DND for beginners
Who, what, when, where and Why?
What the fuck is DND anyway?
New to Dungeons and Dragons?
The Who What, When, Where, Why and HOW of DND
I know, some people may be asking "What the F$#% is even...DND?"
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Well.
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WHO is it for?:
This game was meant to be played by any and all who like to gather around and have fun with other people.
Typically the more creative types will enjoy this game of playing a role or bringing to life a character of your choosing.
Famous actors, writers and comedians who play(ed) the game: Stephen Colbert, Dan Harmon, Robin Williams, Anderson Cooper, Jospeh Gordon Levitt, Vin Diesel, Joe Mangianello, Vince Vaughn, Big Show. There is such a huge list of people who play this game that I could go on and on for days!!!!
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WHAT is it ?: It is many things. It is first and foremost a Role playing game played by a group of friends...but it is also: a dice game, a game of action/ reaction /and consequence, a game of fighting, battle strategy, a game of mystery, magic and fun times!
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WHEN do you play it?: That depends on your group. Typically your gaming group meets up once per week, bi weekly or once per month to play...
...either a "One-shot" - this is a one-time game started and finished in usually between 3-5 hours of game play....
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...or...
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Part of a "Campaign."
A "Campaign" is a game you play that
takes multiple game sessions. Typically you can have short campaigns that can last from up to a month, but many campaigns last several months to possibly years.
A campaigns length (if it is a known written campaign) will usually be pre-determined and you will have a general idea of how long the campign will take.
How long you play - (however many hours) is decided by your group, and by how much time you have.
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WHERE do you play? You can play this ANYWHERE, however you should be addressing this particular question with your group.
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WHY do you play?: Well, this game is only as fun and interesting as you make it, and want it to be. It can be just as fun as any game, movie, story or any form of entertainment, mainly because you are the protagonist of your own story line and you get help make a story and a character that only you can play. There are castles, kings, queens, animal-humanoids, robots, Weapons, armor, magic, dragons, monsters, fighting, but theres also puzzles, using your imiagination, and being clever and resourceful with the matierials and information you are given.
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How do you play?: Here is the fun part...typically you grab a group of friends to play with one special person who tells the story. This special person is in charge of the rules of the ENTIRE GAME! This person is not a player, but more like a guide through your game called the "GM" or Game Master also referred to as the "DM" or Dungeon Master.
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1) The DM is in charge and opens the story line with a session zero explaining where the game starts and what to expect. You shoudl all cover your expectations through out the game.
2) Character Creation: YOU get to choose the character you are playing, because YOU have to MAKE the character. If you dont want to make a character, the DM can assign you one to play, and it then becomes your job to "Role Play" or play the game as this character (NOT YOU) would play out the situations given to them.
3) once you have all talked (in a session zero) about where the game is playing, what to expect and everyone has a character then your group decides if they want to play right away or make a schedule for the game(s).
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4) How game play works -There are two major functions: Regular game play (role-playing), and battle.
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Part 1: Role Play
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Regular Gameplay/Roleplay: The DM will always start the game with a story. The story at some point will involve you and your group which is called your "Party" or "Adventuring Party"
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Once the story is told, the DM will ask each player in a spciffic order what they want to do next.....For example...
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DM: "Hello everyone, welcome to our first game. Today we will be playing an introduction game to DND. The story will begin on the Sword Coast...You have all just accpeted a job and have begun the first phase of this plan...it is just before nightfall , your party is sitting around a nice fire in a pub enjoying a round of drinks; a couple hours before starting the job.
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Here is what you know:
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"...a nasty pirate warlord named Iron Fist has been taking out ships left and right...sinking everything that comes out to sea....this guy (Strangely) has not been around too long and nobody really knew who he was until he started plundering the sword coast about a month ago. No one that dares go out to sea has come back alive. The only news you've heard of note is from Former disgruntled crew members saying that He is a crazy, cooky, manipulative slave trader...other reports are that he has weird looking hand with a blue glow surrounding it. Some say he used to be a wizard, others think him a God. We know that when he holds out his hand and mutters to himself, his hand unleashes a blue aura from across the sea...that crushes ships in a single blow. Others have said they dont recall a hand like that."
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"A group of highly decorated sailors (turned to private enterpise) has formed The seaman Alliance: a world renowned business that seeks out the best adventurers, and pays top coin."
