How do I explain DnD?

[KingofParades]

There is someone that I very much think would enjoy DnD, but I have no idea how to explain it to them. As far as I can tell, they haven't ever heard of it before. Any possible thing I can think of to draw comparisons to that would work for myself is completely inapplicable. Because of this, I humbly request the help of you good people.

[Innis Cabal]

Its a roleplaying game set in a fantasy world with magic and machines and controled by(generaly) a pain in the butt who is out to kill you

[NecroRebel]

Dungeons and Dragons is, first and foremost, acting. Ultimately, it's very much similar to, say, Who's Line is it Anyway? with more structure. It is also similar to the games people play as children, like Cops and Robbers or Cowboys and Indians, again with more structure. Cooperative storytelling is also an apt description; imagine sitting around a campfire and telling stories, and everyone trades off who is the storyteller from time to time.

In short, everyone makes up a character who they play in a story the same way they would if they were on stage or in a movie, except in DnD there is no script. This gets at the core of what an RPG is, I think, without getting into specific rules (which, ultimately, aren't really what makes DnD DnD) and are much better for introducing neophytes.

[Myatar_Panwar]

Ahh, explaining D&D. I have always found this very difficult to do. Most people, when you say that its a game will immediatly ask "whats the object of D&D then?" which is where things get tricky. I can't tell you how many times my parents have asked me "Who won?" after a session. I think they are joking by now as I have been playing for a few years (at least I hope so).

I think the best way to describe it is to emphisize that its not your usual board game, as its much more free form and based on imagination, even though its not without its set of rules. And that you are not out to "Win", its a cooperative game. Maybe that can get people out of the initial mindset of what a game is. Then you might be able to get them to understand that its more about one person monitoring what his/her friends do in a fictional world. This "DM" shapes the world around the PC's depending on their actions. As the players explore the world, they defeat villans and become more powerful, eventually reaching hero/villan status. All of this in a swords and sorcerery type of world.

[Tempest Fennac]

I think NecroRebel covered everything (in regards to 3rd Edition D&D, don't forget to warn the potential new player that a lot of their advice is designed to con you unless you really study the rules). Personally, I'd just say it'sa medieval fantacy game where you create a character with certain abilities while attempting to act how they would.

[Venerable]

Most people, when you say that its a game will immediatly ask "whats the object of D&D then?" which is where things get tricky.

Nah, that's easy to answer: "To have fun." People understand that. Then explain why it's fun.

[Dervag]

If people ask who wins, the logical response is:

"Who wins an improv comedy skit?"

D&D is a cooperative game where the actual plot is improvised by the players (the DM counts as a player for this purpose). It's not adversarial, or at least it shouldn't be. Most people are familiar with at least some non-adversarial games, so that shouldn't be too hard to explain.

[Shadow]

I've always described it to newcomers as similar to a Choose Your Own Adventure Book without the railroading of limited choices. Instead of reading a page and choosing from a list of options, the Game master (or Dungeon master) describes a scene to you and you can do absolutely anything you want.
He tells you what happens from there.
Lather, rinse, repeat.

That description seems to work.

[kamikasei]

Have they ever played a CRPG? Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter, KotOR all ran off D&D or d20. Final Fantasy and WoW get some of the basics across, too.

It's a game in which you and some friends take on the roles of characters you create within a fantasy world arbitrated by the DM, who determines how everything that isn't your characters acts and reacts to you. Generally speaking, you're a team of specialists with complementary abilities out battling monsters and hunting treasure, though plots can be much more varied. You decide what you want your character to attempt and the dice help you determine whether you succeed at it, with the game statistics serving to represent how difficult a given task is and how capable your character is at it.

[Samakain]

Dungeons and Dragons is, first and foremost, acting.

i don't normally single out lines but while i respect your love of role-playing god dammit if that isn't the single worst line to open with, the rest of your description is pretty good but when describing D&D the thing, the insurmountable BS, you have to over come is the stereotype.

Tell people its kinda like acting and the next thing that pops into there heads is a bunch of pants-less virgins running through the woods is costume whacking each other with sticks. Or a small smokey room with one weedy wheezy-voiced participant standing and proclaiming that his is Prince Dagger-Warsword-Coolguy J, Lord of Shag Mountain. And next thing you know theres a person sized hole in the wall and your potential player and fled in a vain attempt to keep whatever form of sex life and social life that have now or wish to obtain

I know we are not like that (for the most part), you know we arn't. they don't :P don't scare the poor little tykes.

