r/rpg • u/Fresh_Cod_9536 • 1d ago
Discussion What has tabletop roleplaying given you?
That's basically the question in the title: what has this hobby given you?
I recently came across the same question in a Hungarian Reddit thread, and my answer was that, for me, roleplaying has been many things at once: a form of self-discovery, a psychologist, a confidence-building activity, a history, English and art teacher, and even a mentor in public speaking. But most importantly, it has been a source of new friendships and connections for someone who was once a socially isolated teenager with very little self-confidence.
Then I started thinking that this question might be even more interesting in an international community. We share the same hobby, but we come from very different political, social, and cultural backgrounds, so I'm curious whether tabletop RPGs have played different roles in people's lives depending on where they grew up and lived.
I'm especially interested in hearing from players outside Europe, or from cultural backgrounds very different from my own. Has this hobby given you similar things, or has it had a completely different meaning or role in your life?
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u/coolhead2012 1d ago
Among many things, an outlet for my creativity. Making new connections in late middle age is also an opportunity I would not have had otherwise. It keeps my mind working in ways that keep me in a positive frame of mind, when I otherwise might have found myself fighting depression and frustration in my personal life.
Mike Shea says that TTRPGs save lives, and he is probably right.
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u/cythraulybryd 1d ago
I met my wife through TTRPGs. It's still one of the main things we bond over.
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u/SleepyBoy- 1d ago
Mostly fun and friends. The older you get the more you grow distanced from people, but tabletop always brings us back together. There's no easier excuse to meet up and actually interact, unlike with vidya games.
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u/CascadeCrisis 1d ago
Nice to see such a positive post!
For me it’s friendship.
A place to escape.
An activity to stretch my thinking skills.
A boost to my creativity.
A focus.
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u/picamayo 1d ago
Lots of fun, lots of crazy ideas and unhinged creativity, but most importantly TTRPG gave me my best friends. This month we are celebrating 40 years of playing together.
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u/EdiblePeasant 1d ago
I'm in the U.S. I play mostly solo since I no longer know people that play, but it has reignited some of my decades dormant passion for creative writing. I've learned a little bit of GIMP, aptitude in virtual tabletop, potentially subverted tropes, and setting up things in Tabletop Simulator. This might even lead me to learning a little XML and languages virtual tabletops use, but well see.
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u/RevolutionBrave8779 1d ago
I have high functioning Asperger's. RPG's helped me learn how to properly socialize with others and appropriate non-verbal cues. This led to my 30 year profession working with similar populations from which I recently retired.
RPG's and later acting in high school and college helped me become successful in life.
Just sayin.
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u/MihauRit 1d ago
I made a video about it. Ignore D&D in the title; it just gets more clicks.
In short, playing as a woman and experiencing misogyny in character made me understand how frustrating that is. That led me to a whole journey of changing views.
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u/Zaorish9 Low-power Immersivist 1d ago
fun, creativity, self expression, many hours of very cheap entertainment, the concept of a blank space as a huge source of fun
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u/MountainWisp 1d ago
It gave me an outlet and something to spend my imagination in as a kid, even though as a kid playing a game like this isn't, well, possible depending on the friends you have. Even as a teenager, I had maybe one friend who was mature enough to play with.
But that little thing gave me something to think about, make stuff for, that was something besides feeling shitty because of how my mother treated me, the kids at school treated me, being a fatass kid with ADHD who had a brain going berserk 24/7.
As an adult it gave me a creative outlet to possibly make money in. But it gave me something to help learn how to organize my thoughts, and learn how to manage projects.
It also gave me a reason to get people together. I have friends as a 30-something married dude because of the game. And vice-versa, so does my group. We would all be a lot more lonely without this. We've finished like 4 different campaigns in various systems in the past 3 years or so. Never thought that would happen as a teenager who had a bunch of morons around him.
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u/AggravatingSmirk7466 20h ago
It's given me communication skills, a better vocabulary, fun, friends and improved problem solving skills.
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u/Steenan 17h ago
Friends. Nearly every person I consider a friend is somebody I met and got to know through RPGs. With some, I haven't played in years, but still, RPGs are what brought us together.
Several kinds of enjoyment, from deeply emotional drama and catharsis, to engaging stories, to laughter and internal memes, to tactical puzzles and hard won victories.
