Hello and Help please?

[Deus Mortus]

First of all let me start off by saying hello to all of you, seeing how this is my first post in this forum (though I have been lurking around for a few days and have been reading OOTS for a while), however this isn't the place for a hello thread and I know that, which brings me to the reason for this thread.

I have been playing PC/Console RPG's since the dawn of well, PC/Console RPG's and have always enjoyed the more rigorous, you need calculus to understand type of character building, yet recently I have not been satisfied with my need for these kinds of RPG's, NWN 2 is nice, but it's buggy as hell and I mainly bought it to play around with the toolset. WoW is lovely however largely uncomplicated when it comes intricate character building and does not allow a lot of freedom when comes to altering gameplay from what the devs want it to be. So I was asking myself, I want something with a lot of numbercrunching and thinking, I want a lot of freedom to do what I want and to top it off a nice storyline.

So then I realised D&D is exactly what I wanted, so I went ahead to the local tabletop gamingstore and asked around for it a bit, only to hear that where I live not a lot of people play it and most people go for card games like Magic, so I started lurking around the intertubes and found no real beginners guide to D&D as in what books to buy, where to find other gamers, etc.
So one day as I was reading my daily webcomic dosis, I saw that OOTS had a forum, dumb me, why not ask around here? So that is what I am doing now, could any of you people perhaps give me a bit of a beginners course to D&D?

[Lord Sidereal]

www.d20srd.org has all the basic rules, although to call them basic is.. wrong. Have fun!

[Deus Mortus]

Thank you, but I was mainly looking for a way to get into contact with other players and stuff like that...

And by the way, seeing that huge chunk of information and being told that that are just the basic rules, well I think I just had a nerdgasm...

[Jades]

Ask the local gaming store if you can put a flyer up, asking about groups.

If you go to coffee stores, carry a PHB around. I carried one between classes at college and got a group.

[Deus Mortus]

I tried the flyer and I got nothing and might I ask what a PHB is?

[Ali]

Hmm... I suppose you will need to find those Magic players, and ask them if they would be willing to try DnD.

[Pegasos989]

Well, the only book you should buy is PHB (The Player's Handbook) which gives all the info you need to play. It can also be found in the SRD but SRD has a lot of stuff you don't need (like monster stats), has no info on flavour stuff (only rules. Though PHB has kinda small amount of that too...) and it is generally more unorganized (what to read first, etc.). So I recommend buying PHB and that's it.

Wizards of the coast website (www.wizards.com) has some info on finding a group if I remember correctly but these Giant in the playground forums have Play by forum games running too, so you can propably find a group. :)

Welcome aboard!

[Saph]

Rules-wise, all you need is the Player's Handbook 3.5. But even before that, I'd say the first thing you need is a group to play with. Learning the rules, picking up extra info, etc is easy if you've got some people who know the game already.

If you're just starting D&D what you really need is a gaming group or club somewhere with reasonably experienced DMs. The best way to find gaming groups or clubs is a) the Internet or b) your local game shop. You've already tried your gaming store, so that leaves the Internet. Do a Google search with the words Netherlands, Deventer, D&D, Roleplaying, RPG, and so on, in various combinations, and see what comes up.

If you can't find a group, you might have to put one together yourself. Go searching on message boards and look for D&D players in your area. There are sure to be some, you just need to find them. Once you've got enough you can start up your own campaign, with the most experienced player as the DM.

- Saph

[Ali]

If you have any friends that enjoy similar PC/Console RPG's to you, ask them if they would be interested in playing DnD.

[Deus Mortus]

Well first of all, I will try getting myself a PHB and seeing how these forum games work, however I am afraid asking these magic players doesn't work, they're mainly kids who want something else then Yu-Gi-Oh. I'm afraid there just aren't a lot of geeks/nerds where I live, there are no colleges nearby nor IT firms, so I'm afraid I won't find much people here, though I will try ofcourse ;)

[Saph]

If you go to coffee stores, carry a PHB around. I carried one between classes at college and got a group.

Hehe. That's a good idea. :)

By the way, Deus, your problem's one which just about every D&D player has sooner or later - finding a good group. It's not easy, but you can always do it given enough time and effort. If worst comes to worst, you can just recruit some new players and start up your own gaming group. Lots of people find that they really, really like tabletop D&D once they give it a try.

- Saph

[Deus Mortus]

Well I guess I will have to whip the google out, but I am also interested if there is any way to play these games through the internet like with those forum games...

[Jades]

Yes, on occassion I run Chat-room games. But that's usually when my regular group is seperated.

[Deus Mortus]

Do you use a special program for that, with programmed dice rolls and things like that, or just use something like MSN?

[Jades]

Yahoo IM, no need to get fancy. I own a set of dice, and I'm cheap.

[Pegasos989]

MSN or IRC work but there is also a program called oRPG (open RPG) which is designed for that...

...Hmm, netherlands, eh? That is not much of a diffrence in timezone to Finland. You could concider giving me a PM after you have got PHB, because I might be able to DM for you if you can't find a group. However, I won't give any promises yet because I am already DMing to one guy and the games we have been able to arrange have been shamefully few, lately. However, just presenting an option... (So if you can't find a group and the player I already DM to has nothing against it, you might be able to join that one. :/)

[Deus Mortus]

MSN or IRC work but there is also a program called oRPG (open RPG) which is designed for that...

