First off, sorry for the length. I had nothing else to do and a session tonight, so I've got a DnD itch and a lot of time. I just got carried away and enjoy writing. It's super close to the comment character limit. :/

Intro

So, how to start DnD. It's good to see how it plays. I find Critical Role to be a good place to start. The DM is Mattew Mercer, who is great and moving things along, and the players are all voice actors, so it's nice to listen to. CR is a bit unusual in how well behaved the players are, if you run the game, expect your players to be more annoying. I recommend starting with episode 14, "Shopping and Shipping" as you can pick it up easily, and everything gets a bit better at that point as the new arc starts.

It's also a good idea to figure out what system to use. 5th edition is the current one. I find it to be fairly simple on the surface, with a lot of extra detail in the supplementary books. It's very flexible in tone and complexity, and a solid foundation I expect to see a lot of extra content piled on top of, with extra classes, rules, monsters, etc, in later supplementary books. 5e is probably the best place to start.

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What you need

First off, you need friends! I know it may seem cliché, but it is true. You want one person to run the game (the DM) and 3 or 4 (maybe 5, but no more if the DM is new) people to play an individual character. If you don't have enough friends to do DnD, you can probably find new friends with something called The Adventurer's League. You also need a set (or a few) of dice, which contain 6 to 7 different dice. You have a 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, and the most-used 20 sided dice. You also have a "d100"^1 which is a d10 that counts in 10s. They're a bit unusual in early play, so don't worry. Last but not least you need the rules. The basic rules can be found here. If you want the complete rules and a few extra books, I'll PM you. Chaotic Good PDFs are frowned upon here.

Finally, you need to actually play is a story and a Dungeon Master. You can get prewritten stories and adventures that give the DM a framework to build around for money, although I have the 5th ed beginner adventure somewhere on my PC. (It's really useful for a beginner DM.) The DM can also create their own, but that needs a lot of effort. The DM acts as an arbitrator. They say how difficult it is do something, what happens when it's done, what the players see when they go somewhere, etc. They also role-play NPCs, decide what actions enemies take, etc. They are less a player and more the world the players are in.

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The two main roles.

The Dungeon Master (Or Mistress)

The DM is often the person that brings the party together, finds people to play DnD, and ties it all together. However, they are not the most important, as that's a bad mindset to have. A DM without players is a person having conversations in their head. It's a symbiotic thing.

Being a DM is very hard, but also by far the most rewarding role if you have the skill and motivation. Being a DM is thinking up the bagpipe gag, is creating a cool city, is roleplaying the city guards who have no time for the player's shit and the shopkeep that warmly welcomes them. It is the role with the most freedom, as you can shape the campaign however you like. (As long as you don't drive your players away.) However, you need to know a lot of the rules by heart (it's easier than it sounds) and a good dose of creativity. The scheming, toying with the players and their emotions^2 all makes it worth it in the end. This is a bit long, but if you fancy the idea of being the DM I'll make a followup "How to DM." comment.

I also fancy the role of the DM myself as it feels like I'm making a world of facades very quickly, faster than the players can notice. The NPCs are fleshed out enough to survive one session without seeming two dimensional, but are not nearly as intricate as the player's characters. Physical locations have enough detail to tide the players over while I make more. However, if the players show particular interest in a character or place, I can build behind that facade to make the thing more and more realistic the closer the players look between running sessions. I also have a lot of pre-made things I can pull up. I might have a general set of bars with different qualities and a cursory list of their stock, with different names for different locations. So if the players go to a seedy bar in a dwarven city, I pull up a seedy bar template and add dwarven flavor to it. I'll also note down any on-the-fly descriptions for later use. If the players start to go regularly, I'll add detail. I'll create regulars with personalities and stories to them, I'll create notable events in the bar's history, etc. That feeling of going from pulling things together quickly to make it seem good enough, then after the session spending hours taking slower more thought out routes to flesh something out.

The Players

This section will be a bit less meaty. The players create a character from a set of races and a set of classes (some books have extra races and classes, and you can take levels in more than one class. So instead of being a level 10 ranger, you could be a level 10 character that is a 3rd level rogue and a 7th level ranger.) They have a sheet that holds the information they need to play their character, that details weapons, spells, abilities, HP, stats, proficiency, what skills they have, etc. Often the player will write a few sentences or paragraphs on their character and their backstory.

You also have personality outlines, which consists of (normally, you can change it up for fun)

• 2 general traits (Like, "I am new to these foreign lands, and have numerous strange but minor customs others may find confusing.")
  
  
• An overall ideal (such as "law keeps society together, those that break it should be punished.")
  
  
• A bond they have (like: "I'm the successor to a major title, but my family was deposed. Some day I'll regain it.") that they will either constantly work on, or be called to fulfill. (like protecting an object from attack.
  
  
• A flaw they have. (Like "I'm quick to anger, and can hold a long grudge." This could lead to a misunderstanding creating long-term animosity between a player and an important NPC.)
  
  These outlines are used to help the player get in the mindset of their character, and to role-play them better. So if the player outlined above is meeting a noble, because the noble's connections could help them regain their land, and they greet them in accordance with their strange customs, the noble remarks unfavorably about them, then the player should role play not liking the noble, but they shouldn't try and attack them, because that's outside the law. Stuff like that is what makes the player characters so much more complex. Also, don't take my talking up of the DM's role to diminish the player, they can have plenty of fun.
  
  Also, there are many types of players, and they often not just co-exist but may even require other types to do well. Some players just want to see what happens and play DnD, whereas others seize the initiative and direct the group. A party with too many of the first will do very little, and a party with too many of the second will do nothing but bicker. Also, some players are recluse and have a hard time roleplaying their character. Other players like playing hard to role play characters, and their willingness to set themselves up for possible failure (in roleplaying) might help nervous players come out of their shell. Some players make super strong characters without thinking about story, and others make weaker ones because all they think about is story. The strong characters will help the party in combat, the story characters will help the drama aspect of DnD that makes it so engaging. Some pay tons of attention, and can fill in those that don't. And so on. Together, you can get one functioning party!
  
  ---
  
  

  Buying things!
  

  
  

1. The starter set is great. It has rerolled character sheets, the basic rules, and an adventure that holds the hand of the DM more than others, but also provides plenty of room for growth. Also, it's not even 15 bucks on Amazon.
   
   
2. Dice. The starter set ones mysteriously all seem to be cursed to roll low, so new dice are good. Chessex looks good and is cheap, and Q-workshop are expensive but amazing.
   
   
3. Dungeon master's screen. Hides notes & rolls, looks nice, and has a quick-lookup of stuff on the back. About 10 bucks, I highly recommend it.
   
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   Footnotes
   

   
   ^1 Dice are referred to as d[number of sides.] So a 20-sided one is a d20, and so on. If multiple dice need to be rolled, like with a Greatsword, it's shown as 2d6 + [modifier], where you roll 2 six-sided dice, add that together, then add a fixed modifier. The rules have more detail.
   
   ^2 Randomly rolling dice to make them nervous, evily grinning when the players ask something even if the thing is absolutely fine, having that little smile when the players ask if those bagpipes are silent or not, asking the players if they're totally sure if they want to do something then making them live with the consequences are all ways to mess with them.

D&D Basics (Getting started)

The Absolute Basics

First you will want to grab either the Basic rules (Free), the Starter Set (Cheap), or the Players handbook, Dungeon Masters Guide, and Probably Monster Manual

Then you need to have at least a few items

• Dice (Phone apps will work if absolutely necessary, or these)
  
• Paper & Pencil (for notes)
  
• Character Sheet (In the free PDF or an app)
  
  The starter set is nice because it does a bunch of the work for you, it has an easy to follow adventure, pre-made characters, Dice, and rules for the DM and players. And at half the cost of just the players handbook AND including an adventure, it is an incredible value.
  
  Once you finish that then looking at at least a players handbook for the extra races, classes, backgrounds, and other things is a good deal. That should let you run free adventures people have put online.
  
  The DM's guide will let you get deeper into rules and the right way to call them, break them, and make them.
  
  The monster manual can be a great tool to make better encounters.
  
  If you want to run a commercial adventure after the one's included in the starter set, "Tales from the Yawning Portal" includes the Sunless Citidel, considered by many to be an excellent adventure for those new to the game and just recently brought up from 3.5e into 5e
  
  

  Common Tools of the Trade
  

  
  As you start running more complex adventures you are going to want to have a few tools to keep things moving, either as a player or as a DM.
  
  

  As a Player
  

  
  The bare essentials every players should have are listed above, but most players agree having a few extras can make the game run really quick.
  
  

  Spell Cards
  

  
  These cards have all the spells available for specific classes or from specific books on really well organized cards that make it easy to set aside your prepared spells and quickly reference all the core details.
  
  Cleric, Arcane, Ranger, Druid, Bard, Paladin, Martial Powers and Races, Xanathars Guide to Everything
  
  

  Binders & Sheet Protectors
  

  
  Keeping everything neat and organized can be a huge time saver and make it much easier for you to find what you need. Binders can be a great way to keep your notes and other materials organized. In addition many sheet protectors easily erase dry erase markers making it easy to keep track of spells and other changes without ruining character sheets with constant erasing.
  
  

  As a DM
  

  
  DMs have their work cut out for them. But a few simple tools can make the game run smooth and leave everyone having that much more fun.
  
