Hi /tg/. I'm pretty new to the idea of tabletop rpg's but they really appeal to me (especially D&D). Any hints and tips for getting started?
>>44362200
Go to Roll20, find a game that's looking for players that sounds interesting and is run at a time you can play, ask if they're okay with newbies, most of them will be. From there you should be fine.
Don't listen to /tg/'s opinions too much, most of these dorks don't actually play any games, they just vent their bitterness on here.
>>44362200
Thanks man
>>44362200
Get some mates together and buy the DnD 5e book - though this does require one of you to volunteer to be GM. DO NOT GM IF YOU DON'T WANT TO, it'll be a chore (but if you want to, go for it, it's the most rewarding seat at the table).
If you can't find a GM, just go on Roll20 or something
Also, which edition of D&D would be the best for a beginner?
Do not look for groups that play at a FLGS, most of them are crap. Have a look at your local area, wether there are regular gaming clubs or groups looking for players. A FLGS is a good way to get in touch with the community, but groups playing there are usually shit.
Don't be afraid to DM yourself.
DnD isn't the only game out there, but if you are set on fantasy, 5e is decent. Other than that, Savage Worlds isn't a bad system to have a look at as a beginner.
If you want to buy into DnD, watch out, because it's a damn expensive system. Get PDFs first.
Also, DnD is not representative for all RPGs. D20s, classes and somesuch are not a requirement, they are a quirl of that particular game. Don't fall into the trap that this is the specific way games have to be played. The same goes for FATE, or any other system.
Be open for new things and try stuff out. Don't get attached to a single system.
Most dice are completely fine. Yes, there are certain imperfections and practically all dice are weighted in a certain way. But most claims of dice from certain manufacturers behaving a certain way are vastly exaggerated.
If you join a group, have a look at the basic rules of the system beforehand. Most people don't mind teaching newbies, but it helps a lot if you already know how the basics work.
Depending on where you play, what the conditions are and what material your dice or the table is made of, a dicecup can spare you a lot of headache and looking for tiny plastic pieces under the couch.
If you join a group, ask about the tone of the campaign beforehand. If the tone is silly and stupid and making a funny character is encouraged, if it's serious, make a character that fits into the world. This seems like advice for retards, but people making edgelord characters for lighthearted campaigns, or Le Funny Meme characters for more serious ones happens way too often.
>>44362567
5e is pretty casual and seems to find a good middle ground among the other versions.
People talk shit about it cause HUURDEER MUH NOSTALIGA but it's the best version out there - they've had 5 editions to figure it out at this point.
>>44362200
The 5e D&D general has download links for all the books.
>>44349662
They're also able to answer any specific questions you might have.
For a quick start, this page is particularly useful for new players.
https://dnd.wizards.com/products/tabletop/players-basic-rules
An advice I always like to give new players is:
You are not your character. You are a player and you influence the actions of your character, but you AREN'T your character.
That's why rolls exist. You would like your Wizard to know something about that one specific elven culture, but the dice will decide if he actually does.
>>44362567
Either 5e, which is the new hotness, or Basic, which was a line that ran alongside 1e "Advanced." There are retroclones like Labyrinth Lord that clean it up and will put less of a dent in your pocket than trying to get original 80s printings of Basic.
5e is more modern and has a lot more build options if that's you're thing, but is more complicated and takes more work to run.
Basic is old and a little weird in how it works in some places, but is really fast and simple to run.It's also a more "authentic" D&D experience than anything WotC put out, IMO.
>>44362590
this is all good advice
>>44362567
5e is probably your best bet at this point. 4e was a different kind of game and has been discontinued, 3e is similar to 5e but worseinb4 edition warsand everything before that is really fucking convoluted at times. I mean so is 5e and it wouldn't be DnD if it wasn't, but anything older than 3e is weird for the simple fact that it's old and what goes for "good design" has changed since the nineties.
>>44362590
/thread
>>44362567
try not to play 3. anything, especially 3.5
5e is really good and very popular, should be the easiest to find.
4e is ok but that depends if you like the RPG to be almost a boardgame. there's a lot of stuff going on that needs a board and a map and it's very strict on how you exactly position your character. people don't often play this, I mean I've never even seen it played after 5e came out, but if a group feels like doing an RPG and also a wargame it's kind of good.
I would say definitely go local but that's just me, I hate the online games and can just never play one. sure it's like 100 times easier to just find a group online, but if you want to find an actual group IRL, it takes pretty long. and I live in pretty much the center of the biggest most populous city in the US, so depending on where you live you might just have to play online.
also, if can you ask around your game store, they might have something called D&D encounters, which are one-off simple adventures to introduce new people to the game.
>>44362200
Have a look at the D&D5e general thread to grab the all the Core Rulebook PDFs, or download the D&D5e Basic PDFs from the official site: https://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/basicrules
Hope you have fun OP! People on /tg/ are be pretty helpful so if you ever have any questions just drop by.
>>44362200
As much as I hate it with a passion, 5e is good for new players, just don't get sucked in and become another player who does nothing but OGL games and 5e (which is almost an OGL game.)
>>44364885
>5e (which is almost an OGL game.)
How does that make any sense?
>>44366063
The OGL was largely a purposeless document that didn't really do as much as it pretended it did.
Since you can't actually copyright game rules, you can copy any game system with only modest alterations to the order of the text in order to bypass copyright laws.
What the OGL mostly did was allow publishers to use the "Compatible with D20" symbol on their products and to avoid gray area legal actions.
>>44362567
>which edition of D&D would be the best for a beginner?
5e is streamlined and simplified for a new-school edition of D&D, making it the best choice out of the versions that currently have large followings. Moldvay Basic (see pic) is the best old-school edition for beginners, and has a lot of retroclones based on it (with Labyrinth Lord being perhaps the most faithful to the original material). But you won't get the same kind of mechanical character-building options in an old-school editions (though a good DM will improvise based on character concept and background), and the rules can be a bit wonky at times (different mechanics for different subsystems and so forth). Still, the entirety of Moldvay Basic--with spells, monsters, treasure and all--is 128 pages, with only 64 of those required to start play. Compare that to 5e, where the Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, and Monster Manual are each over 300 pages.
If you want the simplest full-length game in the D&D family, that would probably be Swords & Wizardry White Box, a streamlined and clarified retroclone of original D&D (check out White Box Heroes for additional classes). Still, the class balance and underlying assumptions of all editions of D&D can make it a bit tricky to master, and something along the lines of Barbarians of Lemuria is probably going to provide an easier introduction to role-gaming (though you might have to get your basic "what is a role-playing game?" knowledge from elsewhere).
>>44366063
>>44368243
By "OGL Game" I do not refer specifically to the OGL document (though it is related.) What I refer to is the largely ubiquitous tidal-wave of [insert-genre]D20 games that filled up the majority of the market for a long time, and taught a generation of new gamers to equate a very narrow band of playstyles with all TTRPG. 5e is well within that narrow band of playstyles, even if it's not literally covered by the OGL.
I've found that most players/'DM's who started with a game within that definition of "OGL game" and did not quickly branch out, become uncomfortable with, and even unwilling to play, anything outside that comfort zone.
TLDR: 5e is good for newbies, but don't get ghettoized by the ubiquitous [genre]D20/3.PF/5e soilent green and become unable to enjoy other games.