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"The Alliance has been seeking contractees to fulfill a request of several of the major port towns on the sword coast. For one reason or another you have all decided that this is the job for you. The alliance (at this point in time) is requesting more information on Iron fist and his crew, and by what means is he so scuccesful. The information is secondary to the primary goal of apprehesnion or murder of the iron duke. There is a contact (mole) on the ship currently that has provided us with this beakon. You are to sail at nightfall, activate the beakon and gain access to the ship."
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"You are instructed not to die, or be captured or found out. any means necessary you must defend yourself and by law you are legally able to make iron duke cease to exist. So all of you must become part of Iron Fists Crew, gain their trust and take them out."
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DM: John, first please introduce your character to the party, tell us what your character looks like and what everyone might know or suspect about your character based on your race, class, and anything in particular you want noted, after your introductiom I will, given the situation what does your character do.
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Player 1 John: My Character is named Garing GoldHeart, he is a 4 foot 3 inch tall, 30 yr old a Dwarven Fighter, with a big red beard and long hair tied up in a warriors ponytale. He wears a big ornate healmet with 5 horns each atleast 8 inches long, and weilds an Axe. my character outdrinks everyone in the pub (naturally) and I take bets on doing so...I might even make a few silver or gold depnding on who is a taker. I have everything I need to start the mission, and I look to my compatriates and I tell them that with me on their side they are assured victory in battle no matter where they go.
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DM: Okay John, so thats your turn...How you about you Jennifer, introduce your character and what does your character do with the given situation?
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Player 2 Jennifer: I am Zu-tale-Rah a 6 foot tall, female, black-coated Taboxi (leopard-woman) barbarian princess and I challenge Garing to an arm wrestling match only after hes been drinking heavily. After which I woudl go around the pub asking abotu any info related to the iron fist and follow up if need be. If there is tiem I woudl liek to go to an apthecary or magic item shop.
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DM: If Zu-tal-rah wants to ask around or investigate and try to pick up info from the people around her, maybe we will have her role an investigation check, please roll a D20
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***Dice part of Game play: At this point player 2 Jennifer's Character "Zu-tal-rah" is going to pick up a 20 sided di, and roll it as the DM requested. This is called an ability check. Lets say the roll was a 12, but she has proficieny with the skill of investigation, so she gets to add a proficiency modifer, which is automatically a +2 at level 1, so that makes the roll a 14.
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DM: at this point everyone is still drinking and having a good time, With a role of 14, Zu-tal-rah sees a couple of sailors, drinking hard liqours and immediatley asks them if they knwo anything about the Iron fist. they reply in a deep wrapsy voice "YES, we saw the destruction firsthand, we were on a vessel carrying goods about 3 clicks away when we saw a blue light flash, and our ship had holes in it the size of beer barrels. It wasnt long before we abandoned ship and swam back fro our lives.
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Now that the example is over with...you see this kind of "call" and "response" happening between the players and the DM. Thats exaclty how the game is played from the role play aspect. To reitterate The DM describes everything by telling the story, the characters say what they want to do, and the DM narrates how the events unfold. The characters use DICE to determine their roll, and the DM determines if they are sucessful with that roll and how the events transpire.
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Part 2: The Battle
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Battle is something entirely different, but Again....You DO NOT have to know how to do everything to have fun, and if you are brand new, your DM will be able to help you. So in battle there are 4 MAIN actions to take: Movement action, Regular Action, Reaction, and Bonus Action. There are other tactical actions you can take during battle, but knowing these will help you the most to start.
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Movement Action:
during your turn, you can move your character up to its movement speed in any direction. Every character starts with a movement speed (typically it is 30 ft) and it will say this on your character sheet. This movement action during battle lets you know how far you can go during your turn.
Pro Tip: You do NOT have to move the full 30 feet (of movement speed) right away all at once, you can break it up.
examaple: you can move (lets say 10 feet) to attack at a better vantage point, take your attack action (attack your enemy) and then move back 20 feet, completeing the 30 feet of total movement.
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Regular Action: everything you do here will require you to roll dice to see if the number is high enough for you to actually be able to do it. The regular action (more often than not) is the main event of what you are going to do with your turn in battle.
You can attack - (using your fist or a weapon)
You can cast a spell - (if you have spells to cast)
You can Dodge -(allows you to roll dice to see if you take half damage or completely dodge an attack)
You can hide - ( if the DM deems it possible/appropriate)
You can dash/move double your speed, You can also use the "help" action
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As you can see the action can be only one thing, but what you have a lot of options with your action.
