New D&D players

[Altio]

My friend's birthday is coming up and we've been wanting to play D&D for some time now, so I thought it would be great to get him D&D as a gift. The only problem is that neither of us know anything about D&D.

I haven't had a lot of time to look around yet, but I've been told there isn't a basic starter kit with all the supplies, so I decided that the Escapist would be a great place to ask about this. I seriously have no idea what I need to buy, so what do I need for a basic kit for people that have never played D&D before? And how much will it cost? I'm 16, he'll be turning 16 on his birthday, so we can probably figure out the game on our own, I just need to know what I'm buying.

And as a side note, I'm not trying to be lazy by not looking on Google for this, I just figured some people on the site would have a better idea of what goes in a basic kit for newbie players.

 

[DefunctTheory]

http://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Roleplaying-Starter-Introductory/dp/B003BVK32U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1298934298&sr=8-1

I have no experience in D&D. But my Amazon searching skills are awesome.

Yes, I understand why you asked here, and I think you SHOULD get advice here.

Still should have googled it before asking here.

 

[SilverStuddedSquirre]

Sure Guy! You NEED NEED NEED the core 3 books. It hurts, but you need them.
Aside from that all you need is dice, and at it's most basic, some graph paper.

You can have figs, battle grids and what all else but really you just need something to represent the map.

 

[SilverStuddedSquirre]

http://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Roleplaying-Starter-Introductory/dp/B003BVK32U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1298934298&sr=8-1

I have no experience in D&D. But my Amazon searching skills are awesome.

Yes, I understand why you asked here, and I think you SHOULD get advice here.

Still should have googled it before asking here.

rolls for Charisma check: 1

 

[SilverStuddedSquirre]

Also, the D & D miniatures game (actually it's own franchise) none the less has some awesome looking figs that can really make a difference. see if you can get a whole set for cheap on ebay or something.


Other than that, if you want it to be fun, it will be.

 

[DefunctTheory]

http://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Roleplaying-Starter-Introductory/dp/B003BVK32U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1298934298&sr=8-1

I have no experience in D&D. But my Amazon searching skills are awesome.

Yes, I understand why you asked here, and I think you SHOULD get advice here.

Still should have googled it before asking here.

rolls for Charisma check: 1

DAMN! I ALWAYS fail my charisma checks.

 

[Altio]

Well the price isn't as bad as I was expecting. Now what exactly are core 3 books?

 

[DrWilhelm]

My friend's birthday is coming up and we've been wanting to play D&D for some time now, so I thought it would be great to get him D&D as a gift. The only problem is that neither of us know anything about D&D.

I haven't had a lot of time to look around yet, but I've been told there isn't a basic starter kit with all the supplies, so I decided that the Escapist would be a great place to ask about this. I seriously have no idea what I need to buy, so what do I need for a basic kit for people that have never played D&D before? And how much will it cost? I'm 16, he'll be turning 16 on his birthday, so we can probably figure out the game on our own, I just need to know what I'm buying.

And as a side note, I'm not trying to be lazy by not looking on Google for this, I just figured some people on the site would have a better idea of what goes in a basic kit for newbie players.

First of all, the three core books are pretty much a requirement. On top of that you'll need dice (I reckon that a pair of d4, d6, d8, d10, d12 and d20 should be plenty to start with, though more is usually better), pens, pencils and notepaper for each player, plus some form of graph paper to represent the dungeon maps will be pretty much a requirement. With the graph paper you'll have more success with something pretty large, but for just getting into the game anything ought to do. It might sound expensive, but with the right attitude and imagination roleplaying games can easiy provide hundreds of hours of entertainment.

Edit - Good lord this place is just infested with ninjas!

 

[SilverStuddedSquirre]

Well the price isn't as bad as I was expecting. Now what exactly are core 3 books?

The Player's Hand Book, the Dungeon Master's Guide and The Monster Manual.
These constitute the core 3 rulebooks. I advise against buying any other supplements (adventure models excepted) until you guys have a general handle on the game.

