NORTH CANTON — Intrepid adventurers can score new loot and embark on new quests Saturday during Free RPG Day at Sapphire City Board Game Parlor.

The nationwide event lets players, both experienced and new, try out new, one-shot tabletop role-playing games (RPGs) from several publishers and take home free items.

RPG Day features products from Paizo, Goodman Games and Renegade Games Studios.

For the uninitiated, RPG players create characters and describe their actions, often using dice or other mechanics to determine what actions those characters can take and if those actions are successful. Dungeons and Dragons is one of the most well-known examples of the game, but players can choose from myriad publishers and game systems.

“It’s definitely, especially in the last 10 years, growing. It’s not quite mainstream, but it’s much less fringe at this point,” said James Parsons, co-owner of Sapphire City.

Parons pointed to RPGs in popular media, like the Netflix show “Stranger Things.”

“I think board games getting more popular have exposed people to other things,” he said.

Sales of hobby games in the U.S. and Canada exceed $1.5 billion in 2017, up 6% from 2016, according to trade publication ICv2.

RPG sales grew by 22% from 2016 to 2017, according to the publication.

The industry is poised to keep growing. According to the firm Research and Markets, the global board game industry will be worth more than $12 billion by 2023 and is expected to grow 9% annually from 2017 to 2023.

“I think there’s something really appealing about collaborative-style storytelling. In effect, that’s what (role-playing games are) ... It’s a group of people telling a story together,” Parsons said.

“It’s a fun, little creative outlet, while also being a social activity,” he added.

Sapphire City, at 129 S. Main St. (above Main Street Grille), is open Tuesday through Saturday. Customers pay $5 and can play as long as they’d like from the store’s inventory of board games. The store will be open for regular gaming during Free RPG Day.

For more information, see SapphireCityGames.com. For more details on Free RPG Day, see FreeRPGDay.com.