...Hmm, netherlands, eh? That is not much of a diffrence in timezone to Finland. You could concider giving me a PM after you have got PHB, because I might be able to DM for you if you can't find a group. However, I won't give any promises yet because I am already DMing to one guy and the games we have been able to arrange have been shamefully few, lately. However, just presenting an option... (So if you can't find a group and the player I already DM to has nothing against it, you might be able to join that one. :/)

I'll remember that, thanks :)

[Matthew]

Welcome to D&D Deus Mortus

Games go on in these Forums, I'm given to understand. You could try the Find Players (Out of Character) Section, which should lead you to the Ongoing Games (In Character).

The D&D Basic Game is also an option, but it sounds like the Player's Handbook would be your best bet. After that, there are a number of additional books that present many other Races, Base Classes, Equipment, Feats and so on.

[Jades]

http://www.ducosim.nl/nieuw/index.php

See if that link helps.

[Deus Mortus]

Jades, I tried that link, but it only has info on how to play the game :(

[Necomancer]

I found my gaming group in various chatrooms. It might be a good place to start, I think most IRC servers would have at least one RP group. Anyways as for a begininer's course...Well the best thing to do is actually play the game really. Stick to simple stuff for your first character, sorcerers and barbarians or fighters are a good first choice.

[Deus Mortus]

Well I have played multiple PC games based on D&D and am, please don't mind my enormous ego, pretty smart, so would it be possible for newby like me to take a crack at wizard right away, I heard they are the hardest class to play, but I just like playing wizards :)

[TheThan]

You might want to consider buying the Monster Manual and the Dungeon Master’s Guide if you end up becoming a DM. But if you’re just playing you can get by with just a player’s handbook.

As far as finding a group you might want to check at your local library. The one where I live has (or at least had, not sure) a dnd club that meets regularly. Another Idea is to wonder around the local bookstore and see who looks at the DnD books then strike up a conversation. You could also try this idea at your local hobby store.

If all else fails try to get your friends involved (assuming you have friends and haven’t tried already). One thing is that you’ve found a good community of gamers here. so any questions you have can easily be answered by someone here.

Oh and welcome!

[Necomancer]

Well I have played multiple PC games based on D&D and am, please don't mind my enormous ego, pretty smart, so would it be possible for newby like me to take a crack at wizard right away, I heard they are the hardest class to play, but I just like playing wizards :)

The video games and DnD are alot diffrent. The games keep track of alot of stuff for you, and the XP...DnD not so much. I strongly sugest doing a sorcerer first. Trying the hardest class there is for the first time just doesn't work.

Also, here is a random smilie. He expresses his opinion of your choice of class for your first game with his eyebrows.

[Deus Mortus]

The video games and DnD are alot diffrent. The games keep track of alot of stuff for you, and the XP...DnD not so much. I strongly sugest doing a sorcerer first. Trying the hardest class there is for the first time just doesn't work.

Also, here is a random smilie. He expresses his opinion of your choice of class for your first game with his eyebrows.

Well I guess sorceror is a semi-wizard, but what makes a wizard so hard when a sorceror is easy?

[Pegasos989]

Well I guess sorceror is a semi-wizard, but what makes a wizard so hard when a sorceror is easy?

Well, the diffrence is that wizard (and thus his player) needs to learn a lot of spells and at each morning, choose which to prepare. It might require some play experience before you get to know what kind of spells you need each day...

Other than that, it is not harder. Also, sorcerer chooses spells known which lasts for several levels, so choosing bad ones might nearly cripple a character. With wizard, you can't really screw up, as the worst thing that happen is to realize "bad spells... I'll prepare other ones tomorrow."

So I am not sure is sorcerer is really better than wizard for a beginner.

[Fhaolan]

On the Wizards of the Coast website, I found a list of game stores that participated in something called 'Worldwide Dungeons & Dragons Game Day 2006'. In that list, I saw several stores in the Netherlands. Now, I fully admit that I have *no* idea where you are in relation to these, but it might be worth getting in contact with some of them. They probably have more accurate regional information than we do, and they might know of offical gaming clubs in your area. Sorry the list doesn't have phone numbers on them, I hope you can use the names and addresses to do more directed searches on them to get phone numbers.

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/20060928x

[LurkerinthePlaygnd]

Check out this site: http://www.thetangledweb.net/home/
There, you may be able to find chat-type games that use one of two programs, openRPG or MapTools. These programs are table-top simulators, and there are many people willing to help you learn them at that site. I've only just started dabbling with this form, so I can't answer too many questions myself.

[Deus Mortus]

On the Wizards of the Coast website, I found a list of game stores that participated in something called 'Worldwide Dungeons & Dragons Game Day 2006'. In that list, I saw several stores in the Netherlands. Now, I fully admit that I have *no* idea where you are in relation to these, but it might be worth getting in contact with some of them. They probably have more accurate regional information than we do, and they might know of offical gaming clubs in your area. Sorry the list doesn't have phone numbers on them, I hope you can use the names and addresses to do more directed searches on them to get phone numbers.

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/20060928x

That site actually has two stores pretty much near me, thanks for that!

[Jades]

Jades, I tried that link, but it only has info on how to play the game :(

Somewhere, it has on it, how to find a group. I'm sorry, but I don't speak Dutchie so I can't tell you how to find it.