What qualities can make Tabletop Role-Playing Games more appealing to new players?

Tabletop role-playing games (TRPGs) have more than 40 years of history and have achieved far-reaching influence, especially in countries where English is the primary language. However, even though many new games appear every year, TRPGs still does not occupy a dominant position in the game market. Most gamers prefer video games and board games to TRPG. The aim of this project is to use qualitative analysis to investigate which parts of TRPG design prohibit players from engaging with TRPGs and then to create a novel TRPG that addresses these design problems. This project will combine newly formulated design elements into a game designed to attract new players and ensure that player engagement is sustained in subsequent play. The project focuses on the example of China, where many people play video games and board games, but few know about or play TRPGs. Therefore, this research will mainly study the gaming behaviour and feedback of Chinese participants to study what methods can attract Chinese players to TRPGs.