What do you think?
Rate this book
A Kid's Guide to Tabletop RPGs: Exploring Dice, Game Systems, Roleplaying, and More
An accessible, inclusive guide aimed at helping young fans get in touch with their inner game master by offering advice and creative ways to get involved, celebrate, and interact with the tabletop RPG community!
Calling all adventurers! Whether you're a level five wizard in Dungeons & Dragons or just starting out on your tabletop roleplaying journey, A Kid's Guide to Tabletop RPGs is the perfect way to explore the ins-and-outs of playing, creating, and sharing tabletop games. Written by game developer and game master Gabe Hicks, A Kid's Guide to Tabletop RPGs includes chapters on:
The Basics of Tabletop RPGs
The Roles of the Narrator/Game Master and Players
Recommendations of Games to Play
How to Write Your Own TTRPG
Packed full of quizzes, sidebars full of history and recommendations, as well as interviews and advice from on how to get started, this is the ultimate guide and companion for young gamers and game designers. It's time to roll for initiative and get ready to explore the world of tabletop roleplaying games!
Calling all adventurers! Whether you're a level five wizard in Dungeons & Dragons or just starting out on your tabletop roleplaying journey, A Kid's Guide to Tabletop RPGs is the perfect way to explore the ins-and-outs of playing, creating, and sharing tabletop games. Written by game developer and game master Gabe Hicks, A Kid's Guide to Tabletop RPGs includes chapters on:
The Basics of Tabletop RPGs
The Roles of the Narrator/Game Master and Players
Recommendations of Games to Play
How to Write Your Own TTRPG
Packed full of quizzes, sidebars full of history and recommendations, as well as interviews and advice from on how to get started, this is the ultimate guide and companion for young gamers and game designers. It's time to roll for initiative and get ready to explore the world of tabletop roleplaying games!
144 pages, Paperback
Published June 6, 2023
1 person is currently reading
1625 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
September 28, 2023
THIS BOOK NEEDS AN EDITOR.
Page 3, diagram: "QUIZ Guess the Die by Shape"
The answer key labels the die with a 20 showing as a D12.
There are other mistakes as well, many of which I may not have caught. Another glaring one was on page 80: "In fact, the average miniature is twenty-five or twenty-eight centimeters tall." Twenty-eight centimeters is nearly a foot tall. Try millimeters.
I am sorry I ordered this for my public library. I'm going to take whiteout and fix the diagram, because it's so atrocious (and fixable), and hope that kids don't read the rest too closely.
Also, the book assumes that a child is interested in TTRPG in a vacuum, where no one else is playing. It's not a good fit in a library where I'm running three weekly D&D games.
There's also a lack of realism in suggesting other games. They sound cool, yes, but most of the games on the lists are hard to find and expensive. D&D is at least ubiquitous. Plus, if a kid wants to play a TTRPG, 9 times out of 10, it's because they've heard of D&D somehow (parent, friend, Stranger Things, etc.).
I can also tell you about what this book does right, though.
The chapter on Session 0 and Safety Tools is worthwhile, even for seasoned gamers. Knowing people's limits is important. The chapter does a good job of addressing this, and offering ways to make sure everyone has comfortable fun.
The chapter on Making Your Own Games is ambitious, and it might offer kids really lofty goals (the interview in that section is with a D&D producer and a game designer for another company), but it does have good advice about creating your own homebrew or a game from scratch.
There must be better books on gaming for kids out there. Skip this one.
Page 3, diagram: "QUIZ Guess the Die by Shape"
The answer key labels the die with a 20 showing as a D12.
There are other mistakes as well, many of which I may not have caught. Another glaring one was on page 80: "In fact, the average miniature is twenty-five or twenty-eight centimeters tall." Twenty-eight centimeters is nearly a foot tall. Try millimeters.
I am sorry I ordered this for my public library. I'm going to take whiteout and fix the diagram, because it's so atrocious (and fixable), and hope that kids don't read the rest too closely.
Also, the book assumes that a child is interested in TTRPG in a vacuum, where no one else is playing. It's not a good fit in a library where I'm running three weekly D&D games.
There's also a lack of realism in suggesting other games. They sound cool, yes, but most of the games on the lists are hard to find and expensive. D&D is at least ubiquitous. Plus, if a kid wants to play a TTRPG, 9 times out of 10, it's because they've heard of D&D somehow (parent, friend, Stranger Things, etc.).
I can also tell you about what this book does right, though.
