D&D 5E Newish and Possiby Missing the Point but...

[Spa'ro]

I'm a touch confused on where to start with 5E, and by that, I mean in what setting.

A little background, I grew up exposed to D&D (My Dad played, and well let's just say he and I kind of grew up together because sometimes things happen earlier than you expect) and fantasy games in general. Heck, I won a Spellfire tournament when I was 8 or 9 and Cataclysm still gives me nightmares. I tried to jump in during 4E (Late 2013) but was unimpressed. Something just didn't feel right to me even though I hadn't seen anything since about 2E/3E. I'm sure some of it was my fault, but it just felt a little... Mortal Kombat-esque to me. Just seemed like it was made to be more of a stream of battles, as opposed to a world of wonder. Again, that's likely on me for just not spending enough time getting into it, and getting with a group to build that world. Regardless though, I had put my 4E stuff away and a few weeks ago remembered that D&D Next was Playtesting when I was fiddling with 4E and figured I'd see if it was out yet... well, to my joy it was released a year ago. Woo!

Determined to not make the same mistakes as I did with 4E, I've been taking a little more of a cautious approach to buying/researching this time around. I want to get well versed in what's going on in the multiverse so I have some sort of foundation to work off of this time. I ordered the Sword Coast Adventurers Guide a couple weeks ago as I wanted to get my hands on the equivalent of the 3.5 Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting I found in Dad's stash last year. I've only briefly looked at it so far as I've had a number of other commitments, but some of those are wrapping up. I received my 5E PHB yesterday and have just started digging in.

My initial thought was to jump in with the SCAG, but some of the Elemental Evil and Rage of Demons stuff looks pretty darn cool as well. It seems as though they all go from Level 1 and up, and that seems awesome since I can jump in at any one of those points; but at the same time, I can jump in at any one of those points.... so where should I jump in?

I feel like I need the whole experience to really flesh out the world, but I'd also love to try to run the same Character through each setting and I'm not quite sure it can/will work like that. At some point, I'm likely to buy all of them and run different characters, but at $40/50 a pop, that's hard to swallow at the moment.

So, I guess the TL;DR version of this is: Do I miss anything by not starting with one setting or the other? If I start some campaign based on the SCAG, will there be bits of history that I'm missing regarding the influence of the things going on in the Underdark, or something else?

 

[Imaculata]

When I started playing D&D (I started with 2nd edition) we played in the Forgotten Realms setting. But as me and my friends grew more experienced, we quickly tossed it out in favor of a home brew setting. But you could start with any setting you want really. They are all a different experience, so just pick what takes your fancy. If you are just starting out, any established setting is probably best.

 

[TerraDave]

The setting for all the products outside the 3 core-rule books is the Realms. The dragons adventure, the elementals adventure, the demons adventure are all set in the Realms, though they could certainly be used in other settings.

For starting however, you might want to check out the Starter Set. The adventure in it could be set in the Realms, if you so choose.

 

[ShogunAssassin]

If your starting out first and foremost get comfortable with the rules, As a DM & Player. Read the PHB maybe even make a few characters.

If your going to DM the DMG is a great book full of information paired with SCAG you now have a huge setting to host your games in. Elemental Evil and Rage of Demons are awesome adventures to start your players on. OOTA is a nice solid book which is focused on the underdark (so you wouldnt have to learn as much about the FG setting). The history of the setting is updated since previous editions.

Starting out as DM i recommend: The DMG, MM, OOTA

 

[designbot]

Some clarification on terminology:

• Setting: As described on page 5-6 of the Player's Handbook, the setting is basically the world that you play in. Official settings include the Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance, Greyhawk, Dark Sun, Mystara, and Eberron, and many people just make up their own. The Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide is a sort of guidebook to a particular area of the Forgotten Realms. It does not tell a specific story—if you want one, you'll have to make it up yourself.
• Adventure: Princes of the Apocalypse, Out of the Abyss, Hoard of the Dragon Queen, Rise of Tiamat, and Lost Mine of Phandelver are all adventures. These provide a plot, characters, and locations for campaigns which will last for many sessions of play. (So far, these have all been set in the Forgotten Realms.)
• Storyline: Most of these adventures have been launched as part of a "storyline" (Elemental Evil, Rage of Demons, Tyranny of Dragons), which you don't really need to worry about—it just means they're doing cross-promotion with video games and novels and so on.

In general, the best way to get started is with the Starter Set. It's a very small investment, and includes dice, pregenerated character sheets, and a good starter adventure from levels 1-5. You've already got the Player's Handbook, which is awesome. After that, if you want to make up your own campaign, you'll want the Monster Manual and probably the Dungeon Master's Guide. If you want to run a pre-existing campaign, you can choose from one of the ones that are available, which generally take characters from level 1 to level 15.

