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Message: <blockquote data-quote="JiffyPopTart" data-source="post: 5806860" data-attributes="member: 4881">Hey there Dad, I just wanted to say welcome to the boards.  You have stumbled upon the BEST D&D message board on the internet.  If you have any question this is the place to get it answered.I just wanted to chime in a bit to give you my opinion on why you are so confused.  To put it in non game terms...picking up the Red Box and just getting into 4e DnD now (meaning January 2012ish timeframe) is like having just walked into the last half of the third Lord of the Rings movie and trying to figure out who is doing what to whom and why.While 4e hasn't been out all that long by other DnD editions standards, it has been out long enough that it had a complete overhaul/revamp in the product line.  Furthermore, its far enough along in its run that work has already begun in earnest on its replacement (5e, the topic de jour at the moment) that there are not going to be a whole lot more items coming new down the 4e pipeline.When 4e first rolled out the first three books were the BIG 3 (which are always the first three books of a DnD edition), the Players Handbook, the Monster Manual, and the Dungeon Masters Guide.  Owning all three of these books would let you game for years.  At a rather quick pace many many more books were added to the lineup adding more player classes, more player races, more magic items, and even more GM information.  All of these books were hardback.Then Wizards of the Coast (the guys who make the DnD game) decided to "revamp" the game and repackage everything so that newer players could jump in and play without having to slog through the huge amounts of books that had been published.This is where the Essentials line came in.  You can tell the Essentials books from the books before them because they are much smaller (in width/height terms) and softback.  The Essentials books contains all the information needed to play 4e, but presented in a tidier all-collected-in-one-spot format.  It also re-invented some of the original classes published in the original Players Handbook, but tweaked them a bit to run slightly differently than their previous cousins of the same name.Also around this time they introduced the Red Box as a one-stop everything-you-need-to-play introduction to 4e but which is fairly useless if you are going to buy into actually getting into the full game of 4e.So, all that being said there are multiple answers to "What exactly are the basics I need to play 4e?"  One answer is to go all the way back to the beginning of 4e and pick up the original BIG 3.  Another answer is to stick with the newer material and only get the Essentials, ignoring the hardback books.  I personally would suggest that in your case the Essentials is the way to go.So you have several items in the Essentials line to think about getting...1. Heros of X books: These books allow you to play certain classes and races as described earlier in the thread.  Both give the players the info they need to build a character and level them up.  Either is fine but both allow all the Essentials character options.2. Rules Compendium:  This is like the 4e D&D Rules Encyclopedia.  If there is a game rule it's gonna be in there.  It's not a necessity, however for a new GM it would probably be handy to have a one-stop goto book to look things up.3. Monster Vault: 256 pages of monsters and the cardboard counters for them.  Handy when you start designing your own adventures when you need more options and want more variety of things to attack your players.4. Monster Vault - Threats to the Nentir Vale:  Even more monsters to attack you players if the first Monster Vault runs empty or gets boring.5. Dungeon Masters Kit:  Some maps, tiles, counters and such to begin crafting your own adventures along with advice on GMing.  Also a GM screen which is handy if the Red Box doesn't have one.6. Finally there are a lot of different sets of tiles out there if you like a more visual game on the table.  There are tons of different sets but the three "starter" sets are Dungeon Tiles Master Sets: Dungeon, Wilderness, or City.  These have a huge COOL factor when all laid out on the table.7 (Not Essentials). Last, but not least, the ultimate is COOL factor is getting some actual plastic minis instead of the monster/character tokens.  While its a bit late in the game to start a collection (without forking out some serious cash) all cool dads would buy their young players a painted mini for their character.  Check your local game store for singles that aren't too pricey.These 7 products will last you many many many years of gaming goodness if the kids stick with it.DS</blockquote>

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