These days, almost everyone has at least heard of games like Dungeons and Dragons (DND), but most people tend to not know much about the game, or write it off as another nerd game. While on the surface level that may be correct, this game and others like it offer up endless possibilities and encourage a significant amount of freedom.

According to Wizards of the Coast (WOTC), the company that owns the Dungeons and Dragons IP, DND was considered one of the first and most prevalent Tabletop Role Playing Games (TTRPG), and was originally based off of tabletop war games made around the time. Published in 1974, the game was created by Gary Gygax in collaboration with his friend Dave Arneson, with the game's rules being inspired by the rules from the game Chainmail, made by Jeff Perren.

Also according to WOTC, the game itself had many ups and downs throughout the years, with five mainline editions, as well as a few spin-offs with more advanced rules being released to date. The most recent one, Fifth Edition, was released in 2014.

DND isn't the only TTRPG on the market, however, as there is also Pathfinder, which strives to recapture the feel of the orginal version of DND, with its highly complex rules, or Call of Cthulhu, inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft. If it's a genre, there's a good chance that there is a TTRPG based off of it.

DND and other TTRPGs are most notable for having asymmetrical gameplay, meaning that one player has differing abilities from all the other players. In the case of DND, it means that one player, referred to as either the Dungeon Master, Game Master, or DM/GM respectively, controls the world and nonplayer characters (enemies and allies alike), while the other players (who do not have a special name), play through the world the DM created. To be a DM is to be a narrator of a story, and to be the other players is to be the main protagonists of said story.

DND, as well as other games with similar gameplay, end up being split into three parts: roleplay, encounters, and preparation. All three of these elements go very much hand in hand, and in many cases can be the same thing.

As to how far you take each element, that is up to how you want to play. Some people want to roleplay to such a level that they purposely set their character to fail simply because that would be staying true to the character. That isn't for everyone, of course, but it's still an option, as long as it doesn't ruin other people's experience.

Some others would much rather prepare for each new encounter, either by making and improving their character to the point in which they are prepared for anything (at the moment at least), or they just want to engage in the encounters.

As for the actual rules, they can be as simple or as complex as you want them to be. A group of new players can have some simple rules to start out with, while a group of more experienced players can play with more advanced house rules, and a group of people with mixed experiences could teach newer players the ropes.

No matter how one plays the game, social interaction is the key component of the game. If a player never talks with their fellow player on anything, then they might as well not be playing. Two characters with conflicting interests are going to butt heads quite a bit, and it's up to those playing the characters to figure out how they interact with each other, if they come to a compromise, and what that compromise may be. These are valuable life skills that don't really get practiced as often in other games (in Monopoly, for example, the players are hard set on destroying each other economically, only making deals with each other solely for personal gain).

TTRPGs can be whatever you want them to be. If you aren't too keen on the elves and magic of a stereotypical game, then make it into something you do like, such as a game where you play as Marvel superheroes, private detectives in a mundane world, or even as toys from Toy Story. The possibilities are as vast as you can imagine. Just remember, this is not a game you play alone. Friends make this game a million times better.