The chapter on Session 0 and Safety Tools is worthwhile, even for seasoned gamers. Knowing people's limits is important. The chapter does a good job of addressing this, and offering ways to make sure everyone has comfortable fun.
The chapter on Making Your Own Games is ambitious, and it might offer kids really lofty goals (the interview in that section is with a D&D producer and a game designer for another company), but it does have good advice about creating your own homebrew or a game from scratch.
There must be better books on gaming for kids out there. Skip this one.
July 9, 2023
I'm a fan of Hicks' work and was excited to see this book!
This is a thorough guide to tabletop RPGs. The illustrations are colorful and kid-focused making it a great book for young readers. The book defines what table RPGs are, goes over basic vocabulary, what to expect, and talks about how to make your own games or find games you might like. There are also interviews with game designers in the book including the author. It's written as a guide for kids but really works for anyone who is new to the tabletop RPG world. There's a lot of information to take in on the first read, but is a great reference guide (although there are some specific websites referenced so as time goes on those recommendations may become less relevant, they work as a snapshot of the current lay of the tabletop RPG land).
This is a thorough guide to tabletop RPGs. The illustrations are colorful and kid-focused making it a great book for young readers. The book defines what table RPGs are, goes over basic vocabulary, what to expect, and talks about how to make your own games or find games you might like. There are also interviews with game designers in the book including the author. It's written as a guide for kids but really works for anyone who is new to the tabletop RPG world. There's a lot of information to take in on the first read, but is a great reference guide (although there are some specific websites referenced so as time goes on those recommendations may become less relevant, they work as a snapshot of the current lay of the tabletop RPG land).
August 14, 2023
Oh my goodness this book is SO COOL!!!! We are big Dungeons & Dragons nerds in my house and my kids love to play around with creating their own campaigns. Tabletop RPGs can be pretty intimidating to jump into without guidance and this book is an AWESOME introduction to the various types of games. It includes chapters like "The Basics of Tabletop RPGs" and "The Roles of the Game Master and Players" and is filled with all sorts of advice, interviews, quizzes, and more!
Not only is the information super easy to digest, and the pictures beautifully bright, but it's also incredibly diverse. Seeing a wheelchair user on the cover of a book - and in his magical game fantasy is NOT standing - made me ridiculously happy. All the illustrations throughout the book are just as casually diverse.
I highly recommend this one even to adults who are new to tabletop RPGs!!!
Not only is the information super easy to digest, and the pictures beautifully bright, but it's also incredibly diverse. Seeing a wheelchair user on the cover of a book - and in his magical game fantasy is NOT standing - made me ridiculously happy. All the illustrations throughout the book are just as casually diverse.
I highly recommend this one even to adults who are new to tabletop RPGs!!!
February 9, 2025
I was intrigued when I saw this title in an article, and I'm glad I picked it up! I think this is a great guide for kids who know what roleplaying is but have no experience with it, or even any real details about what a RPG really is. I appreciate the amount of recommendations for games, tools, resources, etc in this book, as well as the glossary of common terms and the places to experiment with what you're interested in via flowcharts or simple character sheets. This is really a great way to get info without it feeling intimidating, like many roleplaying intros do. The cute art is also definitely fun and appealing to kids. My only complaint was that the writing itself wasn't always done in a way I think would be easiest for kids to get into, and the interviews could have been set up with an explanation of who the people are and why you might know them.
May 19, 2023
Lots of useful information
Read
June 22, 2023This book offers a clear and fun overview of RPGs for kids or any beginner. I'm excited to share it with some newbies who will really appreciate it!
August 23, 2023
Glad this exists! Very introductory.
January 6, 2025
I find it hard to believe that anyone rating this book highly actually has read it - or played an RPG for more than ten minutes.
It's packed with the most basic mistakes (some noted by other reviewers, here). Typographical errors occur. And much of the text covers non-RPGs as if they were RPGs. And the RPG coverage itself is very light, often misleading, and occasionally contradictory.
Honestly, I think this whole book was AI generated in pieces, and then stitched together to make "a product" to sell. There's no internal consistency.
Literally any other book would be better.
In a word, awful.
It's packed with the most basic mistakes (some noted by other reviewers, here). Typographical errors occur. And much of the text covers non-RPGs as if they were RPGs. And the RPG coverage itself is very light, often misleading, and occasionally contradictory.
Honestly, I think this whole book was AI generated in pieces, and then stitched together to make "a product" to sell. There's no internal consistency.
Literally any other book would be better.
In a word, awful.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews