Pros and Cons of TTRPGs

For people unfamiliar who are considering playing Nick Nacks, here are some of the pros and cons of the hobby as a whole.

Pros

• Never the Same Thing Twice - If you want to talk about replayability, TTRPGs are unmatched. Every story will have moments you never forget, either because of silly moments where you roll bad, or because of epic battles where you almost died.

• The Perfect Hangout Hobby - If you are just looking for something to do with your friends and you have a lot of spare time, like if you play garbage games like League of Legends, then tabletop is a good substitute.

• Cost Effective - Going out to eat, see movies or drinking might not cost much one night, but do it every week and it adds up. If you choose TTRPGs as your hobby, you typically only need the up front cost of dice and such, and that's if you play in person. Playing on line with the right combination of programs can be completely free!

• True Role-Playing - Many RPG video games will not deliver particularly well on the role-playing side of things, giving you a generic blank slate protagonist and offer little in the way of interesting or compelling choices. TTRPGs let you play whatever you want, do whatever you want and do those things however you want them. Whether you want to go full pacifist, murder hobo or a mix and match approach, you can approach problem-solving in a way no other game can really deliver on.

Cons

• Time Consuming - In order to get the most out of TTRPGs, you will likely need to play for several hours a sitting, with multiple sittings a month. Lots of people play weekly, around 4 hours each session for potentially dozens of sessions to finish the story.

• You get what you put in - Personally, I find this as a pro, but for many it can be a con. If you aren't particularly invested in the story, if you skip many sessions, or if you aren't paying attention to when you are playing, you probably aren't going to enjoy TTRPGs much. I know especially these days it can be difficult for people to put down their phones and have a good time, and TTRPGs are one of those kinds of hobbies.

• Scheduling - The sad reality of the hobby is that even if you miraculously find 4 buddies to play with, they wont always be available on Monday night. My personal recommendation is to play no matter how many players show up, even if its only 1. Solo adventures can be fun too! Gives you time to deeply explore the characters closest to the player. Reschedule when you can. If you don't play very often, the game loses momentum and campaigns can slowly fade out of existence.