D&D 5E New to DnD

So, I've been interested in DnD for awhile, and recently found a group of friends with one of them interested in DnD too, but doesn't know a lick either. So I thought it would be a great time to try http://movieseriesworld.com/ and setup a local group. but there lies the problem. I've never played DnD myself (I thought I would DM. Seems fun DMing too). I've been watching alot of videos on how to play dnd, as well as how to DM.
What I would like though is to bring some books so the group can read and lookup stuff. So I'm making this post to see which books are the most crucial to have and which ones I should get first. I don't have alot of money, especially with christmas around the corner, I was planning on getting the Players handbook and the DM Guide. Those seem crucial, but is there any other ones that I need to have right away? I figure we would learn/play 5E Thank You.

Dice and Monster Manual would be a must.

Welcome to the hobby, have some XP!

First things first, there is no "right" way to play or the "right" books to get. In fact, you could probably get away with just the basic rules for a bit which you can find here. It's a free PDF that has, well, the basics. The great thing is that it has all the rules you really need to run the game. It doesn't contain optional rules, but I'd recommend starting without the optional rules anyway.

Beyond that the main books are the Players Handbook (PHB), Dungeon Master Guide (DMG) and Monster Manual (MM). The PHB gives you more options, races and spells. The DMG gives details on running the game, magic items, suggestions about how to customize the game. The MM gives you more monsters to throw at the party.

Out of the three, personally I'd rank them PHB, MM, DMG in terms of what you need to play because of the basic rules.

Another thing to consider would be a module (a pre-written adventure) called Lost Mines of Phandalver (LMOP). It gives a great intro and examples. I don't use modules very often but this one is great, especially for new people.

But most importantly, remember to have fun, don't worry about getting it right, and if you have any questions feel free to post. Just expect different opinions and don't pay any attention when we all start arguing about minutiae, we'd probably all get along at the gaming table. Good luck!

Edit: Another thing to consider is chipping in together and search for "pound o dice". It's what it sounds like, a bunch of dice for multiple people at a reasonable cost.

if buying dice is an issue, you can also consider using one of the various diceroller free app available on google play.

moreover, the www.dmsguild.com website contains a lot of free adventures in pdf format, including ones aimed at beginning players.

If you are trying to learn the game first, you actually might find it easier to buy the Starter Set, rather than straight into the Player's Handbook, Monster Manual, or Dungeon Master's Guide. The Starter Set has the most preliminary rules necessary for jumping in feet first arranged quickly for you... whereas the larger books obviously have a lot more information but which are spread out over many, many chapters. In addition, the Starter Set has one of the best adventures for introductory games out there, and is a great starting tool for new players and dungeon masters alike.

Once you get past the Starter Set, the free downloadable Basic Rules from the wizards.com website (as [MENTION=6801845]Oofta[/MENTION] linked to) is the next best "money-saver" option there is, and gives you all the required information to take the characters provided in the Starter Set onward to higher levels.

The advantage of the Player's Handbook is that you get a wider variety of "stuff" to make characters with... but most of that is unnecessary and quite possibly a little more confusing for people just trying to learn. It's like trying to learn a new board game while incorporating all fifteen expansions-- they just make the basic process to learn take longer, plus you lose out on the "Oh wow!" factor of discovery later on. So start baseline, and introduce more stuff later on after you've exhausted the baseline material.

Henrryparth said:

[FONT="]So, I've been interested in DnD for awhile, and recently found a group of friends with one of them interested in DnD too, but doesn't know a lick either. So I thought it would be a great time to try and setup a local group. but there lies the problem. I've never played DnD myself (I thought I would DM. Seems fun DMing too). I've been watching alot of videos on how to play dnd, as well as how to DM.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]What I would like though is to bring some books so the group can read and lookup stuff. So I'm making this post to see which books are the most crucial to have and which ones I should get first. I don't have alot of money, especially with christmas around the corner, I was planning on getting the Players handbook and the DM Guide. Those seem crucial, but is there any other ones that I need to have right away? I figure we would learn/play 5E[/FONT]

Click to expand...