  

  Index Cards
  

  
  A set of index cards can go a long way to speeding up the game. Players can put details on spells or magic items on them. You can prepare loot for the game ahead of time and hand it out allowing players to look over the gear as the game continues. You can also use them to hide portions of a battle map or commerical map to give the effect of fog of war.
  
  

  Game Mats
  

  
  A game mat let's you make single maps by drawing on them with dry erase or wet erase markers. Many are made of vinyl and can last a long time. Normally they will have either 1" squares or hex shapes.
  
  

  Minitures
  

  
  These things can be expensive, but giving your game that 3D upgrade and helping players better manage space in a game can be well worth it. You can use actual miniatures (Like those from Reaper), Create custom ones on Hero's Forge, or even just buy some cheap stand in tokens from Game Mash.
  
  If you just need a cheap way to keep track of positions army men, bottle caps, colored game pieces, and even legos can all play the role.
  
  No matter what you use, you can pick up colored rubber bands to mark status conditions or other information.
  
  

  Where Can I Play?
  

  
  You can find tons of places to play D&D.
  
  

• Get together a gaming group.
  
• Find a Guild or club in your area. Meetup.com,
  
• Most hobby shops and especially comic book and gaming shops offer games, usually Adventure League. WotC offers a tool to find stores here.
  
• /r/lfg can be a great way to find others to play online with.
  
• Play by Mail sites like RPoL allow you to play by forum post.
  
  

  Also:
  

  
  Critical Role - Voice actors playing DnD, Matt Mercer (The DM) is an amazing Dungeon Master and shows how the game should be played.
  
  Matthew Colville - Amazing videos on being a DM, must watch material for every DM. Even when your opinions differ he gives good reasons and great advice.
  
  

  Compendiums
  

  
  These let you ciew all the free open rules (SRD & Basic Rules) for D&D 5e at no cost.
  
  Roll20 Compendium - Has all the open rules for the game, so a good source for monsters, items, spells, etc.
  
  DnDBeyond - A more official source for the content, plus you can buy all the materials released by WotC to use, and has a great character builder.
  
  

  Adventures & Maps
  

  
  DMsGuild - Tons of free and paid adventures and other materials. The quality can be varying, but many are free and that can be great.
  
  /r/dndmaps/ - What more can they say, D&D Maps.
  
  Mike Schley Makes many of the maps for the D&D Adventures.

Here's a list of resources and products that will help you get started with D&D 4th edition.

Free Resources

The quick start rules are free and cover most of what a player needs to know to play the game, plus a few pregenerated characters; it lacks rules for character creation and advancement, and a few other advanced rules and options, but it's a good resource for those who don't yet own the books. Some additional pregens can be found at DungeonMaster.com.

Some other free resources were posted by /u/Dracoprimus, including a bunch of links to free adventures. Another good free adventure is EN World's Island at the Axis of the World, part of their Zeitgeist adventure path.

Kassoon's 4e crib sheet is a handy reference. Sly Flourish has a DM cheat sheet that can also be quite helpful, though you may have trouble making sense of it without access without a core DM resource.

Core Rules & Content

The following items are those you need to play a more robust campaign or adventure (you could technically get by without some of them, but you will be limited). You can save a few bucks by buying used. Ideally, each player (including the DM) should have a copy of a player resource, but in a pinch the players can share one player book for character creation/advancement, and then get by with the quick start rules linked above. Only the DM needs the DM resources.

• Player resource: Heroes of the Fallen Lands (alternatives/supplements: Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms, the 4e Player's Handbook)
  
• DM resource: The 4e Dungeon Master's Guide (alternative/supplement: the 4e Rules Compendium)
  
• DM resource: The Monster Vault (buy a new or like-new copy so you can be sure you get all of the included components). You could probably get by without a monster resource if you run published adventures that include monster statblocks, as most do, but if you want to roll your own campaign or improvise, a solid monster resource is recommended.
  
  With those three products, you have everything you need to run a level 1-30 campaign.
  
  You should check out the errata and updates for any books you acquire -- especially the older ones, like the Player's Handbook and Dungeon Master's Guide.
  
  D&D Insider & Extras
  
  A D&DI subscription can substitute for the resources mentioned above to a large extent, and supplement them with tons of content, but reading through online glossary entries and a bunch of scattered articles isn't the best way to learn the rules. I would still recommend getting the core books even if your group has a DDI sub, and a DDI subscription is strictly optional.
  
  There are also many source books that I won't mention here, which include additional character options and content for the players and DM: new races, classes, powers, feats, items, monsters, traps, etc. along with accompanying lore. Personally though, in lieu of buying lots of extra source books for extra character options and monsters, I'd get a DDI sub. It gives you virtually everything published in those books, plus useful tools such as the Character Builder and the Monster Builder. The online compendium is also a much quicker and more convenient reference than a stack of books. I would recommend a D&DI subscription for any active DM or heavy player.
  
  Game Aids
  
  The following items are either necessary or very helpful to running a live, in-person game. If playing online, a virtual tabletop can cover these functions. Roll20 is the easiest virtual tabletop to get started with, and it's in active development. MapTool is a somewhat more robust, but many players have technical issues with it, and its pace of development seems to have slowed.
  
  
• Battle mat: A blank, reusable flip-mat, like the Paizo basic flip-mat, plus some dry- or wet-erase markers. This is a good option for drawing up a quick map on the fly.
  
• Alternative battle mat: A gridded easel pad, which you can get at an office supply store for around $17 for 50 sheets (which will last you a good long time), plus crayons, markers, or colored pens/pencils. This is a good option for either preparing detailed maps before the session, or drawing up a quick map mid-session.
  
• Alternative battle mat: Yet another option for battle maps are poster maps and/or dungeon tiles. An even more upscale option are Dwarven Forge products; those utilizing the sturdy "dwarvenite" material are particularly nice. The DM's Craft YouTube channel has a lot of tutorial videos for creating nice-looking but inexpensive environments.
  
• Dice: You'll need enough dice for everyone. Bulk dice like Chessex Pound O' Dice can be a good way to go. In a pinch, you can get by with a single set of dice shared by the group. At minimum you need one each of the following: d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, d20.
  
• Miniatures, tokens or other character markers: The Monster Vault includes some cardboard tokens. You can make your own tokens, use dollar store plastic soldiers, Pathfinder Pawns standup tokens, buy miniatures of a range of qualities and price points (Reaper minis are nice), or buy products that come with miniatures, like Descent and the D&D Adventure System games. The latter two options are standalone D&D-like board games which also include dungeon tiles. Some miniatures come pre-painted, others are unpainted; note that painting unpainted minis isn't as difficult as you might imagine. In a pinch, you can use coins, bottlecaps or anything else that's a suitable size to represent characters and monsters.
  
• Optional: Pipe cleaners, which can be bent into shapes to denote the corners of zones, or cut into pieces which can be bent into small loops, which can then be hung on miniatures to denote status conditions.
  
• Optional: 3x5 index cards can be handy for initiative tracking, passing notes, or creating power cards or monster statblocks.
  
  Products to Avoid
  
  The following are products that I sometimes see recommended (or would recommend myself) but happen to be overpriced or are not worth it for some other reason.
  
  
• The Monster Manual, and other 4e monster resources published before June 2010. The third Monster Manual was released along with updated math to govern monster attack bonuses, defenses, hp and damage, which was used in subsequent publications. In addition to the math updates, WotC got better at overall monster design as the edition matured. Other than the Monster Vault, some good monster resources include the Monster Vault: Threats to the Nentir Vale, the Dark Sun Creature Catalog and Monster Manual III.
  
• The "Red Box" Starter Set. While it would be a fair value at its retail price of $20, it seems to be out of print, which means it's selling at inflated prices. The product itself is mediocre. It provides a fast, but not necessarily good introduction to the game.
  
• The DM's Kit. This is actually a fine product, and contains a DM's Book which is a good substitute for the DMG or Rules Compendium. It also includes a very high quality adventure, the Reavers of Harkenwold. In addition, it comes with DM screen, two double-sided poster maps, and some cardboard punch-out tokens, and a small monster book. Unfortunately, the DM's Kit also appears to be out of print, and at the time of this posting is selling for well over $100 used. It's good, but not that good.

For miniatures, be warned that the Heroclix and Mage Knight minis, while useable, are mostly larger than the 1" standard width (for a medium character or creature) - this is generally not that big of a problem but if you're going with modular terrain it means they may not fit well, especially along with other miniatures beside them.

