How Do I D&D?

HOW DO I D&D? V0.2 Introduction This document is meant to be a brief guide on how to start playing Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), specifically the latest 5th Edition of the game. It provides links to resources that will assist first-time gamers and provides advice about how to run games.

Where do I find people to play with? The best way is to find gamers at your local game store or college roleplaying club. Ask the store owner if he or anyone else is hosting or running games, either at the store or in the vicinity. Stores will often host D&D games on Wednesday nights using the official Wizards of the Coast Adventurer’s League framework (more details at www.dndadventurersleague.org). Adventurer’s League games are structured and have their own set of rules for players and GMs; you should read the AL Player’s Guide thoroughly.

There is also a Facebook group for AL here: www.facebook.com/groups/adventurersleague/

If you can’t find people or stores in your local area, try one of the handy player-finding websites out there. These include: 1. www.penandpapergames.com – specifically designed to find gamers in real life. 2. www.meetup.com – general site that often has D&D or Roleplaying groups. 3. www.obsidianportal.com – a site for online games but also good for finding real life groups. Good for campaign notes and tools. 4. www.roll20.net – a site for playing online, includes lots of DM tools. 5. www.invisiblecastle.com – online gaming forums. 6. www.enworld.org/forum/memberlist.php - player search on one of the largest D&D sites out there. 7. http://locator.wizards.com/ - Zipcode player/GM/Store Events finder. 8. http://nearbygamers.com/ - neighbourhood player finder.

What Do I Need to Play D&D? Just the free Basic Rules (http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/basicrules), some funny dice (d4, d6, d8, d10, d12 and d20s, found at any game store), paper and pencils. The Starter Set (http://dnd.wizards.com/products/tabletop-games/rpg-products/rpg_starterset) has all of the above plus pre-made characters and a quick adventure. If you want more options, buy the 3 core books: The Player’s Handbook (PHB), the Monster Manual (MM) and the Dungeon Master’s Guide (DMG). Players only need the PHB. Dungeon Masters should get the MM and DMG.

Official D&D books: www.amazon.com/Wizards-RPG-Team/e/B009KAKQIC Unofficial Core Books: www.mediafire.com/folder/cszft3b7x3ypm/Documents All products: http://dnd.wizards.com/products/legendary-fantasy-gaming

You can also buy the official adventure books, Hoard of the Dragon Queen, The Rise of Tiamat or Princes of the Apocalypse. Or you can make your own world and adventures (there are rules for making your own settings and adventures in the DMG). You don’t have to buy official adventures, but sometimes they save you a lot of work. See below for more Expeditions adventures.

How do I Play? D&D and roleplaying games in general are all about using stories and your imagination to go on adventures. That can be a tricky thing to explain to beginners but here’s some help: http://www.nerdsourced.com/dm-next-comprehensive-beginners-guide-dming/ http://www.dungeonmastering.com/campaigns-adventures/the-first-game

Free Pre-Made Short Expeditions Adventures These are short 2-4 hour long adventures written by the Adventurer’s League specifically to be played during one evening, and make for excellent introductions for beginners: http://dndadventurersleague.org/adventures/ password: tiamatlives  Season 1, Tyranny of Dragons password2: prophetaerisi  Season 2, Elemental Evil

Do I Need Miniatures to Play? Miniatures are not required, but some people like them. They are entirely optional in Fifth Edition, and the rules for using miniatures and battle mats can be found in the DMG p250. If you want to use miniatures, you can buy them in game stores or online at various wholesalers:

Official WOTC minis – http://dnd.wizards.com/products/tabletop-games/miniatures Reaper – www.reapermini.com/miniatures RPG Miniatures – www.rpgminiatures.com Dwarven Forge terrain & tiles – www.dwarvenforge.com

Popular News, Blog and Forum Sites There are millions of blogs about D&D and RPGs, but here is a small selection of some of the more useful and popular ones:

4chan’s Traditional Games board – www.4chan.org/tg ENWorld, probably the largest D&D site – www.enworld.org Critical Hits – www.critical-hits.com RPG news site – www.nerdsourced.com Reddit’s D&D 5E sub – www.reddit.com/r/dndnext Fancy new RPG site – www.tribality.com Listings of various RPG blogs – www.rpgbloggers.com

Mapmaking Programs: Campaign Cartographer – www.profantasy.com Hexographer – www.hexographer.com, www.dungeonographer.com Dundjinni – www.dundjinni.com Fractal Mapper – www.nbos.com/products/mapper/mapper.htm Dungeon Painter – www.pyromancers.com Donjon Random Dungeon Generator – http://donjon.bin.sh/5e/dungeon/ Dwarven Forge – http://mapmaker.dwarvenforge.com/ Ye Olde Map Maker - www.yeoldemapmaker.com AutoREALM – http://autorealm.sourceforge.net/ Dave’s Free Old School Mapper – http://davesmapper.com/

Online Tools & Virtual Tabletops If you want to play online or use online tools to assist your DMing, here are a few: Fantasy Grounds – www.fantasygrounds.com RPTOols – www.rptools.net Infrno – www.infrno.net Roll20 – www.roll20.net OpenRPG – www.rpgobjects.com Battlegrounds – www.battlegroundsgames.com

Podcasts and Related Shows A quick search for RPG or D&D on iTunes or Youtube will pull up many more.

Wizards.com shows & podcasts – http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/podcasts-livestream-games The Tome Show - www.thetomeshow.com Acquisitions Inc - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQgwgSb1GXCxbU- IfvGxZG4cscjC1iIh_ Actual Play of a D&D session – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgNRe76o4_8 Nerd Poker – http://www.earwolf.com/episode/let-the-game-begin/ Dragon+ official D&D news app - http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/news/dragonplus

More Helpful Resources Official D&D website at Wizards of the Coast: http://dnd.wizards.com/

Basic Rules Online Reference (works on smartphones): http://dnd.wizards.com/products/tabletop/players-basic-rules

The Roleplaying Game Primer, a good introduction to playing: img.4plebs.org/boards/tg/image/1412/28/1412283765897.pdf

Character Sheets: http://www.pathguy.com/ddnext.htm http://www.enworld.org/forum/rpgdownloads.php?categoryid=23

Mass Combat Rules for D&D 5E: http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/unearthed-arcana-when-armies-clash

5E Spells listed by class, along with crib sheets and rules summaries: www.mediafire.com/folder/eh8nkkrmq3dy8/PDFs

Donjon Tools for treasure hoards, encounters, dungeon maps: http://donjon.bin.sh/5e/

The 5E Eberron, Warforged, Artificer rules can be found here: http://keith-baker.com/extra-life-hacking-the-artificer/ http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/unearthed-arcana-eberron

Random Thing Generators (names, encounters, items, spells, gods, etc.): www.seventhsanctum.com http://chaoticshiny.com/ http://rpg-tools.org/generators/

www.rpginspiration.com

Quick Character Idea Generator: http://whothefuckismydndcharacter.com/

Music and Ambience (streaming or downloadable in mp3): http://tabletopaudio.com/ http://learntabletoprpgs.com/ http://www.dungeonmastering.com/ http://www.enworld.org/forum/rpgdownloads.php?categoryid=23