Anyone who read my last post should have at least a vague idea about what Dungeons & Dragons, hereby abbreviated as DnD, is. If you did you are hereby initiated and it's time to take a look at what you need to play DnD 5th edition.
My intention with this is to spread the word on Dungeons & Dragons to the general public. I hope to do this over the course of several blog posts. Topics I intend to touch on include but are not limited to:
- What is Dungeons & Dragons?
- What do you need to play Dungeons & Dragons?
- How do you play Dungeons & Dragons?
- Why should you play Dungeons & Dragons?
I intend to make these posts here in the Dungeons & Dragons community and do some cross-posting in hope that it might get some traction.
Source: Wizards of the Coast
The general necesities
There are several things that you need if you want to play DnD. The beauty of the game, coupled with the internet and large community that it has, is that there are several ways you can go about acquiring them. This can be accomplished by spending some money or it can be done entirely free.
This means that you can try DnD without loosing anything but time. You'll even be one experience richer.
I'll list up the things you need and give each of them their own chapter explaining why you need them and how you can get them.
The things you need are:
- A Dungen Master (DM)
- People to play with
- A place to meet
- A rulebook
- A character sheet
- Dice
- An adventure
Source: Wizards of the Coast
The Dungeon Master
I mentioned the DM in my first post. I'll take the liberty of quoting myself.
The game is governed by what is called the Dungeon Master or the DM. The DM functions as the narrator of the story and take on the role of the whole world, including the monsters and the people you meet. The DM decides what is hiding in the cave. The DM decide what you find inside the chest. The DM makes the world feel alive.
The game cannot be played without a DM. The DM should, but doesn't have to be, the one in your group with the most DnD experience. He or she has a lot to keep track of and functions as the games leader. The DM makes sure the rules are followed properly, or not. The DM has to be ready for anything and be able to make things up on the fly. No matter how prepared the DM is the players will always throw out some crazy curveball.
My favorite quote from the Dungeon Master's Guide (the DMG) read as follows:
As a referee, the DM interprets the rules, decides when to abide by them, and when to change them. (Page 4, 5e DMG)
Next to his or her own mind the Dungeon Master's Guide is the DMs best and most important tool. It tells you a lot about how to build a world if you intend to do so yourself. It tells you how to distribute loot. It tells you what to expect and not to expect from different type of players. It tells you how to make new and change pre-existing monsters. It tells you pretty much everything you need to know. It's a great tool but one that's not necessary to have at all.
I can also recommend the DM to get a Dungeon Master's Screen. Especially if you're playing in person. The screen offers a lot of rules and tables to quickly glance at as well as acting as a cover to hide the DMs notes from the players.
Source: Wizards of the Coast
People to play with
This is crucial. DnD is a social game and therefore you need people to play with. The best options are without a doubt your real life friends. If you don't have any friends who wants to play DnD there is still hope. Strangers on the internet are people to, you just need to find them.
I'll list some places you can look for players or a DM:
- Roll 20 Looking for group
- DND Beyond Looking for group
- Reddit: r/lfg
- Your local game store
- Go shouting in the streets
In addition to the DM I recommend having 2-6 players. 4 is the perfect balance.
Source: Stranger Things Wiki
A place to meet
Since you're gonna play with other people you need a place to meet. This can be a physical meeting place like a basement or one of your apartments. You could also meet up in a voice channel on Discord or some other voice communication service.
Even though physically meeting and playing is the coziest it works just as fine online. I currently play both my games online due to having a player who lives in another town. I'd rather play online than not play at all. We talk on Discord and use a service called Roll 20 for battle maps and simulating a table top. There are also other VTT (Virtual Table Top] services available. A VTT is not needed at all. The game can be played fully with theater of the mind.
If you're gonna use Discord you need to have a phone, tablet or computer with a microphone.
Source: Project Nerd
A rulebook
You will need a rulebook in one form or another. The rules for playing can be found in the Player's Handbook which costs around 50$. You should be able to buy this from a plethora of places. It can be purchased either physically or digitally. The Player's Handbook (or PHB) contains the rules for playing the game, the base races your character can be, the base classes and subclasses including all of the base spells.