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Bonus Action: Some spells or weapons will allow you to take a bonus action. Bonus actiosn are meant to be short, fast and done with haste...you may also do somethign quick or readied as a bonus action.
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Part 3: The Numbers!
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At the begining of the game when you create a character, you are asked to select a Race, and choose a class. Your DM will be able to help you decide if you do not want to read more about your selections, but On page 12 of the PHB or "Players Handbook" They get into determining ability scores.
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Why does the "numbers game" matter? Well you roll for everything in this game and the higher the roll the better. If you have Low numbers on your stats, then you will fail and let yourself and the rest of your party down when they need you the most....also...just failing all the time sucks, so this is where you can set yourself up to play the game better.
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SO....
...In this Game there are 6 abilities to which everything else stems off from, and Ive included a couple defining characertistics.
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Strength- physical resilience
Dexterity- Physical speed/quickness
Constitution -Stamina/Health, vitality
Intelligence -Information recall, analysis
Wisdome - Awareness, intuition
Chrisma - confidence, eloquence compassion, empathey, crowd pleasing
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These 6 Abilities will be assigned numbers at the begining of the game....giving each ability a Score, and there are three ways to assign these scores to each ability.
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1) You can start with a "standard set" of numbers and apply those to each of the 6 abilities those numbers are (15,14,13,12,10, and 8)
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2) you can ROLL for it: roll 4 6-sided die 6 times and each tiem you roll take the highest of the three numbers and that will give you your numbers to apply to whatever ability you like
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3) you can choose to use the point buy system where you are given 27 points to buy your scores. Below Ive put the ability score number followed by what it costs. So the lowest stat you can have is 8, and that costs zero points. The highest starsting stat you can have is a 15, which costs 9 points. Spend the 27 points however you like but you cannot go over 27.
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8-0
9-1
10-2
11-3
12-4
13-5
14-7
15-9
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So one way to do it (althoguh I woud not ever do this) you can have 3 abilites at 15, and three at 8.
The idea is to cater to your characters strengths. So if your character is a theif/pick pocket or rogue, then you woudl want to be fast and quick as opposed to physically strong. So you would assign the highest ability, the highest number.
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lets say for instance you assined these scores to these abilities.
STR - 10
DEX - 15
CON - 12
WIS - 13
INT - 14
CHA - 13
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Now that the ABILITY SCORES are assigned, we can see that they have attached with them a number called a modifer.
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Ability Modifier: what these do is help you to increase your roll by modifiying your roll either positively or negativly.
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a positive it "Plus"
and a negative is a "Minus"
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ability scores on the left and the modifiers are on the right. These modifiers change only when you ability score increases upon leveling up your character by playign the game.
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1−5
2–3 −4
4–5 −3
6–7 -2
8–9 −1
10–11 +0
12–13 +1
14–15 +2
16–17 +3
18–19 +4
20–21 +5
22–23 +6
24–25 +7
26–27 +8
28–29 +9
30 +10
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Going back to our original assigned ability scores
STR - 10
DEX - 15
CON - 12
WIS - 13
INT - 14
CHA - 13
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If you look at the chart above a strength scroe of 10 gives you the modifier of a +0, this woudl mean that whevber you roll for strength, you do not get any help from your modifers, but when you roll for dexterity, then you get a +2 modifer.
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As an example: you try to go pick someones pocket and you roll a 20 sided dice to get a 13, btu since you have the modifier of +2 to your dexterity, your roll aoutimatically increase by 2. So your new total roll is 15! This is how modifers work. There other ways to increase your rolls and add on more modifers to increase your liklihood of success, but this comes with more knowledge of the game. For instance: If your character is a rogue, you could have chosen proficiency with stealth, so you essentially coudl increase your roll again with a proficiency modifier. ultimately if this is true, instead of a +2 to this roll, you woudl add another +2 because your character is proficient in stealth. Your total woudl be17!
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These modifiers are what you use when you roll. On your character sheets the modifiers are on top because they are the number that is important when playing the game.
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If you would like to know more, please follow through on some of the basic rules on dndbeyond.com. perhaps purchase the Player handbook and giev it a read before playing the game... either on Amazon or check it out online at DND beyond.com again...maybe do some google searchs, look for games and players looking to start games online. You can try meetups, or try looking for games on roll20.net.
send me an email also if that works.
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