"Dragon Slayer" by AZRainman is licensed under CC BY 2.0
What are tabletop role-playing games?
Better to play it once than to hear about it a thousand times!
- 1 or more players who have around 5-10 minutes of free time.
- 1 six-sided die 🎲
- Start playing by reading the following rules aloud.
"The king promises to give half the kingdom to the person who rescues the princess from the dragon's tower.
You are an adventurer who has taken on this heroic quest!"
Choose your character:
- A [brave] warrior with [a legendary sword].
- A [wise] wizard with [a lightning staff].
- A [vigilant] bowman with [a faithful wolf].
If there are several players, take different characters and take turns to answer.
If someone fails a roll, another player can attempt the same task according to usual rules.
The Narrator is your guide in the story and is the person who describes the world around you. They do this with the help of the questions below. Ask a friend or become the Narrator yourself!
The other players answer the Narrator’s questions, by describing what their character is doing.
If success is not obvious, roll a die 
and add +1 to the result for every descriptive tag in [square brackets] that can help you. You must describe how the tag helps you or it won’t work!
- 4 or more — you succeed, say how you’ve achieved it.
- 3 or less — lose one of the tags in [square brackets] or your life. Let the Narrator describe what’s happened exactly!
Your result defines the success of the whole situation (“I defeat the dragon with the help of my sword!”), not just an individual action (“I deliver a blow to the dragon with my sword!”).
Narrator’s questions:
Narrator, use the players’ answers to create situations and obstacles in those situations. You should use these descriptions to proceed from one scene to another.
- How do you find your way to the tower? Why is it such a challenge?
- How do you get inside? What is in your way?
- You see the dragon! What will you do?
- Twist! The Narrator describes what it is. For instance, the dragon turns out to be the enchanted princess. How do you learn about it? What’s the challenge? What will you do?
- Final fight! Who is your enemy? What makes it difficult? What will you do?
- How does the story end? What happens to the kingdom and the king? What happens to the hero afterwards?
Daniil Shipaev
Nadezhda Rayeva
You can help us create more and better games!