Tabletop RPG Accessibility

TRPGs are not only entertaining hobbies, they also make great tools for educational and library use. That being said, many TRPGs are not accessible for players with disabilities.

How Accessible is Dungeons & Dragons?

According to several authors who are also visually impaired, the consensus is that very few materials are actually accessible.

Wood is one such author who writes that Wizards of the Coast does not typically release core rulebooks in a more accessible PDF format, but instead elects to produce physical copies.

The Basic Rules may be the exception as it is available in PDF format, although there are still many barriers involved in accessing and reading this ruleset.

For instance, the rules are laid out in two columns with separate text boxes and images located throughout, which screen-reading software may not handle properly.

Wood also notes that D&D Beyond, a web-based application produced by Fandom Games, provides hyperlinked digital rulebooks in HTML format, though there is no way to have an offline or downloaded version of the rules.

The Future of Tabletop RPG Accessibility

In a more recent article, Zambrano writes that the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped at the Library of Congress has made the Player's Handbook for Dungeons & Dragons fifth edition fully navigable in audio format, and is currently converting the Dungeon Master's Guide and Monster Manual.

This marks the first time the core rulebooks of Dungeon & Dragons have been made available as functional audio formats for people with disabilities.

Additionally, several independent publishers have developed their own TRPGs and adventures in accessible PDF formats.

MacGuffin & Co. developed Ghost Ship, a micro-setting that can be used with any TRPG system, which comes in both regular and accessible PDFs.