How to Start a Tabletop RPG: D&D Character Creation and Basic Rules

What a tabletop RPG actually is

In a tabletop role-playing game, each player controls one character while a Game Master (GM) describes the world, plays every other character, and applies the rules, according to a guide on running tabletop RPGs published by virtual-tabletop company Quest Portal. The same guide describes the core loop of play as a cycle: the GM describes a scene, the players decide what their characters do, and the group discovers what happens together as the GM adjudicates the results.

Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) is the best-known example of the genre, but it is one of many systems built on the same basic idea of collaborative, GM-led storytelling.

What you need before your first session

At minimum, a group needs a rules source (a published rulebook or an officially hosted version of the rules), a way to record each character's traits — a character sheet — and dice to resolve uncertain actions. D&D Beyond, the official digital toolset for D&D, hosts the 2024 edition of the Basic Rules online, including the chapter on building a character, and also offers digital and printable character sheets.

Creating a D&D character: the official five-step process

D&D Beyond's 2024 Basic Rules lay out character creation as a sequence of five steps, summarized below.

1. Choose a class from the twelve available — Barbarian, Bard, Cleric, Druid, Fighter, Monk, Paladin, Ranger, Rogue, Sorcerer, Warlock or Wizard — each with a different level of mechanical complexity and a primary ability.
2. Determine your character's origin by picking a background, a species, and two languages; backgrounds grant feat access, skill proficiencies and tool training.
3. Determine six ability scores — Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma — using the Standard Array (15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8), a random method (rolling four six-sided dice six times and keeping the highest three dice from each roll), or a 27-point-buy system, then assign them to the six abilities.
4. Choose an alignment from nine options combining Lawful, Neutral or Chaotic with Good, Neutral or Evil.
5. Fill in the remaining details: calculate derived stats such as hit points, then choose starting equipment, spells (if applicable) and personality traits.

Hit points at level 1 are set by class plus the Constitution modifier — a Fighter, for example, starts with 10 plus their Constitution modifier, per D&D Beyond's Basic Rules. Starting gear comes from the chosen class and background, and 2024-rules characters also receive one free trinket.

A faster route: Quick Build

For players who want to start playing immediately, D&D Beyond describes a shortcut called Quick Build, which asks only for a species, a class and a name; the platform then automatically sets ability scores, proficiencies, languages and starting gear, producing a playable character in a few minutes, according to D&D Beyond's own walkthrough of the tool.

Basic gameplay: how a turn actually works

Once characters exist, play follows the scene-decide-resolve loop described by Quest Portal: the GM gives a sensory description of the situation, the players state what their characters attempt, and the GM uses the ruleset to adjudicate the outcome, often through dice rolls tied to a character's abilities. D&D Beyond's Basic Rules confirm that the system is built around rolling a 20-sided die and adding a proficiency bonus for trained skills, though the full mechanical detail of specific checks sits in later chapters of the rulebook rather than the character-creation section alone.

If D&D isn't the right fit: other systems recommended for first-time Game Masters

D&D is not the only option. Screen Rant published a list of nine tabletop RPGs it considers suitable for people running a game for the first time as Game Master; several of them are also built to be fast to learn for new players.

Tips for running or joining a first session

Quest Portal's guide for new Game Masters recommends keeping the first session small and manageable rather than preparing an entire campaign world.

• Choose a short, self-contained adventure instead of building a full setting from scratch.
• Agree on tone, session length and what everyone wants from the game before play begins.
• Prepare only an opening scene, a handful of non-player characters, and a problem the characters can approach in different ways.
• Stay ready to improvise when players choose an unexpected path.
• Ask the group for feedback after the session to adjust the next one.