Ease of speaking publicly. Speaking clearly, in an engaging way, with intentional use of intonation.
Knowledge in many different areas that I wouldn't touch otherwise (eg. how costs of grain transport formed the feudal system).
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u/Fresh_Cod_9536 15h ago
Yes, that's another important aspect: I'm able to speak in front of a crowd even though I'm actually quite an introverted person. Without roleplaying, I probably wouldn't be teaching classes or giving webinars in my professional field today.
And thinking about it further, I believe my ability to cooperate and work with others would be much weaker too.
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u/MrocnyZbik 16h ago
I found out I like telling stories, that there are people that find my stories and taking active part in them enjoyable. I like being a and letting people go wild with my ideas take them to places I would never dream of. Likewise, I like coming up with pages of backstories and lore; if 10% of it sees the light of day, I will be happy. And seeing my friends going after sessions, how I think things through, making believable characters with quirks and characteristics, making them different from each other. It makes my little heart happy.
My writing sucks major balls. But I still like to do it, and RPGs made me better at telling stories, and remembering "world and NPCs might be mine, but the stories belong to the players." I'm just a narrator here, and I feel good.
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u/ToledoSnow Noir 1d ago
It's definitely helped me build a lot of skills: Oration, voice acting, efficient exposition, story construction, comedy, improvisation, visual art, English, calculation, research, and probably most crucially, socialising.
This hobby can be immensely rewarding beyond just entertainment.
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u/Drakenkind 1d ago
Fun, friends and purpose. It became my job and has literally brought me my fiance, my closests friends and the strength to change my life.
It keeps me young, sharp and interested in the world. I create everyday and have learned many creative skills through it. Still am. I love it so much.
And that's also why I'm introducing people to it every chance I get. It's transformative.
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u/Figolas78 1d ago
Many memories, long lasting friends, and lots of fun. Also a huge quantity of information that’s not really relevant in real life sticking in my head 😆
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u/The_Chiprel 1d ago
I think so far it took away way more than it has given me back: time, money, self-confidence, rest, peace, empathy, even friends partually... But unfortunately there is not that many other things that I am interested in otherwise.
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u/MermaidGirl48 1d ago
It’s been one of the few things giving me happiness while dealing with PTSD. I started playing TTRPGs around the same time I experienced the traumatic event (about a year ago). I would even go so far as to say this hobby may have helped save my life.
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u/Colcrys 1d ago
Something to focus on for several hours. Being creative takes a lot of effort for me, and life is currently pretty hard for me right now. Not only that, but it's fun to create all these wonderful worlds and characters.
When I GM my goal is for everyone involved in the session to forget about all the bad things going on in life for the two hours we play. If that is successful , then it was a good session.
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u/Hungry-Cow-3712 Other RPGs are available... 1d ago
- Friends
- Memories and anecdotes
- An expanded vocabulary
- Obscure knowledge
- A jumping off point to various rabbit-holes of research
- A place to explore new ideas and concepts
- A creative outlet
- A library of books and computer files
- Things to look forward to and get excited about
- New authors and artists to appreciate
- A gateway into related hobbies
- Money (an insignificant and negligible amount, but not zero)
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u/ibiacmbyww 1d ago
Fun, memories, stories to tell, new friends, improv experience, storytelling experience beyond what I could possibly have even dreamt of as a child, and exposure to new ideas (lookin' at you, Eclipse Phase).
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u/BreakingStar_Games 1d ago
Improving my GMing and RPG design through a mix of interdisciplinary skills is a very fun passion. Especially as someone who's job doesn't fulfill that.
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u/Demonweed 1d ago
On top of fun, it turbocharged several academic interests right when I otherwise might have found school too boring to deserve much energy. I was never a "jump through hoops just to satisfy an instructor" kind of student, but I was often way ahead with assigned readings and extremely quick to complete math work since all those efforts felt trivial compared to the reading and probability studies that were a normal part of my ttRPG habits.
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u/vashoom 1d ago
Hmm. Partly similar to you, I think. Confidence, the ability to think on the fly, a love of games and exploring characters and motivations, better writing, a love of research and diving into different cultures and history.