Ebay is a good choice for miniatures, especially if you have particular needs for certain things - you want that male elf archer in leather armor, or are you looking for a beholder? You can find and get them there. Here's my favorite seller for these things, shipping is definitely reasonable and the choices are expansive:
http://www.ebay.com/usr/auggest?_trksid=p2053788.m1543.l2754

Another option to miniatures are tokens, and they are much, much cheaper. These are small cardboard circles that fit a 1" block as standard size (larger creatures will fill more, of course). The best starter set for this for a DM is the Monster Vault, but there are a ton of others as well. I suggest ebay for these for the most part, there are some that sell them by the sheet and others that sell the full boxed sets. You can get these for characters as well as monsters. Here's a link to the Monster Vault so you can see what you get with it:
http://www.amazon.com/Monster-Vault-Essential-Dungeons-Dragons/dp/0786956313/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1420725056&sr=8-2&keywords=dungeons+and+dragons+Tokens

Cheapest and most versatile "professional looking" option for the map / terrain is a chessex battlemat - make sure you have WET ERASE markers, not dry erase and keep it clean between adventures. Below are links to one of their mats (there are other sizes, just search on amazon) and to some excellent markers:
http://www.amazon.com/Chessex-Role-Playing-Play-Mat/dp/B0015IQO2O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1420724703&sr=8-1&keywords=chessex+mat

http://www.amazon.com/Expo-Vis-A-Vis-Markers-Colored-16078/dp/B00006IFGW/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1420724703&sr=8-9&keywords=chessex+mat

Cheapest option for modular-type terrain would be tiles. These are cardboard "grids" that most often have designs on them and come in different sizes. The best starter set out there is the Dungeon Tiles Master Set - The Dungeon. It has a lot of tiles and is pretty versatile, at least for base grid options like dungeons and general floors. There are a ton of other options for them - again I suggest you look on ebay for these because you can often find used ones that are in perfect shape sold as a set, or even individual tiles if there's something in particular you need. This is the link to the aforementioned base set on amazon so you can see what it has:
http://www.amazon.com/Dungeon-Tiles-Master-Set-Essential/dp/0786955554/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1420724907&sr=8-1&keywords=dungeon+tiles+master+set

If you want to spend more money and go with something much more dynamic, there are 3-d modular sets ranging from paper to near-stone like quality but they can cost a ton. I have a large set of Dungeonstone (www.dungeonstone.com) that I bring out and always get oo's and ahh's. But they're heavy to carry around a lot, especially if I need the whole set. Another option, that's generally slightly more expensive than dungeonstone is Dwarven Forge. You can look them up - but I only mention this in case you decide to spend more money than you want to at this point. :)

Good luck! I hope this helps.

Lots of links ahead, hopefully it helps ya!

I Read...
ALL THE THINGS!

I DM in the Forgotten Realms/Planescape/Spelljammer (They're all kinda linked by nature) so I spend a lot of time browsing classic Volo's Guides, Elminster's Ecologies, Dungeon/Dragon issues, and Candlekeep Forums are super handy for some quick inspiration or detail on a particular point of interest. You will find NO better FR resource than Candlekeep, even Ed Greenwood answers our questions there very regularly.

I also use tabs all over the damn place, it makes my books look like a hedgehog sometimes but it also helps with rapid flipping around mid encounter.

Encounter cards.

I use 3x5 index cards that I just hand write on usually with quick HP, AC, Init, gear information. I have pre-printed versions I made for the most common of common creatures like Orcs, Slimes etc.
I set these all aside in one spot.

Minis

I spend all the cash collecting books so I kinda neglected minis...for 27 years. Sad, right? Anyway I printed out a shit ton of pages from the ever useful Pathfinder Pawns sets and I (tediously) cut them out by hand, double sided two sheets, tape all 4 edges, and use binder clips to stand them up. Viola! Long lasting cheap as dirt minis with a diversity higher than you can usually buy in 3d form. I pop em into clips as I can usually predict encounters ahead of time, even as an improv DM.

MAPS!

I'm a digital hoarder, I have ~2000 battlemaps from everywhere I have collected. Thus I probably have something for almost any situation that will pop up. Worse case, I just tweak my descriptions to resemble the map available. I also use Virtual Battlemap on STEAM to make my own 3d animated maps but time constraints limit the time I can actually spend on this. Also, again as an improv DM it's pointless to make a crap ton of maps myself ahead of time because of how gameplay actually works. Here are a couple shots I made myself though.
These are projected on the table via ceiling mount projector.

For obvious places that we visit a lot I have city maps (like Suzail) made up with a key on the other side. Since I run these places A LOT I made them pretty high quality but still on the cheap. This helps me remember where things are, places etc etc which is important in multi-year campaigns. You can make cool PC versions also that will hold up well being passed around the gaming table for months if you use good photo paper!

Dungeons? Make a DM copy and scrawl any noted you need like this. 5e book maps are HORRIBLE, tiny and stuck in a book so take them out like this so you again have an easy to grab fast reference for YOU. That example is from an early crawl the group did several months back with my notes on it.


SPELLS

I use the retail D&D spell cards usually, but also supplement them with various iOS and Android apps because there are quite a few new spells in the game that are not printed yet in a new set. I make little spell books for the casters ahead of time. It's really only useful spells, not ALL spells. It's not like that Kobold Necromancer is going to live long enough to use half of them anyway.

NAMES

I created, using various generators I like, lists of NPC names in dual columns. Here you can see my actual probably-drank-to-much mid game notes! Each sheet is color coded. RED Human, BROWN dwarf, ELF green etc. I did this for every common NPC race. So instead of having to create a name on the damn spot I can just grab the sheet, look at "Oh Male Elf...hummm OH this works!" and pop it out. Then I write on the sheet who now owns that name. It helps organize all the NPC's for my frail memory and speeds up npc creation table side drastically in those sudden improv situations where the PC's decide to go bug some random NPC for muffins or something.




ETC

Anything beyond that is highly variable session to session. That depends on the group/situation...a personal oddity that my players noted is how I go into way to much detail describing the flavor and texture of every beer they ever order in game. Thats because i'm an admitted beer snob. To help my beer-love I utilize a printed chapter (because I don't use my original copy at the table, it's to old) from Auras Whole Realms that can be transplanted into ANY GAME! It's a good 15 pages or so of just beer, wine, mead, ale, and liquor with cool names and descriptions and history. It's a minor thing but it helps with those sudden PC questions like "What's on the menu?" that might suprise you.

So, as someone who is relatively new to DMing (started just over a year ago), here's what I'd suggest to make sure you keep your cost down, while still having figures you can slowly replace over time:

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Starting off, you can get a lot of generic "green-army-men" style fantasy figures for relatively cheap.

• Here's some knights
  
• Here's some skeletons
  
• Here's a random assortment of generic fantasy charcters
  
• Here's some undead
  
• Here's some barbarians that also just make decent random warriors
  
  They're not very expensive and what they lack in quality they make up for with quantity.
  
  ---
  
  The next best solution I have for cheap decent figures is for animals. I've been able to find tubes or tubs of a decent selection of cheap, pre-painted figures at just about every Walgreen's or CVS Pharmacy I've been to. I use these guys for animal encounters, pet companions, and they're especially helpful for my druid.
  
  If you can't find them at your local drugstore IRL, there's plenty of selections you can find online.
  
  
• Here's just an example of some of the tubes you can find.
  
  ---
  
  Now, players understand you can't afford unique figures for every encounter. However, I've noticed that the figures you have stand in for whatever they're fighting can sometimes be distracting, or if you have multiple identical figures it can be confusing knowing which one they're targeting in a battle. A great, cheap solution I've found to this is just using multi-colored generic pawn pieces like from the game "Sorry!". The pieces themselves are so nondescript (other than color) that the players have an easier time projecting the combatant you describe onto them, and the various colors make it easier to track what's going on in a battle, both for the players and DM.
  
  If you can't just salvage an old Sorry game you find lying around you can find packs of the pieces or other generic multi-colored pawns online for very cheap.
  
  
• Multi-colored pawns
  
• Meeples
  
• Sorry Pieces
  
  ---
  
  This last suggestion isn't really about where to find cheap figures, but more to address the reason you said you wanted figures in the first place, to "help the immersion".
  
  You may have heard of the website HeroForge before and it's a great tool for D&D players. It allows you to make very customizable figures for your games. Now, the cost of their cheapest figures are still over $30 for a single figure, so definitely not cheap. However, as a DM, I still regularly use it. I use HeroForge to help design notable NPC's or enemies for my campaign, then save the screenshot of them and post the image in our group chat when the character gets introduced. This is very helpful for a lot of reasons: I get a more solid idea of characters that I was designing in my head, it gives the players a visual and helps with the immersion, and when I DO decide to actually order a character (like, for example, a villain or NPC I know will be reoccurring for many sessions) it becomes a MUCH bigger deal and way more intense.
  I also always recommend that PC's at the very least design their figures on HeroForge for the same reasons.
  
  
• Here's some examples of figures I designed and posted used over the past few months without ever having to spend a dime
  
  ---
  
  I hope these were helpful. I'm still in the process of building my figure collection as well and love to share cool tips or resources I have found while doing so.

A lot of people are saying to get the starter set, but you really don't need to buy anything to get started with D&D. The basic rules are free online, and you can find dice roller apps for free also, so all you really need to get started are friends.

As someone else mentioned Matt Coleville's videos are helpful, but he also made a video specifically for new players that you could check out.

Dice are pretty cheap on amazon, so if you wanted to get a large set of dice for yourself and your buddies you could do that easily also.

Chessex is the go to brand for RPG dice, so if you are looking for some nicer quality sets you can get good ones for cheap through them.


Have fun!

EDIT: I forgot to add this character sheet It's free, and completely automated and makes creating a character simple.

First of all, here is a link to the Basic Rules, which are provided by WotC for free.

To familiarize yourself with how the numbers on a character sheet are created, I suggest that you try to "reverse engineer" the character sheets that come with the adventure (you can download the sheets of the adventure here and you can find additional pregenerated characters here). Say if you have a problem at any point.

>[...] how does a DM know when those other stats are needed? His discretion?

As for how ability checks and skills are used, check out p. 57ff. of the Basic Rules. Yes, it is always the DM's discretion that decides when a player has to make an ability check. The adventure from the starter pack will include many such abilitychecks, and it always says, which ability is used and what the difficulty of the check is. You can take that as a guideline.

