I suppose it’s natural for a fantasy author to be into table top role playing games. I mean, it’s an interactive story. The Game Master is sort of the narrator, and the players the characters, right? And I’ve been playing a not insignificant amount of time. I started playing Dungeons and Dragons when Second Edition was what was available. I dipped my toes into the Star Wars TTRPG, and played some White Wolf too.
Still, for me, nothing beat Dungeons and Dragons. At least, until Pathfinder came along. I played that for quite a few years as well, got into the card game, and eventually gave Pathfinder second edition a try (it’s more streamlined but I also haven’t played much of it yet.) Have the stuff to play Starfinder too, if I ever get a chance to get a group together.
The biggest appeal of TTRPGs is the story. At least it is for me. When I’m a player, I get to influence it through the role I play in the party. When I’m the GM, I get to guide the narrative. Its absolutely amazing as a storyteller. I’ve learned so much about my own creative process just through games like Pathfinder alone.
If you were to ask me if they’re worth trying, I say absolutely. It can be hard to find groups, but with online and the advent of sites like Roll20 it’s gotten easier. I like running adventure paths, but there are some skilled GMs creating their own homebrews out there. I’ve certainly played with a few. I like to use it myself to field test ideas for stories. Be it characters, plots, storylines, there is a lot of room to try out concepts I’ve thought about but wasn’t sure how some aspect of it would go over. It’s a lot of fun, and it gives me real time feedback on how engaging what I’m testing is. I certainly would be much worse off if not for TTRPGs.