Trying to learn DnD.
- Thread starter Nautical Honors Society
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Personally, I still think it's better to start off with a lighter system, like E6 or OD&D, or even a system like Fate.
4e is in my opinion easier to learn as the rules are a bit more streamlined and pc balancing isn't as much of an issue without min/max guys but those are mostly the guys with access to Dragon articles.
Pre-generated encounters are a good place to start as they help the DM with tactics and what combat should feel like but my advise is if you use Keep of the Shadowfell (H1), avoid the encounter in the cave as it kills unexperienced players easily due to the number of enemies. If you want to use that fight, delay the reinforcements or the players will be swamped. I played it with six new players and almost had a total party kill, only 2 were left standing and one was a d20 away from dying.
Pre-generated encounters are a good place to start as they help the DM with tactics and what combat should feel like but my advise is if you use Keep of the Shadowfell (H1), avoid the encounter in the cave as it kills unexperienced players easily due to the number of enemies. If you want to use that fight, delay the reinforcements or the players will be swamped. I played it with six new players and almost had a total party kill, only 2 were left standing and one was a d20 away from dying.
I'd say go for 4.0... new stuff is being put out for it and there is an official character builder that updates with Wizards of the Coast (instead of relying on the guy who wrote the flash program, you know what I'm talking about 3.5 fans).
Monster creation is also much more simple than in 3.5 and Monster Creators have been invented for that. I think there's even an unofficial adventure maker somewhere...
Also, someone above here said that all you need for 3.5 is Player's Handbook One, Dungeon Master's Guide 1, and Monster Manual 1. That's the same for 4.0. But don't just do that for either system because that's very limiting in everything.
Monster creation is also much more simple than in 3.5 and Monster Creators have been invented for that. I think there's even an unofficial adventure maker somewhere...
Also, someone above here said that all you need for 3.5 is Player's Handbook One, Dungeon Master's Guide 1, and Monster Manual 1. That's the same for 4.0. But don't just do that for either system because that's very limiting in everything.
I too am interested in that and will most likely send you a PM.Asturiel said:
I'm quite new to it also. I'd say find a good GM though, as the best way to learn a lot of it is through having it explained to you and then have example games run. If you want an easy to play Table Top game, I'd suggest World of Darkness (WoD).
The first time I played a PnP RPG I had no idea what to do, but I was playing with an experienced group, they walked me through rolling a character, asked me if I was ready to do some nerd improv, and off we went. Every time the game mechanics came into play, even when it didn't involve me, they explained what was happening and what the dice rolls meant. I had it down pretty solid after that first 4 hour session, one where I was also massively drunk on Guinness Extra(we were most definitely a "Dungeons and Flagons" kind of group).
Basically trying to learn all the rules by just reading the book will get you nowhere, just find a good group who already know the rules and just jump in and learn the rules as they come up.
Basically trying to learn all the rules by just reading the book will get you nowhere, just find a good group who already know the rules and just jump in and learn the rules as they come up.
1) yeahNautical Honors Society said:
2) basically all the textbooks can be found in torrent form.
3) looking for people who already know how, or starting a group of all new players.
If you're doing 3.5, you just need Player's Handbook (even the basic will do), Dungeon Master's Guide and Monster Manual.
It's pretty hard to get the hard copies, my group is using scanned digital books =p
Which you can probably find on certain sites on the internet... Because otherwise, that starting package (and don't forget the dice!) might cost you something close to 100 bucks or more.
Otherwise, the rules aren't all that hard. Especially if you just bother with the basics. You can read over the player's handbook in a few hours, it's only about 300 pages and only a portion of that is information that's all that important more then once.
Being a dungeon master for the first time might be tough, but it can still be fun. Although as a dungeon master you'd have to a bit more homework and, even if you're using a premade adventure you'd still have to be pretty creative in some situations.
So, yeah, unless you want to waste a few hundred bucks, just use online sources for books. It's not as handy in some situations, but, hey, I'm a college student too and I'm not going to waste 300 bucks on d&d. (Considering how many books I own in digital form, it'd cost no less then that for me to buy them all, used at that - to my knowledge, 3.5 was already discontinued with release of 4th edition.)
It's all great fun, although the first few sessions might be awkward if everyone's new.
Also, 4th edition is massively easy and practically an MMO clone. I'm only relying on second-hand information, though, I've only skimmed through my friend's books who made the transition. But 3.5 seems like the way to go, and I'm staying with it =p
It's pretty hard to get the hard copies, my group is using scanned digital books =p
Which you can probably find on certain sites on the internet... Because otherwise, that starting package (and don't forget the dice!) might cost you something close to 100 bucks or more.
Otherwise, the rules aren't all that hard. Especially if you just bother with the basics. You can read over the player's handbook in a few hours, it's only about 300 pages and only a portion of that is information that's all that important more then once.
Being a dungeon master for the first time might be tough, but it can still be fun. Although as a dungeon master you'd have to a bit more homework and, even if you're using a premade adventure you'd still have to be pretty creative in some situations.
So, yeah, unless you want to waste a few hundred bucks, just use online sources for books. It's not as handy in some situations, but, hey, I'm a college student too and I'm not going to waste 300 bucks on d&d. (Considering how many books I own in digital form, it'd cost no less then that for me to buy them all, used at that - to my knowledge, 3.5 was already discontinued with release of 4th edition.)
It's all great fun, although the first few sessions might be awkward if everyone's new.
Also, 4th edition is massively easy and practically an MMO clone. I'm only relying on second-hand information, though, I've only skimmed through my friend's books who made the transition. But 3.5 seems like the way to go, and I'm staying with it =p
