I was raised in a religious household in the 90s so of course things like D&D were haram. I even went to an evangelical college (that's a whole post there), so I was never exposed to TTRPGs.
And it sucks, because from the little I know about them, I know I would have loved to play them.
But... how do they actually work? I think I have a very basic framework. I know you have one character you control/play as. You roll to... make things happen? Or they determine things that happen? I know there's a game master who doesn't just read a story out loud... they actually influence things?
I'm gonna eventually get into Disco Elysium and I feel like actually understanding TTRPGs would help. And there's a game store near me that hosts games, I'd like to show and not be a total noob.
It's a cross between a board game and improv, with different tables emphasizing different aspects. Each player controls a character, and when they want to do something, the game master can tell them if it's trivial or if it's impossible, but for important actions where there a chance of failure, the game master can ask them to roll a die to see if they succeed, and then describes what happens as a result.
The game master and the players tell the story collectively. Some game masters come up with a structured plotline that they expect the players to go along with, while others act more as a referee and just see where the players want to go. Some stick closely to the rules while others are more flexible, some do detailed worldbuilding while others make everything up on the fly. There's also published settings and adventures that some people use, while others come up with their own.
At a game store, you're probably going to be dealing with "organized play," which is a style developed for playing with strangers, where players may drop in and out of games more often. Organized play uses published adventures, and there are some limitations, like the GM can't hand out a super powerful magic item that you could then take to another table. If someone drops out or someone new shows up, you just roll with it and don't expect an in-universe explanation. Players can't take hostile actions towards each other unless everyone agrees to it, and you're expected to cooperate and go along with the plot.
But yeah the main difference from most games is that you can do, like, anything. You can just be like, "Ok, I want to grab that ladder and hook my lantern to the end of it and swing that around to set things on fire." There's no rule that says you can do it, but it's a thing that you could plausibly do, so chances are the GM will let you do it - though they might make you roll for it, or highlight a complication, and it's probably not going to be as effective as a conventional weapon. But it really gives you an opportunity to think outside the box and solve problems creatively. And you can also be creative in who you're playing and how they think, what they look like, how they talk, and so on, it's a great opportunity to express yourself in a way you might not be able to normally.
Tbh just dive in. Everybody starts somewhere, and tabletop has been growing in popularity so there's a lot of new players. If you want, you could also watch a game online to get a feel for it.