Topic awaiting preservation: dungeons and dragons:need help getting started

hi everyone, um, I don't mean to bother you guys with a game you probably have never played, but I am getting a group together over the summer to play dungeons and dragons. YES I KNOW I MIGHT BE WEIRD DOING THIS, but I think it would be kinda fun. My dad played a lot in highschool, but I would like to learn some first hand stuff on it, without him trying to explain everything to me, witch may be very tedious work. If anyone would care to explain a little bit to me, i would be forever grateful.

"once i have fought, and now i am dead, but do not worry, for you shall also be deceased"

Nothing weird, or "geeky" about it (though at the time when I started playing, there was )

You will need a DM (Dungeon Master, a mixture of Referee and Storyteller) and of course players.

You will need the materials (books, dice, etc).

The DM will present the world, and bring it to life for your characters to adventure and interact in.

The players are responsible for...well, playing their character.

The interesting thing about D&D, is the synergy that builds itself out of this interaction. It becomes greater than the parts, and tends to sweep things up and along.

Never forget one thing, however -

It is just a game - have fun!

I mine as well point this out, heh. Make sure the people you're playing with want to play. I've been laying with some rather un-enthusiastic friends recently, and our sessions degenerate into random sillyness (not that this is bad =p).

I just wish I could play a serious campaign.

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I've been laying with some rather un-enthusiastic friends recently, and our sessions degenerate into random sillyness (not that this is bad =p).

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ROTFL!!!

AHAHAHA. Oh god. (ohh, god!)

Get the DM Guide, Player Handbook, and Monster Compendium (if you don't have them already - note version and edition). Get to know the Table of Contents of DM and PH. Browse through both to get to know the artwork to serve as visual markers. Then read them several times, but not front-to-back. Rather, read the chunks that are interesting, then fill in the gaps. Read them some more.

Since your father has experience, maybe you can get him to help you get your feet wet. Like the open-ended nature of D&D. How a basic adventure might go. Character generation and development.

Then, if you've properly tricked your father, get him to run you through a quick little adventure. Doesn't have to be anything fancy or last very long. Just to get the hang of actions and dice rolling. Maybe chasing a thief through town. Or maybe traveling to the next town and having to cross the Grumpy Ol' Troll's bridge. Or maybe a romp through sewers and alleys to find out where all of the rats are coming from.

Oh, if you can find it, I *highly* recommend Aurora's Whole Realms Catalogue. This little book has been one of our greatest assets.

I could go on, but the little one is making funny noises from the kitchen.
I might drop a few more notes later as they come to me.

(Edited by warjournal on 05-24-2005 15:23)

And thne exist the means of playing it across the internet. http://www.openrpg.org is an open-source python program for playing traditional pen-and-paper DnD across the internet. I currently make use of this to play in Perfect Thunder's Dragonhunt campaign.


Justice 4 Pat Richard

make sure you know what version you are going to play. The older stuff has some different rules that the newer 3.0 and 3.5 stuff. Although 3.0 and 3.5 is "about" the same.

I actually picked up the 3.0 books for $10 each at a local hobby store (used). Check out some of those places as well as used book stores for the manuals. Some of those manuals are a little on the pricey side ~$40-$50 each

Later,

C:\

Although I've never played D&D I do play the Star Wars RPG so hopefully some of this advice will be applicable.

Before getting started I'd suggest making sure everyone is OK on the rules. Game play goes a lot smoother when you don't have to stop in the middle of battles to go over how things work. If you intend on being the Dungeon Master, I recomend spending a session or two going through mini-campaigns to get the rules down. Also pass the book(s) around. Let everyone read up on the rules. I don't know about the D&D books but the Star Wars ones are excellent. I read them all the time just for the fun of it.

Know your character, their abilities and where you want to go with them. When you develop a character try to get into the character and develop him/her for a reason. When my friends & I created characters we started with a background story and developed our characters from there. If you develop a personality for your character focus on developing him accordingly. Creating killing machines is fun but I've always had more fun with complex characters who have their weaknesses.

Finally, it might seem trivial but if you're going to order food make sure its ORDERED & RECEIVED BEFORE YOU BEGIN PLAY. The biggest problem we had when we first started playing was the interruptions that would occur when our food would arrive. Between getting money together, divvying up food, and eating it took forever to get back on track. Take my advice on this and if you plan on having snacks have them ready before people show up. That way you can get into your campaign immediately and not have to worry about who has change for a $20.

I've never used Open RPG, but would anyone be interested in using it to play some D&D over the net?

EDIT: BTW, for those who haven't seen it check out 8 BIT D&D. It's pretty good.

(Edited by Jestah on 05-24-2005 20:06)

Jestah mate, mail me and we'll talk. Perhaps you can sit in on one of the Dragonhunt sessions, if the time suits you.


