How to Start Playing D&D

You quietly step out of the darkness and onto the icy stone roof of the Fortress of the Dead Jaarl…but you stop moving immediately as you see sleeping on the other side of the roof, a massive pure white dragon. Behind it is a frozen pile of gold and treasures; you attempt to quietly step on the ice ahead of you, but it makes a crack. One of the dragon’s eyes quickly opens, looking directly at you…roll initiative.

Did this intrigue you? Good! Then you might qualify as someone who would enjoy playing in the world of Dungeons and Dragons or, D&D.

Now let’s get this out of the way, D&D is not the only tabletop RPG — Role-Playing Game — out there. There are tons of other options, but it is by far the most popular.

D&D has had a resurgence over the last few years, whether that be in part to TV Shows like Stranger Things or the massive success of YouTube & Twitch show Critical Role. Simply put, more people are rolling dice than ever before.

Don’t believe me? Ask a few of your coworkers if they play D&D; one, if not more, will say yes. They will then likely ask if you want to play with them, that’s just how we are.

So, if you are one of those people who is interested in learning that yes, there is indeed more than just a 6-sided die, and you want to slay dragons and other creatures in fantasy land, but just need to know where to start; then you’ve come to the right place!

In this article, I’m going to go over the basics of how to get started in playing D&D — what books to buy, what adventures to start out with, and general golden rules to follow.

Let’s dive in.

Where to Play

The first and most important thing to decide before you jump right in, is where you want to play. Not all D&D games have to be played at a table. With the growth of the game, new tools have become available to make playing easier than ever.

Online

Maybe you’re group is scattered across the world or the states, or maybe nobody is comfortable with hosting at home. That’s totally fine! Playing D&D online is incredibly simple.

You can use websites like Roll 20 which house all the books and gives you the ability to create maps and play online. Or you can simply play over Zoom, Teams, or Skype. As long as you are able to communicate with your group, then you’re golden!

The Table

Of course though, the most traditional place to play is simply at the table, in person. This is my preferred way of playing, simply because I love being able to talk to friends face to face and keep everything contained at the table.

When playing in person, there is less risk of distractions. Everyone is generally more focused on the game for the few hours you’ll be playing, and it’s fun to have everyone say, bring a snack or drink that everyone can share with. It’s literally the epitome of a ‘Game Night.’

Now generally this means that somebody in the group is going to have to host, or you could switch around between peoples homes. But if nobody is comfortable with that, you can always get together at a local comic or game shop. Many of these places are more than happy to open their doors to you so you can play your game.

What to Bring

The core items you need are simple and cheap.

• A set of RPG Dice (d20, d12, d10, d8, d6, d4)
• A notebook and a pen
• A character sheet (digital or paper)

Your dice are what you will use to roll for things like skill checks and attacks. Your notebook allows you to jot down quick notes regarding characters you meet, places you’ve been, and quests to track. Your character sheet will contain all of the information about your character — kind of important.

Now if you are just a player, the above items are quite literally, all that you need. If you’re a DM/GM — Dungeon Master or Game Master — then you will need some different items as well.

• A set of RPG Dice
• A notebook and a pen
• Players Handbook
• Dungeon Master’s Guide
• Monster Manual
• DM Screen
• A Dry Erase Grid or Grid Paper
• An Adventure

Yes, that is a lot more to bring, and will cost you more money in general, but all the items here have their purpose.

The dice are used for you to roll on monster or enemy attacks and abilities. Your notebook will help you keep notes on initiative — tracking the order of play in combat — or other things the players do. The 3 books listed are core to the rules — The Players Handbook has rules on character creation as well as all other core rules to the game; the Dungeon Master’s Guide gives you tips on how to handle various situations as a Dungeon Master, and the Monster Manual contains stats and lore about every core monster in the game.

Additionally, I highly recommend a DM Screen and Grid Paper/Dry Erase Grid. The DM screen simply sits in front of you and covers your notes and dice rolls from the players prying eyes. Additionally, most DM Screens offer quick rule explanations so you don’t always have to reference the books. Grid Paper allows you quickly draw out maps for your players to move their minis or pieces on and get a sense of distance.

You will also of course need an adventure to play as well, but we’ll talk more about those later.

Where to Buy Content

Something that doesn’t seem to be talked about enough when guiding new players into D&D is where and how to buy content. One the biggest frustrations is when you realize that buying a physical book doesn’t also give you ownership of a digital copy, meaning if you decide you want to transition your campaign to digital, then you have to buy the book(s) a second time.