You can also download the Basic PDFs to get a handle on what the options are. This is a complete game, just with fewer character options and less overall rules. Call it streamlined, but you could play all the way from level 1 to level 20 and never use anything more than what is in this document. And yes, it is a Wizards of the Coast product: it is literally a substantially edited Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, and Monster Manual in one.

http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/basicrules

Also: if you are buying the hardcovers, I'd go for the Gift Sets they are selling right now, which will give you all three books, plus a DM screen, for less than the cost of buying them individually. If you decide to pick them up piecemeal, I'd get the Player's Handbook and Monster Manual - the Dungeon Master's Guide is fantastic and a great resource, but it's easily the least necessary of the three (which is also why it was published last when they originally came out).

Henrryparth said:

[FONT="]So, I've been interested in DnD for awhile, and recently found a group of friends with one of them interested in DnD too, but doesn't know a lick either. So I thought it would be a great time to try and setup a local group. but there lies the problem. I've never played DnD myself (I thought I would DM. Seems fun DMing too). I've been watching alot of videos on how to play dnd, as well as how to DM.[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#1C1C1C][FONT="]What I would like though is to bring some books so the group can read and lookup stuff. So I'm making this post to see which books are the most crucial to have and which ones I should get first. I don't have alot of money, especially with christmas around the corner, I was planning on getting the Players handbook and the DM Guide. Those seem crucial, but is there any other ones that I need to have right away? I figure we would learn/play 5E[/FONT]

Click to expand...

The recently updated Basic Rules are free to download or print out. Limited player options, but plenty to start with.

Alternately, the D&D Starter Set will run you around $28, and comes with pre-generated characters, a rulebook, adventure book, and some dice.

Those are the cheapest introductory options. Beyond that are the "core 3": Player's Handbook (PHB), Monster Manual (MM), and Dungeon Master's Guide (DMG). Definitely if you get into the hobby, your group will want a PHB. I'd personally consider the MM more essential than the DMG just because I like lots of monsters (the Basic Rules do have a decent monster selection too), but only by a little bit. As a DM, I regularly use all 3 books. Amazon is having a great sale on D&D books... though I'm hesitant to suggest them because of their business practices, and always prefer my friendly local gaming when that's an option ...you could probably get all 3 books for around $65 through Amazon.

Either way, you're probably going to need to pick up a few cheap dice from your friendly local gaming store. Having 2d4, a bunch of d6's, 2d8, a bunch of d10's, 2d12, and a bunch of d20's is a reasonable starting place.

You can download official character sheets, though there are several cool fan-made form-fillable ones floating around the net.

You can get in rather cheap to see how you like it first. Some of the previous post are spot on. The box set LMoP- Lost Mines of Phandelvar was made to introduce the game. You could also get a free module from DMsGuild.com and try for an afternoon rather than having the box set which would let you play for a dozen nights.

You could get into maps and miniatures, but that can wait. I like to play with a map or grid while others do not and call it theater of the mind. I find the map a good way of showing where people are and you can use free things like pennies or M&Ms for people and monsters before you want to buy ones.

The boxes set is really good value.

Henrryparth said:

So I'm making this post to see which books are the most crucial to have and which ones I should get first. I don't have alot of money, especially with christmas around the corner, I was planning on getting the Players handbook and the DM Guide. Those seem crucial, but is there any other ones that I need to have right away?

Click to expand...

To make your own adventures and play it's handy to have the three core rulebooks, which can be purchased separately or as part of a boxed set.

However, the cheapest way to play would be to pick up one of the early adventures and use the Basic Rules.
The adventure Princes of the Apocalypse has a free online supplement that includes all the monster statblocks and magic items not found in the Basic Rules.

This way you can start playing with a single book.