DralonXitz
First Post
Another thing that helps a lot IMO is the DM Screen. I find that not having constant book look ups a huge time saver.
New to D&D (starting group)
- Thread starter Eternal Prosper
- Start date
Lots of good advice here. I'll echo some.
First, get the 3 core books: the Player's Handbook (PHB), Dungeon Master's Guide (DMG) & Monster Manual (MM). Don't get any others. Also, read these 3 books. It's a lot of material, but you'll be glad you did. Many people don't; so don't sweat it if you can't.
Get dice. I recommend a few of each type with a percentile die showing the tens (marked 00 through 90).
Also, buy paper and pencils. I like to keep a legal pad with me when I DM. Also lots of character sheets. You can download one at the Wizards of the Coast website (there's a link above). It will be handy if everyone uses the same charcter sheet at first.
While you're at the WoTC web site, do look at the Free Online Adventure Archive. You should be able to get enough free adventures there for months of gaming.
Those are the basics. The following things will help you, but I don't think they are essential (except maybe Dungeon, it's THAT good).
Buy Dungeon Magazine or better yet get a subscription. It will really pay off. I believe you can run an entire campaign from its pages.
A DM's screen will be very useful for you. If I had it to do over, I would get one that in landscape format rather than portrait since it is a bit easier to look out over the game area.
Get a large easel pad with 1" grids. A prior poster called it large graph paper. It is very handy to be able to draw out the area in which you are playing. A prior poster recommended laminating the battle grid in the back of the DMG, which is a good substitute.
If you can, get miniatures. There are many sources for them. The new D&D minis are even prepainted. If you don't want to get minis, use something (dice, counters, bottle caps, or anything) to represent the PCs, NPCs & monsters. It is great to have a tactical representation of what is happening in the game, escpecially during combat. For me, this was one of the biggest innovations of d20 D&D.
HAVE FUN!
First, get the 3 core books: the Player's Handbook (PHB), Dungeon Master's Guide (DMG) & Monster Manual (MM). Don't get any others. Also, read these 3 books. It's a lot of material, but you'll be glad you did. Many people don't; so don't sweat it if you can't.
Get dice. I recommend a few of each type with a percentile die showing the tens (marked 00 through 90).
Also, buy paper and pencils. I like to keep a legal pad with me when I DM. Also lots of character sheets. You can download one at the Wizards of the Coast website (there's a link above). It will be handy if everyone uses the same charcter sheet at first.
While you're at the WoTC web site, do look at the Free Online Adventure Archive. You should be able to get enough free adventures there for months of gaming.
Those are the basics. The following things will help you, but I don't think they are essential (except maybe Dungeon, it's THAT good).
Buy Dungeon Magazine or better yet get a subscription. It will really pay off. I believe you can run an entire campaign from its pages.
A DM's screen will be very useful for you. If I had it to do over, I would get one that in landscape format rather than portrait since it is a bit easier to look out over the game area.
Get a large easel pad with 1" grids. A prior poster called it large graph paper. It is very handy to be able to draw out the area in which you are playing. A prior poster recommended laminating the battle grid in the back of the DMG, which is a good substitute.
If you can, get miniatures. There are many sources for them. The new D&D minis are even prepainted. If you don't want to get minis, use something (dice, counters, bottle caps, or anything) to represent the PCs, NPCs & monsters. It is great to have a tactical representation of what is happening in the game, escpecially during combat. For me, this was one of the biggest innovations of d20 D&D.
HAVE FUN!
Welcome to the boards and the game.
The Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide and Monster Manual and the most important. Supplementary books are just that - supplementary. They can provide great depth and generate a tremendous amount of ideas, which can be overwhelming to new players. As the game processes, you may wish to consider Complete Warrior (Wizards), Complete Divine (Wizards), the campaign settings for Forgotten Realms and Scarred Lands are quite good and, even if the group never adventures in these settings, there is a dirth of information which can be gleaned from the books.
Dice, pencil, paper and character sheets - lots of these.
