How to start playing Dungeons & Dragons?

I’ve played Dungeons & Dragons on and off over the past 25 years, and though players have come and gone, one thing remains the same. It’s one of my absolute favorite pastimes. While I still don’t know everything about the game, I still adore playing. When approached with the concept of helping newcomers get into it, I reached out to my closest friends who play the board game.

From my best friends, who DMed for my group for roughly 20 years, to other friends I have played in games with, I looked to others to help me determine some of the most useful things you need to know when getting into Dungeons & Dragons. It’s not all about buying books, huge piles of dice, and memorizing all the stats, spells, and abilities.

Frankly, that isn’t all that important to the overall experience. Those are the things that come with time. After all, it can be quite expensive to buy all of those hardcover books.

I love Dungeons & Dragons, but it can feel prohibitively expensive. However, if you want to get started, this should hopefully help you get into one of the best hobbies.

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What is Dungeons & Dragons?

So, you want to play Dungeons & Dragons, do you? Well, that’s great news! When I first started, me and about three friends found a boxed copy of First Edition around a friend’s house.

We made rubbish characters and would play together every week or so, and it was the most fun. You don’t have to have all the books; you don’t need minifigs or expensive maps and tables.

That stuff is great but it’s not a requirement to play it at all. Dungeons & Dragons is a tabletop roleplaying game where a DM (Dungeon Master) runs the players through an adventure. There are many different styles of playing, from heavy role-playing to Monty Hall-Esque loot fests, or something, somewhere in between.

You can play Dungeons & Dragons online in Tabletop Simulator, on Roll20.net, or at home with a few friends. You can go to a local hobby shop and find a game to join, or reach out via social media.

Players create their characters via whatever rules the setting they are in requires, and work together with a group of heroes. The adventure is always going to be different and could be a comedy, typical fantasy, horror, or even something more science-fiction.

The DM will describe the settings for you, play the various NPCs, and guide you on the adventure. It’s up to them to create a world, but you’re going to be a living part of it.

It’s exciting to escape into a wild fantasy, and for a little while, feel like a hero. It’s the most fun I’ve ever had with my friends. There’s something just satisfying about blocking out six to eight hours, ordering some food, hanging out, killing monsters, and picking up loot.

How can you start playing Dungeons & Dragons?

If you’ve already played RPGs with deep, intricate narratives, you’re halfway to playing Dungeons & Dragons already. One piece of advice that was recommended to me was to go back and play a few of your favorites. Figure out what kind of narrative worked best for you. What did you enjoy about the game? Having these things in mind could help when determining what kind of D&D adventure you want to take part in.

Not everyone’s big on roleplaying, though. Some people just want to crawl through a dungeon and kill monsters. That’s perfectly fine. If you’re worried you’re going to feel or look stupid roleplaying your character, don’t worry about that so much.

I know it’s easier said than done! Everyone’s going to be doing something similar, so just relax. If you’re worried, you can ask your DM if you can run a one-on-one session, try and get into character, or practice how your character might act in certain situations.

The best way to find a Dungeons & Dragons group is to ask your friends. If they don’t play but are interested, you can get a few together, to play in person, or even on Discord. It can be very challenging to run a game, but there are plenty of inexpensive modules you can run that will have everything you need to know about a brief adventure.

Whether you ask on social media, on a Discord channel, or go to your local game store and see if there’s a bulletin board advertising a game, these are all excellent ways to go about it. You don’t need an enormous group of players! You just need at least one person and a DM, but the more, the merrier.

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Session #0 might be the most important aspect of a Dungeons & Dragons group

Now that you’ve found a group before everyone gets down to business, it’s so important to have what’s known as Session #0. It is the session where everyone comes together with the DM, plans their characters, and talks about their expectations for the game. Dungeon & Dragons is an escape, a fantasy RPG.

You want everyone to have fun, whether you’re the DM or a player in the game. So, everyone should take a bit of time and talk about their overall expectations for the game. Are there triggering things that will cause trauma? You should certainly point these things out. You’re looking to have fun, not be upset.

Is your party looking for something less focused on the story and more on combat? Or perhaps you want a rich, role-playing experience with lots of twists, turns, and character interactions? These things are important to nail down before you even start playing. That way, all the players leave the sessions happy and wanting more.

Everyone will be more invested and enjoy the gameplay more this way. It’s something that not enough Dungeons & Dragons players talk about. You don’t just show up on the first day with a character and start going!

Session #0 is where you decide what the party makeup is going to be, talk about restrictions, and things you’re expecting in your game. It’s a planning session, but it’s also a great time to get to know members of your party that you don’t already know well. Are you planning to have some of the party members know each other in character? This is a perfect time to make that known.

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Creating a character is easier than you’d think

When you want to make your character, it’s not as hard as it sounds. There are many hero generators on the internet that have access to all of the feats, races, and abilities that you need to know. You should always run that character generator site by your DM first - it might feature supplemental content that they don’t wish to run.

It’s not all about making an overpowered character, though. Know what you’re going to want your character to be - a sneaky, fast-talker, a healer, a vicious monster slayer, or perhaps a wise, clever spellcaster. There’s plenty of inspiration out there. You can find inspiration in anime, books, or TV shows.

There’s nothing wrong with that, either - It’s probably not a good idea to just take a character from an established IP and just rip it off, but being inspired by someone is perfectly acceptable. Depending on the setting and edition, there are plenty of races and classes to select from - figuring out what setting and edition is something you should already know at this point.

I will not go into the specifics of making a character - that’s going to vary depending on what your DM prefers. The more depth you give your character, the more fun it’s going to wind up being. Make it fun to play and spend some time considering their backstory, their goals, and dreams. What annoys them or makes them laugh? It's a great exercise in creative writing/thinking.

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Dungeons & Dragons sound like it’s incredibly hard to get into, but nothing could be further from the truth. Getting into it with a group of new players is just as fun as finding an established group. Find a few friends, have a chat about what you expect and what you want to do, and get to it!

Take some time to read the rules and whatever supplemental material your group has access to, but remember that you don't have to memorize everything.

Ask questions, get into character, and roll some dice! You don’t have to be a gamer to play Dungeons & Dragons - that’s one of the best parts. No matter what your background is, you can have fun around a table on a Friday night.