Justice 4 Pat Richard

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Skaarjj said:

Jestah mate, mail me and we'll talk. Perhaps you can sit in on one of the Dragonhunt sessions, if the time suits you.Justice 4 Pat Richard

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I wanna play :( :p

Later,

C:\

I kind of agree with Jestah about food and kind of don't. I agree in that focus can be lost with these kinds of distractions. I don't agree in that breaks can be a good thing if you are having a longer marathon.

short session, distraction = bad
long session, break = good

We used to play for upwards of 12 hours and we definitely needed to stretch every few.

Another thing that comes to mind is House Rules. These are things that you will have to figure out as you go. Write these down on the same piece of paper. Refine as needed.
Examples of our House Rules:
- call the 100's if rolling percentile with two dice
- roll on a book or character sheets
- if a die falls off or bumps *anything*, re-roll
- Critical Hit, or natural 20 during combat, double-damage is rolling damage twice. Roll d20 again and keep adding damage rolls for each subsequent natural 20. We've had a few instances of triple damage (one of my characters did quad with a punch once).
- Critical Hit damage rolls also applies for Critical Whiffs. Nothing like taking 20 in the back of the head because the archer was trying to get fancy.

We have other House Rules. Some involve passing of notes or distracting the DM to peak behind the screen.

Oh I don't think there's anything wrong with taking breaks. We usually play for about 6-7 hours and take a few breaks during the night. The problem with ordering food is that its inevitable that the pizza/chinese/etc. guy is going to come while you're in the middle of something. In my experience you're best off having food ready and taking breaks during natural breaks in gameplay - for example after a battle or when resting for the night .

Definitely don't be afraid to add some house rules and in some cases ignore standard rules. Part of the fun in RPGs including D&D is to create your own game. If you're doing something that everyone dislikes see if its really necessary to the gameplay.

Edit: Skaarjj I'll drop you an email later in the day.

(Edited by Jestah on 05-25-2005 17:51)

Just wanted to add - there are plenty of 'starter kits' out there.

Pick one up and go to town...

I get what you are saying now, Jestah. Couldn't agree more. Lately, our big fight has been with phone calls. Not much you can do about phone calls.

Ignoring the rules is fun. We were talking about this last night. My bud is the major DM and I'm the minor DM. If someone tries something incredibly creative, we'll let it fly regardless of the rules. We've even let a few things go without rolling dice because of creativity and advancing the game in a good way. Just be careful because balance could be adversely affected.

One area where we are really flakey about the rules is initiative. Sometimes we'll do group initiative, sometimes individual, and sometimes just go back and forth without initiative.

Maybe later I'll give an example or two in the other thread. I might have a few other things to say about DMing.

(Edited by warjournal on 05-25-2005 18:47)

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Ignoring the rules is fun. We were talking about this last night. My bud is the major DM and I'm the minor DM. If someone tries something incredibly creative, we'll let it fly regardless of the rules. We've even let a few things go without rolling dice because of creativity and advancing the game in a good way. Just be careful because balance could be adversely affected.

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Hell yeah!

Rock da house rulz!

And let the adventure roll!

Dungeons and Dragons... sheesh people still have that game!

Hood take my advice.

Ditch the D&D and get the WarCraft Board Game! Much more fun! It's even got an Expansion Set!!

The game got a great review and me being a WarCraft Fanatic I just can't help the temptation!! ;)

Heh... Ignoring the rules. Had a perfect example of this during our last session. My character has a technique he can use to break barrier-like spell effects, called Slice The Shimmering Light. He was running around in the Mirror Realm taking out a whole of Illusion Shadow Magics a bunch of vampires were using to disguise themselves. It was good fun, didn't have to roll any of them (normally it's a d20 attack role for each Slice)


Justice 4 Pat Richard

does anyone know where to get the dice?

oh where oh where has my little dog gone?

little red riding hood,

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does anyone know where to get the dice?

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It kinda depends on where you live. Most towns of any size in the US have a D&D Fantasy shop where you can buy the books, characters, and dice. Most cities have several such shops.


[edit]You might also look for 'dice' on ebay
[/edit]



-- not necessarily stoned... just beautiful.


(Edited by hyperbole on 06-01-2005 05:45)

Any comic shop sould sell D&D v3 dice sets for between $5 - $10. If you don't have a comic book shop in your area just google it. There are lots of places online that sell dice.

All you desperately need is the Players Handbook. The Monsterous manual is extremly helpful though. Last one needed is the DMG. When breaking in new players to the game, the best way to do it is have them make their own character from the book, not from a computer program. They will learn important things like knowing where to find information, things like that. We never tried to teach the rules before hand, its deffinately best to learn as you go. The first thing I like to do is encourage role playing over 'roll playing.' As in acting like the character instead of concentrating on getting your dwarven fighter to take off the most damage possible with his war axe! The techinical stuff is secondary in my book. and besides, if they get into the game, they will learn as much as possible to keep their characters alive, if the newbie truely enjoys playing.

InterDepth

nerds!

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Webbing; the stuff that sticks to your face.