If blowing off 50$ on something you might not like doesn't tempt you there are free options. The basic rules can be downloaded for free. This is a free PDF distributed by Wizards of the Coast (the company behind DnD). It contains all the basic rules and about half the races, classes and spells that you find in the Player's Handbook. This is an incentive to get as many people as possible to start playing DnD.
You need the rules to:
- Make your character
- Know how to use your character sheet
- Know the basic rules
- Know the rules and order of combat
- Point out when the DM is wrong so that he can refer to page 4 in the DMG
The basic rules also contains a full section dedicated to the DM.
Source: Wizards of the Coast
A character sheet
You will need a character sheets which hold the details of your character. This includes their name, their age, how they look and so on. It also contains your characters stats, features, skills, spells and which items they have. There is a lot to keep track of and simply to much to keep in your head. A sheet is needed.
A character sheet can be acquired from the following places:
- In the back of the Player's Handbook
- Downloaded and printed from Wizards of the Coast themselves for free
- Made digitally on DND Beyond (free and subscription models)
Details on how to fill out your character sheet can be found in the Player's Handbook or the Basic Rules free PDF which I mentioned above.
Source: Wizards of the Coast
Dice
You need dice. Dice are used to determine the outcome of your actions both in combat and in roleplay or exploration. One dice isn't enough. You need seven. You need four-, six-, eight-, ten-, twelve-, twenty- and hundred sided dice. Commonly refered to as d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, d20 and d100. The d100 is commonly a combination of two d10 where one decided the single value and one the tens. So say you roll first a 50 and then a 2 that would be 52.
Say you're fighting a monster. The monster has an Armor Class (AC) of 15. Your character is using a dexterity based sword. You roll a d20 and add your dexterity modifier and your proficiency modifier if your character is proficient with the weapon. If the total equals 15 or more your swing hits the monster. Now you get to roll another dice, let's say a d8, to determine the damage you deal.
Say you're trying to haggle on the price of some gear. The shopkeeper is a stern and serious businessman and won't be easy to persuade. You will be using your Persuasion skill which is modified by your Charisma stat and your proficiency modifier if you're proficient in the skill. The DM decides you need a 17 or more. You roll a d20 and add your Persuasion modifier. If you roll the number equal to or higher then the DMs chosen difficulty for the situation you're successful. The shopkeeper will now lower his asking price at your DMs discretion.
There's a lot of terms that you might or might not understand in these last two paragraphs. The basic rules mentioned earlier will help you out here.
Dice can be bought at your local game shop, from several places online or you can use virtual dice on your computer or phone through apps or websites. You can even type roll 2d8 into Google and it will roll two eight-sided dice for you.
If you're like me the dice will become your biggest obsession with DnD. You will be browsing eBay to find some cheap dice. You will be browsing Instagram under the dice hashtag. You will be looking up handmade dice on Etsy. They're just so beautiful. After a while you will stop calling them dice and start calling them math rocks.
An adventure
You will need ad adventure to play in. This is for the DM to choose. The adventure decides the setting you will be playing in in addition to the plot of your story. You can make up your own adventure or you can use one of the published ones. You can even make it up as you go. There are a lot of player published free adventures that can be played. The Dungeon Masters Guild is another great resource where you can find player published adventures for pennies, free or pay what you want.
I took my newest group through the Lost Mines of Phandelver which is a great starting adventure that accompanies the D&D Starter Set. I transitioned that campaign into the published adventure Storm King's Thunder which is a great open world adventure featuring giants as the main enemy force. In my other group we're currently playing the Curse of Strahd published adventure which is an awesome horror setting featuring lots of undead and vampires.
DND Beyond has a section on Perfect Adventures for the New Dungeon Master which I recommend checking out.
Source: Wizards of the Coast
That's it!
You're ready to play DnD! There's a lot to take in. I recommend that you just start reading the Basic Rules and take it from there. Everything will be made clearer the more you read and understand. A great resource to get started and understand what DnD is could also be to watch people play. Either on Twitch or on YouTube.
Next time we'll be taking a look at how you play DnD. We'll be touching in on the basic rules of the game and what you can expect from a typical session. Keep an eye out for it!
If there's anything you feel like I missed or if you have any questions feel free to leave a comment.
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