dnd confusion

[hellodnd]

Can yall help me, Me and my friends are new to dnd. Will u give us the basics???

[JNAProductions]

So you’re going to want the Player’s Handbook at the absolute minimum.
The Dungeon Master’s Guide and Monster Manual are both good to have too.
You only need one copy to share of each, if you’re good with sharing.

Also dice, pencil and paper, and some imagination.

[Sigreid]

The rules are a guide to get you all on the same page for how the game will run, don't let them get in the way of a good time.

Also, I do believe th Lost Mines of Pan(whatever) is a solid tutorial adventure.

[Psyren]

My main recommendation is that someone in your group picks up the Starter Set, "Dragons of Stormwreck Isle" (available online or via retailers such as Target). That will present the rules in an abbreviated format before you try diving into the full PHB and DMG.

If you're looking to get an understanding for free though, your best bet are the Basic Rules (https://dnd.wizards.com/what-is-dnd/basic-rules), which you can download as a free PDF and read through at your leisure - no need to spend any money or make an account anywhere.

If you do want to buy physical books though, now is a great time to do so because it's currently Amazon Prime Day as of this writing and a lot of D&D books are available at big discounts there.

[Unoriginal]

Can yall help me, Me and my friends are new to dnd. Will u give us the basics???

Which part(s) do you have confusion over?

[kingcheesepants]

It's a little hard to answer your question without knowing how much (if any) experience you and your friends have with tabletop roleplaying games or RPGs in general and what resources you have already looked through and what specifically you may be struggling with. In general though I'd say to get a hold of the Players Handbook and Dungeon Masters Guide and read though them and then ask if there are any specific questions you have or things you don't understand. Finding another friend who is already familiar with the game can help a lot too but obviously that may not be available to you

But I'll do my best anyway to give you an overview of the most pertinent information. DnD is a high fantasy roleplaying game where 3-6 folks team up as an adventuring party and go around exploring dangerous areas, beating up bad guys, and finding cool treasures. Because it's a game of imagination you can make progress in any way you see fit. For example; you need to get inside an evil wizards tower and rescue the kids he's kidnapped for his magical experiments, you can choose to fight your way through all his minions and traps, sneak past, try to deceive them into thinking you're there on legitimate business and let you in, lure him out so that you can rescue the kids without him interfering, or any variation thereof. Unlike a video game or a board game there isn't just one or two different approaches to every problem but as many as you and your friends can think of. The problems you face in game are called encounters and can be sorted into three types, social, exploration and combat. A social encounter is when the group meets a person that they want or need something from and must endeavor to convince them one way or another into giving it. For example convincing a guard to let you into a vault. Exploration encounters are ones where the group must contend with some difficult or dangerous aspect of the environment, for example crossing a rushing river when the bridge is out. Combat encounters are of course ones where the group must subdue an opponent through force. Generally in the former 2 types of encounter you use character skills, such as making a persuasion check so the guard lets you in. And in combat encounters you use the other aspects of your character such as Armor HP, and attacks.

There are a number of good videos on YouTube introducing the various aspects of the hobby. I particularly liked Jocrap's guides as a concise and humourous introduction to things like the classes and what all the things on the character sheet mean. Though there are more serious in depth guides which cover DM and player tips from folks like Dungeon Dudes, and How to be a great GM among many others.

You might also benefit from watching one of the many live play DnD games that folks are always streaming. Of course your group is going to look and play significantly differently than any live stream game (especially the more popular ones with lots of expensive production work and professional voice actors or comedians as players) but seeing other groups play may give you a feel for it.

But really all you need is to read over the basic rules, and have a few friends willing to learn with you. Start off small with just the players handbook and dungeon master's guide (or even more basic with just the SRD). Do a short premade adventure (others have suggested Lost Mines and that's not a bad choice, but Sunless Citadel, Death House, and Waterdeep Dragon Heist can all be good intros as well). Then when you're feeling a little more confident try doing your own homemade campaign or one of the longer adventure books, and expand your player options with things like Xanathar's Guide to Everything, Tasha's Cauldron of Everything and Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse.

[Arkhios]

Can yall help me, Me and my friends are new to dnd. Will u give us the basics???

Which part(s) do you have confusion over?

Indeed. From the OP's premise, it could mean anything from "D&D as a whole" to "the differences between 5th edition D&D and the previous editions" to "the basics of 5th edition alone".

For D&D as a whole, you need at the very least some imagination, a pen, paper for notes, and at least one set* of standard "d20 system" dice, though the more you have, the merrier!
You also need the rules for whichever edition** you plan to play. As a tabletop roleplaying game in general, one of the players needs to assume to role of the Dungeon Master, or Game Master, or whatever you want to call them. This person runs the game from scenery to another, handling the non-player characters, monsters, environmental hazards, and the story itself, while rest of the players (usually) have only one character each. These players are basically the "actors" of the story and their player characters (PC's) are their characters who shape the story by their actions.