My recommendation is to decide exactly how you want to play and what tools you want to use before you run off and buy any books. There are essentially 3 different ways that are an ideal way to play which I briefly mentioned earlier:

• Only Online
• At the Table, All Physical Copies
• At the Table, Online Tools

Only online is simple, your game is going to be online, so ideally you want to use all online tools. Playing at the table with all physical copies means you want to play in person and all books are physical copies and your character sheet is pen & paper.

Molding the two together is what is becoming the newer and popular way to play. Essentially, your group is at the table, but your books and character sheets are all digital — this is how my party plays.

So, just exactly where can you buy this stuff and what do you get from some of these online tools?

Physical Tools

Everything you need to play D&D can be found at a local game/comic shop in your area, as well as larger chain stores like Barnes & Noble. Additionally, you can find DM Screens, dice, and all the physical books on Amazon if you’re more into online shopping.

If you plan to only use physical tools, these places will have you completely covered. You will also need a character sheet, but luckily templates for those can be easily found on the D&D website. You’ll just need to download and print them off.

Even if you plan to do most things digitally, you’ll want some physical tools like real dice (who likes digital dice anyways?).

Miniatures: I’m just going to come out and say it, you don’t need miniatures to enjoy D&D.

But, if you want one, they are great to use, but only if you plan to play at the table. Most miniatures come unpainted and you can find generic player based ones and monsters at your local game store or on Amazon. If you are a player and want a more personal touch, I highly recommend using Hero Forge which will allow you to make your own custom mini.

If you aren’t interested in paying for stuff like that though, literally anything can be used to designate your character.

Digital Tools

When it comes to playing digital or utilizing digital tools in your game, there are two places that dominate the space, Roll 20 & D&D Beyond.

Roll 20

If you’re looking to go straight digital, then Roll 20 offers the most features housed completely in their website, the only downside is to get the most out of it you have to pay them around $10 a month to access everything.

With your subscription, you’ll get access to things like custom character sheets and a more robust system for content sharing. The good thing is only one player in your group needs the subscription. When everyone is in the game, everyone has access to the subscribers features.

What makes it a great tool though is the ability to create maps and share them with your party and import tokens for players and monsters. When players are in the game, they can control their own token for movement and the DM can control everything else. It is a bit complicated at first, but if you spend some time with it, it becomes very easy to use and run your games with.

Additionally, all the books are housed in their website so you are able to buy the books here and get access to all the maps contained to be used by you are your group.

D&D Beyond

By far the most popular digital tool is the ever-expanding D&D Beyond, but there is something very important to get out there first: It is not a tool used to completely run your game.

It is a tool meant to manage everything in your game, and it does it very well.

For the players; you are able to create your character for free on their website, but you will only have access to base races, classes, and subclasses. If you want additional races or subclasses you will need to buy the necessary books through D&D Beyond. Luckily, the books here are cheaper than other places, typically saving you roughly $20 per book.

When your character is added into a campaign, anything the DM has bought or has access to now is available to you, so you don’t have to buy everything they have.

Lastly for players, if you are trying to save money, you have free access to D&D Beyond’s digital dice that can be rolled right on your character sheet.

For the DM; you are able to buy your adventure and easily navigate it through their website, making it very simple to jump around when needed. This will also give you digital access to any monsters contained in your adventure or other books you have bought.

Additionally, if you are the DM, I highly recommend subscribing at the Hero Tier (2.99/month) which gives you access to early access features like the fantastic combat tracker that is built in. Essentially, you are able to add your players and monsters into an encounter and track combat as it moves along. It also gives you the digital readout of the monster stats and the ability to keep track of their health. I cannot explain how amazingly smooth it is to run combat this way as someone who uses it every week.

Because D&D Beyond though is not a complete digital tool meant to run the game from start to finish like Roll 20, you will need to use another tool like Dungeon Fog to create your maps. But if you are like me and play at the table, D&D Beyond makes playing the game and running the game incredibly simple and easy.

Adventures

So, you have your party and the tools needed to play. Now you need an adventure to play through. This is completely controlled by the DM, so if you’re going to be your party’s DM, this is for you.

There are two trains of thought when it comes to adventures to run: Homebrew & Pre-Written Adventures.

Homebrew

If you want to create your world and your adventure from scratch, then homebrewing is for you! This method for an adventure takes A LOT of work as you are now crafting everything from the world, to the people and creatures who inhabit it, and the adventure(s) the players will go on.

My recommendation is to play through some pre-written stuff first to get an idea of how everything works before jumping into your own stuff. I will say though, as someone who has written and ran my own adventure once before, it is so satisfying to see your players enjoy the things you’ve personally crafted for them.

