Dungeons and Dragons Club

[Risen]

I'm a noob at dungeons and dragons. I have no idea How to play and I really want to but I don't know How. Any tutorials from someone here?

Also... where can I buy an older version of the game? Any ideas?

[pdf]

I'm a noob at dungeons and dragons. I have no idea How to play and I really want to but I don't know How. Any tutorials from someone here?

Also... where can I buy an older version of the game? Any ideas? :?:

hot tip: unless you're a fanatic who wants to own all the hardcovers, you never have to buy anything! the $50 books can be a hassle to pay for. i only buy them for the art. most d&d stuff is either free to the public or already uploaded online. if the version you're looking for is 3.5e (as opposed to the 5th edition), there's a system reference document you can access for free.

(but, i'd recommend 5e if you're a beginner. the rules are easier and more flexible, plus there's more tips and stuff online. the 5e reference document is here.

[Actionbat]

Az, its interesting to hear that Pathfinder is more difficult in the start! A lot of my players enjoy more challenging encounters where several of the pc's get go down lol. They like the stress I guess. I also enjoy homebrew campaigns for the same reasons! The customizability is so exciting and it makes you proud when people enjoy your story! I will say it is a more relaxing change of pace to do one-off "quick" sessions where almost everything is done for you, though I will admit I don't know a lot of in-game history for dnd cause my homebrews are usually taking place in a completely homebrewed world.

Vix, your character sounds really fun! Very refreshing from the usually brooding angry boys I DM for. Dont stress about seeming like a dork in front of people, everyone is having fun together and it will add to the immersion! I'm horrible at doing Norse-like accents but my campaign at the moment takes place in a Viking inspired area its very fun and ammusing for everyone, even if I'm horrible.

I'm a noob at dungeons and dragons. I have no idea How to play and I really want to but I don't know How. Any tutorials from someone here?

Also... where can I buy an older version of the game? Any ideas?

I know this thread is a few days old but it caught my eye. I've been pretty interested in getting into D&D but I have NO idea where to start as I don't have any friends that are into it. Anyone have any tips for starting and good places to look for research? Thanks in advance!

D&D can be intimidating to get into at first. I know there are PDFs of the handbooks online, so I'd check out the Dungeon Masters Guide and The Players Handbook. You won't get everything from reading through these but it should teach you a lot, though it may be confusing at first. There are also videos online on how to get started with things (: And beyond just general info things, geek and sundry is a really good channel on youtube that streams their dungeons and dragons campaigns with a really professional set up, and even I as a seasoned DM learned things from watching them.

It's also important to note that theirs different editions of the handbooks, and what handbooks and rules a group plays by can vary but generally not many changes from edition to edition, so I wouldn't worry about that too much. (the current edition is e5, and I believe most people either play e5 or e3.5)

If you want to find people to play with, you could try searching online, asking a local store that sells table top gaming supplies/ card games if they know anyone who plays, or you could start by dming your own campaign and recruiting your friends. It may be difficult to play your first game ever as the DM but it's a fun experience and you and your friends can learn together in an environment where you don't feel like experienced players are judging you. (editing cause I forgot to add that if you want to take the route of dming your own campaign you can use premade adventures that wizards of the coast created that'll make it easier for you.)

And of course don't be afraid to ask me anything you're confused about (:

I've watched most of these videos myself (excluding the last one) and think they're pretty good guides.
One of Geek and Sundry's Campaigns that I enjoy
How to make a character
What class should I play?
What race should I play?

Thats my reply to a similar question. As said by people before me, 5e is certainly easier to work with but if you re up for it I'm sure you can find a lot of the handbooks online!

[pdf]

Az, its interesting to hear that Pathfinder is more difficult in the start! A lot of my players enjoy more challenging encounters where several of the pc's get go down lol. They like the stress I guess. I also enjoy homebrew campaigns for the same reasons! The customizability is so exciting and it makes you proud when people enjoy your story! I will say it is a more relaxing change of pace to do one-off "quick" sessions where almost everything is done for you, though I will admit I don't know a lot of in-game history for dnd cause my homebrews are usually taking place in a completely homebrewed world. [ snipped ]

yeah, pathfinder/starfinder actually give you negative racial/class modifiers sometimes if i remember right!

also to add more onto the homebrew stuff (the mention of encounters reminded me) my players personally don't like combat, so homebrew really helps for basing adventures around puzzles and roleplay instead. we still have combat, but it definitely has a LOT less fighting than most pre-made campaigns.

and i have to agree i don't know a lot of lore either because i do so much homebrew, haha. it doesn't really matter all that much, though - that's what i love about d&d. it's so easily adapted to whatever you want as long as you know the mechanics.