*(usually sold in containers of 7 dice: one 20-sided die, one 12-sided die, two 10-sided dice, one 8-sided die, one 6-sided die, and one 4-sided die)
**(forgive my ranting, but there are at least 5 more or less different whole editions, and to be honest I've lost interest to keep track, given that there's a 3rd edition and a 3.5th edition, which are essentially same edition, but not really, except that 3.5th is the better edition of the two "3rd editions").

[Mastikator]

Here are the basics
https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules and https://media.wizards.com/2022/dnd/downloads/DnD_5E_CharacterSheet_FormFillable.pdf
It's everything you need to play D&D5e. The DM can pick up a free adventure from dungeon master's guild. (do a web search for "dungeon master's guild")

[Willowhelm]

https://www.dndbeyond.com/how-to-play-dnd

[Anonymouswizard]

So you’re going to want the Player’s Handbook at the absolute minimum.
The Dungeon Master’s Guide and Monster Manual are both good to have too.
You only need one copy to share of each, if you’re good with sharing.

Also dice, pencil and paper, and some imagination.

It's really annoying that WotC only sells pdfs of previous editions, because otherwise they'd be very much recommended (although IMHO a physical book is easier when looking up rules at the table). They're a cheaper investment and would allow character building and advancem to be done at home if desired.

Otherwise most of the posters here have gone over the basics, but to add another tip: D&D 5e, despite the developers talking about the 'three pillars', is primarily a combat engine. That doesn't mean you can't use it for other things, but it does mean that outside of combat the game doesn't support you and requires the GM to do the heavy lifting. Some people like this, other people hate it, and if you want to play a game with strong investigative, explorative, or social elements other games might offer more support.

[KorvinStarmast]

Otherwise most of the posters here have gone over the basics, but to add another tip: D&D 5e, despite the developers talking about the 'three pillars', is primarily a combat engine. That doesn't mean you can't use it for other things, but it does mean that outside of combat the game doesn't support you and requires the GM to do the heavy lifting. Some people like this, other people hate it, and if you want to play a game with strong investigative, explorative, or social elements other games might offer more support. {Scrubbed}

[No brains]

You've already got some good information on digital and physical resources that can help you get started, but also think about why you want to get into D&D.

Do you like fantasy? What about it do you like? Themes of history? Mythological settings? Cool monsters? Swords? Fire? Knowing what you like out of the genre and being honest about it is going to be a big help in the social side of D&D. There's lots of room for differing styles of play and you shouldn't feel pressure to do it 'right' from anyone buy yourself.

Paradoxically, my best advice for getting started on D&D is not to take the opinions of forum-goes TOO seriously, especially if they admit they have no brains.

[Anonymouswizard]

{Scrub the post, scrub the quote}

{Scrubbed} I didn't tell them not to play D&D, I pointed out where D&D's rules primarily reside and that if they want to go outside of that AND DON'T WANT TO DO THE HEAVY LIFTING to consider a different game.

If, as I suspect, they're new to RPGs as a whole honestly mostly leaving the rules aside for noncombat stuff might be a boon.

I could potentially have phrased it better, {Scrubbed}


{Scrub the post, scrub the quote}

Please quote the exact part where I recommend a different game. Because I very intentionally did not make any specific recommendations, so at worst what I said is equivalent to 'golf isn't particularly strenuous exercise, are you sure you want to? Right, okay, do you have a set of clubs?'

[Anymage]

Here's a novel idea: read people's posts. I didn't tell them not to play D&D, I pointed out where D&D's rules primarily reside and that if they want to go outside of that AND DON'T WANT TO DO THE HEAVY LIFTING to consider a different game.

D&D has name recognition, simplicity, and an easily accessible set of rules for complete newbies to pick up. It's harder for newbies to be aware what else exists in the space, let alone what the strengths and weaknesses of various systems are or even finding a group. Telling someone that D&D might not be the best system for them is a good response when someone is trying to tie D&D into a houserule pretzel trying to make it into a better game for them, but for a newbie there's a ton to be said about D&D just as the lingua franca of the gaming space.

[KorvinStarmast]

{Scrub the post, scrub the quote} {Scrubbed}

[Anonymouswizard]

D&D has name recognition,

Setting aside the other points for now, this is exactly why I said what I did. D&D has so much name recognition that people can get it, realise it's not what they want, and drop RPGs entirely.

There are other games that can serve as valid entry point and they could be better. But if the OP and their group want or are fine with fantasy and either combat or freeform heavy then there's no need to go any further

[catagent101]

Setting aside the other points for now, this is exactly why I said what I did. D&D has so much name recognition that people can get it, realise it's not what they want, and drop RPGs entirely.

There are other games that can serve as valid entry point and they could be better. But if the OP and their group want or are fine with fantasy and either combat or freeform heavy then there's no need to go any further

Yeah, I was gonna make this point. Like this is a thing that happens.

[JNAProductions]

See also Anymage's point. This is a newbie. Rule 0 of communcation: tailor your message to your audience.

They did. It was a good message.

[Arkhios]

They did. It was a good message.

The more I read the post claimed to be ignorant, the more I agree with this statement.


In general, as a good rule of thumb: If you're having a bad day, don't go vent it on forums. Cool it off somewhere else. I know even I have still something to learn in that regard. And have learned.