 

[Spa'ro]

Thanks for the info guys, this is all good stuff. I will say, I'm a little surprised that the Starter Set has been recommended a couple of times. I bought the one for 4E (Red Box) and it felt very bare-bones. I don't really mean that it was lacking in Adventure/Fluff, I would expect that, but it seemed like it was even missing some rules type stuff. I'd have to dig it back out to be certain, but I thought it was literally a toned down version called "D&D Essentials" or something like that. Is the 5E version better in that regard?

I have the PHB and SCAG. I'll probably hold off on the DMG and MM for at least a bit, I know they're helpful even for players (and I do enjoy checking out the monsters in the MM), but I don't plan on DMing for quite a while. I feel like I need to put some miles on my adventuring boots first.

Thanks for the terminology clarification designbot that's helpful info as I wasn't exactly sure where each "item/product" fit in.

*edit* I was typing this prior to seeing your edit designbot, looks like we were thinking some of the same things.

 

[Mercule]

If you hadn't already bought stuff, I'd tell you to pick up the Starter Set and use it, along with the downloadable Basic Rules. The included module is pretty well done. Based on what you've already gotten, I'd still say that you could grab the Basic Rules instead of the DMG/MM, for now. Pick those up as you find a gap.

I'd start with Princes of the Apocalypse. It's a pretty nice adventure with lots of opportunity to explore and wander. It would go well with SCAG, but also provides enough implied setting to work with all the way through level 15. If you grew up around 2E, this is the module you want.

I strongly prefer an organic home brew over a published setting. When I was a green DM, I used Greyhawk and Mystara for reference and ideas, but the action always took place in a my own setting. That setting grew up around the PCs and they were always in the spotlight. IMO, relying too much on a published setting actually stifles the fun of the game unless it's either extremely casual (and the DM is busy) or the entire group is heavily invested in the setting, or willing to become so.

SCAG provides a middle ground between what I did and the 3E FRCS. If you want the FRCS, you'll be disappointed. If you just want enough to not have to spend time creating every aspect of your own world, it'll be fine.

FWIW, WotC has explicitly said that they won't be producing any FRCS-type books for 5E. SCAG provides some level of 5E support and visibility, but the official line is that the fluff from previous editions still works fine and you should track one of the older books down.

 

[GreenTengu]

It is best to start with published adventures, but-- honestly, it can actually hurt you to an extent to have any sort of defined "setting" to begin with. Which is to say, having to worry about established cities and established regions and established organizations and canon NPCs and what things fit and what things don't...

And you should be able to find several published adventures online, even on this website, that are old modules converted up to D&D 5E rules.

By all means, your "setting" can just be whatever the DM and players establish for themselves on the fly. Someone says something about the world, gives the name of a city they are from or says there is a river or a forest somewhere, then this becomes true of the world. Jot down these notes and continue to play without focusing on the smaller details.

You will organically create your own setting as you play along-- and if you use those downloaded converted old modules then your world will probably have bits and pieces of various other settings all mixed together. And that's fine.

 

[I'm A Banana]

My initial thought was to jump in with the SCAG, but some of the Elemental Evil and Rage of Demons stuff looks pretty darn cool as well. It seems as though they all go from Level 1 and up, and that seems awesome since I can jump in at any one of those points; but at the same time, I can jump in at any one of those points.... so where should I jump in?

Whether or not you've got the SCAG, you can pick up with any one of those adventures. The most recent is Rage of Demons, the first is Hoard of the Dragon Queen. They don't really influence each other, so dip in wherever!

But if you're looking to be a player in these games, you'll need a DM.

I feel like I need the whole experience to really flesh out the world, but I'd also love to try to run the same Character through each setting and I'm not quite sure it can/will work like that. At some point, I'm likely to buy all of them and run different characters, but at $40/50 a pop, that's hard to swallow at the moment.

Pick one. Run it through. Then go onto the next one. Space it out - each campaign should probably take 6+ months anyway, no need to get them all up front. Again, if you're planning on being a player, you don't need to get anything - PHB (and maybe SCAG) is more than enough.

You're right in thinking that it wouldn't really work to run one character through every adventure: each adventure so far is meant to be an entire story arc, basically.

So, I guess the TL;DR version of this is: Do I miss anything by not starting with one setting or the other? If I start some campaign based on the SCAG, will there be bits of history that I'm missing regarding the influence of the things going on in the Underdark, or something else?

Nah, you won't miss anything anywhere. Everything's super self-contained.

 

[Spa'ro]

Awesome, thanks again guys. I think I have a pretty decent idea of how to proceed now.