[Arya22]

Hmm I wonder if any of you guys played DnD online? (if that even exists)
No-one around me is really interested so I wondered if there was a way to play without having to be face to face with the other people. Are there any good sites you would know?
Any help is appreciated, thank you!!

[ellipses]

Hmm I wonder if any of you guys played DnD online? (if that even exists)
No-one around me is really interested so I wondered if there was a way to play without having to be face to face with the other people. Are there any good sites you would know?
Any help is appreciated, thank you!!

There are ways to play online! My current preferred method of which being Discord - the voice chat system works fairly well, and there are some dice bots you can download to your server (such as Sidekick or Avarice) for rolling. All you'll really need are friends to play with!

Which reminds me. I'm itching to start up a new campaign via Discord, but I'm having trouble figuring out a plot? Any kickstarters to get the creative juices flowing?

[pdf]

Hmm I wonder if any of you guys played DnD online? (if that even exists)
No-one around me is really interested so I wondered if there was a way to play without having to be face to face with the other people. Are there any good sites you would know?
Any help is appreciated, thank you!!



i would recommend roll20. it's a site where you can either join open campaigns or create your own for free. it rolls dice for you, and supports maps/map creation, a text chat, video chat, voice chat, audio, and a lot of interesting dm features (like fog of war, which lets you hide parts of the map & music that plays upon entering a room). you can assign tokens to players, make notes, and even put in a full character sheet.

i'm using it for my current campaign. it can take a while to get a hang of it as it's a little complex from a pen-and-paper DMs point of view, but i think it's the best option at the moment for playing online. also, if you try it, i recommend you use discord for the audio/video chat, because the bandwidth on roll20 can be finicky sometimes. but, if you just want to join something, there are tons of open campaigns on there looking for players!

there's also an actual dungeons & dragons online mmo game! it's pretty cool, actually. like WoW but with ... dnd stuff! it's not the same, of course, but i thought i'd put it out there. it's a lot of fun.



[clip]Which reminds me. I'm itching to start up a new campaign via Discord, but I'm having trouble figuring out a plot? Any kickstarters to get the creative juices flowing?



ooh i have something maybe? one thing i do to think of a plot is determine two things that really get me motivated: an interesting setting & a main goal.

like, my players expressed interest in doing an entire adventure in the ocean, so we've got them a boat and we're doing an island-trek type leg of our campaign. our next leg will probably be entirely urban/city based. i think choosing a setting to start is beneficial because it can determine your specific encounters/natural hazards.

as for main goal, i split my adventures into three categories:
- aid, where the main goal is to help someone (rescue missions, curing a disease, helping defend an area from attack/a monster).
- treasure, where the main goal is to get treasure, and that's all. i mainly use this for dungeon settings where the players kill a bunch of goblins/bandits/etc and have to navigate traps to get a big, abandoned treasure/hoard.
- adventure, where the goal is to recover a lost artefact or gain an ancient blessing/boon from a god.

so, to get my stories, i combine a goal with a setting, and then fill in the blanks. for instance, my last adventure was a three-parter that was aid based, on wiping out a cult that was a front for a business operation selling bulk sums of blood to vampires. it took place in the mountains, then moved in the last two parts to an urban area.

[Arya22]

Ooh those are all really cool, thank you very much!
Makes me want to play now.
anyone starting a campaign online I could join? XD

[Actionbat]

Ooh those are all really cool, thank you very much!
Makes me want to play now.
anyone starting a campaign online I could join? XD

Seeing as a lot of people have shown interest in wanting to play but not being able to find a party, maybe we could get a campaign going? I'd be interested in dming one if we get enough people on board. Though I've never played online so it would take some trial and error. (Additionally, how does everyone feel about using discord or roll20 (or both) if we do an actual campaign?)

[ellipses]

@Actionbat I prefer Discord, mainly since it's what I've been using a lot of the time? And I've DM'd several campaigns via Discord, so I can hopefully help a bit, if need be c: But I'm very interested in an online campaign! Sounds fun.