>Does the DM get to decide the difficulty of everything like a trap or a boulder the player has picked up?

Page 58 of the Basic Rules includes a short list of "Typical Difficulty Classes" as a guideline for the DM. 10 is easy, 15 is medium, and so on.

>I also sort of assume it's up to the DM to say "roll a stealth check and roll a strength check etc."

That's correct.

>Is there a list of what each monster's AC is and if so where can I find that? The monster's handbook or is there somewhere free?

Every monster that appears in the adventure is described at the end of the adventure that comes with the Starter Set, including its stat block, which its AC is a part of. You can find additional monster stat blocks in the DM-Basic Rules for free.

>Can I buy just one starter set and one player handbook and be set? Or would you also recommend the DM guide to someone who has never DMed before?

At the beginning you do not need anything beyond what is included in the Starter Set. It might be helpful to print an additional version of the Basic Rules for your players (which I linked to earlier and and they are also included in the Starter Set). However, while the Starter Set comes with one set of dice, I suggest that you get additional dice sets. For the first session, it might suffice to get one for the DM and one for the players, but ideally everyone has his own set of dice (and the higher the level the players are, the more dice are rolled).

As for the DMG or other books, I would hold off on any additional books until you have a few sessions under your belt, or even played through the adventure that comes with the Starter Set.

>What do you guys use on the back of a DM screen more than anything?

With back you mean the player side? I bought the standard 5e Screen, but you could simply assemble your own screen. You will know from experience which resources you might want to put there the most. I also use the screen to keep track of initiative by placing folded paper with the players'/monsters' names on them on the top of it. For the beginning, a simple piece of cardboard is enough, or you could simply go without a screen at all.
___

Additionally, may I suggest that you check out (Spoilers in the next link) this youtube series by WotC in which an experienced
DM plays through the first part of LMoP with a miyed group of experienced players and newbies.

Your players don't have to be experts prior to the game, but they should read the Basic Rules (p. 57 - 77) at least once,
so they know their options. The Dungeon Master generally is expected to have a better grasp on the game and should read
them multiple times in addition to the adventure they are currently playing, so he knows what is going on. Expect the
game to be a little slow the first time you play, as you have to get familiar with the rules, so basically it is the
same as for any more complex board game.

The Starter Set comes with pregenerated characters, and I suggest to use them (as did my group when we first started). While it is fun to create your own characters, playing a prewritten character allows you to concentrate on the game instead of your character too much.

2. [Tabletop Audio] (http://tabletopaudio.com/) will fill 85% of your ambient music/noise needs
   
3. Relax, have fun. Start with an adventure written by someone who is experienced - there have been 3 full adventures published by WotC, plus there is a lot of fan made content out there. The adventure modules are good because you have a really good campaign to get comfortable with without having to worry so much about pacing, and because they have been published, there is plenty of DM prep out there. Here's a list of all of them - my wife DM'd all of the Hoard of the Dragon Queen/Rise of Tiamat, and her players had a lot of fun. Out of the Abyss is also really good, but not as beginner friendly. At some point they had the first chapter or two of each module free online, but a quick google search doesn't turn them up.
   
   The slot is specifically for the Pathfinder cardboard pawns, which are really good if you want a lot of figures for cheap. Each box contains roughly 50 or more monsters and/or NPCs, that fit snuggly in their bases, and cost roughly $35-50 USD per box. [Here's an example of the most recent pawn box.] (http://www.amazon.com/Pathfinder-Pawns-Monster-Codex-Box/dp/1601257171/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1453164499&sr=1-1&keywords=pathfinder+pawns)
   
   The boxes usually come with bases included. I probably wouldn't worry about adding the vertical slot to the base, unless you want an easy way to shove in printouts.
   
   Speaking of bases, do you plan on sharing your models? I'd be interested in trying to get some printed out myself as they'd be good generic token holders.

Update! (5/6): Image of everything stained and put together with padding/foam also RIP my inbox

[Note: I labelled this as OC since we spent the time designing it for the printer and such, but the layout of the vault is actually a mimic of the wyrmwood vault with some alterations. If I need to change that please let me know.]

So we recently upgraded our Monoprice 3D printer to a swanky new Prusa i3 Mk3 and after setting it up and printing some things we had a moment of "What else can we do?" Now my FIL is a carpenter who, after seeing the Wyrmwood Arsenal Kickstarter, we challenged to also build one. It came out beautiful, but was very large and very heavy. We decided to also try our hand at it, but we are not carpenters. We are gamers and have a host of technology skills.....sooooo we bought a shit ton of wood filament and learned some CAD.

After a couple iterations of magnet location changes, size changes, and the like we managed to get the vault and box into a size that will fit (most) plastic and metal dice sizes while also being light and compact. We remixed the logo on the box from another thingiverse model. The wood filament stained up super nice and we are really excited about it. Bought some cork sheets and some premium felt from the craft store that will line the box so you can use it for rolls and acoustic foam that will go in the vault for the minis and dice.

It may seem simple but it took us quite a bit of time to get everything sized in mm just right, learn the software, and print off each iteration (the final wood print took just under 23 hours for just one side of the vault at optimal settings)

All the photos: https://imgur.com/gallery/5KpwCl3

The Thingiverse File for Everyone to love: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2892142

Magnets:

Neodymuim Magnets: These are the ones we usesd but obv you can adjust for whatever you have or can find.

[Edit by Popular Request] The Dice:

Blue/Black Metal

Blue plastic

Dwarven Metal

Filament:

Colorfabb Woodfil Fine Filament

Everyone having their own dice does make things go smoother. Not to mention a lot of folks become superstitious about their dice, not letting anyone else use them for fear of bad luck. Or retiring old dice after they roll poorly too many times.

https://www.amazon.com/SmartDealsPro-Symphony-Dungeons-Dragons-Pouches/dp/B016W7B64S/

A few reviews say these are poorly balanced, but others said they were fine. So it seems like a grab bag whether you'll get good sets or not. Poorly balanced could mean a lot of good rolls, or a lot of terrible rolls, so you really do want better balance.

https://www.amazon.com/126-Polyhedral-Dice-colors-Complete/dp/B014242Q7Y/

These look like they have slightly better reviews. Still a few folks said they were poorly balanced, so your mileage may vary.

Honestly, if you want "top quality" dice, Chessex is the go-to brand. Like I said, my local game store sells plain looking Chessex for about $5, speckled looking for around $7, and glossy pearl for around $10. Not that big of an investment, if every player just gets themselves a set or two. You really don't need that many to play, unless you're casting a Fireball and want to feel the might of 8d6 in your hand =)

> 1) what do you recomend to do?

I'd personally start with 5e, because it is a much more simplified system that allows for more aspects of role-playing, which is great for everyone - especially new players.

A nice start for new groups to DnD is a starter set. Here is a link to buy a starter set which comes with a 64-page adventure pre-made module book, a 32-page rule-book for playing characters level 1–5, 5 pregenerated characters, each with a character sheet and supporting reference material, and 6 dice. If you are playing 5e, you need the 5e books - the 3.5 books won't work for 5e, they are completely different games due to additional information added over each new edition.

I'd also recommend that you all sit down together in the same room, hook up a computer to a TV in the room, and watch some good DnD games to figure out what role-playing means, how DM's look in action, and how the game runs overall. Shows such as Critical-Role, or Acquisitions Incorporated are amazing.

Here is the playlsit for Critical Role on Youtube:

• Critical Role
  
  Here are the Acquisitions Incorporated games on Youtube:
  
  
• PAX East 2015
  
  
• PAX East 2014
  
  
• PAX Prime 2015
  
  
• PAX Prime 2014
  
  
• PAX Prime 2013
  
  
• PAX Penny Arcade Celebrity Game 2012
  
  
• PAX Penny Arcade Celebrity Game 2011
  
  
• PAX Penny Arcade Celebrity Game 2010
  
  > 2) what dices do we need to get either way?
  
  You each need a 7 set of DnD dice, and DM's do well to have some extra dice for faster group monster rolls. Plenty of bulk dice sellers on Amazon:
  
  
• Wiz Dice
  
  
• Dave's Dice
  
  
• Easy Roller Dice
  
  > 3) do we need to get board/minutures?
  
  You can if you want, it's a nice visual aid. I'd recommend to use a large table to play around, and then buy some battle mats which can be written on with wet erase markers. Mineratures are all over the place for sale, so just google them. Or if you don't want to spend a ton of money on physical maps, you could use a virutal set-up in an IRL game, like my party does. You can use Roll20 which hosts privtae game rooms with virtual tabletops on which you draw maps into and insert images. Plug a laptop into a huge TV, and boom, you have a giant virtual battle-mat to use during the game!
  
  Tons of other info on the sidebar of this subreddit, or just search the subreddit for other "starting DnD" posts, because there are a ton of them with good info.
  
  

Players don't need much. I agree with BenDunno's suggestion - PH1 is a good place to start. Depends on what they feel like playing. Community opinion is mixed on the Essentials builds in Heroes of the Fallen Lands and Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms, but these builds are fully cross-compatible with the rest of 4th Ed, so if people want to play them, it won't cause a problem. A few players in my group tried out Essentials characters and had fun with them.

The Rules Compendium is amazingly handy for both players and DM's - easy to carry around, clearly indexed and consolidated.

