Dungeons and Dragons – where to begin

[commodorerob 11076xp 1]

I have a question for you guys, it has been about 30 years since I last played D&D. It was my introduction to RPGs it still holds a special place in my mind. Now recently my 9 year old is asking to play it. I have decided to give it a go. However the D&D I played was the original version that started with the red tsr starter set and then followed the other coloured books. I never got into AD&D. I looked out my original red set ( my mate at the time had the other books we used).

Anyway I have totally lost touch of where D&D went and only know there is a new version out there.

Anyway my question is do I start off playing the basic original edition with my son or do I start with the new version, and if I get into the new version what do I need to buy to get started?

[mageParticipant 20596xp 4]

Start off with the current fifth edition

 

it is more stream lined, not as miniature orientated, not over designed, still has depth, has a lot of support and a variety of products avaialabke

 

this might be conyroversial, but the older versions of d and d have not aged well and aren’t as good in my opinion to what is presently out

 

Start with the starter set ‘Lost Mine of Phandelver’

 

It’s a good set, all the hard stuff for a kid is already done, it includes a lot for what you get and is an effective affordable and convenient entry point

 

Any more questions just ask away

 

[evilstu 15298xp 3]

@commodorerob nice to hear your little one is keen to get gaming 🙂

The current version of the game is 5th edition. there is a free ‘starter’ rules set available at the below link if you wish to review prior to procuring anything more tangible:

http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/basicrules

If you want to progress there is a basic D&D starters set which I believe is the core rules, some adventures and some pregenerated characters. Alternatively, if you want to jump in properly you would be looking to pick up the three ‘core’ books (Players handbook, DM’s guide and Monster Manual) which will set you up with all the basics. From there on if you wished to continue you could look at picking up the themed supplements, procuring community content or third party games (Kickstarter or Drive Thru RPG have an overwhelming wealth of options) or just create your own monsters and worlds.

If you want a quick ‘up to speed’ with the basic rules there are many videos up on Youtube.

While 5th ed is a lot more streamlined than previous editions (3.5 for example) this comes at the expense of some of the depth of character flexibility previously available. While this allows a greater focus on the narrative aspect and will probably better suit new players please be aware that things may be a lot more ‘forgiving’ in game that you remember from the old D&D. Ie, current focus is on ‘role’ playing rather than ‘roll’ playing.

Best of luck! Any questions just let us all know 🙂

 

[mageParticipant 20596xp 1]

The thing is If he falls in love with it and wants more it will get expensive to track down old books

 

and a lot of work needs to go into preparing games with the older rules with home made scenarios. The current rules have more mathematical theory and balance going into it and lots of classes, races, monsters, scenarios and campaigns all ready to go. It’s ljmenhaving a buffet compared to a set dinner list

 

from the starter set you’d get stuff in the following order:

 

players hand book (making new characters and accessing other classes, spellsand races) and is important as you can’t go passed level five with the starte set

 

next is a monster manual for having gribblies and baddies to populaye the world

 

 

Next should be a campaign book

 

then the sun from masters guide. Not as essential but handy

[mageParticipant 20596xp 1]

I’m going to play devils advocate here a @evilstu but tell me what makes the characters less deep or flexible cos I disagree and would love to debate the topic

[evilstu 15298xp 2]

@mage Just typed a long reply but getting blocked from posting?… Well I guess we all know what Groucho Marx said about not wanting to join any society that would admit him as a member 😛

[tankkommanderParticipant 6413xp 3]

The new 5th edition is the best so far…and I have played since Red Box D&D and 1st edition AD&D.

 

[commodorerob 11076xp 1]

Cheers Guys, thanks for the advice I have a starting point now 🙂

[koraskiParticipant 1981xp 2]

I agree with @mage Since you are wanting to play with a kid go for 5th Edition. Some may prefer older editions for various reasons but 5th is definitely the most kid friendly. For starting 5th Edition the best place is the ‘Lost Mine of Phandelver’ starter set. It has everything you need to play. If after going through that adventure you want to delve deeper into 5th Edition then his recommendations on what to get next are also good (Players Handbook and Monster Manual are more or less required, Dungeon Masters Guide and any of the Campaign books  and later supplements are optional).

[commodorerob 11076xp 1]

Well I have ordered a copy of the starter set to see how it goes I picked it up for about £15 so not a massive outlay 🙂

[jamjarst 4011xp 2]

The 5th edition starter set is very good, you won’t regret it @commodorerob, you may regret the sudden need to get more stuff lol

[commodorerob 11076xp 3]

@jamjarst lol – oh I have  a plan for dealing with the ongoing financing of this. It all comes down to whether my son enjoys playing, if so, then its his pocket money and birthdays and Christmases that will fund it …:-D

[limburger 21680xp 0]

The pathfinder starterset is pretty nifty too (standees for lots of monsters are included), but it is a bit more D&D v3.5-ish and definitely more combat oriented.
They do hide a lot of the maths for the beginners with their pre-generated characters.
It does make me want to track down the 5e starter, just to see how it compares.

I think the best thing to learn is the mantra ‘rulings over rules’.
It’s the one lesson that the vast majority of books fail to teach, because they want you to buy stuff with more rules …

 

[commodorerob 11076xp 0]

@limburger I have never looked at Pathfinder (other than buying a Pathfinder Battlefoam case as it met my needs..lol) so know very little about it.

[limburger 21680xp 0]

It’s basically D&D 3rd edition, except it has managed to become its own thing because wotc kind of forgot to respect its playerbase at that time.

I’ve been hearing good things about 5e, because it has reduced a lot of the rules heavy nonsense that started to infect D&D 3rd edition onwards.

It still isn’t as lightweight as the various OSR (old school rules/revival) variants like “Lamentations of the Flame Princess” (definitely not for kids) and DCC (Dungeon Crawl Classics : http://goodman-games.com/dungeon-crawl-classics-rpg/ ) , but then that’s progress.

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