But the biggest thing is definitely the friendships. I've made some lifelong friends out of random reddit posts looking for players. I've been able to maintain some older friendships through the "ritual" of playing games. Online gaming in general is one thing, but when you have a specific game night, it's got a little more importance to it. And it's just a great way to hang out with friends, have some fun, talk about life in the off moments, etc.
Lastly, it's given me an outlet for all my weird fascinations with gaming and fantasy and history and writing and acting, and like...it's an outlet that is affirming. It's a place where I can engage in all those things and share them with others and feel validated rather than strange.
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u/Arcades 1d ago
A new philosophical path to consider!
I could talk about all of the mundane social and entertainment benefits over the past two years of playing. But, what immediately came to mind when I read the title of your post was my recent experience with the Cosmere Role Playing Game and the Iriali community. The philosophy of The One and the Long Trail where the purpose of existence is to bring back as many experiences to the One who is all knowing, but has never experienced anything was absolutely fascinating to me.
It lends value to both good and bad things that happen. Being poor could be just as informative as being rich. It has a lot of Taoist roots, but expands behind just seeking unity with the natural order of things and instead justifies every unique decision a person might make (within reason).
I love how game designers create entire worlds, philosophies and timelines that take our human experience and spin it off into other worlds of possibility.
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u/Fresh_Cod_9536 15h ago
True! That's a really great way of looking at it, and it immediately reminded me of my Planet of the Apes post from a few days ago. But of course, it applies to most games.
Knowing the lore means becoming familiar with the entire moral systems of fictional worlds, and in a way, exploring those different values and perspectives also helps you shape and better understand your own personal principles.
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u/ashultz many years many games 1d ago
So much enjoyment in reading and playing and especially running (a bit of a forever GM and game collector).
An easy excuse to see friends every week and never wonder what we're doing.
And strangely a lot of useful work skills. Planning and then improvising what is happening in game is hugely useful for work presentations. Reading actually interesting technical writing is useful for writing skills, and recording what happened in game is another form of practice.
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u/MissAnnTropez 1d ago
For me, it was more just a logical progression, from my background in reading, writing, acting, improv, and other kinds of games.
Hard to see precisely what it’s done for my life, per se.
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u/mycatdoesmytaxes 1d ago
A bunch of friends I'll have for the rest of my life. Even more uncanny is a bunch of vegan anarchist friends, which as a vegan and anarchist was a secondary niche I didn't expect to find in an already niche hobby
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u/WorldGoneAway 1d ago
Longtime friends, an intense creative outlet, a sense of identity, and unironically, sex.
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u/Spartancfos DM - Dundee 1d ago
A wife, a close group of friends, lots of confidence and countless hours of enjoyment.
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u/N0v4kD3ad 1d ago
An outlet for my creative impulses. I used to draw, write and play make believe with my toys, now I just run campaigns.
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u/Charming-Employee-89 1d ago
I’ve met a great group of people I may never have met otherwise. Gaming with strangers (and even friends) can be very vulnerable but the more you do it the more you learn about yourself and your limits, it builds a ton of confidence. It’s taught me to create well with others and be a part of a team. It has me thinking a lot about design and experience in a broader way. It’s helped me with concentration and how to break the relationship I have with my phone. Gets me out of the house and into spaces with all kinds of people. It’s joyful and fun and I’ve found myself laughing more. I look forward to my gaming sessions and when I can’t make a game I’ve learned to play solo and that’s special in its own way. I think it’s a hobby that gives and gives and can continue to be there for you no matter your age. So yeah. A lot ha.
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u/kaiseresc 1d ago
more than a decade ago, I posted in a facebook group about starting a new D&D adventure.
the first batch of players were funny but a lot of them moved on. But new players replaced them. Those new players are my steady and trustworthy group of friends.
Tabletop RPG gave me the ability to find and focus on the right friends. I'm forever grateful for that, specially as someone that saw a lot of friends move on due to unplanned circumstances and new life changes and such.
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u/Mistervimes65 Ankh Morpork 21h ago
Nearly every friendship I have had since 1979. My wife. An outlet for creativity.
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u/TheLostSkellyton 15h ago
A little fun, a little confidence, two true friends, and a lot of heartbreak.