(btw, I included Amazon links for clarity, but if you've got a dedicated game store near you, buy from them instead - your FLGS (Friendly Local Game Store) is a really important part of the gamer ecosystem - give 'em all the support you can :) )

Well, to get started, I'd recommend picking up a Player's Handbook (on sale through Amazon for $27.27) and some dice (There's a 7 dice set per player and DM. They consist of a D4, D6, D8, D10, D12, and D20, but standard 7-dice sets also include a second D10 which is used for percentile rolls) as well as maybe a playmat and some minifigures (characters that can act as placeholders). As far as adventures modules go, I'd recommend coming up with one yourself or doing the Lost Mines of Phandelver campaign. I would probably recommend that as the best module a person could point to for beginners. It will be a great way to get into [Storm King's Thunder] (https://www.amazon.com/Storm-Kings-Thunder-Dungeons-Dragons/dp/0786966009/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1523372215&sr=8-1&keywords=storm+king%27s+thunder) later on.

The Starter Set is okay, but intended for larger groups of like 4+. Once you get the hang of things with the required Player's Handbooks and the optional module Storm King's Thunder, I'd recommend picking up a Dungeon Master's Guide to create your own worlds together.

TL;DR If you want large, vinyl, hexes, and wet erase: look to Chessex. If you want large-ish, laminated, no hexes, and dry erase: look to Pathfinder. I'd say measure your game space first.

The mat you're most likely talking about is the Chessex MEGAMAT.($30) This is by and large the most popular battlemat on the market. It's vinyl, rectangular (3' x 4'), hex reversible, quality make, but it's wet erase. (You'll probs need to buy wet erase markers) This is also the mat I have. Here's my brief critique: it is larger than I have ever needed, though I will admit I have sometimes been encouraged by the mat's size to make a larger battlefield. It's so large that it barely fits on the table, giving my players little room for their papers, making it difficult for me as a DM to quickly access all parts of the map, and making transporting it a minor annoyance. The wet erase is only slightly annoying, but if you're going to be doing a lot of erasing, you'll quickly tire of the rags and water. However, it is very high quality, plenty big, and terrific if you have the right space and table to use it.

A very similar mat is the regular Chessex Battlemat($22) It's smaller (2' x 2'), vinyl, square, high quality, hex reversible, and still wet erase. Really again a great mat that's very similar to the MEGAMAT, just a little less. . . MEGA.

Another large vinyl one more similar to the MEGAMAT is the Wiz Dice Battle Mat.($32) It shares all the same qualities of the MEGAMAT, but owners have claimed that is does not erase quite as nicely. However, it is a clean white mat, rather than the sort of textured beige of the Chessex mats.

Finally, the most viable dry erase mats are the Evolve Skins battlemats($28) which come in white or beige, are not hex reversible, are laminated, are 3' x 2', and seem to not be entirely dry erase. A better choice would probably be the laminated, 2' x 2.5', dry erase, not hex reversible, Pathfinder battlemats.($13)

I'd recommend measuring your game space, prioritizing what you think are the most important qualities, and then comparing these options that I have presented.

I was you last April. Get yourself the Starter Set. It has mostly everything you need including characters, a set of die, a mini rule book, and a real solid campaign "Lost Mines of Phandelver". It is all you will need for a while.

Am I right in assuming you will be the DM? If no one has volunteered then you should do it. It's super fun and not as hard as it seems.

I would say you need to pick-up more dice than the Starter Set provides. Have the players buy a set or provide your own. Dice are cheap. You can get a set for $1 or $2.

I also bought a Battle Mat and Wet Erase Markers and ,to me, made the combat side of things way easier to track as well as making the game more enjoyable to the players. Don't worry about having cool mini's the first time around, you can use coins or candy. Though I am sure that in time you will succumb to the seduction of mini's.

Have fun playing and good luck in your future adventures!

EDIT: When you start itching for more information that the starter set can buy I would highly recommend you purchase the Player's Handbook first before the Monster Manual and then the Dungeon Master Guide.

The Core books with the alternate cover. It is a little expensive but boy, they look gorgeous!

Metallic dice, they're so nice and make a nice noise when they land

Giant d20. The numbers aren't balanced, but it is a nice way to decorate something with sweet D&D ref

Make your party minis in Hero Forge!

Though their selection of characters is pretty limited, I'm a big fan of World Works' stuff: http://www.worldworksgames.com/store/index.php?view=catalog&cat_id=2

Their terrain is just fantastic though.

In addition, Wizards has a pretty nice selection of tiles and tokens that tend to be cheaper and more reusable than maps and miniatures. Here's a few of my favorite sets:

-Dungeon tiles

-Forest tiles

-Massive set of monster and character tokens

-The Red Box contains a decent mix of everything for a pretty affordable price

Hope this helps.

Boy you aren't kidding, there just really isn't much about Sossal in any sourcebooks I can find, even going back to earlier editions. The old boxed set only has:

>AT A GLANCE: Far to the North, on the far side of the Great Glacier, is the legendary kingdom of Sossal. This remote nation is the home of Sossarhim, a very pale, very blond race that dresses in
white, and can conceal themselves among the ice.

...etc. The 3e book has a similar short blurb, where it otherwise explains pages about the other nations of the Cold North. The most interesting sources I could find seem to be from the 2e splatbooks "Wizards and Rogues of the Realms" and "Warriors and Priests of the Realms". From W&P:

> Sossal This fantastic kingdom of pale, blonde humans is the
northernmost nation in the Realms. Their ability to flourish in such frigid conditions is a source of amazement to others. Their warriors are unparalleled in arctic survival and cold-weather combat. Warriors of Sossal have very pale skin, ice-blue eyes, and pale blonde hair.

...and so forth. W&P has some good roleplaying notes for the warriors, and W&R has an interesting take on the wizards. But as for maps or cities or anything like that, it seems to be overlooked.

I use a Chessex Play Mat for the bulk of my encounters. It works well for quickly drawing out a smaller dungeon or combat encounter. It's about 20x25 squares.

If I need additional space or need to be creative with my level design, I use Gaming Paper. The grid dimensions are 1 inch squares, so it works perfectly with the play mat. Also the gaming paper is durable enough to use repeatedly if you have a few encounters in the same kind of area, like homes/taverns. You could also glue the gaming paper to something like foam board, and create your own dungeon tiles for cheap.

You can get the mat, a roll of gaming paper, and a set of wet erase markers for around $30 USD.

Hopefully that helps!

This one is a bit rough. As I'm sure a lot of GM's don't really wish to just purchase a metric ton of minis, paint them and store them for their limited and exact use. Personally I have found a few... Cheaper alternatives.

1. Magic the Gathering cards. Sounds a bit silly but follow me. Hole punch the image out, some filler, glue them together and you get a sorta carboard-ish token with really nice art on it. And cheap as all god damn hell as I bought a box of 2k cards for ~$25.
   
   
2. 3D print that stuff. I know most folks may not have one available, but if you do you can print off some pretty great stuff for use.
   
   
3. Pathfinder. Yes, they still make the cardboard standie stuff for monsters. Here is quick one I found on amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pathfinder-Pawns-Bestiary-2-Box/dp/1601255004/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=Pathfinder+Pawns%3A+Monster+Codex+Box&qid=1555936626&s=kids&sr=1-2-catcorr
   
   ​
   
   Hope that helps out!

D&D isn't so much of a 'board game' (can typically be ended in one session, self-contained/limited gameplay, hard rules, etc) as it is a game played on the tabletop.

That being said, it depends what you want. You'll need dice, character sheets and an adventure at minimum. The DnD starter set comes with that (and also a version that comes with enough dice for 6 players) The adventure included is pretty good.

Alternatively you could look up one-shots (adventures intended to be started and completed in a span of a few hours). There are both free and paid ones of varying quality for each. You'd still need dice, but many one-shots include pregenerated characters.

Hope this helps a bit, and enjoy!

I'm partial to the 2nd Edition Campaign Setting (Grey Box). They look to go for outrageous prices on Ebay, but if you can find one at a used bookstore I'd snap it up.

One of my beefs with Forgotten Reams is that TSR/Wizards took a charming setting, and tried to introduce in-game events to reflect rule changes. Things like the Spell Plague, and replacing cool deities like Myrkul and Bane with lamo poseur deities like Cyric and Kelemvor.

With 5E, I've decided I'm taking my FR back to Ed Greenwood's 2E Grey Box roots, and ignoring all the crap that came after.

Sadly, there is no PDF of the 2E campaign setting on www.dndclassics.com, but the 3E PDF is available for $15.99. I haven't looked at that, but it seems to get high marks on Amazon!.

In addition to the Cleric Quintet, I really liked the Elfsong books by Elaine Cunningham, if you'd rather explore by fiction.

Finally, once you have a general feel for the Realms, Candlekeep! and the Wiki! are great for looking up any particular bit of info.

https://www.amazon.com/Workshop-Metall-Dwarven-Dice-Board/dp/B00BOZ1GLC/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1539043504&sr=8-6&keywords=metal+dice

​

I ordered these recently. They are fantastic. The "related products" bar at the bottom also has some great options.

be careful the metal dice don't scratch any table surfaces! Happy critting!

http://www.amazon.com/Easy-Roller-Dice-Polyhedral-Dungeons/dp/B00L2N1OVI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1459210069&sr=8-1&keywords=105+dice

15 full sets of dice, best deal around plus you get a free dice bag which is pretty cool and itself worth ~10$

There are exactly those. You have the Dungeon tile sets and also the Pathfinder Flip mats. The flipmats work just the same for DnD incase you're worried, they're all just one inch squares.

