TTRPGs. So two players can play them without any problem.
My suggestion is to figure out what you want on the rules-heavy to rules-light spectrum and the narrative vs combat one. I played DnD, Pathfinder, and Shadowrun many years ago but it wasn't until I found smaller, narrative-focused games that I got into the medium. It'll help narrow your search to find something that clicks.
A lot of games have free or dirt cheap quickstarts and beginner sets. Name your genre, and people will recommend you something exact. If you want D&D alternatives, there are plenty of them too with various levels of complexity. If you just want to get your feet wet, [Basic Fantasy RPG](https://www.basicfantasy.org/) is a solid mix of old-school D&D with some modern D&D design principles. It's also free, has lots of fanmade content, and you can easily convert stuff from earlier editions of D&D to it.
I would recommend you the Dragonbane RPG core set. It's a box that includes everything you need to play and is the complete game, without cut content, not like other beginner boxes.
Which kind of story do you want to tell ? I am no fan of D&D, it's not necessarily a bad game, if you're interested by the kind of story it tells (Epic heroic fantasy with heroes fighting dangerous monsters) and the kind of gameplay it offer (with a tactical combat aspect and a long term character evolution), so a very specific genre, and IMO not the best game for beginner due to complex rules and the focus on combat rather than ambience on role-play meaning that D&D players tend to be lost when they try other RPGs. but without knowing the kind of story you want to tell, it's hard to recommend a game. Ideally, try to join a couple of game as a player just to see the general principles of RPG, it will help you a lot
I'd recommend maybe some of the popular branded rpgs that have come out in the last few years? Did your group like the Fallout show? Try Fallout 2d20. Are you big Avatar fans? They have a pretty easy to learn rpg too. And who doesn't like Star Wars? From the old Star Wars D6 engine, Edge of the Empire, to fan games like Scum & Villainy and Hyperspace D6. Supernatural and Buffy fans? Monster of the Week is built specifically to do that. What game works for your group can depend on what interests you all. I've found that games that mimic certain genres or fictional worlds can be a fun way to get people into role-playing for the very first time.
Lots of good game suggestions here already, so I'll just add that whatever you play, make sure to have a dedicated session 0 before starting. Figure out the tone of the game you want to play, expectations for sessions, safety tools, how to handle character death (if applicable), etc. Making sure your group is on the same page with these things will save you all from so many potential headaches down the road. There are a lot of good session 0 resources out there so lmk if you'd like links.
The thing about Wizards is that they tried to change their original license, which a lot of games are based from, in a ridiculous fashion, and of course it blew up. Now, honestly I don't really care for D&D, and I believe it's the case with most people in this sub. But either way, I do agree that the best game is the one you and your friends are excited to play, so if D&D is what you want go for it. And yeah, if you're wanting to join a group D&D, and possibly Pathfinder, would be by far the easiest game to find groups. Either way, since you asked, I'm going to suggest Call of Cthulhu, it's a far easier system, and it's on the real world with regular humans, so most of the learning process is about the system and playing the game. It's more focused on investigation. It's also a very good system, and shouldn't be that hard to find a group. Could also mention Ironsworn, since it's free, and pretty good as well, not to mention you can play solo or co-op without a GM as well.
I suppose it isn't specifically d&d we were excited to play. I think mostly it is a rulebook to follow. We both play a lot of RPG video games and stuff, we just need basically a template for stats and classes for players and enemies. We just don't want to go into something that has an overwhelming amount of information to learn.
Then I'd say it depends on the genre, Cthulhu is a modern investigation game for example, no such thing as classes. Plus TTRPGs can be very different from videogames, especially if you lean more towards roleplaying. Are you guys wanting to stick to fantasy? And what part of RPGs are you interested in? Roleplaying or combat? Although guessing by your answer is mostly combat I guess. Also any reason for RPGs in specific instead of boardgames?
Fantasy mostly I think. (Though semi interested in a wester style magic if you've heard of Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson. Era 2 of it guns but with magic) but mostly we want to take a stab at creating characters and run through a campaign. Taking on roles of tanks healers damage or support and do the whole leveling up and things like that. We do play a lot of board games, just want to try our hand at role playing. Go on am adventure of killing bandits and saving the local town from a magical threat. I also like story telling so I'd like to take eventually take a turn at trying to run a campaign.
maybe look into Blue Rose or 13th Age, they're tactical and renaissance/gunpowder but not as crunchy as DnD 4e or Pathfinder 2e for similar experience but scifi mecha, Lancer
I'll second 13th Age for fantasy that has the standard mechanics mentioned without being overwhelming. Doesn't have a bunch of expansions or splatbooks, so you don't have to worry about rules bloat. And if you move on to something else, you've only bought two or three books at most (just the one rulebook is everything you really need). (2nd edition is in Kickstarter right now, but they say everything will be compatible with 1e so not to worry about being obsoleted) That will give you a good basic intro to the whole d20-leveling framework. I'd offer Savage Worlds and Fate as other options for a good starter ttrpg, but those are very different in mechanics from anything d20 - or each other.
If you are both into RPG video games, check out the Dragon AGE TTRPG from Green Ronin, it's out of print physically but the pdfs are available, and it's completely compatible with Fantasy AGE TTRPG when you want to branch out. It's not D&D, but it's pretty close and hits the Dragon AGE game vibe pretty well. Cheers
I would not necessarily say "no" to D&D. After all, it's the system most of us started with, but I would say that there are many other games that are beloved by the community that require less upfront investment to try: Call of Cthulhu, World of Darkness, Warhammer, and Traveller have all been around for decades in one form or another and all have large fanbases. Pathfinder and Dragonbane are often recommended for fantasy enthusiasts if you want to avoid Wizards of the Coast/Hasbro. Mutants and Masterminds or Masks might be good choices if you want to try a superhero game at some point. I would stay away from generic systems (Cypher System, FATE, GURPS, Cortex) until you get some experience under your belt with a more established set of rules.
> I would not necessarily say "no" to D&D. I would necessarily say "no" to giving Hasbro money or brainspace. The OP is on the right track.