The 5 Easiest Multiplayer RPGs to Play With Friends

Most people who want to try a tabletop RPG just want a great night with friends where a story happens. They are not asking to memorize a 300-page rulebook or block out a whole Saturday.

You do not need full Dungeons & Dragons for that. Here are the five easiest multiplayer RPGs to play with friends, all real, award-winning games adults actually run on game night. Most are cheap or free and finish in a single sitting.

1. Fiasco

Fiasco is the famous game with no Game Master at all. Your group builds a web of shady relationships, then plays out a caper that goes hilariously wrong, like Fargo or Burn After Reading.

No prep, no one in charge, and it wraps in an evening. Best for: friends who love dark comedy and bad decisions.

2. Lasers & Feelings

Lasers & Feelings fits on one page. Your character is a single number, and that number resolves every action in the whole game.

It is pay-what-you-want, so you can be playing five minutes after opening the PDF. Best for: a campy, irreverent crew-in-space night.

3. Mörk Borg

Mörk Borg is dark fantasy without the dense rules: a grim, doom-metal apocalypse with a brutal art style. It is light on rules, fast to make a character, and quick and deadly in a fight.

It won four ENNIE awards including Best Game. Best for: swords and sorcery with an edge, no brick-sized rulebook.

4. Mothership

Mothership is sci-fi horror where your crew tries to survive deep space. Think Alien, with a simple Panic Engine that tells you how likely you are to hold it together.

Character creation is fast and needs no system mastery. Best for: a group that wants real stakes and a good scare.

5. Dread

Dread uses no dice. The table plays with a Jenga tower, and whenever your character does something risky, you pull a block. Knock the tower over and your character is gone.

You can teach the whole rule set in thirty seconds. Best for: a tense, cinematic horror one-shot.

A bonus pick, from one RPG fan to another

I left one off the list on purpose, because it is mine and that would be cheating. I am a lifelong RPG fan, and I built StartRPG for the exact person reading this.

Every game above is great, but most still ask someone to read rules or sit in the Game Master chair. I wanted to play a D&D-style adventure with my friends with none of that overhead, like jumping into a party game. So I made one.

One person starts a game, everyone joins with a room code, and a tireless Game Master runs the whole story while you all just play. No rulebook, no prep, free to play. You can start an adventure with friends in about a minute.

Frequently asked questions

What is the single easiest one to start with?

Lasers & Feelings, since it fits on one page and is pay-what-you-want. Dread is a close second, because its only rule is pulling a Jenga block.

Which can we play with no Game Master?

Fiasco is fully GM-less. The others use one light Game Master, but all are simple enough that a first-timer can run them.

What if we want fantasy with no setup at all?

That is the gap StartRPG fills. It runs a D&D-style story for you, your friends join from anywhere with a room code, and it is free to play.