I have bought a couple sets of each and I would suggest investing in the flip mats if you're going to go that route. Take up less space (so easier to store), you can just keep one or two in your bag to bust out at a moment's notice if your players go full steam off the rails. Also I have found the flip-mats at my local brick-and-mortar store before for the same price as Amazon, so I would suggest looking there as well. The tiles are better specifically for dungeons though because you can lay down the tiles as your players explore, allowing you to set the mood a bit better.

That said, I am definitely going to print out OP's tiles and laminate them to add to my flip mats that stay in DnD bag. This sort of thing is what I was looking for before I started to invest in pre-printed things.

Hope this helps anyone looking.

There is several examples in the DMG that I would write down or print as they are easy to forget. If you haven't bought the 5e DM screen yet and plan to use a screen, I would recommend this one. It does have some information on it that is facing you at all times that give you trap/danger values and how to roll certain things that are easy to forget. Its saved me from having to look up values.
https://www.amazon.com/Dungeon-Masters-Screen-Accessory/dp/0786965630/ref=s9u_simh_gw_i17?_encoding=UTF8&fpl=fresh&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=&pf_rd_r=P1XQ93X0KMV8094SRZQ4&pf_rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=1cded295-23b4-40b1-8da6-7c1c9eb81d33&pf_rd_i=desktop

There's all sorts of pre-made campaign modules that have already established worlds and towns and people and adventures. You can find them in game stores or pretty much anywhere online. A few of them include Curse of Strahd, Horde of the Dragon Queen, and Storm King's Thunder.

Best of luck with the DMing!

Thats nice, but a chessex battlemap is durable and amazing. Not even that expensive. They last years and are well worth the investment. Mine is 10 years old and I'm pretty sure I'll get another decade out of it at least.

If you want to premap out rooms ahead of time instead of drawing on the spot? Get something like this. It's 50 sheets of 24x37, that's a lot of rooms/hallways/buildings to map out. If you do a lot of DMing then they even come in a 4 pack.

Think that is overpriced? Get a roll. The grid isn't exactly an inch, but it's close enough. We're gaming, not trying to land on the moon. It's 34" by 200 feet. That's enough for entire campaigns.

Is 200 feet too much investment for you? 8 bucks gets you 12 feet, that's twice the length of typical wrapping paper (I seem to find 6 feet the norm). Hell, they threw the word "gaming" into the name and seem to have forgotten the 200% price mark up that normally accompanies the term.

Wrapping paper has to be the single most ridiculous way to do D&D. They don't all have grids, and the price is not great. Maybe if it goes on some sort of supersale and you can ensure that it has grids on the other side, go for it, but there's just better sources of grids available out there.

I just got these in yesterday. I love the look of them. They have a nice weight to them and feel good in the hand.

Q Workshop Metall Dwarven 7 Dice Set Board Game https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BOZ1GLC/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_yXsOBbDRRWVEG

>2.Graph paper: I can just take it with me and thats that. I'm having issues finding large size paper that doesn't have small squares. Also I'm not happy with the idea the party will see the entire map at once.

Is this for a world map or a dungeon/etc? For a dungeon you have your smaller reference map then something like a laminated battlemap and just drawn on that with dry erase markers. Or make your players draw it out and if they aren't accurate ... well... just adds some interesting wrinkles to the adventure. If you go this route I recommend getting a piece of Lexan from Home Depot and put it over the map and draw on that instead. Dry Erase cleans super easy off the Lexan where with the battle maps over time the surface breaks down and it gets dirty and hard to clean.

Storm Kings Thunder is a really popular campaign many love to play. So You should check it out. Outside of that Dm's Guild is great for a budget but you need to sift through a lot of the material to find the really good ones.

So here's a little list for you.

1. download the basic rules. They're free and you'll be able to see if this is something you want to get into (although I highly recommend you do since it's a lot of fun).
   
2. After you read through basic rules and decided you want to DM get the starter set. It is definitely worth the money since you get a well written introductory adventure (for example all the formatting of dnd adventure books is explained) and a set of dice in a neat box that you can use to store your notes.
   
   

• If you're not into being a dm get the player's guide and later xanathar's guide.
  
• If you want to dm, get the player's handbook and monster manual. Dungeon master's guide is less mandatory since nowadays you can find a billion videos on how to run the game and homebrew your world but it is by no means a bad purchase since it has a ton of stuff inside like ~70 pages of magic items or a lot tables for generating encounters, npcs and a ton of variant rules.
  
• Some other non book things you'll find useful as a dm are the dm screen with a cheat sheet (something like this), either buy the official one or go diy route , a 1 inch (~2,4cm) combat grid (the gaming paper works great since you don't have to take care of it) and if you don't have one yet, a printer (for printing out enemy tokens for the encounters, handouts for players and so on) and a few notebooks for notes.

New person to D&D 5e

So I Have read about D&D and i have been meaning to get it. I looked around in amazon and found these 2 5th edition start kits at different prices

https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Wizards-Team/dp/0786965592/ref=zg_bs_4441_7?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=TR43C7FKC7WK0PE7DBGB

regular 5th edition starter kit

and

https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Board-Games/dp/B07D5ZL8WB/ref=pd_sbs_21_3?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B07D5ZL8WB&pd_rd_r=9ad05b66-c331-11e8-82f0-0d90845ff108&pd_rd_w=mDUVb&pd_rd_wg=304Az&pf_rd_i=desktop-dp-sims&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_p=0bb14103-7f67-4c21-9b0b-31f42dc047e7&pf_rd_r=11FT2CC4AQZPS19BV3YW&pf_rd_s=desktop-dp-sims&pf_rd_t=40701&psc=1&refRID=11FT2CC4AQZPS19BV3YW

this includes a 6 different die sets also a lot of printable stuff that get emailed to you

i also heard that i could get character sheets at the coasts of wizards. so i have been wondering which one should i get as a start into this game

The first asks for 20$ and the other asks for $40. The 40$ one looks interesting due to the printable stuff. but is it worth the money? or should i just buy the 20$ one and print stuff from the coasts of wizards. idk tbh. help would be appreciated

I purchased these for my wizard and love them. They don't include some of the newer spells founds in Xanathar's guide (I purchased that deck too but they are separate) but they'll have 95% of the spells you'll need for your son. It includes wizard, warlock, and sorcerer spells.

They do also make decks for monsters but honestly as a DM you can always just bookmark the pages before the session to help reference them quicker!

Personally I use theater of the mind in my own game where I DM. I play with a group of creative people with excellent visualization skills, which is probably why that works so well for us, but I feel like with enough practice, theater of the mind can become natural to any player.
In a game where I am a player, not a DM, we use mostly theater of the mind, but occasionally our DM will draw out a dungeon or whatnot in a large poster, and we will use Meeple in place of minis. Each player has a different color, and we use other colors to show objects of interest and enemies. At one point we were lugging around this massive tapestry with us, and it got its own meeple. You can even choose your color based on character traits. Our mage chose Blue to match his cloak, I chose purple for my hair, another player chose silver for her eyes.

I'm a fan of the Runic dice from chessex. But as for dice in bulk, amazon is what you want.

SmartDealsPro 5 x 7-Die Series 5 Colors Symphony Dungeons and Dragons DND RPG MTG Table Games Dice with Free Pouches https://www.amazon.com/dp/B016W7B64S/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_ygNiybAJTGEY5

My favorite type of dice came from this set. They're marbled, non-translucent dice. And they come with their own dice bags. :D

48" x 36" Role Playing Reversible Vinyl Gaming Mat: Grand Campaigner with 1" Squares and Hexes by Wiz Dice

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OD2G8DE/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_6wcmxbN763R4G

Hope that helps

I play a sorcerer as well, and love it.

As far as real-life purchases, other than a PHB, I find spell cards extremely helpful, though they are by no means required.

You can find the main Arcane set here (will cover you if you decide to play a Warlock or Wizard in the future as well), and a few additional spells here (you can probably live without these).

For some reason those links are showing insane prices, so I'm just including them for the pictures. You should be able to get the arcane set for $20 or less, and the archetypes set for less than $10 at your FLGS.

https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Spellbook-Cards-Arcane/dp/B01MRVJ1TB

The cards are the size of playing cards, the one I linked is for sorcerer, wizard and warlock which is the largest set of cards. They also have sets for cleric, paladin and other spell casting classes that are smaller. there a great way to look at all the spell info without using your phone or laptop if your party perfers to keep technology down to a minimum.

get the Pathfinder Pawns.

hundreds of 2d minis with awesome art. easy to store.

https://www.amazon.com/Pathfinder-Pawns-Bestiary-2-Box/dp/1601255004/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=pathfinder+pawns+bestiary&qid=1571528800&sr=8-3

You're spot on! If I could recommend something to you that my players ended up loving, I use these for combat

https://www.amazon.com/Dungeon-Tiles-Master-Set-Essential/dp/0786955554/ref=sr_1_1?srs=2603813011&ie=UTF8&qid=1498758217&sr=8-1&keywords=tile

They're fun, I have the fields and villages set(I think that's what they're called. There's a very specific tile with a small pond on it and my players insist I set the pond up every time they do combat so that they can throw enemies into the pond upon death.