If the rest of the group is new to the game (I presume they are), you may wish to spend the first session simply creating characters as a group, taking time to understand their abilities, skills, feats, spells, etc. Perhaps run a practice combat senario to get used to the rules.
As for the actual first adventure, pre-set adventures are useful. They give you an idea of how an adventure is pieced together (ex. plot hooks), what needs to be considered (ex. level of difficulty) and the information which is needed (ex. Non-Player Character stats). I you feel you need to make changes, go ahead, just make sure you understand how the changes will impact the adventure.
Take note of what works and what doesn't work. Ask for feedback, positive criticisms.
Most important, have fun.
Tell us how it goes.
The Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide and Monster Manual and the most important. Supplementary books are just that - supplementary. They can provide great depth and generate a tremendous amount of ideas, which can be overwhelming to new players. As the game processes, you may wish to consider Complete Warrior (Wizards), Complete Divine (Wizards), the campaign settings for Forgotten Realms and Scarred Lands are quite good and, even if the group never adventures in these settings, there is a dirth of information which can be gleaned from the books.
Dice, pencil, paper and character sheets - lots of these.
If the rest of the group is new to the game (I presume they are), you may wish to spend the first session simply creating characters as a group, taking time to understand their abilities, skills, feats, spells, etc. Perhaps run a practice combat senario to get used to the rules.
As for the actual first adventure, pre-set adventures are useful. They give you an idea of how an adventure is pieced together (ex. plot hooks), what needs to be considered (ex. level of difficulty) and the information which is needed (ex. Non-Player Character stats). I you feel you need to make changes, go ahead, just make sure you understand how the changes will impact the adventure.
Take note of what works and what doesn't work. Ask for feedback, positive criticisms.
Most important, have fun.
Tell us how it goes.
Dragonblade
Adventurer
The essential books for the DM:
Player's Handbook
Dungeon Master's Guide
Monster Manual
Dice (I recommend the following: 1d20, 5d4, 10d6, 5d8, 2d10, 1d12)
The essential books for each player:
Player's Handbook.
Dice (I recommend the following: 1d20, 5d4, 10d6, 5d8, 2d10, 1d12)
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Books you do not need to start but would be very helpful:
A campaign setting book. I would buy The Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting (FRCS) or Eberron.
A first level adventure. You can download one for free from the Wizard's of the Coast website. Or you can buy one. I believe both the FRCS book and the Eberron book include first level adventures.
A DM screen. Nothing beats having a screen to hide your die rolls from the players. Screens usually are packed full of useful charts and info so you don't have to look them up in the books during play.
-------
I would start out by playing a couple of test games until you and the players feel confident. Then I would use one of the campaign setting books and run games in an established world. It will save you a lot of world-building time. Once you have more experience as a DM you can experiment with different campaign settings or even make your own.
And don't be afraid to use this board as a resource to answer questions and help solve problems you encounter. Most of us on this board are veteran players and we are more than happy to welcome you to the community and offer you all the advice you want!
Player's Handbook
Dungeon Master's Guide
Monster Manual
Dice (I recommend the following: 1d20, 5d4, 10d6, 5d8, 2d10, 1d12)
The essential books for each player:
Player's Handbook.
Dice (I recommend the following: 1d20, 5d4, 10d6, 5d8, 2d10, 1d12)
-------
Books you do not need to start but would be very helpful:
A campaign setting book. I would buy The Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting (FRCS) or Eberron.
A first level adventure. You can download one for free from the Wizard's of the Coast website. Or you can buy one. I believe both the FRCS book and the Eberron book include first level adventures.
A DM screen. Nothing beats having a screen to hide your die rolls from the players. Screens usually are packed full of useful charts and info so you don't have to look them up in the books during play.
-------
I would start out by playing a couple of test games until you and the players feel confident. Then I would use one of the campaign setting books and run games in an established world. It will save you a lot of world-building time. Once you have more experience as a DM you can experiment with different campaign settings or even make your own.
