RPG's for Beginners

Role Playing Games
Role Playing Games (RPGs) are great fun to have with friends, and I'm personally a huge fan. I've played Dungeons and Dragons since I was seven or eight. They aren't as easy to get into for everyone, especially when you start on later it's not always easy to accustom yourself to playing a tabletop RPG, especially if your used to other kinds of games.

Here are a few RPGs that can be easy to get into, a quick description of them and how they are suited for beginners.

World of Darkness
The World of Darkness by White Wolf is incredibly well supported and hosts several variations including Werewolf, Vampire, Mage and Hunter. The system is one that is easy, simple to understand and simple to run. It relies heavily on story telling and leaves much up to the Story Teller that runs the game but does not by any means leave that story teller without support.

Of the four systems presented here, I recommend any of White Wolf's World of Darkness games very highly. As far as beginners go I think that the World of Darkness is one of the best, safest and more fun RPGs that you can begin with. It has a loose character creation system that uses points but also utilizes basic archetypes which makes it easy to transition into either entirely point based, or entirely class based RPGs.

The only detractor that I see for beginning games as far as the World of Darkness games go is the setting. It is heavily flavored and decidedly modern which again I see as a benefit to anyone just beginning with RPGs. It might however impede the kind of campaign a Story Teller would want to run.

FATE
FATE isn't your average role playing game, produced by Evil Hat the game doesn't have something that most Roleplaying Games do. Mainly basic statistics that describe a characters attributes. What it uses instead are something called aspects that basically describe a characters themes, "tropes" and associations. Each aspect gained by a character grants a certain number of skills and can also be used for various in game purposes.

Fate is a loose system, but a great one and has been applied most recently to the Dresden RPG (A specialized version of the generic FATE system). Fate is loosely based off of the FUDGE system and though it is very simple and easy to play, if you are using the FATE system by itself it isn't the easiest to run as the Game Master must come up with most details of the world. [There are world and more specialized supplements out there, however. The Dresden RPG is one example.]

Dungeons and Dragons 4E
Dungeons and Dragons is the iconic role-playing game made by Wizards of the Coast. The game that launched role playing games into any semblance of popularity, which is one of its strongest selling points. Dungeons and Dragons is what many people first think of when they think of role-playing games and so for many it is also be easier to step through the door into the wider role playing universe.

Dungeons and Dragons features some of the best RPG writers in the business, clear and defined rules and phenomenal system tools and support electronically as well as in the books. The books are well organized and have features that are specifically targeted to make games easier for the beginning player. Unlike some other systems however, there is a heavy emphasis on combat and rules are very tight laced which can be both a positive and a negative.

It is also useful to note that though efforts are made to make the game accessible the depth of the rules can sometimes be somewhat intimidating to newcomers to RPGs. It is also difficult in the latest incarnation of Dungeons and Dragons to make a "simple" character as most have approximately the same level of complexity.

GURPS
The Generic Universal RolePlaying System can become more or less complicated and has something of a scalable feel to it. Combat rules are, however, something less easy to get a hang of when just working your way into the system.

GURPS uses a point based system, and it is very easy to make a character that is simple to play but also equally easy to make characters more deep and complicated. That is one of the biggest things for the GURPS system, it is an all around generic system easily customizable for whatever setting you desire with plenty of supplements to back it up.