It looks like all the sets aren't on Amazon but I'm fairly sure they have most of them at Barnes & Noble. That's where I got mine

Depends on how much you want to spend/how fancy you want to start off with. My first set was pulled from a set from Amazon (which is out of stock, but there are lots of others that sell the same thing). My second set was from D20 Collective, which had a nice set of Hedronix dice. My third set was a gift of Kraken Dice, which I am currently using until my new Die Hard Dice set comes in.

​

In short, there are a lot of options.

Just want to add that Easy Roller Dice has some bulk options that I find are better than Chessex' Pound of Dice. Their competing product is at USD24.95 right now. These guarantee 15 complete sets, and it even comes with a rather high quality dice bag. They also have a cheaper option that also comes in a dice bag, but with 6 sets instead of 15.

The dice don't have the most elaborate designs, but my own order of 15 came with 5 marbled sets, 5 clear sets, and 5 regular sets. Quite a bit of variety, and none of the colors repeated.

Amazon has a bunch. My group runs with this one and it's pretty good.

Sometimes with small businesses, it can take 2-3 days to even process an order. Be patient. This place ain't exactly Amazon.

Also, not that it really matters at this point, but I'd be willing to guarantee that Easy Roller gets their stuff from the exact same place as WizDice. The dice look identical. The mats look very similar, aside from the different branding.

Dice

Mat

Alternately, you can get either or both of these for character creation. They offer a different style of characters to play, and will be the same classes that you'll find in the Red Box. In my experience these classes are easier on new players than the PHB classes.

For any backround information, just refer to the wiki:

http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page

For the adventures, buy either of the following:

https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Wizards-Team/dp/0786965592/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1496916563&sr=8-1&keywords=5e+starter+set

https://www.amazon.com/Storm-Kings-Thunder-Dungeons-Dragons/dp/0786966009/ref=pd_sim_14_9?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0786966009&pd_rd_r=G32SS8JKKV8E0RJEWD11&pd_rd_w=q2eos&pd_rd_wg=Fl90h&psc=1&refRID=G32SS8JKKV8E0RJEWD11

https://www.amazon.com/Hoard-Dragon-Queen-Adventure-Wizards/dp/0786965649/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1496916592&sr=1-1&keywords=hoard+of+the+dragon+queen

https://www.amazon.com/Rise-Tiamat-Adventure-Wizards-Team/dp/0786965657/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1496916610&sr=1-1&keywords=rise+of+tiamat

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_10?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=princes+of+the+apocalypse+d%26d&sprefix=princes+of%2Cstripbooks%2C573&crid=1MNP7K2PCNO3F

https://www.amazon.com/Out-Abyss-D-Accessory/dp/0786965819/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1496917649&sr=1-1-fkmr0

You could also learn the lore while playing games like:

• Neverwinter Nights (1&2)
  
  
• Baldurs Gate (1&2)
  
  
• Neverwinter Online
  
  
• Sword Coast Legends

I usually draw simple maps on grid paper that I bought off of Amazon and draw on them with dry erase markers. I got 2 rolls for I think about $8.

https://www.amazon.com/Gaming-Paper-Roll-Square-Beige/dp/B003G4DLLC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1496759839&sr=8-1&keywords=rpg+grid+paper

I usually will google image search something I'm looking for, for example "rpg mansion" the "rpg" usually ensures I find something in grid format and I just find what I like best and copy it over loosely. If you have maps in the module you'd like to copy this works too. I also do what you say in "BD's battlemaps" such as a random forest scene that can be reused and players plopped down in different spots for random encounters.

Some people saying do theater of the mind style which is of course an acceptable way of doing it. My advice though, especially for a new DM, would be not to do it this way. My reasoning is while it would cut down on prep time I think it's too much mental work to keep track of during a fight (okay this guy is flying, this enemy is hiding behind a tree twenty feet away, what was that PC doing?) especially as you're still learning the game.

Thanks!

Wow no I'm not that talented/dedicated! Its the official arcane spell cards.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Nine-GF973915-Dungeons-Dragons-Revised/dp/B01MRVJ1TB/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1551020724&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=arcane+spell+cards+d%26d&dpPl=1&dpID=51HVoD69aYL&ref=plSrch

I got them for slightly cheaper at my LGS so maybe worth looking locally if that's an option for you?

You don't NEED to. Anything you need is in the book really. You can get older campaign setting material (I think 3e's is the closest to 5e in "timeline" since they basically retconned what 4e did to the setting).

The Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide (SCAG) is 4/5ths lore for the very region that their adventures are set in.

There is a pretty active Forgotten Realms wiki.
http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Sword_Coast
http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Sword_Coast_North

2e book http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Volo%27s_Guide_to_the_Sword_Coast

3e Campaign Setting
https://www.amazon.com/Forgotten-Campaign-Setting-Dungeons-Roleplaying/dp/0786918365

I bought a 5 pack for like 13 bucks on amazon. That's pretty cheap.

https://www.amazon.com/SmartDealsPro-Symphony-Dungeons-Dragons-Pouches/dp/B016W7B64S/ref=sr_1_1?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1467398672&sr=1-1&keywords=dnd+dice

I just asked about this, but especially regarding 2D tokens. Turns out, these, from Paizo, are fantastic deals:

https://www.amazon.com/Pathfinder-Roleplaying-Game-Codex-Pawns/dp/1601254725/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1468435146&sr=8-4&keywords=pathfinder+pawns

https://www.amazon.com/Pathfinder-Pawns-Monster-Codex-Box/dp/1601257171/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1468435203&sr=8-1&keywords=pathfinder+pawns

The books are beautiful too! Dungeons and Dragons RPG: Core Rulebook Gift Set Limited Alternate Covers https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HFG969C/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_wxrACbE0MFZ3Z

Easiest/cheapest way to get a good variety quickly is to use the Pathfinder NPC codex box. Lots of variety and pretty inexpensive. They also have the bestiary box.

What we do at our table is use the cardboard for PCs and then actual mini figures for the NPCs/bad guys. Its an easy way to know who is good and bad on the battle field.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00OCYO8XK/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

$20, heavy duty vinyl, works great!!!

This book from 3E. Its actually one of the absolute best written D&D books covering a setting there is. Stunningly detailed. Pick it up on Amazon if you can.

https://www.amazon.com/Forgotten-Campaign-Setting-Dungeons-Roleplaying/dp/0786918365/ref=sr_1_fkmr2_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1509952365&sr=8-1-fkmr2&keywords=forgotten+realms+3e

I just got these in 1 hour ago, and they are fantastic. All complete sets, only slight blemishes on a couple dice. Very worth it.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00L2N1OVI/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Most anywhere you'd buy the Player's Handbook or the Dungeon Master's Guide, I would think. Your local game shop, Amazon.com...

For example:

https://www.amazon.com/Next-Arcane-Spell-Deck-73904/dp/B00P81YZS4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1467255825&sr=8-1&keywords=d%26d+spell+cards

They've got a pack of cards with each spell for each of the spell types--Arcane, Cleric, Druid, Ranger, etc. They also make cards with spells for Cleric Domains, for racial abilities, and for some other special abilities too.

I like it!

There's also some nice printable ones here: https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/2j5qlg/final_version_of_my_5e_dm_screenplayer_cheat_sheet/

Or, I'd be willing to buy you one and send it to you. Unless you live someplace where shipping it would be insane.

Like the official one on Amazon.

That DM screen is normally only available as part of the limited edition gift set. https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-RPG-Rulebook-Alternate/dp/B07HFG969C/ref=pd_sbs_14_5/132-7781302-9702733?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B07HFG969C&pd_rd_r=91fd645c-d34b-47b7-9829-df29026a2f32&pd_rd_w=JHeMC&pd_rd_wg=5jq6L&pf_rd_p=588939de-d3f8-42f1-a3d8-d556eae5797d&pf_rd_r=KZWEDGB5JDS3SM0DCZ08&psc=1&refRID=KZWEDGB5JDS3SM0DCZ08

​

If you want just the screen you'll have to look for a third party seller.

Two options:

1. Free
   
   

• Make your own.
  
• Use an app. I recommend D&D 5 Spellbook Cards is you are using an Android device. You are on your own for iOS, but some others here might have some recommendations.
  
  

2. Buy premade cards:
   
   

• Elemental
  
• Bard
  
• Paladin
  
• Ranger
  
• Druid
  
• Cleric
  
• Arcane
  
  I have not yet personally bought the premade cards yet, but I have heard other mention that they don't have overlaps. In other words, if you bought say the Cleric set you would be missing any spells considered Arcane that the Cleric can learn. Even if you only want the Druid or Cleric you're probably going to need to buy 4-5 sets if you want all the skills for those two classes. In this case, it might be worth buying the two sets you want and filling in the blanks with the first option until you can afford the rest (I'm just making the assumption you don't want to drop $100 on spell cards all in one go here).

The Starter Set is a great diving-in point.

If you have a game shop around they should have some. You can also get the "official" screen on Amazon. Either way they cost more than they're worth in my opinion. You can make your own that will work just as well, out of cardboard, duct tape, and some printed-out information.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0786965630/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1458580204&sr=8-1&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=5e+dm+screen&dpPl=1&dpID=51btvDVPo-L&ref=plSrch

That's the link for the same screen the other user posted on amazon. I use This screen for 5e, and I particularly find the status conditions to be very useful on it.

At price per mini, you might look at Pathfinder pawns: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/1601257171/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_7u5azbKAZ4PBP

There are also lots of paper minis if you check out Pinterest, like this board: http://pin.it/CdYyBU1 just print on card stock and fold over or glue to a washer or penny to stand up. I also found some cool art and just used paint to copy it onto one of these sheets to make character minis

Pathfinder Pawns might be a good start.