And don't be afraid to use this board as a resource to answer questions and help solve problems you encounter. Most of us on this board are veteran players and we are more than happy to welcome you to the community and offer you all the advice you want!
Li Shenron
Legend
I suggest too that you don't buy anything else, other than the PHB/DMG/MM and the needed dice. These 3 core rulebooks already have enough material to digest for a while
Download a few free adventures and maps from the Wizards website, since they are very simple and much easier to run than published adventures - plus, they are free
. Don't worry for the moment about planning the setting, just exercise yourself as a DM and your players as well with the rules of the game (you should also download errata, FAQs and sage advice or "rules of the game" articles from the same website, in case you stumble upon some unclear rule).
Download a few free adventures and maps from the Wizards website, since they are very simple and much easier to run than published adventures - plus, they are free
. Don't worry for the moment about planning the setting, just exercise yourself as a DM and your players as well with the rules of the game (you should also download errata, FAQs and sage advice or "rules of the game" articles from the same website, in case you stumble upon some unclear rule).
wedgeski
Adventurer
Welcome to the game!
Starting out as a DM can be pretty challenging - don't get *too* hung up on the rules, else your first game will be an exercise in page-flipping the PHB. If you haven't already, build yourself a few PC's so you know the process and can help your players if they're unfamiliar with it. Then take those PC's and run a few combats with yourself - pick some suitable monsters from the Monster Manual, slap 'em down on the battlemat, and have at it. Combat is easily the most rules-heavy aspect of the game - it will help to become familiar with it before your game starts. Other than that, jump in and have fun! Hope it all goes well.
Starting out as a DM can be pretty challenging - don't get *too* hung up on the rules, else your first game will be an exercise in page-flipping the PHB. If you haven't already, build yourself a few PC's so you know the process and can help your players if they're unfamiliar with it. Then take those PC's and run a few combats with yourself - pick some suitable monsters from the Monster Manual, slap 'em down on the battlemat, and have at it. Combat is easily the most rules-heavy aspect of the game - it will help to become familiar with it before your game starts. Other than that, jump in and have fun! Hope it all goes well.
Duncan Haldane
Explorer
Eternal Prosper said:
Hello,
I was just wondering after reading your post and the suggestions - have you actually played D&D? Or even some of the computer games that are based on D&D (Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Temple of Elemental Evil, for example)?
Your user details don't show where you live, but maybe it would be a good idea for you and your friends to see if you can find an experienced D&D player to help you start out - creating characters, a few combats, perhaps even DMing a game or two for you. It's much easier to learn the basics if you don't have to figure it all out from scratch.
Oh, and one other thing - somebody suggested reading all the core books. While that would be great, if you can, I wouldn't worry about trying to read all sections of all of the books - for instance, you don't need to read all monsters before you play. Just read the ones you are going to run soon, and learn their powers. And spells - no point worrying about Wish or Miracle when the PCs are all first level and the highest level NPCs they meet would be about 5th level or so.
Good luck!
Duncan
JoeBlank
Explorer
Most seem to be suggesting you buy all to the core rule books. I guess that is ideal, but if you want to hit the ground running and not worry too much about the details of every single rule all you really need is the Players Handbook and an adventure.
Good adventures can be found for free at Wizards of the Coast. Try The Burning Plague, it was created to introduce 3d edition D&D, and is a nice little adventure with a little of everything for new players.
While a Monster Manual is fun to look at, and nice to have, you can look up stats for monsters online, and print them out ahead of time after you have read thru the adventure, using the System Reference Document. Some adventures include the stats for the monsters as a handy reference.
Welcome, and have fun!
Good adventures can be found for free at Wizards of the Coast. Try The Burning Plague, it was created to introduce 3d edition D&D, and is a nice little adventure with a little of everything for new players.
While a Monster Manual is fun to look at, and nice to have, you can look up stats for monsters online, and print them out ahead of time after you have read thru the adventure, using the System Reference Document. Some adventures include the stats for the monsters as a handy reference.
Welcome, and have fun!
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