Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="OnlineDM" data-source="post: 5652349" data-attributes="member: 90804">On the &quot;what do new players buy&quot; question, I'll chime in with some actual experience.This summer, I ran a table of D&amp;D Encounters most weeks at my friendly local game store. I had at least three separate completely new players at my table over the summer who enjoyed the game but owned nothing for it (except dice in some cases). I spent time talking to them about what they should buy if they want to play more.In every single case, I said two things:- Buy one of these two books (Heroes of the Fallen Lands or Heroes of the Forgotten Kiingdoms) to get all of the rules on building a wide variety of characters. See how you like it.- If you decide you want to keep on playing beyond that book, buy a DDI subscription, and MAYBE a Rules Compendium (but only if you want the details on how everything in the game works).This is a much better entry point for this particular type of player than the PHB/MM/DMG. I tell them to buy one book at a price of $20 instead of $35. That's not a big investment, and they were all willing to do it. If they wanted more, I pointed them to D&amp;D Insider rather than buying all of the Player's Handbooks.Yes, if they want to become a dungeon master they're going to have to spend more money (Monster Vault + Dungeon Master's Kit + Rules Compendium). But it's not a lot more than Monster Manual + Dungeon Master Guide. And you know what? The Rules Compendium is so good that I would tell people who go the Monster Manual + Dungeon Master Guide route to buy a Rules Compendium as well.Note that I didn't mention the Red Box anywhere. No one should buy that except completists or nostalgia buffs.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="OnlineDM, post: 5652349, member: 90804"] On the "what do new players buy" question, I'll chime in with some actual experience. This summer, I ran a table of D&D Encounters most weeks at my friendly local game store. I had at least three separate completely new players at my table over the summer who enjoyed the game but owned nothing for it (except dice in some cases). I spent time talking to them about what they should buy if they want to play more. In every single case, I said two things: - Buy one of these two books (Heroes of the Fallen Lands or Heroes of the Forgotten Kiingdoms) to get all of the rules on building a wide variety of characters. See how you like it. - If you decide you want to keep on playing beyond that book, buy a DDI subscription, and MAYBE a Rules Compendium (but only if you want the details on how everything in the game works). This is a much better entry point for this particular type of player than the PHB/MM/DMG. I tell them to buy one book at a price of $20 instead of $35. That's not a big investment, and they were all willing to do it. If they wanted more, I pointed them to D&D Insider rather than buying all of the Player's Handbooks. Yes, if they want to become a dungeon master they're going to have to spend more money (Monster Vault + Dungeon Master's Kit + Rules Compendium). But it's not a lot more than Monster Manual + Dungeon Master Guide. And you know what? The Rules Compendium is so good that I would tell people who go the Monster Manual + Dungeon Master Guide route to buy a Rules Compendium as well. Note that I didn't mention the Red Box anywhere. No one should buy that except completists or nostalgia buffs. [/QUOTE]

Verification