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Taximes · July 2009

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admanb · July 2009

I would confirm this beforehand, but what I've read about the starter set seems to indicate that you can go from it to this:

http://www.amazon.com/Keep-Shadowfell-Dungeons-Dragons-Adventure/dp/0786948507/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1247358029&sr=1-3

Which is a full adventure. Over the course of that, you should be able to get a feel for the mechanics, and it's cheaper than $60. Ask each of your friends to chip in $5 and it's practically free.

Nappuccino · July 2009

Get a dry erase board and use it to keep track of everything. It really does wonders.

Also, just play. The more you play the more comfortable you'll be with the rules and how everything works. Sure, you might not be doing everything right at first, but as long as you're all having fun and learning, that doesn't matter.

Also, if you can, try to find someone who has D&D experiance who can join and/or DM for you so you'll have someone who knows everything all ready.

Oh, and don't be afraid to look things up. Look everything up that you need to and take the time to do it. At worst, you'll get very good at knowing where the information you want is. At best, you'll have it memorized in no time.

MindLib · July 2009

Oh man, just keep that DM guide under your pillow.

Campaigns sometimes take months of preparation before they're ready. You can't just expect to be able to glance at the rules and then know enough to DM. They're some really good podcasts out there of D&D campaigns, maybe start there?

Otherwise I suggest just reading through the material several times. Or at least read through the material that pertains specifically to your next campaign until you've got most of it under your hat.

Raern · July 2009

What RPGs have you played on computer? While I'm assuming you're looking at 4th ed D&D, games such as Baldur's Gate (2nd ed) and Neverwinter Nights (3rd ed) can teach you a lot about how D&D runs if you're looking for examples but don't want to bother an active group. I'm not recommending you go out and buy them to learn D&D, it'll confuse you with the 'wrong' version of the game system, but if you already played them and know them then you can use them as a stepping stone.

Beyond that, a typical RPG fight is actually quite simple once you're familiar with the system. In D&D the key steps are:
1. Initiative (whose turn is when)
2. Action or actions on each characters turn. (Need to know how long an action takes, so how much of the player's turn it uses.)
3. Roll dice checking attack vs defense if the action was a spell or attack. Then resolve the effects.

Don't be too afraid about doing things wrong, the point is to have fun. If, three weeks down the road, someone is reading a book and says "hey wait, we messed up, you can't do...." then you just fix it for future games. My group still does this occasionally after over a decade of playing various RPGs.

As for the cost, can you split it 4 ways? $15 each isn't actually a lot for even a few hours entertainment, and if you like it you'll get a lot more than that.

mechaThor · July 2009

In terms of keeping track of initiative rolls and passive checks and whatnot there are a lot of good resources on the internet such as combat charts and DM player cards. Some of it is somewhat over-elaborate and many of them overly complicated (so I have found), but, even a simple chart in excel helps.

CelestialBadger · July 2009

D&D is so complex that even experienced groups have rules they forget about, or consider too tedious to implement. You can add new rules in gradually as you get more experienced and want more detail. Every group runs the game differently, so there is no "right" or "wrong" way, only "fun" and "unfun" ways.

If you want to see how the game plays for experienced players, why not go along to a local club and ask to watch a game? I've seen people do this before, and there was no problem (though we'd have let them play a spare character if they'd wanted to)

Sephilim · July 2009

Nappuccino has it right, you just need more play experience... preferably as a player. DMing is much, much easier once you have the basics as a player down, and an experienced DM buddy to ask the tough questions.

Are you willing to play a couple games online to get more familiar with the system? I find playing online is a pretty easy, casual way to get comfortable with a game. If I were in your position, I'd find a group running a game with something like OpenRPG or RPTools, which are both free and pretty easy to use (especially if you're not DMing). They both have forums with people constantly looking for games and players, or you could just hang out in an OpenRPG lobby and ask around about open games. In my experience a lot of the DMs using these don't mind or even expect the occasional new player, and you can get more familiar with the basics and flow of play with just the starter set you have now.

After a few games, online or off (don't be so afraid to ask about games at your local shops or show up on game nights, either. even as a newbie. make a DM friend!

), you'll probably feel a lot more comfortable with taking on that DM role and guiding your friends. If you like what you see, then it'd be a good time to grab the books and do some serious reading.

Willeth · July 2009

Have you listened to the Penny Arcade DnD podcasts they did? They're all in the feed at http://www.wizards.com/dnd/rsspodcast.xml - there's two full campaigns. In the first, there's an experienced DM running it, an experienced player in Tycho, a lapsed player in Kurtz and a complete newbie in Gabe. In the second campaign, they're joined by Wil Wheaton to round out the party a little more. It really helped me understand how it all works, given that you have several different levels of play in there. There's actually a third campaign being published soon.

The Character Builder on the Wizards website is free for the first three levels of your character, and really helped me understand the character sheet and what bonuses apply where.

EDIT: Seconded for RPTools. It has a macro function to save your rolls for your moves (although as a Rogue, my modifiers meant I had a bunch of different macros). I'm not sure I would recommend it for a beginner, though, as part of the DnD experience really is being in a room with minis and rolling the dice, and Skype isn't really a substitute for that.

Figgy · July 2009

The Keep on the Shadowfell campaign is now free from Wizards. It's a level 1-4 module along with quick start rules and sample characters.

Dr. Gero · July 2009

Use d20srd.org if you guys have a laptop handy. Every term is hyperlinked to a rules and complete description. Has loot, classes/races, variant rules, monsters, etc. Awesome site.

Also, you can make your character sheets on Myth-Weavers which does the base saves and math stuff for you, making it faster to create characters. There is an excellent treasure generator as well.

Have fun man, D&D is fucking awesome with friends

edit: Ah, crap, didn't know you were using 4E. In that case, d20srd.org won't be of much help since it's 3.5 only.

Taximes · July 2009

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Charles Kinbote · July 2009

Also, an important thing to remember is that a lot of D&D's rules are crafted for balance. You don't need to look up every tiny rule that everyone forgets - feel free to just wing it once your understanding of the game has gotten far enough. It will either work out, in which case why not keep it, or it won't work out, in which case the real rule will be easier to remember because you'll understand the justification. D&D is all about balancing fun, ease, and a feeling of accomplishment. A lot of the little tiny rules are a certain way because of D&D's honest attempt to be a fully comprehensive tabletop game that is easily accessible - they're practically made to be tweaked, although I'm not encouraging a band of new players making up every rule they can't remember.

As far as individual powers and spells and stuff, stuff that you really shouldn't improvising/altering, flashcards flashcards flashcards.

Cowboy Bebop · July 2009

I'll second using the character sheets from myth-weavers, it takes a lot of the hassle out of making a character and it's also good for helping the DM judge what your characters can handle.

As for the books I would say the players hand book and the monster manual are essential. The DM book not so much, it mostly just contains advice on how to handle certain types of player and general advice ect. which can be found in abundance on many D&D websites.

www.dungeonmastering.com has some really good articles on DM'n.

Penny Arcade

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