A Warm Welcome

Hi, first up thank you for dropping by. I hope this site will be useful to you in your gaming adventures. If you have any questions about table top gaming feel free to send them in and I'll do my best to answer them as soon as I can.

In the mean time here are some helpful starters: 

• How do I get into table top role playing? I'd start by finding out if you have a friendly local gaming store (FLGS) they will often have a good understanding of the local scene and may be able to put you in touch with some helpful people.
• I'm thinking of running a game for some of my friends, where do I start? Start by either asking or figuring out what type of game your friends would be interested in playing. A hack and slash fantasy, a gritty detective game, a sci-fi exploration game and from there determine what system you want to use. 
• System? There's more than just Dungeons and Dragons (DnD)? Yup there are a huge number of systems that you can run games in, generally there are two main types of system: setting specific and generic. Setting specific systems are built to run games within a certain framework; DnD and Pathfinder are great for fantasy games, whilst Traveller is made for sci-fi games and Legend of the Five Rings (L5R) is set in a fantasy version of feudal Japan. Alternatively generic systems aim to provide a set of tools that can be applied to any genre. The classic generic system is GURPS and a more recent addition is Savage Worlds. Both have their benefits; generic systems can serve you well across a variety of campaigns which means fewer rules to learn, but setting specific games can have more flavor and intuitiveness at times. If you're just starting out and aren't sure what exactly you want I'd go with Savage Worlds for some fast and furious fun. 
• How do I convince my friends to take part? This is probably a topic for a whole post, but for now I'd say if you're confident running a game invite them over for a games night and have a one-shot, action packed adventure ready for them to play (Using a simple system preferably). If they grumble ask them to give it two hours and then if they aren't having fun you'll agree to do something different. If you aren't confident running a role playing game perhaps get their toes wet with a co-operative board game; something like Zombicide or Shadows over Camelot. 
• My friends suck and refuse to play with me. Well maybe one day they'll wise-up, until then try out your FLGS or a Looking for Group page.