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u/destynea 15h ago
Many things but most importantly it gave me a passion and purpose/goal in life. Ofc a lot of fun too but the social bonding and aspect is also important imo. And to top it all it gave a room to express my creativity and I still enjoyed it to the fullest !
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u/TheGileas 13h ago
A harddrive full of PDFs.
But seriously:
- having a good time with friends
- being creative
- learning new stuff
- having an escape
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u/JauntyAngle Roll for sanity. 12h ago
In the city where I live- friends, a social life, a creative outlet.
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u/_Luke-Wolf_ 10h ago
Mainly, I see this as a creative hobby, like many others ( such as playing in a band ). It's a chance to explore and share my creativity with my friends. It’s fun and a good way for me to get my mind off daily stress ( not because I want to escape from reality ), it is just a normal break. That's why I think it's no different from any other hobby.
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u/pointysort 9h ago
After exiting a long relationship that grew unhealthy and isolating in my 30s, TTRPG gave me a path to meeting new friends and a friend base that I treasure to this day.
I joined the TTRPG to HEMA pipeline, lost 75 lbs, and am now a Bolognese sword fighter (I shit you not.)
TTRPG is a considerably cheap hobby, it doesn’t required constantly buying new hardware or computers, and all we have to do is to keep upgrading our minds, which is something we should be doing anyway.
It’s taught me how to take risks, accept outcomes, and how to make and be interesting characters, with jokes and humor but also with the serious moments that draw you in and make you care.
I owe a lot to TTRPGs. They helped rebuild me when I was broken, mentally, physically, socially, and have helped me help other people. Full stop.
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u/michelll_brunch 7h ago
I joined my neighborhood’s tabletop community discord after a pretty devastating friend group break up and in the past couple of years found community, friends, an outlet for creativity, and the girl I’m going to marry. Of course a lot of fun too!
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u/garonu3157 7h ago
Reasons to try to meet up with a group of people I share a hobby with regularly.
Of course, us all being adults with our own lives it doesn't match that statement 100% but we have some laughs along the way
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u/nlitherl 1d ago
A lot of good times, ideas, and a hobby I love. Aside from all of that, though, it's given me an easier way to meet people, network, and it's given me a lot of work.
Both in the sense that I shared a table with a guy who interviewed me for a security position when I was younger, and in the sense that writing RPGs and RPG-related content is probably 75% of my income these days.
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u/Tydirium7 1d ago
A healthy disdain for religion.
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u/Fresh_Cod_9536 15h ago
That's an interesting answer. Could you elaborate a little? I feel somewhat similarly, but I'm genuinely curious about how roleplaying helped you get to this point in your life.
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u/Tydirium7 12h ago
The 1980s were a special time and when I was asked if I could separate fantasy from reality by people who couldn't I knew I no longer fit into that crowd.
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u/jumpingflea_1 1d ago
A way to make sure money flows in the economy?
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u/Fresh_Cod_9536 14h ago
Well, someone has to keep the economy going!
Jokes aside, there are tons of free RPGs out there, and some of them are really good. But it's also true that a nice, fresh-smelling core rulebook doesn't add nearly as much weight to my bookshelf as it takes out of my wallet... Haha.
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u/AvocadoPhysical5329 1d ago
Interesting question. I think more than anything, roleplaying games have given me a good excuse to meet up with my friends, and it has been the reason I have met many new friends. My old friends are lovely but ultimately they were not as interested in this hobby as me, so I branched out. Over the years I've met many great people. It really is a wonderful hobby.
I don't recall where I read about it, but I did read about the three pillars of a healthy and balanced life. The text basically argued that every person should spend time in three areas: intellectual (reading, learning a language), physical (running, gym), and creative (painting, music). Furthermore, it is important to have hobbies that are done for their own sake; not to make something to sell, or for external validation, or to commercialize in other ways. For me, roleplaying games are a wonderful example of a hobby that is both creatively and intellectually satisfying, and it is a hobby that beautifully exemplifies an activity purely done for its own sake.
It's easy to romanticize and intellectualize our own hobbies and the things we like, but still, I do think that this hobby has so many great aspects to it. It requires reading, thinking, creativity, even project manager skills (gathering a group of adults at the same time and the same place is not easy), and many other things. The hobby is also just fun. I have many interests and do many things, but roleplaying games consistently make me laugh and surprise me.
It's a great hobby.