Take it to them like a board game, and play it simple and fun. if you want to introduce role-playing to them start at a situational level. Don't tell them to act like there characters would a frist, act as they would. for most people this is a big enough step to begin with, then you bring in playing your character, then you bring in role-playing conversations. Next thing you know you and your buddy are running pants-less through the woods hitting each other with...wait...never mind. But you get my point, the sterotype of D&D can be a killer, take it slow and all will be well

As for mechanics, there either gunna be a munchkin machine or someone who uses it to craft something "cool" or to there liking. you can keep the game simple to start with, don't mention grappling etc unless they bring it up.
There either gunna love that aspect of it or hate it, or use it. never can tell.

And i just realized i never told you how to describe it XD. Tell them its a board game, where the board has now boundaries, and you decide what your piece can do. Then once you reel them in, break them over the rock of sheer bastard like any good DM :D


Huge post is huge
Sa

[xelliea]

i have the same problem, maybe: it is a fantasy roalplaying game much like some video games

[kamikasei]

Tell people its kinda like acting and the next thing that pops into there heads is a bunch of pants-less virgins running through the woods is costume whacking each other with sticks. Or a small smokey room with one weedy wheezy-voiced participant standing and proclaiming that his is Prince Dagger-Warsword-Coolguy J, Lord of Shag Mountain.

This seems to be assuming a particular set of associations already set up in the target's thinking. I don't think it very likely that someone who has no idea what D&D is about will immediately think conjure up as negative an image of larpers or the SCA or whatever allusion you're making when they hear the word "acting". I think it's a slightly misleading description but not nearly so problematic as you suggest.

Just explaining that it's somewhat like improvisational drama, where the players make up their character without a script and conflicts over what happens outside their control are determined by rules mediated by the DM, seems both a fair starting point and reasonably safe.

[Winterwind]

My favourite explanation of what roleplaying games are (I assume they apply to D&D just as they do for any other RPG) goes more or less:
Imagine you have a book or movie, telling a story. You can passively enjoy the story, but you cannot contribute to it, cannot change it. Now, in an RPG, what you do is take over the role of a protagonist in such a story, and determine the way s/he acts, in order to make the story develop as you please, and each of the other players save one takes some protagonist as well. One player is the gamemaster - the director, so to speak - who arbitrates what happens around the protagonists and plays all the minor characters, trying to create an environment in and with which the players can interact, and possibly with some plot in mind that the players will have to face. From the interaction of gamemaster and players and the players amongst each other a story arises. There is no definite goal; the fun comes from playing a character of your own design in a curious world, and being able to act as said character and influence the outcome of her/his adventures.
[optional]For the occasions when it's not clear whether a character is sufficiently capable of what the player is trying to have the character do, there are some rules involving dice which help with determining that.[/optional]

[Chronos]

It is also similar to the games people play as children, like Cops and Robbers or Cowboys and Indians, again with more structure.

This is the analogy I usually use. Fundamentally, "adult" RPGs and Cowboys and Indians are both about a group of people acting out the adventures of people they aren't. The rules and the dice are just there to resolve the inevitable conflicts of "I shot you!" "No, I shot you first!" "Yeah, but you missed!".

The thing is, fundamentally, a new player doesn't need to know any of the rules to play the game, as long as you've got a patient group. Walk them through the process of creating something simple like a barbarian, then, in combat, ask them what they want to do. Even without knowing the rules, most people have a pretty good sense of what a barbarian's options are. "I hit him with my axe." "I knock him to the ground". "I shove him off the edge of the cliff.". Then you tell the player what dice they need to roll, etc., to make an attack roll, a trip attempt, or a bull rush. Meanwhile, they're also watching the other folks around the table casting spells, or picking locks, or whatever they do, and having spells and the like used against them, and they'll pick up on how those work, too.

[monty]

Show them {Scrubbed. Please don't link that. It's inherently religious; a topic not allowed here.}, then tell them it's nothing like that.