4th edition is very accessible to new players and the HORRIBLY COMPLEX WORDING of the rules has been fixed. It also allows newer DM's to take a more michael bay approach to the story.

My personal secret to exciting battles is to describe the mayhem happening all around the action without cluttering the players up with actually ROLLING the side action. It's a story device. The new "minion" type of mosters provide you with RED SHIRTS a-plenty for the heroes to off and Feel badass, while summarily NUKING half of their hangars-on with set a nice feeling of Oh Shit for your pcs

 

[mentalkitty789]

There are also things you can get online like the D&D character creation program, and a bunch of digital nonsense. There are also some computer programs you can use like openrpg or something.
I don't play D&D myself but I am interested in getting into it. I just wish I know people who were interested in it, hehe. ^^;
Either way good luck.
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/Tools.aspx
Here are some things that might help you out when it comes to making your character or learning to DM.

 

[SilverStuddedSquirre]

Yeah, getting players togethr is the Hardest part

 

[Altio]

Do I need DM guide 1 and 2?

 

[mentalkitty789]

No you should only need the first one if you intend to get the books. If you look to that link I put on an earlier post you might get some useful things out of that. I think it is 15 bucks a month subscription though. On the bright side you get a monthly magazine along with the character builder programs and such?

 

[Ciran]

The three core books (I would highly recommend going with Paizo's Pathfinder series http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG, then again I started with D&D 3.5, so I have a large problem with the new 4E put out by WotC. Also with Pathfinder you only need 2 books) a set of dice (one for each person is optimal, but not strictly necessary) pencil, graph paper, and character sheets would also be good. There are a lot of products you can get to enhance the gameplay, but those I listed are really the only essential things needed to play.
As a side note, four players and one GM is the optimal number of players. You can go with less, but any less than 2 players and one GM seems pointless, in my perspective at least.

 

[Altio]

So this whole thing, I figured, is going to run me about $100.

 

[Altio]

Would a PDF suffice for a time while I gather the money to pay for the books?

 

[MasterOfWorlds]

I actually recommend BESM, which is Big Eyes Small Mouth. It has a lot of anime pictures and such in it, but it's the game you're after. It's really simple to learn, there's no levling up in the usual sense of the D&D term, and the only dice you need are 2d6, or 2 standard six sided dice if you're unfamiliar with the 2d6 terminology.

It also allows you to creat your character more than D&D does because D&D encourages rolling for stats and whatnot, whereas BESM lets your build your character from the ground up with the points your GM (the person running the game) give you.

 

[Ranorak]

Do I need DM guide 1 and 2?

No, at first you only need the DM guide 1
Player handbook 1
Monster manual 1

And some dice.
With this, you are ready to go.
All other books are just extras.

If you REALLY want to cut down on the cost, rent a DM guide somewhere and get a DM screen for far less.
I can also recommend starting with the 4th edition, it's very newbie friendly.

 

[Altio]

I actually recommend BESM, which is Big Eyes Small Mouth. It has a lot of anime pictures and such in it, but it's the game you're after. It's really simple to learn, there's no levling up in the usual sense of the D&D term, and the only dice you need are 2d6, or 2 standard six sided dice if you're unfamiliar with the 2d6 terminology.

It also allows you to creat your character more than D&D does because D&D encourages rolling for stats and whatnot, whereas BESM lets your build your character from the ground up with the points your GM (the person running the game) give you.

He's opposed to anything but D&D, and I'm wanting to play D&D more than anything, though I'm a little less stubborn than he is.

 

[Tarzimp]

If you want to try 4th edition DnD before you invest a ton of money in it to get started get the re-released Red Box. It has the rules for both the DM and the players up to level 2, and an adventure. It also has a set of dice, Player sheets, and printed color maps to fight on. It's everything you need to play DnD. If you like it then I would go ahead and begin to order the core-books, a bag of dice, and a wet erase mat to play on.

http://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Fantasy-Roleplaying-Game/dp/0786956291/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1298937416&sr=1-1