Luckily, not everything has to be created from scratch. There are Sourcebooks out there to help guide you on your way; books like Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount, Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft, and Wayfinder’s Guide to Eberron have worlds built for you already that you just need to craft adventures within.

Pre-Written

If you don’t want to write everything out yourself and want most of the work done for you — I don’t blame you — then the pre-written path is for you.

Luckily, there are currently 16 fully written adventures out there for you to play through and they cover a good spectrum of themes. Do you want creepy horror? Curse of Strahd. How about Indiana Jones? Tomb of Annihilation. Maybe you want to explore the first layer of Hell and have a Mad Max inspired adventure. Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus.

Those are just a few, but there are a lot covering different themes and different ways to play. Below though, I will recommend my picks for new players to start with:

• Lost Mine of Phandelver — This adventure comes in the Starter Set you can buy. It comes with dice, a small rulebook, and even pre-written character sheets to make starting out as easy as possible.
• Dragon of Icespire Peak — This is the adventure that is part of the Essentials Kit. The kit includes a small rulebook, dice, a DM screen, companion cards, and magic cards. It’s meant for beginners as well, but is better if you don’t want your hand held as much. Additionally, it comes with the digital versions of two more adventures meant to be added at the end of the main campaign to extend your time.
• Waterdeep: Dragon Heist — Widely regarded as the best starter adventure that has been made. Rather than setting you out in a vast expanse, this adventure keeps you locked in the large city of Waterdeep and introduces you more to the political side and faction warfare. It’s also, in my opinion, the best adventure to play that can open up to other adventures.

The best thing you can do is think about what you will like the most as well as what you think your players will have the most fun with. But never go in blind. As a DM, you should always read through the adventure at least once, and the sections you will be playing through first a few times. Notes are also a big help. You never want to be underprepared for a session.

Lastly, don’t be afraid to change things! Once you’ve read through the adventure; if something doesn’t work for you, rewrite it! There is nothing against rewriting content to better fit your game — I do it all the time.

Session Zero

You’ve decided on the way you want to play. You have all your tools. Now you have your adventure; there’s only one thing left to do before actually playing and that is Session Zero.

Session Zero is where the DM and players can get together for the first time in game and make sure you are all on the same page.

The general way a Session Zero works is as follows:

• Rules: This is the perfect time for everyone to go over the important the rules of the game which can be found in the Player’s Handbook. This is also a great time to bring up any homebrewed rules that you as the DM will be implementing into your game — I’ll talk more about homebrew rules in my next article.
• Adventure Overview: Now you should give your party some background. Do not spoil anything, but give them enough so they can have some idea about what they are getting into and what character they may want to make for it. A perfect example would be if the adventure has a lot tied to a faction or a group of people, maybe suggest one or multiple party members be aligned with them from the get go. It also helps to keep the party from going to off the rails with character creation; if the adventure is being kept completely in the walls of a large city, then maybe a lizardfolk isn’t needed.
• Character Creation/Character Overview: Your players can now start building their characters! As the DM, you can help them if they have questions and guide them along the way. This will also be where your players will roll for their abilities, the best part of character creation. If your players already made their characters — that’s fine — use this time instead to have them introduce their characters and get familiar with them.
• Optional: A lot of people like to use this time for the players to paint the miniatures they bought for their characters. Obviously if you didn’t buy any, then you don’t have to do it. Also, you can just paint it on your own time if you want, it’s just another thing the group can do together.

And that’s basically it for a Session Zero! These don’t have to be long or crazy, most times you can have your Session Zero and then jump straight in to your first official session.

Golden Rules

The last thing I will leave you with are what some would consider ‘golden rules’ of D&D.

• Rule One — The DM has the Final Word — Basically, don’t argue with your DM. If he/she makes a ruling, then go with it.
• Rule Two — No Phones — Don’t be on your phone in the middle of the game unless it’s an emergency. Stay engaged with the adventure and the party.
• Rule Three — Bad Rolls Make Good Story — Don’t be mad or upset if you roll bad, it’s all part of the overall game and story.
• Rule Four — No Drama — Leave the personal stuff in the real world. We’re all here to have fun.
• Rule Five — Be Creative — Role Play! It’s the point of the game. Have fun with your character and play things up.

And that’s it! That should essentially be the basics of what you need to know before starting a game of D&D. Get the tools you need, sit down, and have a blast. D&D is truly one of the most fun things I have ever been apart of and I hope this helps you get started yourself.