Monster Codex Pawns

Beastiary Box Pawns

If you're playing 5E they won't match up exactly, but $30 for 300 "minis" ain't bad. Otherwise start dropping $120 a brick for the official minis or check ebay for the occasional lot of prepainted plastics. They seem to be around $1-2 each at the moment.

http://www.amazon.ca/D-Dungeon-Masters-Screen/product-reviews/0786965630/ref=dpx_acr_txt?showViewpoints=1

seems like a lot of the more 'useful' tables are missing. Useful is relative though I suppose.

If you're looking to spend money.

If not, I had seen templates from other people that you could print on your own. The main one hardcodex.ru seems down? You could try searching to find an up-to-date, active one? I think you may not find all the spells, as they would be under copyright, except the SRD ones, available here for one.

For 5th edition, I think one will be released this year: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5SD2VfL5OY

My favorite one will always be this one: https://www.amazon.com/Forgotten-Campaign-Setting-Dungeons-Roleplaying/dp/0786918365/

Ideally you could have some of those "piece-by-piece" boards that you can use to construct the board as the players go on https://www.amazon.com/Dungeon-Tiles-Master-Set-Essential/dp/0786955554/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1481889882&sr=8-2&keywords=dungeon+set

I have these ones, I really like them:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00BOZ1GLC/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1522453543&sr=8-3&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=Dwarven+metal+dice&dpPl=1&dpID=51Go5xlQK1L&ref=plSrch

Those are special editions of the core rule books find them here

I agree with /u/isaacpriestley. Plus here is a roll of grided paper

regular D&D screen is good and cheap

edit: oh 3.5, sorry I'm not too sure then.

Alternative to play mat: https://www.amazon.com/Gaming-Paper-Roll-Square-Beige/dp/B003G4DLLC. Could use just as a base grid for fights or whatever if you don't like the disposable nature. If you want though this also allows you to map out a whole dungeon ahead of time.
All credit for this goes to Matt Colville.

Well, the other one I looked at had extra dice and some other stuff, and it was 3x the price. I'm brand new at this, and I don't have any dice, so I needed some. I'm on mobile and I don't know how to hyperlink it.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07D5ZL8WB/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_1njzDbBCX701W

Dungeons and Dragons RPG: Core Rulebook Gift Set Limited Alternate Covers https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HFG969C/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_t5bPDbD43X1T6

The Official WotC 5E Screen is good for new players, but for more experienced DMs you might prefer a different one. It's high quality material, too, very thick and wide.

Thanks for the info but it doesn't really answer my ? Not looking for the roll20 version more this https://www.dndbeyond.com/marketplace/source/12
Vs
Storm King's Thunder (Dungeons & Dragons) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0786966009/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_HljQzbNY2DG27

Try to get your hands on the 3e setting book. It comes with a giant map and a lot, I mean a lot, of content. Here's the Amazon link:

https://www.amazon.com/Forgotten-Campaign-Setting-Dungeons-Roleplaying/dp/0786918365

You could just buy them on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/Next-Arcane-Spell-Deck-73904/dp/B00P81YZS4

The manufacturer, Gale Force 9, makes a bunch of different sets. Arcane, cleric, druid...

Um, I believe they were just from Amazon.

I think these are the ones.

Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting is an official book from Wizards of the Coast. It was printed during 3.0, but the genasi races shouldn't need anything changed to be usable in 3.5 games.

You can also find each race online:

Air Genasi

Fire Genasi

Water Genasi

Earth Genasi

You're right, there are a lot of books that focus on specific aspects of FR, but this is the book that I'm using for general knowledge.

Could just get the D&D one from Amazon. It's $10.

Unless...

There are probably options for most editions. Here is an example of spell cards for wizards/warlock and sorcerers. The same company makes cards for all casting classes I believe.

D&D Next: Arcane Spell Deck 73904 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00P81YZS4/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_zS2tybV4ERWRT
These are the arcane, and you can find the other class cards with a quick search.

Check your local game store if you can. If you don't find them there or aren't near any, Try This Boxed Set or Alternate Covers.

Relevant link so people can see the awesomeness

https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-RPG-Rulebook-Alternate/dp/B07HFG969C

The players should bring their own notebooks to keep track of inventory, spells, ect.

You may or may not want to get a playmat https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OD2G8DE/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_mO-5Ab7KN7X0X

Much of the fifth edition rulebook is covered under the SRD, and therefore is open source. Spells are not. Therefore, the only materials that can legally reproduce spell descriptions are those released by Wizards. Wizards has no digital offering for 5e that includes spells.

I use the official spell cards: https://www.amazon.com/Next-Arcane-Spell-Deck-73904/dp/B00P81YZS4 (they exist for non-arcane casters, as well.) You can, of course, type up or write up your own solutions as long as you don't publish them, but unfortunately there is no good answer to your question that doesn't violate the rules of the subreddit (and, you know, the law.)

It's £29 for the monster box, which has ~300 pawns in it, so you're paying a really small amount per pawn.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pathfinder-Pawns-Monster-Codex-Box/dp/1601257171/

This particular box has:

• Boggard
  
• Bugbears
  
• Drow
  
• Duergar
  
• Fire giants
  
• Frost Giants
  
• Ghouls
  
• Gnolls
  
• Goblins
  
• Hobgoblins
  
• Kobolds
  
• Lizardfolk
  
• Ogres
  
• Orcs
  
• Ratfolk
  
• Sahuagin
  
• Serpentfolk
  
• Troglodytes
  
• Trolls
  
• Vampires
  
  I'm not entirely sure where £36 is coming from, but I have a feeling you might have looked at the actual bestiary- the pathfinder monster manual- rather than the pawns.
  
  Bestiary 1 is more expensive, but that's due to it being out of print atm if I remember.

Ah sorry I didn't clarify. Forgot there were different official screens.
Mine is this the dimensions of which are 26.6cm by 20.8cm per panel.

No space for inserts, just going to stick them over the top

edit: tl;dr: Wizards aren't very newbie-friendly, in my opinion. The fighter's math doesn't check out. Lastly, if you want to go the extra mile to help her out, you can do some quality of life improvements for her (spell cards, help pick out spells, etc.).

I've noticed a few things that won't help you now, but could probably help in the future.

• Wizards are probably the least newbie-friendly class. They have a huge spell list, and they have to pick which spells to learn and prepare. It can be difficult to "fix" if you pick the "wrong" spells. (I think that most or all spells are useful, but some of them are a lot more situational than others.)
  
• Clerics and druids are a lot more forgiving while still being full casters, since they automatically learn all of their spells. All of your prepared spells can be swapped out during an extended rest.
  
  Additionally, if she's comparing herself against the fighter, I'd agree that she should feel a little underwhelming, but that's because the fighter's math doesn't add up, even for two of them.
  
  
• How on earth is the fighter doing 20-30 damage on a hit, and two or three times per round (even with a helper)? I can see that being possible if they're using a greatsword and using the GWM feat, but your wizard girlfriend should be hitting a lot more often, even if she has just 14 intelligence. That GWM accuracy penalty could be offset if the fighter is a battle master and uses the precise attack maneuver all the time, but still, 30 damage is only attainable on crits while power attacking.
  
• The 20-30 damage should also be only once per round, plus one action surge per short rest, and maybe once more as a bonus action if they kill or crit if they took the GWM feat. Neither of those extra attacks are reliable or frequent, though. If they're hitting two or three times per round, then at least one of the fighters should be dual wielding (since they only get extra attack at level 5, and you mentioned they're level 4), which should have an average damage of around 10.5 per hit. 20 damage per hit is infeasible while dual wielding, even on a crit, unless they have a flametongue or something.
  
• How is the NPC girlfriend treated? Is she an extension of the dwarf fighter, or is she her own character? Even the math for the dwarf fighter checks out, you should consider making the NPC girlfriend leave the party unless you're balancing everything for the extra character, and the extra character is not just an extension of the dwarf. If the human fighter is an independent character, then of course they'll do the majority of the damage, because they're two characters and the wizard is just one.
  
  As far as stuff you can do going forward, I do have a few recommendations.
  
  
• Advantage from flanking is a variant rule in the DMG, not something that's "core." I would not recommend using it, either, since advantage is much stronger than in previous editions, and flanking is pretty easy to achieve.
  
• If you have the money, buy some spell cards for her - they're not perfect, and a lot of the longer spell descriptions are appreviated, but they're fantastic for knowing what you have and what you can use. If you don't have the disposable cash, you could make your own, but that can be an arduous task.
  
• At the end of each extended rest (at least for a little while), you could ask her what spells she has prepared, and review it with her. If she has any big omissions (AoE damage, single target damage, anything situation-specific that her character knows about), you could point them out to her. My DM does this anyway just so that he knows what we have prepared so that he can bookmark the appropriate PHB pages for easy reference, haha.
  
• If you want to correct the non-min-maxing in a particular way, you could give her a magic item that complements her weaknesses - probably a magical wand or something that adds +1 to her spell attacks and save DCs. That wouldn't upset the balance too much, right?

They seem to be planning a release for Jan 20, 2015.

There is a screen with the Murder in Baldur's Gate adventure. And (maybe) with Legacy of the Crystal Shard? But these don't have 5e rules content; just setting-specific stuff.