[Eldariel]

Why did you link that site? My IQ just dropped by 10 points for just opening it :(

[nagora]

There is someone that I very much think would enjoy DnD, but I have no idea how to explain it to them. As far as I can tell, they haven't ever heard of it before. Any possible thing I can think of to draw comparisons to that would work for myself is completely inapplicable. Because of this, I humbly request the help of you good people.

Imagine an author writing a story but he takes some of the main characters and instead of writing out their actions and reactions to events in the story, s/he gets some friends around and asks them to write those bits. Then, after each of those friend has done a little bit, the author writes some more of what happens in the story as a result of those actions and then the friends do a bit more and so on. Now no one - not even the author - knows where the story will go but hopefully all will enjoy finding out and be surprised at the result. That's role-playing.

D&D is a roleplaying game where the author is writing about a fantasy world with dragons and elves and magic and dungeons and ancient ruins and such like. Usually...

[Gaiwecoor]

Why did you link that site? My IQ just dropped by 10 points for just opening it :(

And that, sir, is why I always hover over the link before clicking on it.

To add substance to the thread:

Imagine an author writing a story but he takes some of the main characters and instead of writing out their actions and reactions to events in the story, s/he gets some friends around and asks them to write those bits. ***

That's pretty much the explanation I give, too. After stewing over this problem with some friends, we decided the simplest explanation was, "You're playing a story."

[xPANCAKEx]

its escapism and creativity

[only1doug]

I normally describe DnD as being like the story from a film or a book but where different people control the main characters.

I do recommend this Book, my fiancee really enjoyed it, its a good introductory for females (with some errors in details... but nothing to major)

Confessions of a Part-time Sorceress

[Ravyn]

A friend of mine last night told me that her daughter's response, on playing her first session was "Like improv acting without doing things." I've always preferred "It's collaborative fiction. With dice." And then going on to describe the setting and some of the things it allows.

You can also try to use linkable things to help your explanation--heck, just link them to Order of the Stick. There's also an amazing number of RPG blogs out there that might be of use--most are mechanical in nature, but if the person you're trying to hook is writing-first rather than being brought in through the mechanical aspects, you might want to turn them loose on my work (link in signature), particularly some of the earlier posts.

[Yahzi]

"You're playing a story."

That's my entry:

"Cooperative story-telling."

[LibraryOgre]

How I frequently explain it to those familiar with computer RPGs:

"Have you ever been playing a game, and you know EXACTLY what you want to do in a certain situation... but couldn't, because the game wasn't set up to let you? Think of the game as being like a CRPG, but one where the 'computer' is a person, and you can try anything your character can figure out to do."

For those not familiar with CRPGs, I tend to go with

"It's about halfway between the board game Life (or Monopoly, or Clue) and sitting around telling stories with your friends. Like Life, there are rules that govern how things happen, and bad and good events can happen. Like telling stories, however, there's almost nothing you can't try to get away with."

[valadil]

That's my entry:

"Cooperative story-telling."

I do something along those lines too. "Collaborative storytelling with rules and a referee."

[Guildorn Tanaleth]

There is someone that I very much think would enjoy DnD, but I have no idea how to explain it to them. As far as I can tell, they haven't ever heard of it before.

Just out of curiosity, what planet is this person from?

[Knaight]

I usually just say its "Collaborative Storytelling with Conflict Resolution Mechanics, in the Event of Arguments"

[Xyk]

I'd show them that dnd video. The one with the "WHERE'S THE MOUNTAIN DEW?"

[snoopy13a]

There is someone that I very much think would enjoy DnD, but I have no idea how to explain it to them. As far as I can tell, they haven't ever heard of it before. Any possible thing I can think of to draw comparisons to that would work for myself is completely inapplicable. Because of this, I humbly request the help of you good people.

Make-believe with a lot of rules

[Xuincherguixe]

I'd link them to this. Mentioning that it's kind of like D&D being played so bad, it wraps around back to good again.

Incidentally, I kind of want to play in a game like that :P

[Shades of Gray]

It depends on the players.

One friend I just told him "you get to kill stuff" and that was fine for him, the acting and roleplaying came soon.

One friend I just told him "OOTS is an awesome webcomic" and he went to read it, the next day he wanted to play DnD.

If you know the person well, and you want them to play, say whatever appeals to them.