Long post incoming; some of this stuff is copied from other posts I've made:

Getting into D&D is going to be a lot simpler and easier to rolling your own RPG system, unless the system you design is ultra simple and rules-light. And unless your friends happen to be game design experts or prodigies, what they come up with probably isn't going to be as fun, balanced or robust as a system designed and iterated upon by professionals and the RPG geek community.

D&D isn't rocket science, but the first few sessions will almost certainly be fraught with confusion, rules referencing, and/or people getting the rules wrong... but all that's OK. The key is to keep a relaxed attitude and for the DM err on the side of what seems most fun and entertaining. After a few sessions, everyone will probably have a decent grasp on the fundamental rules and things will go a bit more smoothly.

If you do decide to play D&D, you have to decide upon an edition to play, as there are several and they aren't compatible with each other. Right now the two most popular and recent editions are 3.5 and 4th edition. A 3rd party spin-off of 3.5 called Pathfinder is also popular. A big advantage to Pathfinder if you're on a tight budget is that pretty much the entire system is available online for free. For your conservative friends, the fact that it's not called D&D may also eliminate some of the social stigma, making it an easier sell.

My preferred edition though, and the one that is most newbie-friendly, is 4th edition. A slightly dated and incomplete overview of 4e's rules is available in this free quickstart guide. This tells you about 90% of what you need to know to sit down at a table and play as a player, and includes some pregenerated characters, but lacks the rules for character creation and progression.

A free 4e adventure, Keep on the Shadowfell can also be downloaded and perused by the DM, but KotS is not the finest example of adventure design, though you can find fan suggestions online to improve and tweak it.

As far as what products you should or need to buy, the Red Box Starter is probably the simplest and most straight-forward route. Avoid paying more than $25 for it new (a lot of 4e products seem to have spotty availability, which means sometimes they are overpriced).

Like the free quickstart guide, however, the Red Box does not you access to the full rules, but rather a simplified and stripped down overview. It almost follows the model of a choose your own adventure book in some respects rather than true D&D, which can make it a good stepping stone, though some players are impatient with it. It does, however, include some items that will remain useful to your game even when you outgrow the rules and content of the box: a double-sided poster map which can be reused, punch-out cardstock tokens to represent player characters and monsters and a set of dice. At $20 shipped, it's a good value if you feel your need a really gentle introduction into D&D.

However, if the members of your group are not averse to doing a couple hours of reading before their first adventure, and would rather skip the frying pan and jump straight into the fire, you can safely skip the Red Box.

What you really need is: a book that descriptions character creation and level 1-30 character options, an encounter design guide for the DM, a monster resource, plus some physical tools/props.

As for as the player resource goes, any one of the following will fulfill the need: the Player's Handbook, Heroes of the Forgotten Lands, Heroes of the Fallen Kingdoms. I would recommend the latter two, as they are 4e "Essentials" products, which are more up to date and feature more newbie-friendly steamlined design. However, all of the books are compatible with each other, and you can use them all.

You also need a book that tells the DM how to design encounters, run skill challenges, and reward teh players. You have basically three options here: the Dungeon Master's Guide, the DM's Book from the DM's Kit or the Rules Compendium.

Each has their pros and cons. The DMG is written with the new DM in mind and gives you all the rules info you need that isn't include in the players' books, but as one of the originally published books in the edition, it's less refined and does not include the latest errata (which you can download online, though it's a bit of a pain to read through all of it). It's probably your least expensive option.

The DM's Kit seems to be out of print (or on a reduced print run) so it's selling at above retail price. IMO it'd be the best option for a new DM, as it contains useful goodies (tokens, maps, and two quality published adventures) like the Red Box, plus a more up to date version of the Dungeon Master's Guide. But if you have to pay $55+, that's kind of difficult to justify.

The Rules Compendium has all of the rules information a DM needs, and it includes most of the latest errata, and it's generally a handy reference that you'll probably want to get eventually anyway. The problem is just that: it's a reference, and is light on insight and advice on how to build entertaining adventures and run a fun game. Like the DM's kit, it may be out of print, but it's still a good value. The Rules Compendium may be the best option if you're willing to read forums and web sites for DMing advice, which can be system neutral.

The DM also needs a monster resource. Hands down, the best option here is the Monster Vault. It's basically a far superior revision of 4e's Monster Manual, and contains an adventure, a ton of tokens and a battle map to boot. It's a steal at $20.

Another recommended product would be a D&D Insider subscription, which will give you access to the Character Builder, which as the name implies, makes building/progressing characters a cinch, and the Compendium, which gives you access to every bit of crunch in the entire published history of 4e: all the classes, powers, feats, races, monsters, items, themes, etc. as well as a glossary which describes much of the rules. You also get access to Dragon and Dungeon magazine archives, which contains a lot of flavor, design advice, and many pre-made adventures (see this thread for some highlights). It also has a handy monster builder tool. A subscription is $10/month or less if you commit to a longer subscription. Getting one subscription and sharing it among the group can be worthwhile.

Finally, you also need some physical things:

• A sufficiently large playing surface and seating.
  
• Pencils, paper for character sheets.
  
• Dice. You could get by with a single set (including 1d20, 1d12, 1d10, 1d8, 1d6, 1d4) but you probably want a full set for every player plus some duplicates. A pound of dice would likely suffice.
  
• A blank/customizable gridded map. There are at least three good options for this:
  
• A basic Paizo flip mat to be used in conjunction with erasable markers
  
• Gridded easel pads which work equally well for preparing detailed, pretty maps before a session, or whipping up something quick and dirty at the table -- a single pad will last you a good long time. This is what I use.
  
• Gaming paper which is like a compromise between the previous two options.
  
• Miniatures, tokens or other markers to represent monsters. As previously mentioned, several 4e Essentials products include tokens (if you get the Monster Vault, you're set). You can also buy miniatures from gaming stores, on eBay, etc. or you can use just about anything that's roughly a square inch in diameter -- coins, polished stones used in aquarium bedding, dice (though this can get confusing), etc.
  
  Finally, as for convincing your friends, as you've said, D&D is essentially no different from Skyrim, World of Warcraft, etc. D&D is pretty much the granddaddy of those games. If you can tolerate the "occult" elements in those other games, there shouldn't be anything offensive about D&D. And ultimately, the DM and players have full control over what they want to allow in the game. Have a discussion and decide if there's any subject matter that is the party finds offensive and exclude it from the game (or re-fluff it so it it's not so offensive).

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.

This one is going to be long-winded so I apologize in advance :)

I have been DMing D&D for a really long time. I have been DMing D&D and Pathfinder on roll20.net for a while as well. I dumped all other versions of tabletop (at the moment) for D&D 5e. D&D 5e moves away from the spreadsheet stat crunching type of play that D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder embraced. D&D 5e also departed the mechanical MMO style play of D&D 4e. I think you are making a good choice in choosing 5e especially being a group of new players & new DM.

Here are the things you'll need to make roll20.net work well:

• Everyone will need a free roll20 account
  
• Everyone will need skype,teamspeak,ventrilo, or google+ hangout capabilities to talk. Trust me voice chat is much easier to interpret than typed chat available in roll20.
  
• Everyone will need a really good imagination and patience as you all learn the ropes
  
  Since you are all new, I would recommend running the Lost Mines of Phandelver. It is included in the D&D Starter Set (On Amazon for $12). It is an adventure that will take a group of 4-5 players through level 5 (roughly). I ran this for a group of newer players and it took us roughly ten 4-hour sessions to complete. The set comes with some helpful things for you as the DM and them as the players. It comes with the basic rules for both the DM and the players. These are also available and updated through Wizards of the Coast for free as PDFs and browser-friendly sources. It also comes with some pre-made character sheets. These are handy as they can save you time (and money) from generating your own characters. Usually for 4 players, it can take an entire session to plan out a character for each of them if you are new. This can give you all a taste of how the game works, how characters work, and if everyone is on board. Totally optional though! The adventure itself contains a DM booklet that gives you tips as a new DM as well as maps, layouts, monster stats, and descriptions.
  
  On the subject of maps and roll20. Roll20 gives you a graph-paper view that takes up most of the layout of the app. There aren't many gridded, digital versions of the maps for 5e adventures that I have seen. The ones that do exist will cost a little bit of money. This artist sells both player and DM versions of the maps for the adventure, but leaves some of the smaller encounters out. 5e relies on a lot of mind theater and imagination on both the players' and DM's part.
  
  What I tend to do for maps is, use the graph paper and draw on it using the simple controls roll20 provides. I tend to do this when I can't accurately describe the way things are laid out. For instance in the Lost Mines the first encounter can be tough to explain so I drew a rough outline of how the map looked while explaining to the players where they were, and where what they saw was.
  
  I'd highly recommend you get a free account at roll20.net first and then log in and play around with it, just to see what it handles like. It has its quirks for sure.
  
  Aside from the Lost Mines of Phandelver, there is one other official campaign called the Tyranny of Dragons. It contains two adventure books, Hoard of the Dragon Queen and Rise of Tiamat. They take a party from levels 1-8 and 8-16 respectively. Hoard takes a lot of skill to run as it is a bunch of loosely related occurrences that clever or adventurous players might want to explore outside of. It doesn't provide much support to a new DM for handling this. Rise of Tiamat opens up a little more and is easier to run but without Hoard, it can be confusing as to what is going on.
  
  Drivethrurpg has some smaller 5e adventures available. I haven't played any myself, but I have heard some good things. They are located under their D&DNext/5E heading.
  
  If you decide you do like 5e or are really committed to the cause from the get-go, I would recommend any player and the DM get the Player's Handbook (Amazon). This contains the rules governing attributes, player creation, combat, downtime, and a full description of all spells and spell casting classes. It goes well above and beyond the basic rules for players and I feel it is truly necessary to having the full experience. It can be pricey if you end up not liking it though.
  
  The DM additionally should consider the Dungeon Master's Guide. It really helps in running adventures, giving good flavor to the game, and creating your own campaigns. The Monster Manual is an optional buy, but helps by giving a large list of classic D&D monsters to populate your game with.
  
  I'm guessing you have already found /r/DnD, but for 5e you might want to consider /r/dndnext which has weekly question threads and is more focused on 5e (which was previously codenamed next).
  
  tl;dr: Whatever you end up doing, just make sure you and your friends agree that it is to have fun. You don't need to be perfect with the rules and you can feel free to make mistakes along the way as long as you all agree to laugh it off. You are playing with your players as a DM and not against them! Good luck.

1. I would recommend the D&D 5th Edition Starter Set if you are all new. Pathfinder/3.5/4E are all rather rule heavy and could take a while for everyone to get up to speed and be playing. You can download the basic rules for 5th Edition from the Wizards website for free (for players and DM), though there is additional bonus information in the Player's Handbook you can buy at your local game shop or online. (Website: http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/basicrules?x=dnd/basicrules)
   
   
2. That's plenty, 2 players and a DM is recommended, but most adventures work best with 3-6 players.
   
   
3. The players each play 1 character, but the DM plays "Everything Else". A DM is someone who should enjoy the fiction. They should be able to think and describe fantasy settings and imagine the stories they are telling in their head so they can relay it to the players. It also helps if they are willing to roleplay and pretend to be different NPCs and characters to create immersion but that's not required. Skills recommended: Organization, willingness to speak, imaginative, helpful, willing to put in some work
   
   
4. I have not watched it sorry.
   
   
5. World building is a great part of writing a D&D Campaign together. Often the DM will write the core of the events happening in the world so as to keep mysteries and adventure from players, but the players are free and encouraged to also make up and add to the story (such as home towns, backstories, names of great locations or historic things). It can be a lot more work to build a world for your first time playing, I would recommend not worrying so much about a world and just write a simple story for the first adventure or two (such as Save the King's daughter, or transport these goods to the wizard tower on the mountain, clean concise objective to learn the rules and learn your group).
   
   
6. Everyone will need to know the basic rules. In terms of 5E everyone can download the PDFs and read them. The DM should read the DM Basics as well, and I would recommend at least one hard copy Player's Handbook (PHB) if you enjoy the material. There's a lot of bonus content in the PHB such as additional classes and information. (PHB Purchase links. Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Players-Handbook-Dungeons-Dragons-Wizards/dp/0786965606 Wizard's Store Finder: http://locator.wizards.com/#brand=dnd)
   
   
7. You're playing make-believe. Your friends are pretending to be heroes. You are pretending to be the bad guys and everything else. You tell them what happens and they tell you what their heroes do. Together you make a story. Everyone follows the same rules and when you don't know what happens or who wins you roll dice.
   
   
8. Keep it simple at first. Find or make a simple adventure that focuses on a quest that sounds fun. Don't overcomplicate it. The story doesn't need to be crazy for you to have a lot of fun. The fun will come from pushing the barrels over on the guys chasing you down the alley and failing to climb the wall and landing on your butt in the middle of a busy market street. Find out who enjoys doing what, the first adventure might result in your switching DMs at first to find out who fits the best. Experiment, make stuff up, tell crazy stories, and have fun.
   
   Edit. Added links to purchase the Player's Handbook
   Edit 2. Learned what ELI5 means. Sorry for my noobness.

I agree with /u/Ryngard on checking out 5e, but that's up to you as a DM. The curve on "ease-of-learning" is noticeably different, so for beginners playing tabletop games, it is a great gateway. You could always look around for the information you need while the 5e handbook ships, but definitely get it, it's perfect for beginners. There are tons of 5e resources online (not just the pdfs that are not allowed on this subreddit; which I am not recommending here), that can help you with how to make a character, spells, stories, etc; made by other players.

As a DM, regardless of version, I'd make it clear on a few things:

1. You are the DM, and the book is a guideline. You have the final say. This is important because sometimes the way you want to run your campaign will not follow how the book takes things; and that is okay. The story is yours, so take their concerns to heart, but be stern when it comes to them wanting something unreasonable. With that note, homebrewing is alright, but look out for OP things that sometimes don't reveal themselves until they level up a little more. It's okay to negotiate a nerf when homebrewing is involved.
   
   
2. Make sure they have their character fleshed out before you play. It is a HUGE time-waster for new players to make characters while others and you want to play. Making a character is a personal experience, and by all means, help them, but don't make every wait on game night; they can join later at any time and simply learn how the game works if they aren't ready.
   
   
3. Roleplay, roleplay, roleplay. Your character may not know what you know, including what is discussed outside of the game. The players and you must try their best to stay on top of not using knowledge that the character has no idea of, as it breaks, well, character. Also, if someone's character goes outside of their alignment, you can refuse to allow it, or have penalties, as a "Good" character most likely will not hold someone hostage, nor would an "Evil" character rescue a random peasant in need... without reward or personal gain being announced. It helps people get into the game, rather than play as themselves, which is nice, they're your friends, but it makes the story flow less emotionally, as the characters no longer have their own personalities.
   
   
4. Have the game cater to everyone's interests, but do NOT spoon-feed one person's interest. This means that some people are in it for combat, others for story, and maybe even comedic moments. Set up your story to possibly include all these points, but do not bring up one thing over another to the point that someone who wants one of the focuses in the game get left out, or become the "main" character constantly. It is a difficult balance, and being new you guys might not know what you want, and that's okay, but find a balance that satisfies you all.
   
   
5. It's okay to have things unanswered. You are telling a story about the lives of adventurers who most likely move from village to village. There will be things they miss, and things failed in terms of success. That is part of life and the game. This tip also extends into general storytelling. Don't throw out all the info at once, as players need something to draw them in, and mystery is a great incentive. As they dig deeper, the puzzle pieces start to fit, and eventually... bam, they've understand what was going on, and now based on their alignments, they have a few choices laid out for them. It keeps the longevity of your sessions, and things interesting.
   
   
6. It's alright to have characters die due to difficult combat, but doing so frequently can make them lose attachment to characters, and become apathetic. Just try to keep them interested and invested, but do not make it too easy where they feel no challenge. It again, can be a hard balance, but they should not want to die, nor feel that "meh, I can just be a blank next time, give me a new sheet". Apathy can make players lose interest from what I've seen, but I'm sure they'll like their characters enough, due to them being their first ones.
   
   EDIT: Also, the player's handbook for 5e (with Prime, huzzah!) is half-off at the moment: http://www.amazon.com/Players-Handbook-Dungeons-Dragons-Wizards/dp/0786965606/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1452288239&sr=8-1&keywords=dnd+5e

Hey there, and welcome to the wonderful world of role-playing and D&D!

First off, playing online is pretty awesome. It is almost as good as the real thing, that is, playing in person. If you ever get the chance to play live, I highly suggest doing that.

In the meantime however, you are in luck! The latest edition of D&D is just now releasing!

A few weeks back the Basic D&D rules launched for free! Basically, it's the bare minimum rules you need to know to play and run D&D. Really the only thing it's missing right now are some monsters, but it should be updated with those (and some Dungeon Mastering advice) come August.

Additionally, the D&D Starter Set just launched this week! It's a great way to get into the game for a cheap price point. It comes with some dice, a great adventure, some of the basic D&D rules, and some pre-generated characters. Essentially everything you'd need to get some friends together and play D&D for a few weeks. I highly suggest picking this up if you are new to Dungeons & Dragons!

If you find that you are and your friends (either online or in real life) love the Starter Set and want more, you are in luck. In mid-August, the first of the three core D&D books releases. This is the Player's Handbook. Like I said before, when the Player's Handbook (or PHB) releases, Wizards of the Coast has said they will update the Basic D&D rules that are online for free with some extra content. So everyone wins, basically.

Anyways, if you have anymore questions, feel free to ask.

Good luck and happy gaming!

Edit to add:
If you are looking to find players or even a group, the best place to go are gaming stores and comic shops. Likewise, many areas have meet up groups online through sites like MeetUp.com and others. If you have friends that enjoy fantasy movies like The Lord of the Rings trilogy or the new Hobbit movies, recruit them to play with you and maybe even take on the role of the Dungeon Master!

~rings doorbell wearing a bright, over-enthusiastic smile~ Oh, hello friend. I hear you and your friends might be interested in getting started on the road towards board gaming! This is excellent news! There are many excellent resources to help guide you and yours towards many fun-filled experiences with friends and family. ^Please, ^don't ^be ^afraid!

~Whips out a bunch of pamphlets, waving them at you~ I would recommend checking out the /r/boardgames community here on reddit, especially this wiki post on what games you should try if you're new to modern board games. It's got a ton of great suggestions with descriptions to help you figure out if you might actually enjoy the game. That wiki and the subreddit itself also have tons of easily accessed info for you, if you need. They can even help you find your nearest FLGS (Friendly Local Game Store)!

Also you might check out some reviewers like Shut Up & Sit Down, who are my favourites and have a ton of articles and video reviews, or The Dice Tower, who have lots of videos of lists and reviews like the one I linked that can give you some ideas of what to get. (Sometimes way too many ideas... ~waggles her overly long games-to-buy list~) SUSD even has a great Intro to Board Games video for people who are hesitant or starting into the hobby and don't quite know what it's all about or where to start - it's a few years old, but still very relevant, and I recommend any of their videos. I find them hilarious.

And if you decide you're really getting into the hobby, you might start visiting the marvellous, dank morass that is BoardGameGeek, aka BGG or 'the Geek'...

As for recommendations straight from me... The hardest and best thing with board games is everyone likes something different? But I find one can't go wrong most of the time with these:

• Pandemic
  
• Survive! Escape from Atlantis
  
• Takenoko
  
• Forbidden Island
  
• Colt Express
  
• Jamaica
  
  Most of these are fairly simple and relatively short, but they're all fun starter games that are easy to pick up and play, and I've never known anyone to not enjoy themselves when I've brought out any of these. I often do game nights with different mixes of friends, to which I will usually bring an Ikea bag full of games, and there's almost always at least one or two of these particular games in that bag. I'm pretty sure they're all in print, too, so they shouldn't be too expensive!
  
  Also, if you guys are looking into tabletop RPGs but don't know where to start with that, and you don't have anyone who knows how to DM/GM handy, the newest edition of D&D has a Starter Set out - it's a pack that includes dice, pre-rolled characters, a starter rule book and a pre-written starting adventure. I will always recommend Red Boxes/Starter Sets, D&D does a great job with these and makes it really easy for you to get into it, even if no one in the group is familiar with rpgs to begin with.
  
  tl;dr - Board/card games are amazing, there's lots of resources out there for you, I hope I didn't scare you off with my enthusiasm. Welcome to tabletop gaming!
  
  ^Edit: ^Now ^with ^more ^links!!

tl;dr: I think you can improve a lot just with more knowledge. I reached APA7 pretty fast, despite a shitty stroke and bad habits, by just absorbing a ton of books, videos, and websites. I had to work on execution and fixing those habits to reach APA9 speed. At no point did I ever become any kind of serious tournament or money player, it's very possible to improve without doing those things, despite what "they" say. But there's a limit to how far you can go on knowledge only, you WILL need to practice and spend hours at the table, and you will need to enter pressure situations if you want to perform well in tournaments, league, etc.

--------------------------

● Playing better players is a bit overrated - you don't just magically absorb someone's skills by playing against them. I'm not saying it's bad, but find people that are willing to teach and answer questions... don't just hit balls with someone and be their rackboy.

If you figure watching the better player shoot will help you learn, then you can double your learning by just watching 2 better players shoot against each other.

There's a lot to be said for shooting people who are very close to your level, or just a hair better. You both learn together, and (hopefully) talk things over and figure stuff out. And you both feel like you can win, which is important. It makes things more competitive. A lot of people improve simply because their ego can't tolerate losing to 'that one guy'.

● People will also tell you that you need to just enter a bunch of tournaments, or gamble. That's only half-correct. Tournaments train one specific skill - handling pressure. They don't teach you stuff like advanced cueball control, or how to compensate for english, or how to aim a kick shot. You don't get those skills just because you paid your $20 and now you need them to win.

● So how do you get better? Well, there are two areas where everyone could stand to improve - knowledge and execution.

Of these two things, knowledge is much easier to get. You can get it from the internet, books, or by watching and talking to those local pros. It's free/cheap, and takes very little effort... there's no reason you can't max out your knowledge ASAP.

The trick is to make sure you get correct knowledge, because the pool world is unfortunately full of bad info. I wanna recommend some books which I know are good, because the info is easily tested and confirmed, and that's exactly what I did in a lot of cases.

Byrne's Standard Book of Pool and Billiards - comprehensive explanation of all sorts of useful concepts, explanations of how the balls will react on certain shots, and why, and how to take advantage of it... lots of specific shots to master... safety and runout strategy... pretty much everything you could need.

The 99 Critical Shots - If you want specific shots to practice, and a lot of the same useful info, but much shorter and cheaper... this is for you. As a 6 you maybe know most of this, but I bet you don't know all of it, and you can get a copy for $1.50.

If you feel like reading is for losers, you can learn off websites too -

Everything on Dr. Dave's website and videos is outstanding. Tested and proven both on paper, on video, and in the real world. http://billiards.colostate.edu/pool_tutorial.html ...see also http://billiards.colostate.edu/threads.html ...and http://billiards.colostate.edu/pool_secrets_gems.html .

Or, just watch his videos - it's great to actually see the info put into action: https://www.youtube.com/user/DrDaveBilliards

These tips I think are just about right for someone around your speed - https://www.reddit.com/r/billiards/comments/6oo5e7/tip_compilation_various_tips_kicking_systems/

--------------

As far as execution goes, you do need to spend hours on the table. But before doing anything else, you want to first make sure you have good fundamentals and a normal, textbook stroke. I can't say it strongly enough:

IF YOU DON'T FIX YOUR BAD HABITS NOW THEY WILL FUCK YOU LATER.

I had several that I needed to unlearn, and they still screw up my game to this day. I wish I could go back in time and learn how to stroke straight, not spin the cue ball all the time, and develop a correct stance. Don't be me, get your bad habits and stance issues under control now. Everything after that will come much easier. Don't hesitate to pay for a lesson from a pro instructor to have them go over your stroke and fix any problems they see. If you don't wanna spend money, you can video yourself and try to evaluate it, or upload it here and we'll give you some feedback.

Other key things that helped me learn how to execute better:

● Get out of your comfort zone and try new things. Don't just stick to the shots you know, try new shots. That doesn't mean try 2-rail banks every time you step to the table, I mean try "new" shots that you know you need to master, but haven't yet.

For example, maybe you suck at jumping and this situation comes up where you're hooked on the 5. You might be tempted to just kick it, but you KNOW any pro player will jump this ball and make it. So suck it up and try the jump, even though you suck at it. You need that practice. Don't chicken out and kick just because you're scared of missing and losing.

Whatever shots you hate and you're tempted to avoid, make yourself do them. Hate shooting the CB off the rail with heavy inside spin? Of course you do, we all do. But there will be times when you have to do it, so when the situation comes up, don't avoid it.

● Practice while you play. When you shoot with friends for fun, don't just stick to the safe comfortable stuff because you're worried about losing. You gotta make self-improvement a higher priority than winning every rack. If you miss and lose, so what? It doesn't cost you anything.

You might think "I don't need to try that spin shot right now, I'll just hit 50 of them when I go practice on sunday afternoon". Don't kid yourself... most people don't have the discipline to do that. They either don't practice at all, or do it for a few weeks and then lose interest, or they forget about that spin shot they said they'd practice. Even if you DO practice religiously, you will probably spend far more hours playing than practicing. Don't let those hours be wasted by refusing to learn new skills.

● If you do drills, do them with a specific purpose. Don't ever just hit balls without a goal. You're too advanced for that to help you much. Work on a specific shot... rail cuts, thin cuts, long straight shots, position drills, banks, whatever. And keep track of your results, so you know if you're improving or not. For example, don't just bank 50 balls and say "ok I practiced banks". Keep track (you can use your phone) of how many you made out of 50. Is it more than you made last week? Or 5 weeks ago? If not, why not?

● If you miss a ball, set it up and shoot it again, and don't just shoot it until you make it once. Shoot it until you make it several times in a row.

● Always be paying attention to your fundamentals. Even if they're already pretty good, bad habits can creep in if you don't pay attention.

● Be careful of laziness and wishful thinking. I explain more on that here: https://forums.azbilliards.com/showpost.php?p=2429822&postcount=16

● For the jump specifically from 6 to 7, I'd say mastery of inside english and uncommon position routes is crucial. You gotta get good at moving the cue ball along the safest path. Good pool is identifying 10 potential fuckups and identifying the solution that should prevent at least 9 of them. That sometimes means moving the cue ball with funky english or more force than you're comfortable with.

Here are some example shots that hopefully show what I mean. Some may disagree with the routes or say "I'd do this instead" or "you could totally do the other route here" or whatever... that's fine, focus on the theory more than on whether everyone agrees which route is best.

https://pad.chalkysticks.com/97d8d.png

https://pad.chalkysticks.com/6d4f3.png

https://pad.chalkysticks.com/1bee7.png

https://pad.chalkysticks.com/2a00b.png

...ok, this thing is long enough. If you made it this far, I guarantee you'll be a 7 in less than 24 hours, or your money back :)

Hey man, happy that you came here. First and foremost, we have a good sidebar full of useful info, so be sure to check that out. Here is the basic rules for 5th edition. http://media.wizards.com/2014/downloads/dnd/PlayerDnDBasicRules_v0.2.pdf

You can buy a players handbook for 50 dollars, but it just ellaborates, and I reccomend you read the basic rules first to see if you like it.

D&D is a role playing game, where you can play any race or class your heart desires in any setting you want. YOU have control of your character. The DM controls everything else. The key to being a good player is to make a character (which the rules walk you through), and doing your best to role play the character without meta-gaming (using player knowledge instead of character's knowledge).

Other editions are still popular (3.5 and 4th edition are still commonly played). I would look up your local game store for a copy of the starter box (or check amazon here http://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Set-Roleplaying/dp/0786965592). This comes with a pre made adventure, some rules, pre-made characters for the adventure, and everything you need to know to run a game (And a free set of dice! woo!)

You'll need a polyhedral dice set (d20, d12, d10, d8, d6, and a d4) or you can use a dice rolling app (but those aren't as fun!)

You can find new players most likely at your local game shop, or just ask your friend if he knows other people who game, since you don't get along with the other players. There is no shame in that.

Also, ask random friends if they are interested in learning D&D with you. Worst case scenario, check out roll20 (link is on the side bar). Roll20 is a website that allows you to play D&D online via skype and chat, along with hosting maps. I would reccomend this if you can't find anyone to game with.

If your game shop has Adventurer's League, that is campaigns made by the makers of D&D that are officially run, and are a great way to meet people.

Also, check out /r/LFG or your local subreddit to see if there are any people interested! You can make new friends that way too! and once you know some people, they can introduce to others who play.

Best of luck, and if you have any questions, check the side bar, use the search function, and if those fail, feel free to ask us here!

Another good forum-based website is Giant in the Playground. They are the host of the popular D&D webcomic Order of the Stick, and they have a good forum for discussing D&D. if you like 4chan, /tg/ is a board for traditional games, where D&D is discussed on occasion (but not always well recieved).

Good luck and happy gaming!

Partially copy and pasted from an earlier post

Hello, and welcome to DnD!

Since you are new to DnD as a whole, I recommend the first two videos of this playlist: https://youtu.be/lWhySS2mJgk?list=PL29o6IJ5cVpy0gjtntARKjQwmNEvgdAc8

Now that we have that out of the way, you need to decide what edition to play on. Personally I recommend 5e, since it is best for beginners, while still being engaging as you gain more experience. The subreddit has a wiki, and there you can find a guide on choosing an edition to play: /r/DnD/wiki/choosing_an_edition, among other things

If you don't decide to go with 5e, I cant really help you much from here, but if you do, keep reading.

Since you're all new, and would be playing online. I'd say the best option for you all would be to go onto a website called roll20.net, create accounts, have the person you determine to be the DM go and buy the module The Lost Mine of Phandelver (you could all chip in if you wished, though, or one person could gift the module to the DM), and have them run it for you, which will occur over the course of many sessions.

It is literally designed for a bunch of people brand new to DnD, to be able to play it, and it has all the info you need along with some pregenerated characters for if you don't feel like bothering with character creation. You also wouldn't need to bother with paying for the full price Player's Handbook (which I would recommend you all eventually get, but only later down the line once you've further invested yourself into DnD as a hobby), that fully lists all the rules relevant to the players, along with all the base player options.

Why it would also be a good option is because as new people to DnD, you have enough to deal with in terms of learning to play, so having the module all ready and prepped for you on the most used online tabletop rpg website is just going to make the transition that much less of a hassle, when you aren't bothering as much with how to also learn to play DnD online.

Regardless, even if you decide that there must be some way for you to learn this hobby on your own, and without paying any money, there are the free to use online basic rules which come in the form of PDFs explained and given on that link I just provided. The first is the player basic rules and it goes over most of what you need to know in terms of how to play the game, the rules, and some of the player options. Both the DMs and players will want to read it. The second is the DM basic rules, which will teach whoever is the DM how to run the game, along with a huge host of other things.

I think thats all I wanted to say for now. Feel free to ask me or anyone for questions. There is a reason why this subreddit exists. Along with that, youtube is a great resource for learning how to play DnD. I learned how to play DnD all on my own just through looking up youtube guides, as someone completely new to tabletop gaming as a whole.

One good resource that you may find helpful is a video of step-by-step character creation (using the druid class as an example): https://youtu.be/9wMOaJQ4QHY (yes I know it is long, but it goes over everything you'll need, and even if someone was explaining it to you one-on-one it would take just as long). While the guy in the video is using his player's handbook as the reference for his viewers, the general procedure can still be followed just with the player basic rules.

Good luck, and welcome to your new hobby :)

A mere 4 months ago I was in your very shoes, having never played DnD but wanting to DM. Now I'm running 3 weekly games [Protip: Don't do this]. Luckily for me I found a couple great resources to help me out:

The Dungeon Master Experience is a collection of articles written by one of the best: Christopher Perkins. He's not only a Senior Designer for DnD, but he's also the DM for a number of groups including Penny Arcade, Robot Chicken, and the other designers over at Wizards of the Coast. This will be your most valuable resource.

New DM Guide Reddit's #1 Resource for new DMs.

So You Want To Be a DM: A great collection of starter tips.

/r/loremasters: A subreddit dedicated to worldbuilding.

/r/dndnext: Like /r/dnd but solely for 5e.

The Angry DM: He can be a bit preachy at times, but Angry DM has a great amount of thought put into everything he writes.

/u/famoushippopotamus If you see him post on something, just read it. He's been DMing longer than most of us have been aware that DnD existed.

DnD Encounters is a weekly event at your friendly local game store. Check it out. It's also a great place to recruit players!

[Your head!](Link Not Found): The only thing you really need to get started is an idea, write it down. You'll learn a lot just putting your thoughts on paper and thinking of how to flesh it out.



I would recommend that you go and pick up the Starter Set (HOLY SHIT GUYS ITS $12 RIGHT NOW. BUY BUY BUY!). It comes with the basic rules, a set of dice, a prewritten adventure, and some characters for the adventure. Get a couple players together and this is all you need to get started. After that you can move onto other prewritten adventures, like Horde of the Dragon Queen, or you can write your own.

It shouldn't be that difficult to find people to play with, some people might care that you've never been a PC, but you don't need to play with them. If you have friends who enjoy gaming see if they're interested. And check out your FLGS (friendly local game store). If none of those work, there are plenty of online options as well.

One last note: In my short time DMing I have to say I did not expect the sheer amount of prepwork that goes into a single session. Players have to inhabit a single character and their mechanics. You need to understand not only the characters at the table, but every NPC, trap, and monster you put in front of them. It can be time consuming. It can be hard. But it is also one of the greatest feelings in the world when you hit that flow state where you and your players are building your world together.

Good luck! And welcome to DnD, where the rules are made up, and the rules don't matter either, as long as what you're doing is awesome.

I agree with everyone here. If they are friends/friendly already then that makes things easier.

I would say that you want to remember that you're the adult in the situation. So you're going to have to be patient. They're teenagers who might get side-tracked or not having the same expectations that you do for the game. So all the normal advice of "talk with your players to resolve problems" goes doubly here, since you have that extra layer of being the "mature one" in a position of power for the group.

Make sure you schedule times. Find out when everyone wants to play and what times work for them. Average sessions are between 2-4 hours. I like 2 hours for weekly games. Try to be flexible, since ideally this is a fun event and not a second job. But it's important to be firm about things like "if you can't make it to the game, you have to let me know at least a couple hours in advance." You might have to figure out ride situations, which means potentially coordinating with other parents. You might have to explain what it is that you're inviting their child to do with you. Some people are touchy about their kids playing D&D for a variety of reasons.

As far as the game is concerned, the D&D starter set has a great intro adventure and is basically all you need to start playing. Give everything a read a couple times to really familiarize yourself with the rules and adventure. You might want to pick up the Player's Handbook (PHB), Monster Manual, and Dungeon Master's Guide (DMG), but I would hold off until you have at least a couple sessions played. You will likely need more dice. I recommend the Chessex Pound-o-Dice. I have a big bowl filled with dice on the table that people can use.

You can get pretty deep down the rabbit hole as far as other accessories go (figures, terrain, dice sets, extra books, DM screen, playmats, custom minis). I find it's best to just play with what you have and then pick up more things as you find them useful ("oh, I wish I had a dry erase mat for that combat, let me pick one up for the future").

As far as play goes, modern D&D is much more narrative. Player characters tend to be more hardy after a couple levels than in older editions. There's less emphasis on plundering dungeons for treasure and more emphasis on telling a combined story (that sometimes involves plundering dungeons). Characters are less likely to die and have a lot of resources at their disposal to succeed.

If you haven't already, I recommend checking out youtube to get an idea for how modern D&D looks when its played. Youtube channels like WebDM and Taking20 have lots of tips on running D&D. There are LOADS of live-play D&D games that you can watch. Something like Acquisitions Incorporated or Force Grey are worth a watch, if only to get an idea of the pacing of a typical D&D session.

Other than that, just have fun man! There's a million different ways to play D&D, and it's nice that you've got an opportunity to use this to connect with your daughter and her friends. You will encounter lots of individual problems as they come up, but that's normal. Being the DM is about being flexible and creative and solving problems. Thankfully there's a lot of resources out there these days for finding how other people handle their issues. A quick google search will provide all kinds of info :)

• To echo everyone else, I would also say start with the starter set because it has everything you need to start, including a pretty nice set of dice. You could get away with this for your first session, but you will probably want some
  
• dice This may be your most cost effective way of having a set for everyone, and enough spares for people to grab from for crits and spells like fireball. Everyone will eventually get nicer sets they like more, but this is a good way to start with matched sets. Depending on how happy people are with the player options in the starter set, your next investment will either be the
  
• PHB for more player options, spells, items, and guide lines for how things should work. This is far and away the most import of the three books. As most people have said, you will probably get to the point where everyone wants access to this book. During play, you will probably want 2-3 of these at the table.
  
• Battle Mat D&D can be played in Theater of the mind, but grid combat makes a lot of rules easier to implement and officiate with a grid. The one I linked is pretty big without being overly huge (there are larger ones), and it is vinyl which makes it durable, and it erases pretty well with good wet erase markers.
  
• Miniatures is something else entirely. Most of the groups I play with have more than enough for me to ever have to buy any. Some players will make or buy a mini for his/her character. There are the round cardboard tokens that you could use for cheap. I run a D&D game on Fridays at the school I teach at and have the students use one of their dice as their mini. Monsters are usually balls of playdoh.
  
• After finishing of the LMOP (the adventure in the starter's set) you will either want to pick up one of the other adventures like Out of the Abyss or Princes of the Apocalypse. You might need a Monster Manual to go with it. PotA has a digital supplement with the extra monsters, while OotA does not.
  
• The DMG is optional really. It is great for magic items, alternative rules you could use, and world building strategies. You'll want a copy eventually, but like the MM, you wont need more than 1.
  
• Other things. Look around for things like the Elemental Evil Player's Guide and Unearthed Arcana articles. They have a bunch of free content you could use in your games. They are usually rough drafts so they might be imbalanced, but you might find something you really like in there. There are also tons of homebrew monsters, classes, races, and items if you wanted to expand your game that way.
  
  angel14995 has a great summary of all the books. This list is more useful as a logical purchasing progression guide.

I just ran my first session as a new DM with LMoP last week! I'll jot down my experience running a group of 4 beginners. (so take my advice with a grain of salt as a beginner that has not finished the campaign)

---
First, read through the books in the Starter Set! (If you can afford the Player's Handbook, that is a good idea as well.) I highly recommend going through the rulebook (or Basic Rules) then at least skimming through the entire LMoP module. You don't have to memorize everything but as a DM it is important to have the idea of the setting in your head.

For combat, you have to decide if you are going to run "Theater of the Mind" or battlemat+miniatures for combat. Theater of the Mind is more flexible and requires less preparation but battlemats give great visuals at a cost of preparation and supply.

Then you have to decide if you think your players would want to make their own characters or not. For my beginner group, I decided that they would be a lot more invested/excited if they could identify with their own creation so I chose to not use the pre-generated character sheets. Once you are comfortable with the rules of D&D enough, set a date to meet with your group.

Since we had to make characters, I held a Session 0 to introduce the basic concept of what to expect in committing to D&D as well as character creation. I highly suggest making characters together a separate day before Session 1 because it usually takes a decent amount of time for the first time (3ish hours for me).

My Session 0 looked like this:

• Introduction to D&D
  
  
• Explaining all races, classes, backgrounds and letting them pick
  
  
• Giving character sheets, rolling stats
  
  
• Guiding them through the char sheet by referencing DNDBeyond for background/race/class bonuses
  
  After everyone was done, I let them take home the character sheet and work on character appearance, personality, and background story.
  
  The week after, we had Session 1. Make sure you actually read through the LMoP module in depth, at least up to Part 1-2 beforehand. I also decided to take some elements of this supplement Part 0 for LMoP to use as a tutorial for my players. Then, begin your adventure! My party took a lot longer than I expected and only got to the entrance of the Cragmaw Hideout after 3 hours.
  
  Good luck to your campaign, I'm looking forward to my second session!
  
  ---
  
  Some recommended guides I used:
  
  
• Matt Mercer tips (all DM's love this man)
  
  
• Don't Stop Thinking guides (great graphic visuals and in-depth coverage)
  
  
• Matt Colville tips (gives a good idea of how D&D should look like at an advanced level)
  
  
• DungeonDudes (channel that covers good topics)
  
  
• DNDBeyond (amazing website for the Basic Rules, classes, and races)
  
  
• OneCritWonder LMoP tips (helpful overview of the module)
  
  
• LMoP enemies (generator that adapts to how many players you have)
  
  ---
  Supplies I personally prepared (BUT ARE OPTIONAL):
  
  
• Beginner dice (shared with my beginners, they are planning to get their own sets soon)
  
  
• Custom character sheets (a bit overwhelming at first but I find helpful for each class)
  
  
• Spell cards (I don't think many people use these but I find it an amazing resource to give your players if they are spellcasters)
  
  
• Battlemat (use with Wet-Erase markers)
  
  
• Paper minis (dedication and time required, can use coins, legos, or anything instead or even real miniatures if you can afford it)
  
  
• DM Screen (the official and most standard and affordable screen)

I think I understand what you are trying to experiment. You are asking if 2 beginners start playing chess while reading different beginner books, how will their play styles and understanding of the game change? I think this is a very interesting idea, and although I hypothesize that "no matter how different the books are, the difference will be because of the players, not the books" I will gladly suggest some ideas for your experiment.

There are plenty of chess books that are written by classical GMs that many people still find amazingly helpful.

"Capablanca's Chess Fundamentals" is still a very good for learning strong end game and good idea of how pieces work together. His end games are still considered some of the cleanest. He was somebody who could take puzzling situations and make them simple. It's very satisfying to following his games.

"My System" by GM Nimzowitsch is a bit different. Where as Capablanca relied more on classical openings and simplified situations with strong piece control, Nizomwitisch was of the hypermodern school which focused more on challenging the old classical fundamental beliefs and positional superiority.

If both of you start with one of each book, it'd be interesting to see how both of you end up playing. But honestly as beginners, (I'm a low level asshole myself aka patzer) some of the higher level things we're talking about here may not even mean anything for a long time.

Honestly, everybody in life has a certain chess style. Some play for the tactics, some for positions, some for the calculations, while others for the pattern recognition, some play sharp while some play loose, some play meek while some play aggressively. It really depends on you as a player, and I think that in the end, no matter which book you start with, you will end up the player you are going to be anyway.

As for other books that may be of interest for both of you, as they always say in chess "tactics, tactics, tactics": it may be a good idea to supplement both of your books with a tactical book such as https://www.amazon.com/Winning-Chess-Tactics-Everyman/dp/1857443861 or https://www.amazon.com/Chess-Tactics-Champions-step-step/dp/081293671X or this https://www.amazon.com/Predator-At-Chessboard-Field-Tactics/dp/1430308001

and also supplement tactics with mating motifs like this: https://www.amazon.com/How-Beat-Your-Chess-Gambit/dp/1901983056

I hope you and your friend have a lot of fun playing and learning together. I have definitely enjoyed playing with my work mates. If you guys haven't chosen an online platform already, I suggest lichess.org or chess.com. Both are very great sites for playing chess for free. One is absolutely free and offers some very cool features for self analysis and community study material, while the other has paid premium memberships which offer a breadth of learning material in videos and articles.

If you're serious about it, you can find a coach on lichess.org/coach. A good one will guide your study and accelerate your learning.

Start solving tactical puzzles. A lot of them. All of them. As a total beginner, this is the best thing you can do to improve your game. It will take time, but it will yield results.

To learn basic tactics, check out Predator at the Chessboard which is a free online resource. Or get a book like Back to Basics: Tactics, or Judit Polgar's Chess Tactics for Champions, or Reinfeld's 1001 Winning Chess Sacrifices and Combinations. All of them will introduce the major motifs and give you practice with them. Pick one and get to work. You can also find free puzzles at chesstempo.com. Consider getting an app for your phone, like CT-ART 4.0, so you can practice on the go. Seriously, tactics are the big focus right now.

As you start learning about chess, you'll see a lot of people talking about openings. It'll seem like a lot of fun to learn a particular opening and talk about "Oh, I'm an Open Sicilian man," or "I always play the Petrov and here's why . . ." Don't worry about any of that. For now, just learn the basic principles of the opening and concentrate on actually practicing them in your games. Most beginner's books (see below) and lots of videos on youtube will be able to introduce these to you.

There's another book you should get: Chess Fundamentals by José Raúl Capablanca. It'll take you through the basics of the game and will give you a solid foundation on which to build. Make sure it's in algebraic notation. Go through the book slowly, methodically. Make a study for it at lichess.org/study and go over the moves digitally. Go over the positions on a physical board. Take notes. Only move forward when you truly understand what Capablanca is talking about.

Practice what you learn by playing slow time controls. 15+15 games (or longer!) will give you the time you need to think about the moves you and your opponent are making. 5-minute games are fun, but they're not the best way to learn to play well. I mean, play whatever you want--it's a game, and it's meant to be fun. But know that the longer the controls, the more you will learn from your games. For that matter, google "how to analyze a chess game" and then analyze your games after the fact. That way you'll learn to avoid traps and pitfalls into which you fell.

All of this is my opinion, but I'm just some patzer, right? Take or leave this as you like. Or just get a coach and do what you pay them to tell you. Good luck; have fun!

First off, the very first thought that came into my head: Have you tried Dungeons & Dragons or another Pen & Paper role-playing-game? I feel like they would be perfect for you.. not only are they the best games as there are no limitations, all you need is any means of communicating and your imagination.

Here are some links to get started:

• Basic Rules - Freely available online.
  
• Starter Set is incredibly good value and includes the basic rules, dice, pre-made characters, and your first adventure.
  
• Roll20.net - Virtual table-top for playing online with others, includes voice & video chat.
  
• /r/lfg - A place to find people to play with online.
  
• /r/dndnext - Dedicated to the latest (5th) edition of D&D. Really nice and friendly sub.
  
  ----
  
  Anyway, can you give us a bit of insight into your input mechanisms? How have you typed this post? How do you browse the web? What limitations do you have in terms of input speed and simultaneous inputs? What about moving pointers around, any limitations?
  
  I think with information like that we'd be better able to recommend games for you.
  
  Assuming input takes time and you can't push buttons quickly or control a pointer quickly - turn-based / pause-based games come to mind (also a personal favourite of mine).
  
  As I said in another post here, I highly recommend Voice Attack for voice-controlled input. I use it to assist me in games, but I see no reason you couldn't rely on it entirely. There is a small lag between saying something and it being actioned, which would rule out some of the more twitchy games.
  
  I've never tried it, but there's JoyToKey which allows you to use a controller to act as keyboard/mouse for gaming (and other applications, presumably). I imagine it's a lot easier to use a controller with your feet than a mouse and keyboard (I could be wrong, I don't know).
  
  What about a touch-screen?
  
  ----
  
  Civilization V
  
  This is a great turn-based strategy game that allows you to create a civilization and take it from the dawn of agriculture to space. I'd highly recommend getting this with all the DLC expansions in a bundle, as they add a tremendous amount to the game. This often goes on sale for very little.
  
  XCOM: Enemy Unknown
  
  This is a great turn-based tactical combat game where earth is under attack from aliens and you're tasked with building up an organisation to defeat them. Really one of the best games released in a long time, definitely worth a look. Play Ironman for the real experience (you'll see what I mean). You can play this with a controller.
  
  Hearthstone
  
  This is a really good 'battle' card game. These sorts of games are not my thing at all, I've never got into Magic and so on, but Hearthstone is the distilled essence of these games and is simple, deep, and a tremendous amount of fun. It has by far and away the best match-making, so you always win about 50% of your games, keeping the challenge on. While there is a timed element to each turn, it's generous and I doubt you'll have issues in terms of controlling it. Free to play, so no harm in giving it a go.
  
  EvE Online
  
  The space MMO. While this is real-time, for the most part it's actually pretty slow, and its combat is based on a lock-on system where you can select targets from a list. I don't know how well Voice Attack meshes (I no longer play), but from memory it should be really good. There's almost nothing you can't take part in here, and you can be 100% as effective as other players in many, many roles. Hell, you don't even need to leave a station if you want.. you can form your own corporation, trade, build, hire other players, lead other players, wage war, all from the comfort of the station!
  
  Pillars of Eternity
  
  This was just released and I'm absolutely loving it - it's a modern take on the old-school RPG games like Baldur's Gate and Planescape. While it is real-time, you can choose the speed to be slower, and you can pause it at any time to issue orders to your party.
  
  Elite: Dangerous
  
  Getting more tricky now.. this is a real-time space-ship simulator where you can trade, fight, mine, pirate, explore, etc. However, it's made for being controlled with joysticks and works perfectly with Voice Attack so I feel like you'd be able to control it more than well enough. In fact, you could probably do it with Voice Attack alone - though you'd have to run from pirates. Also, there is a rank Mostly 'armless that you could attain! (sorry, couldn't help myself!)
  
  World of Warcraft
  
  The definitive MMO. While I've not looked into it, it's so popular I'm sure if you do some research on it there will be a wealth of options. It's lock-on based combat, so again Voice Attack will work here perfectly for calling out attacks, movement with a controller, and so on.
  
  ----
  
  TL;DR: Really though, I think the limits are only what you place on yourself. What's stopping you from playing an FPS, MMO, RTS, etc. with your feet and Voice Attack?
  
  EDIT: Sorry, I thought this was in /r/gamingsuggestions/ which is why I included D&D. I'll leave it as I think it would be good in this instance.

The best way to learn is to get a group and start playing! But I assume you want some more meaningful information than that...

You can purchase and look through the players handbook (PHB). It has everything from character creation to combat rules, traveling on mounts to buying gear, and everything in between. Most groups expect you to have one of these, but it might not be worth the cost until you decide you want to get into D&D. You can pick one up at one of the links below.

Alternatively, you can pick up the starter set. It is much cheaper and has a subset of the rules in the PHB. It also comes with an adventure and material for the dungeon master (DM). I have also provided a like to it before as well.

As for finding a group, there are lots of options. I would say it is probably easier to find a group online, but much more rewarding to find one in person.

For online play, you can check out roll20.net. You can probably find a game there pretty easily, although most groups will expect you to have a copy of the PHB.

As for finding a group locally, you should check out your friendly local game store (FLGS). Most that I have seen run the D&D Adventurers League (DDAL). I provided a link below that will explain the DDAL better than I can.

I know you said you aren't very social, but I wanted to throw out the option that you could create your own group! Find a few friends that are interested as well, grab a campaign or create one, and start a group! If you decide to start a group though, expect to be the DM. But that shouldn't scare you. Matt Colville has done some excellent YouTube videos about DM'ing and how it shouldn't be scary. You can do it!

If you have any questions you are not comfortable asking reddit, feel free to pm me!

PHB: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0786965606/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1479532434&sr=8-1&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=phb+5e&dpPl=1&dpID=510Cy8v8H3L&ref=plSrch

Starters set: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0786965592/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1479532513&sr=8-1&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=d%26d+starter+set&dpPl=1&dpID=51Ykm93n8ML&ref=plSrch

DDAL: http://dndadventurersleague.org/start-here/

I HIGHLY recommend you purchase the D&D 5e Starter Set and run that. It is $12 on Amazon and if you dislike D&D then you aren't out anything.
http://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Set-Roleplaying/dp/0786965592/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1412630328&sr=8-1&keywords=D%26D+starter+set

I HIGHLY recommend you play 5e. 3.5e was a great edition but it is dated and the sheer volume of rules supplements (some of which are hard to find) are overwhelming. By the end it was out of control. It really isn't a new players w/ new DM system to be honest (HUGE fan of 3.5e, prefer 5e).

You DO need a DM. The role of the DM is different and more involved than the players'. You have to plan the adventure (in case of the Starter Set you should read the adventure and rules booklet cover to cover). You generally are the one players look to for rules clarifications and teaching. Its a very rewarding responsibility. Remember, you are not playing AGAINST the players. It isn't DM vs Players. You are facilitating their adventure and working with them to craft a fun story balanced with fair rules arbitration (and gnarly combat!).

Again, get the Starter Set. If that goes well, get the Player's Handbook (I suggest 2-3 copies to share, or have everyone get a copy) and the Hoard of the Dragon Queen adventure. Run those. If that works well enough to continue, then invest in the Monster Manual (and the Dungeon Master's Guide will be published by then) and go crazy!!!

I have run LONGTERM campaigns in every D&D edition and have had just as successful games with and without the grid/map. You do NOT need it. It can be helpful, especially for visual players, but I find it also really slows down the adventure. Detailed notes to backup detailed descriptions with a focus on "close enough, keep the game moving" is far more fun and engaging than spending 30 minutes to map out the most optimal movement for one round of combat. In 5e most combats are like 15 minutes or less, in D&D 3.5e for instance we've had 4 hour battles and it was just annoying.

But to each their own. You can also sketch on paper/graph paper and go from there.

Start CHEAP, don't invest in hundreds of dollars of stuff without knowing if you like it. Remember the starter set is $12 and the Basic D&D rules are free. :)

When people first learn chess, they only learn the basic rules of the game. There is little positional or tactical understanding... (As it should be) There are many ways to get better at chess but all of them require work.

Some great players like Capablanca, insisted on learning the fundamental endings first. The problem is that, even if you know how to win with an extra pawn, you might not have the positional/tactical understanding to get to that pawn-up ending. So, I have found that you have to do a little bit of everything. I learned some endings, I learned some tactics and combinations, I learned some openings and so on.


I suggest that you study whatever is giving you the MOST problems first. Once you have taken steps to minimize and/or eliminate that problem, other problems will come up. Do the same and invest some time trying to get better in that area. Repeat until you get better. it is a simple concept but hard to do in practice.

Chess has a rich history. It is wonderful that we have access to the games of the past and all of its analysis. I recommend that you do not re-invent the wheel and that you read some books. The following should be helpful:

• Everyone's Second Chess Book Revised and Expanded Edition
  
  
• Logical Chess: Move By Move: Every Move Explained New Algebraic Edition
  
  
• Complete Book of Chess Strategy: Grandmaster Techniques from A to Z
  
  
  Also visit quality websites (Some recommendations below but not the only ones by any means...)
  
  
• From Beginner to Chess Expert in 12 Steps
  "If you know nothing at all about the game of chess other than the rules, there still things that you can do right away to help you win more games. You won't be beating tournament players, but you can rise above your current level by studying the right things. The same principle applies to all levels of players. There are things that you can do immediately to win more games. The key to chess improvement is pattern recognition. Whether you realize it or not, to improve at chess you must reprogram your brain to see things that you did not see before." - From the Introduction on "From Beginner to Chess Expert in 12 Steps"
  
  
  
• Predator at the Chessboard
  
  Always do your best and enjoy the game! Good luck!

First off you'll need to pick an edition you want to play. Most people reccomend 5th edition (also called 5e) to beginners since it is the simplest to learn and has the most support online.


Then you'll need to learn the rules. There's a free basic rulebook that you could start with if you don't want to spend money, or you could shell out $30 for the Player's Handbook for the complete set of rules. The only thing the basic rule book doesn't have is a few of the player races and classes so you won't miss out on too much if you go the cheap route. Don't worry about knowing all of the rules but read the book over once and then read over your class abilities a couple times so you know them well.


You'll also need a set of dice. If you for some reason have a bunch of dice laying around, a complete set consist of dice of the following side counts: 20, 12, 10, 8, 6, and 4. You'll also need a percentage die also but you can also just use your d10 for that. If you don't have loose dice laying around then you can buy a set from Amazon or your local game store. You can also just use an online dice roller if you're concerned about money but physically rolling them is more fun and dice are cheap.

You can also buy the DnD starter set which comes with a basic rule book, a set of dice, and a book for a pretty good tutorial adventure that you could play with friends.


Speaking of friends, you'll need a group to play with. You can convince a group of 4 or 5 friends to play if you have them or you can play with strangers. A good place to meet strangers is on /r/lfg where you could either find a local or online game, or you could trot down to the local game shop which will probably have a weekly dnd night that welcomes beginners.

If you need help understanding the rules or making a character you can ask here or on /r/dnd /r/dndnext or /r/dnd5th

Good luck getting started, you'll have a lot of fun.

I play 5th edition and all advice is for that edition. 5E is pretty wallet friendly if you don't get it all at once. Here's a bunch of stuff you can look at to help your decision, though not all of it is mandatory.

• Number one, the cheapest, is to simply review the (somewhat limited, I'll admit) materials available on Wizards of the coast and start from there.
  
  
• Second is available in the form of the 5th edition starter set. I own one of these and it comes with everything you need for a game with a group of friends. A criticism I have of it though, is that experienced players will probably destroy the module included with it. I'd just forego this option entirely if you plan to buy any other materials, but it's a very low risk purchase.
  
  
• Third is just a player's handbook, which you really should own regardless of anything . The 5th Edition PHB has enough material to easily homebrew your own campaign with, but it will definitely leave you wishing you had more to work off of.
  
  
• Fourth is any of the several available modules for the game out right now. Having only played Hoard of the Dragon queen (And it's direct follow up, Rise of Tiamat), I can say that with the exception of a long, slightly boring segment in the middle, it's a solid adventure all the way through for the players.
  
  
• Fifth is the supplemental Dungeon master's Guide and Monster Manual, additional resources to help you craft better campaigns, but unnecessary until later. The monster manual should definitely be the first of the two purchases, in my opinion. I wouldn't even recommend the sword coast adventurer's guide unless you plan to specifically adventure in Faerun.
  
  So now that books are out of the way, let's talk figurines. You really don't need them, because ANYTHING can represent things on a board. But they're a fun thing to collect and use. BUT they are a great and fun thing to have. What we do at my table is have everyone acquire their own. I like to buy from Reaper Miniatures, but local comic book and hobby shops might have them as well. Make sure you have bases that are less than an inch wide (A square inch works best), because if you're using miniatures, then you're using a battle grid.
  
  Speaking of battle grids, they're also not entirely necessary, but they definitely help. This is a very reliable one if you take care of it and don't crease it too much. But the fun thing is, if you have a printer, you can print your own Battle Maps! Just set it to print a grid set to 1-inch increments and have as big or as small as a battle mat as you need. 5E technically uses a hex grid for outdoor maps, but we've always ignored that at our games.
  
  As for dice, I think it's the players responsibility to acquire their own dice, but on the off chance you just want to buy the things for everyone, I find a lot of enjoyment in picking through a Chessex Pound-o-Dice, or a Wiz Dice 100+ pack just so everyone has some. Plus, you never know when you'll suddenly need 20d6 for maximum fall damage!
  
  Other than that, just have pencils, paper, and a good way to keep notes handy and you're set.
  
  This is far from a comprehensive guide, and probably the worst thing you could do is buy everything or nothing right at the start. Consider asking friends or checking libraries for these books (And secondhand bookshops near you!) to save a penny or two.
  
  So, in summary, if I were starting out DMing and buying anything, it would be a player's handbook, a set of dice, and if I weren't confident in my ability to homebrew, I'd buy a module or a dungeon master's guide. But you can go further or less far if you like.

The "editions" are basically just reissues of the game idea, updated with new rules and such.

The board games are something else entirely - they use some of the same style and use some familiar terms, but Temple of Elemental Evil is to D&D what Monopoly is to real estate management, if that makes sense. If you and your friends enjoy playing lots of different board games, you'll have fun with the D&D ones too. If you want to play a game where you build up characters and a storyline long-term while doing your hacking and slashing (and casting and burning), you'll want the proper game.

The Starter Set is the best place to start. It contains the basic rules, which are also available online, as well as a fantastic adventure to play through, some dice, and so on -- and it's less than $20 USD. The best thing you can do is read through that yourself and decide if it's something you and your friends would like to play.

There's also the recently-released SRD which contains more classes and options. The Starter Set is everything you need to get started - this just gives you more than basic classes.

Finally, if you do decide to play, you ideally want to pick up the other books - the "Player's Handbook", "Monster Manual", and "Dungeon Master's Guide" (all of which you can find easily on amazon or at your friendly local game store). You can also pick up extra dice, figures that you can use to play on a grid, and so on and so on.

But start simple, look at the rules linked above, and you should get a feel for how it all works.

Keep the 4e stuff on the shelf for now. Figure whether you want to sell it later but maybe you'll super dig D&D once you get into it and really want more books on your shelf to be part of your Totally Awesome Collection ^TM

The reason why you're holding on to them is because you don't need to sell them to get into 5e. You can play D&D as soon as you want without spending a dime:

• You can grab the free Basic Rules PDF which has the core rules and basic character generation options.
  
  
• You can watch tutorials like this video series. Combat episode is particularly helpful.
  
  
• Read the Getting Started Guide in the /r/DND sidebar.
  
  

• • -
    
    But even so, D&D 5th Edition is streamlined and easy to learn and there are tons of people willing to help teach you. Its not a game you need to sit and read the rules from cover to cover before playing, you can very much sit down to a table as totally fresh and learn by playing--I teach people this way all the time.
    
    Consider checking out your local gaming store and see if they do any tutorials, have Organized Play, or know of groups looking for any members.
    
    You can also use these resources:
    
    > If you're looking to play in person:
    
    > Check in with your local gaming store.
    
    > Local board game/RPG Facebook Groups
    
    > Local board game/RPG Meetup Groups
    
    > Post in the subreddit for your town / area
    
    > Search /r/LFG for posts or make one.
    
    
    > LFG tools on Obsidian Portal and PenAndPaperGames
    > Sites like FindGamers, NearbyGamers, GamerSeekingGamer
    
    > Check WarHorn for local postings
    
    > If you're looking to play online:
    
    > /r/LFG and /r/Roll20LFG
    
    > Roll20's game finder and LFG forums
    
    > Fantasy Grounds has a LFG Forum
    
    > Play via Tabletop Simulator
    
    > * RPG Discord servers: Dungeons & Downvotes, Pair O' Dice, etc...
    
    
• • -
    
    If you end up just reading up on the rules and wanting to start your own group. I highly recommend the Starter Set.
    
    It's $15 on Amazon, has the core rules, a set of dice, premade characters, and an adventure that will last you a half dozen sessions or so. It's a great place to start--go figure--and is designed for brand new players and brand new DMs. The adventure is laid out in a way that introduces concepts as you go along rather than expecting you to know everything up front.
    
    The premade characters are big because you want to get straight to the playing not sit there explaining character creation to a brand new player. Without the context of how things are used, its just a wall of data and memorization... which isn't fun.
    
    You can always bring custom characters in once the group gets to town or something if people want, and now they'll kinda know the ropes.
    
    
• • -
    
    If you decide D&D is the hobby for you, your first purchase goal should be the Player's Handbook. Its the core rulebook with all of the default character options, spells, etc.

Buy some dice.

Buy some books.

Honestly, it depends what kind of game you want to play. I think here you're going to get a lot of weird niche games suggested but for starters you're better off sticking with the a more 'traditional' experience. D&D is an excellent starting point if you want to play a fantasy game, you can even pick up one of their adventures if you don't want to write your own material.

If you're unsure about spending that much just to get started you can pick up this starter set that will include the basic rules, a set of dice, some pregenerated characters, and a short adventure. From there, if you like the game, you can pick up the full rulebooks and some more dice and whatever else you like. Alternatively you can try out the free basic rules by downloading them from the Wizards of the Coast website. All you'll need is a set of dice to get started.

If you don't like or don't want to play D&D you can check out a bunch of other systems that will let you play other games or settings. [Edge of the Empire] (https://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-Edge-Empire-Rulebook/dp/1616616571/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=edge+of+the+empire&qid=1563883870&s=gateway&sr=8-1) is a really cool Star Wars game, but it requires custom dice. My personal favourite sci-fi rpg is Traveller though, and it has the advantage of only requiring six sided dice.

A lot of people really like Savage Worlds, it's fun, it's cheap, and it's generic enough that you can run almost any setting you like with it. Unfortunately there's a new edition due out really soon so take that in to consideration. If you want a more in depth generic system then I can recommend GURPS, although you'll also need the Campaigns book. This system is absolutely not beginner friendly, it slaps you in the face with tables and rules for all sorts of scenarios, but I adore it and it's not really all that hard to figure out.

If you want an alternative to D&D Green Ronin has the "Age" series of games, starting with Fantasy Age, continuing with Modern Age, and the recently released The Expanse RPG covers Sci-Fi. I will admit that I've not actually had a chance to play any of these games, but I've read the rules and like the system.

Honestly you can find a game to cover practically any genre you want, whether it's Grimdark Fantasy, Martial Arts, Space Exploration, Lovecraftian Horror, Anime Cyberpunk Space Opera, or almost any other thing you can think of.

Don't fall in to the trap of playing a game because someone suggests it's 'easy', play something that really grabs your interest and inspires your imagination.

The Basic Rules are available for free online- that should give you a start until you're able to get more resources. For dice, there are phone apps and online dice rollers available for free (not as satisfying as actually rolling, but it'll work).

Balancing for 2 PCs might be difficult, but it's possible. Best case would be if you can find 1-2 more people interested. Otherwise, perhaps they could each have 2 characters? It might be a bit more difficult to learn at first, but if you take it slow and everyone helps each other, it could work.

Matt Colville has a good series on YouTube about learning to DM. If you want a shorter adventure to start out and get the feel of playing, he has a video where he creates a small dungeon called the Delian Tomb. It's a great small introductory dungeon and he walks you through the creation so you can run it as-is or create your own spin on it. A lot of new DMs have run that dungeon with their groups.

I haven't run any of the published adventures, so unfortunately I can't give you advice there if you're looking for something that lasts several levels. I have heard very good things about the Starter Set (on Amazon for $10 right now), which comes with the basic rules, a set of dice, some pregenerated characters (you don't have to use them if you don't want), and a starter adventure that takes characters from level 1-5. It's recommended for a group with 3-5 players plus the DM, so you may want to try getting another friend involved.

Best of luck!

Yeah, as others have said, for beginners do try out the D&D 5e Starter Set.

It has enough rules for the small premade adventure they give you to start up, the small adventure itself (which is no small thing for a beginner Dungeon Master), a few pregenerated characters and a set of dice.

You could add to that a few miniatures (or just use paper tokens) and an extra set of dice.


The Starter Set goes to level 5 only (out of 20 max). If you like it, then go ahead and buy the Holy Trinity of D&D Books:

• the Player's Manual, which is a complete* set of all official possibilities about character creation and playing. You don't all need one for playing, but it's easier that way. Sharing is also good, that said.
  
• The Dungeon Master's Guide, which is a book made to help the Dungeon Master create his adventures and make the game enjoyable. Only one is required, really.
  
• The Monster Manual, which containes a lot of premade monsters which are very helpful for DMs.
  
  
  The other books, such as Curse of Strahd, Out of the Abyss or Tales from the Yawning Portal, are simply adventures that you can buy if you don't want to make your own. They are fun to play and way less of a hassle to DMs... but after a while most will like to make their own stories.
  
  On another note... While obviously I can't recommend that both because supporting creators is important and because of subreddit rules, you can find pdfs of all those books online, if you don't want to spend the money. Or simply because Ctrl-F is better than manually searching.
  
  
  *They have added a few more options is some adventures or the Sword Coast Adventure Guide, and there are some unofficial elements that are being tested in the Unearthed Arcana, but trust me with the core books you have enough to play with for a while.

Okay, so there's a bit to parse here.

First of all the version of the game you linked is the starter set for the 5th edition rules, the newest ruleset. It comes with copies of the Basic Rules for 5th edition, which you also linked. What I mean by Basic Rules is that they use the same basic ideas and mechanics that the full ruleset has, but they are truncated to make learning the system easier.

I don't think it would be particularly useful to go through point by point on everything that has changed since the 80s. I assume you played AD&D 1st or 2nd edition. Since then there have been a 3rd and 4th edition that changed and rechanged things so going through it all would make things more confusing honestly. I think the easiest way is to just dive into those basic rules.

However, since that doesn't answer your question, I will give you a couple things. First of all the core of the game is the same. You pick a race/class, the ability scores are all the same, you roll a d20 and add modifiers to it. One of the only major changes since AD&D is the addition of skills. While AD&D had non-combat skills it wasn't until later that they formalized a skill system. Every character now picks a certain number of skills that they are good at.

The other major change is that it is a lot easier to learn which is why I say you should really just dive into it. There are no longer a ton of charts to consult depending on what class you chose. No THAC0 to calculate, no different amounts of experience to level up, etc. Everything is far more streamlined today to make learning how to play much easier. Bigger numbers are better for everything (No more Armor Class going down), and its designed to be more approachable.

Again, the starter set you linked is really the best entry to the game. It comes with a starter adventure which can serve as a tutorial. It comes with basic rules for characters that limit the options so you can get used to the basic concepts. If you keep going from there then the full ruleset will provide more options to use.

If you have any questions while exploring those rules this is generally a very welcoming place so you can likely find more answers as you run into them.

Good luck and I hope you and your kids enjoy the game.

1. I highly recommend 5th edition (the newest one). It's a great edition for new players to get into. They did a lot to streamline it and try to make it lighter on the mechanics, which makes it easier to learn and get into as a new player, and since it's the current edition, lots of people are playing it and it'll be a lot easier to get help/advice if you run into trouble.
   
   
2. Do you mean like warlock patrons? With a lot of stuff in D&D, you'll find that it's really only as important as you make it. In some games, a warlock's patron might be extremely important to the game, while in another game it might never even be mentioned. It really just depends on what you want to do. But I don't know if that's what you're referring it. It certainly doesn't have to be an important aspect of the game if you don't want it to.
   
   
3. In my opinion, there are really three options you can go with. (1) You could download the basic rules for players and dungeon masters for free from the wizards of the coast website. They're basic and don't include everything, but it's a free way to try out D&D without sinking a lot of money in it in case it turns out that it's not for you. (2) Or you could get the 5th edition starter set. It's pretty cheap (if you're in the US, at least), and it includes everything you need to play right out the box (the basic rules, pre-generated characters, dice, and an adventure designed for new DMs and new players). The benefit of the 5th edition starter set is that it comes with an adventure, so you can start playing right away and see if D&D is for you without having to figure out how to make your own adventure. (3) Or you can buy the Player's Handbook. This includes all of the rules for 5th edition and the basic/core character options. It's a great place to start, but it is the most expensive option. If you keep playing D&D, you're going to want to get it eventually anyway, but the downside of jumping right to it is that it can be a little overwhelming at first. It also doesn't come with an adventure, so you'd have to figure that part out for yourself (by buying a separate adventure, creating one yourself, or finding one online).
   
   
4. It really varies. There are pre-made ones that wizards of the coast publishes, and there are pre-made ones that fans create and make available online. But tons of people make their own campaigns and adventures from scratch, so it's definitely acceptable to make your own.
   
   
5. The 5e Player's Handbook has the core classes and races for 5th edition. Other editions had tons of other resources, but in 5th edition, they really tried to streamline everything. There are other options floating around (online and in other published books), but the Player's Handbook is really where the main stuff is and where you should start before worrying about the other options. The Player's Handbook, for example, has everything you need to make a Life Domain Cleric and it includes several other domains for clerics. There is other stuff available, but honestly, focus on the things in the Player's Handbook first, and after you've tried that out, then figure out how to get a hold of the other options.

The most recent edition, and arguably the most accessible, is fifth edition, or 5e for short. There's also 1e, 2e, 3e, 3.5e, Pathfinder, and 4e, but most people play 5e and it's probably the easiest for beginners.

Start off by going to this link here to get a copy of the Basic Rules. These are available to download, free of charge, and will allow you to get acquainted with the basic game mechanics. Most of the mechanics revolve around polyhedral dice; you've got 4-, 6-, 8-, 10-, 12-, and 20-sided, plus another one called percentile dice (or d% for short) that is like a 10-sided die, but with 10, 20, 30 on it instead of 1, 2, 3, and allows for rolling numbers 1-100 when used with a standard 10-sided. Dice are abbreviated with the notation XdY; 3d6 would denote 3 six-sided dice, 6d10 would denote 6 ten-sided dice, 8d4 would denote 8 four-sided dice, etc.

Basic rules will also allow you to create a character if you'd like to try out the process before spending any money. Your character will be fairly cookie-cutter; you get four different races, four different classes, and four different backgrounds to choose from, along with a limited spell list and so on, but if you'd just like to get a feel for the process it's a pretty good way of doing so. The first chapter of the rules takes you through the character creation process step-by-step, and if you read through the basic rules in order, you'll probably be able to create a character. You can also snag free character sheet downloads here in either a format that you can print or one that you can edit in Adobe Reader.

If you're looking to find a group, I've heard /r/lfg mentioned a lot. Most people that want to play online use a site called Roll20, which is free and accessible. There's some other sites in the sidebar of /r/dnd that you could use. If you have some friends interested in the hobby, you could look at picking up the starter set on Amazon, which contains a premade adventure, some premade characters, and a dice set. Once you get more into things, you should look at picking up a Player's Handbook for more choices when creating a character.

It's not often that I see someone that would fully benefit from the Sword Coast Adventure Guide, but you fit the bill perfectly. Especially since you want to run a homebrew moving forward.

That being said, it is 30 bucks, so I understand if you don't want to purchase it - so I'll do my best for you.

First, it's a good idea to read over the Sword Coast and Northern Sword Coast to get an idea of the area you'll likely run the immediate portion of your continuing campaign. There are three major cities that are worth knowing about: Neverwinter, Waterdeep and Baldur's Gate. Any of these three are a suitable setting for a big-city game.

The setting as a whole lends itself to a 'straight down the middle' feel when it comes to magic. It exists, is used commonly enough that adventurers will come across it - but not so much that the default setting has magical street-lamps and stuff like that. Magical items (at least in 5e) are rare and very prized by those who own them. The magic setting is perfect for whatever you want to do because it's so 'down the middle'. If you want a low-magic campaign it's easy to adjust - and the same goes for a high-fantasy concept.

The area is a melting pot of the core races minus the Drow and Dragonborn, although the latter would be more common than the former. Humans still dominate the coastal cities, but the other races are represented well.

Truly, the Sword Coast Adventure Guide will be your best resource if you're going to create a homebrew in this area and are unfamiliar with the region. Failing that, there are numerous online resources to familiarize yourself with the area. A simple Google search will point you in the right direction.

Aw, no! Sad to see the results of both fights from yesterday. Every song at this point is great, but I really liked both I Am Lapis Lazuli and Sugalite Returns.

As for today's battles, both could go either way. I voted Lion's Ocean over Opal because I'm still a little salty about Amalgam, but it could go either way. And though both are great, I'm Still Here is simply more emotional than Alone Together.

Question of the Day: It's pretty well known, but maybe not to this audience - Dungeons & Dragons. If you like games like Skyrim or Dragon Age, D&D is pretty much the progenitor of all computer RPGs. However, it's a quite different experience sitting around a table with your friends. There's an actual person, the Dungeon Master, managing the game rules and world, so you'll often end up with a unique story that incorporates whatever characters you and your friends have created. The Fifth Edition of D&D was recently released and it's great, with fairly straightforward rules and a cheap entry point. The Starter Set is $13 on Amazon (includes rules, premade characters, a great starter adventure, and dice), and the Basic Rules are free to download if you just want to take a look.

If you have a friendly local game store (FLGS) near you, they likely have it as well as the right dice. With any luck, they'd even have staff that are knowledgeable enough to help further.

If you don't, there's several online outlets, with amazon being the most obvious. Internet stores tend to have the advantage of a significant discount, but of course require waiting for the things to ship and arrive.

The absolute simplest way to get into it would be purchasing the Starter Set. It comes with simplified rules, one set of dice, and an adventure you can run.

If you enjoy that, or are just absolutely certain you will like the game and want to go ahead and get it all, there is the Player's Handbook. That is the only essential, but you will want sooner than later the Dungeon Master's Guide and Monster Manual.

As for dice, there are tons of ways to go about that. There are phone apps that can do the job cheaper, which you can find with a quick search. Most groups I think will find they prefer using physical dice. It's more expensive but also just that much more fun.

The correct type of dice come at a variety of costs and qualities, but the only necessity is that you have all 7 types of dice available. That is, you want a 4-sided, 6-sided, 8-sided, 10-sided, 12-sided, 20-sided, and percentile die.

Chessex is the most popular dice company and has an absolute ton of varieties. Here's just one example and luckily it is standard to sell all the necessary dice in sets together.

There are also various bulk sets which make up in volume what they lack in choice, and are good for getting started.

Last but not least, you'll need friends willing to play with you. But that's true of any tabletop game.

That was longer than I anticipated, but I promise it's not too hard. There's a bit of a learning curve with any game, but RPGs are a lot of fun once you get comfortable with them.

Grab the 5th edition starter set, it will have a book for your DM on how to run the adventure, 5 pre-made characters so you can just get right into playing, and a set of dice.

Heads up. Like 2 minutes in everyone is going to realize they want their own set of dice rather than sharing one set as a group. They range from $5 to $15. Grab 'em before you start playing.

I'd also recommend getting a DM Screen for multiple benefits. On the inside are quick formulas and name/quest/monster tables and hints for the DM to use. The other benefit is the players can't see what the DM rolls.

The DM's #1 job is to make sure people have the most fun they possibly can. So if he rolls something that would wreck your party, and decides that wouldn't be very fun, he can fudge the roll to something else, and since the DM is rolling behind a screen, the players are none the wiser.

Almost every group starts out rotating the role of DM because everyone wants to have a character. This isn't the wrong way of doing it, but every group eventually comes to the realization that they're better off if one person is the full-time DM.

Here are some good rules of thumb for DMing.

Make sure whoever is DMing is up to the task and understands their job is to maximize the amount of fun for everyone else, not necessarily themselves. A good DM will find enjoyment in his players having fun. He will challenge them, not punish them.

It is not PCs vs DM. To liken it to Skyrim, it's 3-5 Dovakhiin traveling together, and the DM is Skyrim. He is the world and all it's inhabitants. The world isn't out to get you, but if you make poor decisions there will be consequences.

----

>These games take like a week or so to finish.

It took us like 5 or 6 sessions that were 3-4 hours each to get through the adventure in this pack, and we only had 3 players.

The game never really finishes. It's like Skyrim, completing an adventure doesn't end the game, you just move on to the next one.

----

Check out /r/DnD, it's way more active. And for the whoever DMs /r/behindthescreen and /r/loremasters are helpful.

So for 5e there are a couple of things you can look at getting:

• Basic Rules: Look at the section for "Free Basic Rules". These PDFs are basically what you need to start playing D&D. The D&D 5e Player's Basic Rules has information about the basics of the game for players. It's got 4 races (Dwarf, Elf, Halfling, and Human) and 4 classes (Cleric, Fighter, Rogue, Wizard) and one "subclass" for each class (Life Domain Cleric, Champion Fighter, Thief Rogue, and School of Evocation Wizard). Items, customization, character building, and the general "here's how you play!" are included in this document. Great resource for a simple lookup if you want to introduce someone to the game, since the characters you can build out of it are generally solid characters. The D&D 5e Dungeon Master's Basic Rules is the starting point for your DM. For the most part is bunch of creature/enemy stat blocks with explanations on how to balance encounters to the players' levels, as well as a quick off-hand on how to generate magic items. DMs are the creative source of the campaign, so there isn't much required to actually build a simple campaign.
  
• Dungeons & Dragons 5e Starter Set: This is the most basic form of the game you can get with most things included. Looks like it's $13 on Amazon right now, which is pretty good. The box set comes with a 32-page player guide (mini Player's Handbook), a 64-page Dungeon Master's guide (mini Dungeon Master's Guide/Monster Manual), a couple of pre-generated characters, and a few dice. It's good for getting into 5e if you've never played before since the rules are greatly reduced down to levels 1-6 and there are only 8 classes. Most of the content is the same stuff you can find in the Basic Rules, minus the story that comes with the Starter Set. If someone gets this, everyone else can download/print the Basic Rules and should be good. Most of the content is all about how to play the characters that are in the starter set, not about character generation and the like, so make sure to look at the Basic Rules if you want to play a Halfling Fighter for example. See this comment for more explanation.
  
• Player's Handbook (Dungeons & Dragons 5e): This is the core of most of your games of 5e at this point. This has all of the basic necessities, like character classes, character races, items, spells, feats, etc. This is exactly what you need if you are a player, since this and some imagination allows you to build some pretty fun characters. If you end up playing 5e a lot, I'd recommend that everyone have somewhat regular access to a PHB, considering that 90% of the characters you make will come in most part from this books.
  
• Monster Manual: This is where you'll find the largest collection of all of the "basic" monsters that you can meet in a game of D&D. Enemies in general are in this book, and there is a lot of good explanation into the monsters, their stats, their decision routes, etc. This is super helpful since you can basically do whatever you want with this book and make some awesome fights. Find an enemy you like, but it's too high level? Nerf it somehow, and have your players fight it. I'm actually planning on setting a dragon with her wings clipped and her firebreathing removed, give them a fight, and see how they react.
  
• Dungeon Master's Guide: This is basically world building, combat building, enemy building, item building... basically, if it's not covered in the PHB or MM, the creation of object X or something similar will be in the DMG. It's there for the DMs to be able to balance items or enemies against certain requirements, since there is a lot to take into account. Helpful for the DM who doesn't have as much experience.
  
  So the Basic Rules help out a lot, the Starter Set is basically a physical copy of the basic rules (plus some), and then the core 3 books in order of (my personal opinion of) usefulness are PHB > MM > DMG. I'd say you probably want at least everyone to have a PHB, or access if you guys continue to play.
  
  Aside from that, most of the other 5e stuff you can pick up from wizards are modules. Modules are pre-created campaigns that have quests, items, locations, enemies (number, size, etc.) already pre-designed for you. Each of the following books has some sort of extra character information (like more subclasses, new races, etc.), but nothing is absolutely required. Generally if one person wants to play something (say, an Half-Elf Bladesinger Wizard) they should pick up the book to help build their character and to provide the GM with references to how the character works, but it's not necessary.
  
  
• Hoard of the Dragon Queen and The Rise of Tiamat are two halves to the same campaign aimed at stopping the biggest baddest dragon of them all, the five-headed chromatic dragon Tiamat.
  
• Princes of the Apocalypse is a cool campaign all about cults related to the 4 elements (Air, Water, Earth, Fire) trying to be bad. Pretty well designed, I'm currently running this with my group. They seem to be liking it a lot, but then again, I'm throwing a lot of other things in with it.
  
• Out of the Abyss is a campaign set in the Underdark. it sounds really cool, but I haven't looked into it much.
  
• Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide isn't a campaign but rather a campaign setting book. It's useful for reading up on how the Sword Coast in Forgotten Realms (the "main" D&D world) works. It's interesting.
  
  If you need any other help, please feel free to ask!

1. PRebuilds are fine for first timers if you have them, and the players like them. Let them build their own from what's available in the PHB otherwise. For their very first time, I wouldn't let them get too buckwild with options and homebrew stuff, but if you're comfortable with it, go nuts.
   
2. If you want to spend some money, run Lost Mines of Phandelver. If you wanna do it for free, Matt Colville has a pretty quick and easy dungeon for you here.
   
3. If you get the starter set, you'll have an adventure, rules, premade characcter sheets, all you'll really need is some dice and pencils. Otherwise, you might wanna pick up a copy of the Player's Handbook. Wizards has the basic rules of play free online.
   
4. Don't get too deep into lore and backstories and all the miscellania until you're all feeling comfy and have the hang of all this. This hobby can be expensive and it's not for everyone, so don't feel pressured to pour yourself into it right off the bat. A simple one-shot adventure with a few pre-made characters is a great way to dip your toes in the water and learn the ins & outs of 5e.
   
   Have some pizza and snacks and visit for the first hour of your session before getting the adventure going! You'll get a lot of socializing done and everyone will be more comfortable and focused. Most of all, keep it loose and fun!

Use the sidebar and the links the previous comments have provided. They'll be very helpful. The Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, and Monster Manual are about $30 each. This can seem like a lot, but they are so useful, and basically a necessity. Also, a couple sets of dice is important of course.

I started playing as a DM. I wanted to play, and none of my friends were as passionate about it, so I stepped up. It was fun to learn as I went, but a bit daunting at times. I've found great inspiration and information from the PAX streams of Acquisitions Inc and podcasts like The Adventure Zone and Nerd Poker. Also, the webcomic Darths & Droids has helpful & humorous information below each page. It helped me understand what DMing is like by "playing through" a story I was already very familiar with. Don't feel like you need a pre-made story either. We've been playing about 18 months now without ever opening one of the WotC campaign books. I primarily get my inspiration from movies, TV, comics, etc and just adapt the pilfered story to a fantasy setting.

Just jump in with both feet, and roll with it.

I would suggest the essentials kits of Ice Spire Peak or Lost Mines of Phandelver - though probably the former over the latter.

If you want the full books though, I would suggest DNDbeyond. You'd need a subscription to manage your full party, but that would also be splitting the cost 6 ways, give access to the party entirely all the time, let the DM easily see his player's sheets, and it's very user friendly to certain classes that otherwise are not - such as the druid having to manage wild shape and prepared casting.

My last suggestion is to consider the free Basic Rules to see if it's sufficient for you and if you enjoy using a digital platform. Players can make basic characters this way on dndbeyond for free as well- it'll be restrictive playing free but would be enough to see if they enjoy using the platform. Be sure to use the webpage on whatever device you'd be using in play as well.

What /u/ShadowSpectre47 said is good advice. That being said I haven't played a Dungeon Crawl boardgame that truly had an interesting story. Some games create a good story trough the game itself like Lord of the Rings LCG but as an RPG player I haven't seen a dungeon game that blew me away.

I don't know if you tried the "real thing" before but if not I urge you to check out the D&D Starter Set. It seems to offer what you want but just isn't a board game and at $13 it's dirt cheap.

The starter set offers everything you need to entertain a group for 10 hours (all the rules, character sheets, dice, and a complete non-linear adventure). It's for 3-6 players including one Dungeon Master.

It's comprehensive and easy to play. Players can start playing withing 5 minutes but the Dungeon Master must be willing to read through the campaign an the basic rules. The only downside is that it comes with only pre-generated characters. To generate your own characters you need the D&D Player's Handbook which is obviously more expensive.

If you want a full tabletop RPG for free there's a great option available for players new to RPGs and more experienced. Dungeon World is entirely free online.

In many ways it's a much simpler system than D&D and more in-line with what players that have never played an RPG before think an RPG like D&D will play like.

You do need to get your own dice and have a DM that is willing to create an adventure. The D&D Starter Set is definitely easier to get those first sessions started.

Honestly I'd say go with Lost Mines of Phandelver, the starter set adventure. It's not too heavy or loaded with intrigue, the plot hooks are clear, and kids will have no trouble following. Most of the bad guys are goblins and obviously bad people for the majority of the adventure. The adventure is also written with new DMs in mind so it has a lot of helpful info to work with. I would suggest picking up the starter set and reading through the adventure to make sure there's nothing you think is inappropriate and then just run with it. The starter set comes with the basic rules, a set of dice, the adventure, and premade characters. It doesn't give you all the classes and archetypes that the full Player's Handbook does, but it really is everything you need to get started (although it does not come with miniatures or a battle grid, which are not completely necessary). You'll have to be the judge of whether you want to guide your kids through character creation or just go with the premades, but I have heard many people suggest using the premade characters for a first adventure. Maybe though if you're interested in letting them create their own characters you could go to a local game store with them and let them pick out a miniature for their character, most stores carry Reaper Miniatures which are very reasonably priced, though are unpainted.

Your players are your kids and you're their dad, they're probably going to love how you run the adventure even if you stumble through it, but trust me running D&D is easier than you would think. Maybe check out some of Matt Colvile's videos if you want some DM tips, but again with your players being kids I think you could just dive in without much trouble.

The community here is pretty helpful in my experience so if you have additional questions feel free to post a topic, or post in the Weekly Questions thread posted every Monday. Good luck!

Couple directions you can go. If you want to learn it and get some friends involved at the same time, you can get the 5th Edition Starter Set and run that adventure for your friends. The player's handbook is also a must-own. The dungeon master's guide and monster manual are great, but not mandatory.

If you want to join a game, pick up a player's handbook and a set of dice, hit up r/lfg, local gaming stores, or other places around you. Reading the rules is not 100% mandatory, but it is highly recommended. The PHB alone will be enough to get you 100% ready to play if you read it fully.

5th edition is the easiest to pick up, and has a lot of flexibility, allowing you to make it what you want it to be.

3.5 or pathfinder has a lot more number crunching and a larger focus on designing the mechanics of a character throughout levels. If you love minutiae, planning ahead, and keeping track of lots of data, you might enjoy it quite a lot. I personally love it, but no longer play it, because 5th edition allows me to get my slightly more casual friends to the table for a good time.

The best advice I can give anyone who doesn't have a group to play with and doesn't have "nerdy" friends is become the DM for 5e and invite your friends to a game. They will most likely say "I don't know how to play", tell them it's fine. It's a game you learn as you go. You as the DM will be making a ton of mistakes early on but everyone will still have fun. Everyone will get better as they go. You want to read the Basic Rules, or the part in the PHB called "running the game". It's the small section in the middle between the race/class options and the spells. I did this very same thing when I first started watching Critical Role (I had played before but not 5e) and now we've been playing since 2015 and the problem I have now is too many people want to play. I currently have a full group of 5 and an extra player who plays the character of whoever doesn't show up. We're at the end of a campaign where it doesn't make sense introducing a new character but they should get to make one soon. 5e is the definitive edition to get new people into the game. If you can get them to show up for the first game, most of them will stick around, and they will be the best advertisements you have for the game since because they may not be "nerdy" they will convince other people more easily to try the game.

I recommend to start buy purchasing the starter set and playing through that (It has the basic rules and it starts easy for DM and gets more complicated as it goes to train you). You don't need anything besides this until you finish the campaign in it if you don't want to. https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Set-Roleplaying/dp/0786965592/

Optional but recommended, at least once you get your group started:

A copy of the PHB and MM, available from Amazon for less than in stores. https://www.amazon.com/Players-Handbook-Dungeons-Dragons-Wizards/dp/0786965606/ https://www.amazon.com/Monster-Manual-Core-Rulebook-Wizards/dp/0786965614/
A bag of dice so you have enough to share. I recommend the easy-roller dice bag, it's about $25 on Amazon but they guarantee the dice are not defects which is the case with many of the other big bags of dice. The bag contains 15 full sets of 7 dice in various colors. https://www.amazon.com/Easy-Roller-Dice-Polyhedral-Dungeons/dp/B00L2N1OVI

DM here.

Firstly, I'm really happy you're taking that leap and have decided to get into D&D. You seem enthusiastic and brave, which is what DM's like to see in players. Here are a few points based on my experiences as both a new player (long ago) and as a DM now.

• Bring a couple pencils. One to write with and a backup in case it breaks or someone else needs one. By lending one out, you'll make a friend instantly and although most DM's have extras, you'll look like a hero before you even roll your first D20.
  
  
• From what I'm understanding, you haven't made your character yet, correct? If the game starts at 7pm, try to get there at 6pm if possible so you can get your character set up and ready to go. DM's don't mind helping you create one but other players may feel like it's holding things up. Someone else also said it; know your character well. If you have time to build it prior, learn about your characters abilities so you don't sit there looking them up in the middle of combat, adventuring.
  
  
• If you have the money on hand--and it's understandable if you don't--go out and buy the D&D 5th Edition Player's Handbook. It's only $30 on Amazon (FUCK ME! I spent $50 at Barnes & Noble like a sucker haha) but is a must-have tool for ANY player. It's likely others will have them and they should let you borrow one for tonight. If you eventually become a crazy person, like me, you'll want to sit down and read the thing, cover-to-cover.
  
  
• Someone said it already but, know what you want to do or at least have an idea of what you want to do before it's your turn in combat. This is the only time you would be "holding up" the game so it's crucial to keep things moving here. During adventuring, it's not turn-based so you can simply go along for the ride. Since you're new, no one is expecting you to have all the answers or to be the main contributor, however it's good to interact accordingly when the DM calls on you. Quick story...I have a new player in my group and I didn't expect much out of him but there would be times I would go out of my way to include him in the action, so I called on him to interact with an NPC I created. He didn't get into the story or even make an attempt to role play at all. Quiet gamers are fine, but non-participants are no fun.
  
  
• It's been said: ask questions.
  
  
• Most importantly, HAVE FUN!

Find some friends & start a game. You can find free rules for all sorts of RPGs around.

• Shadowrun Quickstart - not technically D&D but it's based on the standard 6-sided dice you already have around the house (ie - no funny RPG dice needed). It's a combination of elves, dwarves & magic with a dark sci-fi setting. Free basic rules & an included adventure to get you up and running quickly.
  
  
• Dragon Age Quickstart - again, not realy D&D but it gives you everything you need to play a quick game (rules + adventure) and it works with the six-sided dice you already have.
  
  
• Swords & Wizardry Quick Start - S&W is a free clone of the oldest version of D&D. This is a stripped down version of the rules (only 10 pages for the rules) and includes a dungeon for you to explore. You'll need to get a set of 'funny' RPG dice but you can pick them up at your local game store or online (ie - Amazon) for $5-10 a set.
  
  
• Honorable mention goes to Basic Fantasy RPG - another free clone of old-school D&D using simplified new-school rules, this one has tons of adventures & stuff available online. One of the most noteworthy things about it is that PDFs of the rules are free & you can buy all the printed books online at cost. The full rule book & a set of adventures (like "AA1") will cost you less than $20.
  
  ...and if you're willing to spend a few bucks there's the:
  
  
• Dungeons and Dragons Starter set - It's cheap & it comes with dice, pre-generated characters, printed basic rules & a starting adventure that will probably last you and your friends a few sessions of gameplay.
  
  You can get more info by reading the the sidebar in /r/dnd and /r/rpg (both have decent "newbie" guides). There's also websites like http://learntabletoprpgs.com/ that have articles targeted at new players.

> I wouldn't call DnD 5th edition rules light though.

It's not "rules light," but has a fairly limited number of mechanics to worry about. There are very few (any?) issues with the rules where stuff isn't intuitive (in contrast to something like 2e, where some checks you wanted to roll high and others you wanted low).

> There's lots of rules, spells and conditions all in 3 books spanning ~900 pages just for the basic game to run.

Nope. All you need is the free PDF to get started. There are a lot of spells, but any individual character doesn't need to worry about most at once, instead just learning about new stuff as it becomes available.

The Dungeon Master's Guide is not at all required to run the game, and actually doesn't cover any required rules. It's most useful section is the Treasure chapter, with everything else being more "conversational" insight, some random generators to help the DM do stuff, etc.. Player's certainly don't need to purchase it.

The Monster Manual is important, but only needed by one person.

> Then you add in Xanathars, Tome of Foes, Volo's guide and that's another ~900 pages and a total investment of like 350$ CAD.

None of those books are at all required, and most are simply filled with useful "fluff" like generating backgrounds, detailed racial information (society of fey creatures, etc), and some optional rules for downtime activities between adventures.

Of those books, only Xanathar's Guide to Everything actually has stuff that you could argue is useful to players in a mechanical way. Fortunately, damn near all of it was previously made available for free in Unearthed Arcana, so if you just need the mechanical player options, you probably don't have to buy the book.

You don't have to spend anywhere close to $350 CAD to run 5e. You're looking at $0 for players to get started, or $57 if they want to buy the PHB at full retail for some reason. You can instead just get it online for about $35.. Even that's only needed if you want the rules for all the subclass specializations -- the core rules free PDF includes everything you need to actually play the game.

> Let's not forget about the work you research and study you have to do to run a module, which could be like another 200-300 pages that you need to know in and out for the game to run smoothly.

Huh? Modules are generally just a single adventure, and certainly not "200-300 pages." If you're talking about a full Adventure Path that spans nearly all the levels, then yeah those are larger. But you're also talking about something like a 1 year or more of actual game play. Furthermore, you don't need to know it in and out "for the game to run smoothly." The GM probably needs to at least skim over each chapter to have a general idea of what's happening, but actual prep time for any given session is no more or less than Savage Worlds. I know because I run both.

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.

I'm pretty fond of The 99 Critical Shots in Pool. It goes into some basics and a ton of shot situations with explanation. It's a great resource, imo, for nearly all levels of play.

For the mental game, I'm a huge fan of Pleasures of Small Motions. It's a deep dive into the mental game and talks about concentration vs focus and helps the reader with some mental exercises. Jury is out in this sub whether it's all that valuable, though I have found it to be a great help to my game. IMO, even at an early stage this book could be useful. Frustration can be a big problem for a beginner trying to get comfortable with the game and having some insight to the mental side can be a benefit.

Welcome to pool! I hope you enjoy playing and fall in love with it like we all have. :)

TL;DR: start: free basic rules + dice. if you have fun, buy PHB, maybe MM.

as others already have said. the free basic rules http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/basicrules are everything you need to play apart of a set of dice. the class and race choices are limited, but the rules are free. with these you can have months over months of fun.

if you want to play good adventure and not create one your own, the stater set is a good product. it comes with a rule booklet, pre-generated charakters, dice and an adventure booklet. https://www.amazon.de/Wizards-Coast-WTCA92160000-Dungeons-Roleplaying/dp/0786965592

if you all have a lot of fun and want to invest, everyone of you can get their own dice set and buy the players handbook https://www.amazon.de/Players-Handbook-Core-Rulebook-Wizards/dp/0786965606/ref=pd_bxgy_21_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=N31MKHATXPB3CPYKPTWC

it got everything you need. if you want to buy stuff for the DM, the monster manual is great https://www.amazon.de/Monster-Manual-Core-Rulebook-Wizards/dp/0786965614/ref=pd_bxgy_21_img_3?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=PJ9QEP6WN5J2HAPH80X7

I would not buy the dungeon masters guide. I DM myself and have it and I don't use it that often.

as for the levels: 20 is max. if you reach 20 with a character, it's only after 1-2 years of play, maybe longer and then the character is kind of a demigod.

Basically you need the Player's Handbook, the Dungeon Master's Guide, and the Monster Manual. There are also "premium" versions of these books printed in 2012 that include many years worth of errata, and you should try to get those if you can.

The three core books are enough to play, but of course Wizards of the Coast published a very large number of supplements to the game that add more rules, systems, and advice for DM's to use and more options, classes, and spells for players. One of these is the Dungeon Master's Guide II, which includes a large bit of advice for DM's, more magic items, and some new rules and systems, including a detailed system for building towns. It was a fine supplement, but is certainly not essential for running a campaign, and I wouldn't even describe it as the best 4th book for a new dungeon master to buy.

Actually, if you're just starting out DMing, the best 4th book to get would probably be a pre-published adventure, or even a mega-adventure or adventure path. The Sunless Citadel is an excellent adventure for 1st-level PC's, though you should check first whether anyone in your group has played through it before. As for mega-adventures, both The Red Hand of Doom and Age of Worms have excellent reputations, though the latter was published in Dungeon magazine which makes it hard to find a copy.

I'm amazed the comments section isn't full immediately...

So! One of the best places to start with D&D if you're coming at it with little to no experience is YouTube. If you've been watching shows like Acquisitions Incorporated, Critical Role, or Force Grey: Giant Hunters, you might already have some idea of what to expect. There are a plethora of other YouTube personalities that are very education and encouragement-driven.

If you're just looking for the best things to buy or download to get started, for D&D specifically, the 5th edition Starter Set is terrific. It's only $20 in-store and provides you with multiple levels of play along with prebuilt characters and a decent-length adventure:

https://amzn.com/0786965592

The official D&D site also has great free material to take your game further without spending any money:

http://dnd.wizards.com/products/tabletop-games/trpg-resources

Also, I would recommend starting with pre-written adventures until you get a feel for how to run a game and populate worlds with interesting people. A great site for cheap premade adventures is the DMs Guild (formerly D&D Classics).

http://www.dmsguild.com/

Quick note: assuming you can wrangle a group of friends into playing, if you're the one putting in the most work at the outset you'll almost certainly be the de facto Dungeon Master. Just be ready for players to not put in the effort as much.

This might belong a bit more in /r/boardgames but regardless...

The dnd board games can actually be pretty fun. I like the dungeon delver board games. A good board game you might like if you like these type of games is mageknight that also follows a similar play style (though pseudo random generation with different mechanics) of going through a world and getting stronger.

If you like these board games, but want to delve more into tabletop rpgs look into something like DnD 5th edition or the starter set. Someone can correct me if I am wrong, but I think the starter set has everything you need for a small adventure, and if you get the basic book you can continue the characters if you want.

I am distinguishing between these rpg/dungeon crawler board games and rpgs. This might confuse you, so I will go more into what's different. In the rpg/dungeon crawler board games there may or may not be a dungeon master (someone who controls the game other than the players), in pen and paper rpgs this sub focuses on most of the time there is a separate player running the game. The main difference though is that a pen and paper rpg relies more on imagination, improvisation, and give much more freedom. In a game as you linked, you typically kill monsters, get some xp, and then just get stronger. You don't have much choice in how your character develops typically. Also the story is usually very linear as well. You progress, you get small tidbits of story, but the main goal is to just complete the dungeons. This is reverse of pen and paper rpgs, classic dnd being the main example. In these you normally focus on the story, the dungeons and fights being the obstacles to that. You also are not focused on a grid the whole time, you can have grid based combat, but there are a lot of "off the grid" moments where the board game variants are typically all on the grid.

They are both fun, are similar and related, but differ in a pretty fundamental way.

Easiest place to start would be a 5e starter kit. Why? They are cheap entry points to the hobby, they include an adventure module (this is a big deal, it makes the GM’s first go at things much easier), it’s in print, they have shorter manuals to read (which will get you right into playing to see if you like it) and frankly, 5e is a pretty approachable edition and is currently the lingua franca of the broader RPG community.

There are a couple of starter options:

Essentials Kit: the newer version, includes character creation options out of the box. I don’t know much about the included adventure module, but look around and you’re likely to find reviews.

Starter Set: the older one of the 5e starters, but well worth considering. It’s dirt cheap and I’ve heard lots of praise for the supplied adventure module “Lost Mines of Phandelver.” The only downside would be no character creation options out of the box (it comes with pre-gen characters which work fine but aren’t everyone’s thing), but this could be supplemented with the free Basic Rules which would let you generate characters with the “classic” race and class options as well.

If you like it, then consider picking up the core book set (Players Handbook for the big set of character options, DM Guide, and Monster Manual). If you don’t like it, come back to this sub with specifics on what you did and didn’t like: you’ll get hundreds of new suggestions that will point you in the best direction from there. Happy gaming!

100% watch the Matt Colville series sticked at the top. The first few walk you through making a simple adventure and the hooks for such but I would recommend (as does he) using a module, in particular, the Starter Set that you can get for about $13.

https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Set-Roleplaying/dp/0786965592/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1468749875&sr=1-1&keywords=dungeons+and+dragons+starter+set

The included module The Lost Mine of Phandelver is an excellent starting point. Even if you decide not to run the module itself, the town of Phandalin is an excellent starting town to repurpose and reskin. The easiest way to make content on the fly is have modules and pre-made things like this that you can adapt to your setting.

As far as improvising goes, it takes some time to develop those muscles. When you have a solid outline ready like that in the module, it's easier to improvise because you have context and a backbone to pull from. In that module there is a patrol of Hobgoblins that can appear at a certain point but if your players wander off track or get stuck with what to do, suddenly they hear the unmistakable sounds of a rowdy warband crashing through the woods filled with the whoops and excitement of victory. Never be afraid to move things around. You know the map and where they should be but the players don't. If they miss a big, fun encounter, pivot it around and put it somewhere else.

Nothing I just said isn't covered in Colville's videos, I really recommend them.

It depends on how much you want to get into it. If you and your group can settle down for a few hours and play, then it can be more fun than any board game on the market. However, it has some steep requirements- Namely, the price of the books and learning the rules.

There is a 5th edition starter set on amazon for fairly cheap. Here it is. If you can convince your friends to play and convince another to take the legendarily daunting mantle of "Dungeon Master" (Or become the Dungeon Master yourself) then you can have a lot of fun, and this can let you know if you're gonna enjoy it. It's all you need to play D&D in it's simplest form.

If you like the starter set, the only books you NEED to play the full version of D&D are the Monster Manual and Player's Handbook, just make sure you're getting the ones for 5th edition, because there are multiple iterations from different editions. Dungeon Master's Guide, while not required, can help you in creating an amazing story and campaign that your players will love.

After that, it's just branching out, seeing what you like and don't like about D&D, and learning from others. If you're into it, go to r/DnD - We're a good lot of folk who have numerous tools to help newer players.

Hi. So I don't really have the time to sit an talk with you (I'm in EU and going to sleep soon). But I'll try to point you in the right direction for information to get started.

So first off, if you really have no idea what D&D is I'd suggest watching some youtube videos. There are videos of people explaining the basic concepts and videos of groups playing which can be quite entertaining and will help you get a grasp of how the game works. In particular I'd recommend the "Acquisitions Incorporated" live shows.

So amusing you now understand the basic idea and want to get a game going with your friends here's what you need. you can get the 5th edition basic rules for free on the D&D website. 5th edition is the latest edition and I'd recommend it for new players. Don't feel like you need to read the entire thing or memorise the rules, just get a feel for it.

For your DM I would personally recommend the 5th edition starter set. It's only 20 bucks (your group could pitch in together making it like 5 each) and is designed specifically for new players and new DMs. It has everything you need to run a game; a story module for the DM to run, a set of dice, several pre-made character sheets for you and the other players to use, and a paper copy of the basic rules. It will be able to explain most of the answers to the questions you have, and if not feel free to come back here and ask more specific questions and I'm sure people will be happy to help.

If you have more questions now feel free to ask me now. Otherwise I hope this was helpful and good luck on your new adventure :)

you just fucking decided to get into dnd. and who are these fuckers to tell you when and how to dnd? fck em. this is how you start: buy these. Then go pick up these: Phb it's at the lowest price ever right now, so be quick. and then this (also cheaper right now, you're really lucky) and this (also on sale. man, you are a lucky 3 striker) would be good too. that will give you enough gaming material for everything you need for atleast the next 5 years of dnd. i know its alot of money if you count it up and when you only have highschool-kid-budget especially, but its worth it. you basically keep them forever. if that all is too much, get some dice and the basic rules for the Players and the rules for the Dungeon Master for free.

Now go watch these:

WebDm > more on their channel aswell.

Matt Colville

Matthew Mercer

You should be a party of 4 players and 1 Dm, in the best case. perfect size group. there are bigger and smaller groups but thats a good start for group size in the beginning. since you asked how to play, you will probably be the Dm. thats a good thing.

No group or friends to play with? try online play with roll20.net, fantasy grounds or use the r/lfg subreddit to find people interested to play in your area. just be aware of the typical stranger danger of the internet .

If you need anything else, ask away.

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Adults are just outdated children.

Firstly, my honest answer. Right now, the thing that would make me the happiest to receive would be this. The story behind this is that the game came out on Tuesday. They announced ahead of time that only 1,000 copies of the limited edition were going to be made, so I stayed up all night in order to buy it when the listing went up. Well it did, I added it to my cart, then I went to hit buy, and it said the item couldn't be shipped to my address (even though it was a legitimate US address) and removed it. Then when I went back to try and buy it again, they were all sold out. Tons of other people also had similar problems, along with problems like not shipping to foreign countries and not limiting it to one per person. The company then basically just said they were sold out, never admitted they fucked up, and were like "Thanks for supporting us! See you next time!" So it was basically just a giant middle finger after spending all the time and effort. I really want the game though, 'cause the series looks interesting and it would be a great way to get into it. Plus the limited edition comes with a case for the PS Vita, which I need since I don't have one. The worst part about the whole thing was that I HAD it, and then they fucked up and took it from me. :\

But I know that's a completely unreasonable item, given the price, lol. So other than that, the item I think would probably make me the happiest would be the D&D Monster Manual. I know it's a pre-order, but I'm pretty excited for it. I've been playing D&D for a looooong time (like 10 years maybe?) and with the newest edition of D&D out now things are starting to get fresh again. Especially after the disaster that was the last edition. I already bought the Player's Handbook, and there's a lot of improvements to the game. It looks like they actually took into mind what all the players wanted with this one, and this edition of D&D will be pretty much the edition for a while instead of being splintered like it had before. So I'm excited to get my hands on the books so I can see and play with all the neat monsters and creatures like dragons and raggamoffyns.

The starter set is pretty good to start out with (as advertised). If you enjoy it then I would def say get a copy of the Players Handbook, Dungeon Masters Guide, and Monster Manual. As for figures, there is nothing saying you need figures, a lot of people use paper figures for a while. However if you want actual figures there are a few options. You can always look for what you want on amazon or miniature market, if you are looking for pre-painted, however this can get pretty pricey. Now you can also buy figures unpainted (which is what I do) for pretty cheap. If you leave them unpainted then the cost is really low, however painting figures is another hobby all together and can start to get pricey depending on paints and other supplies.

​

If you don't have a selection of figures yet and need specific things for your game, then Reaper Miniatures is a good place to start. They have a large selection of plastic figures that are pretty cheap plus you can pick and choose what you get. They have metal versions of many of the figures but these are more expensive and probably not worth it if you are just trying out the figure part of the game. Another relatively cheap rout to go for figures is the line of WizKids Unpainted figures. They are more expensive than the Reaper plastic figures however they are a bit higher quality plastic and are monsters straight from the Monster Manual. If you want custom figures than Hero Forge is a great option. However these are pretty pricey for people just stating out as even their cheapest option is still going to run you about $40 USD just for one figure. The other option you have is getting booster packs like this. They come with 4 pre-painted figures but are not a good choice if you need something specific for your current game.

​

I know this was a long post but I hope it answered your questions and gave you a good starting point. If you have any questions let me know. Been playing for about 15 years.

> 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.
  
  

Here is a link one many agree is the best starter set and it is cheap in comparison to many other ones out there.

Besides that, there is The Players Handbook. Which is the only book I would say is a necessity for playing dnd (even being a dm) as it goes over all the rules and mechanics and gives you a lot of classes and races to work with. After that there is Xanathars Guide to Everything and the Monster Manual that are good starts to expanding your knowledge and options when playing or creating a DND world

If you are looking for good things to watch in your free time to improve your knowledge and get new ideas, I like Dungeon Dudes or Critical Role. Both are on Youtube and provide lots of good material to work with.

Then (shameless plug) I actually have a website that does in-depth analysis on many dungeon and dragons items such as mechanics, spells, and races that go into their strengths lore and other stuff. So check it out! It's called wizardofthetavern. If you have any other questions feel free to message me I will be more than happy to help you out!

Few things you can try -

Check your LGS (Local Game Store) and see if on their events list they have an Adventurer League. My brother in law recently started going with his daughter on a weekly basis and have been having a good time!

Local Game Stores also sometimes have bulletin boards where people will old school place notices if they're trying to put together a group to play at the store or at someones house. Requires a bit of an outgoing and adventurous attitude since you'll be sitting down to play with strangers.

If you don't have a lot of time you can check subreddits like /r/lfg (Looking For Group) as there are people who are regularly trying to put together games. Most these will be online using platforms like Roll20 so its easier to gather a group.

I know it can be daunting but the other option is to grab a Starter Kit which are very affordable compared to the core books but will still allow you and some friends to play!

Sad reality is that games can be hard to find because players far outnumber us DMs. So sometimes the only option new players have to get a group together is to take a stab at being DM. Contrary to what some people think you can start playing with nothing more than the starter kit, some notebooks, writing utensils and, some dice. The kit will give you a module you can run right out of the box. If your spouse is up to trying grab another friend or two give everyone some beer and explore some D&D together! Might not be everyone's bag but it can't hurt to see.

Running your first game seems daunting but like most things it always seems worse than it really is, best part is if you're playing with all new people they know exactly as much as you do, so you'll all be learning together!

Hopefully this helps a little and if you have questions feel free to ask! Always happy to help!

Let's break it down:

Get your feet wet for (almost) FREE
Basic rules online or to download. Like a mini Player's Handbook but with fewer classes and races.
A character sheet. Or another character sheet.
(not free) A set of dice, pencil, paper.

Ohh, that was fun, I want more!
Player's Handbook
More dice
A miniature of your character

Totally optional for a player:
The Dungeon Master's Guide has a few more options for characters, but is mostly insight into building adventures and campaigns. The Monster Manual is great if you want to learn about what you will face. But don't buy them yet. Go play, have fun, make friends.

And if you win the lottery, buy a Geek Chic table to play on.

By Starter Kit, I'm guessing you mean this? If so, it's going to have an adventure along with the rules and whatnot, as well as pregenerated characters for you to pick from. The adventure, Lost Mine of Phandelver, also has lots of advice for whomever's GMing the game. It is, after all, a starter set for them as well :)

For a more complete game, you'll need to drop some doss on the holy trinity - Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide and Monster Manual. All in, around $100 new, a bit less used. The PHB is going to outline most of what you need to run the game - character creation (all the options for races and classes and spells and whatnot), the rules for task resolution and combat, equipment, spells, and a lot of miscellaneous bits and bobs. The Monster Manual has a bunch of monsters in it, without which it'd be pretty boring to roam the world. The DMG is sort of a catch-all of everything else - magic items, extra/alternate rules, and a lot of generally helpful advice about things like what to do when the players go off the beaten path and designing worlds and campaigns. While it's helpful, I'd say it's the least crucial of the three to actually playing the game.

There's also a bunch of adventures and campaigns, published by both Wizards of the Coast and third party publishers. You might check some of those at as a good starting point for your adventures. While it's probably not as fun as making everything up yourselves, it'll be handy to play for awhile with the safety net of "here's what comes next" laid out in print.

You might check out Geek & Sundary's Critical Role, which is actual D&D being played by actual overly attractive people in a manner which is both fun and informative. Matthew Colville's channel has a lot of really great advice for people just starting out, especially related to running the game.

Hopefully that answered some of your questions. If you have anything specific, toss it out and I'll see if I can answer it.

2E books are treasures--you are smart to hold on to them.

For the 3E and 4E stuff you are planning on getting rid of, best thing is to ask if there is a kid in your extended family who might want the collection.

You could check to see if amazon offers trade-in value for them. Like here https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-3-5-Players-Handbook/dp/0786962461/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1483034452&sr=1-1&keywords=Player%27s+handbook+3.5

You see they are offering $13 on an Amazon gift card. It is easy, you just put them in a box and send them in in one large trade-in batch. The book will find its way to someone who needs it eventually, because it still has value.

Many don't offer trade-in, like the 3.0 core rules, but that's because the used market is selling them for a couple of bucks. Nothing to do about that, WOTC's plan was to obsolete some books to resell core line, and they did a good job. There are simply too many in the market for the demand, and it isn't going to pick up for those editions. Probably best to just throw them out--it's sad, but you will probably spend more of your time and gas trying to get them somewhere than they will ever be worth. Content yourself with knowing that there are many, many more copies of them out there than will ever be used.

I personally would go wih Amazon trade-in over eBay selling because it is hassle free, but it all depends on how much you value your time. I would also figure most libraries would determine that since there is a newer edition out, and this is outside their core line anyway, they wouldn't be likely to keep it. Amazon trade-in is just a hassle free way of getting it out into the marketplace, increasing supply for those who want them.

But certainly keep your 2E stuff, unless passing it on to someone you know will love it. It connects and is compatible with 20 years of AD&D material across 10 campaign settings, and is the last of the Gygax style old-school RPGs, so it is something that can never be replaced by the new stuff.

I'd start with the most recent edition of D&D. Wizards did a good job streamlining how things work. If you have a group you could convince to play, there's a starter box that you can pick up from most game stores for ~$20 (or amazon for $13, but I'd encourage you to support your local game shop) that contains the basic rules, an adventure book, all the dice you'll need, and five premade characters (though the rule booklet has character creation rules in it if you wanted to roll up your own, iirc). The adventure you get lasts you a few sessions at least (I'd guess around 4 or 5, depending on how focused y'all stay), so you'd be able to get a pretty good idea if a) you actually enjoy tabletop rpg (it's not for everyone, and there's nothing wrong with that) and b) if you like D&D5e's rules

Ok, cutting and pasting my own post from early in the year. (Sorry about the formatting.) I originally composed this for a friend who claimed he was ready to work on chess for 20 hours/week. I don't think he's kept it up.

-----------------------------------------------------

Here's what I recently emailed someone in the same situation as you - well, his goal was year-end.

If you STUDY chess for 15-20 hours/week for a year, you should be 2000 strength by the end of the year, and 2200 (I expect - much better than me) by the end of next year. Studying is the same as for math and music - it does not include leisure time like playing blitz.

You can break down your chess study into five buckets:
Tactics (start now and continue forever)
Endings (start in April and continue)
Playing/competing (start in February / start reading in July)
Strategy/middlegame planning (start in August and continue)
Openings (start in November and continue)

I think you need to begin them in that order - overlapping, of course.

[1] Tactics - do these books in order. DO the problems, however long it takes - don't look up an answer until you have a solid solution. If the books offer clues on the page (e.g. this page is all pins and skewers), go through and black them out with a marker in advance.

• http://amzn.com/0879801107 [1001 Brilliant Ways to Checkmate]
  
  
• http://amzn.com/0879801115 [1001 Winning Chess Sacrifices]
  
  
• All three books in the Test Your Chess IQ series.
  
  
• http://www.amazon.com/John-Nunns-Chess-Puzzle-Book/dp/1906454035 [John Nunn's Chess Puzzle Book]
  
  [2] Endings
  
  
• http://www.amazon.com/Winning-Chess-.../dp/1857443489 [Winning Chess Endings]
  
  
• http://amzn.com/1936490137/ [Dvoretsky]
  
  [3] Playing/competing Play slow games, at time controls of Game/60 to Game/120, preferably against stronger players. Keep score, then analyze and annotate those games in depth, without using a computer. Then go over the games and your analysis with a stronger player, e.g. bring it to Sunday chess club.
  
  I should really stress this - chess is about playing, not just studying. You need to find a variety of strong players, not just computers, and play against them. You might also consider playing correspondence.
  If you play in tournaments during this time, DO NOT THINK ABOUT YOUR RATING. Also, NEVER offer or accept a draw, EVEN if the option is losing. During the next two years, your only goal is to learn and improve. Learning comes from playing on.
  
  After a few months of playing and analyzing slow games, read these books:
  
  
• http://amzn.com/1857446682/ [Lessons With a Grandmaster]
  
  
• http://www.amazon.com/Pump-Your-Rating-Axel-Smith/dp/1907982736 [Pump Up Your Rating] [possibly my favorite chess book]
  
  By "read" I mean go through them slowly, doing every exercise, thinking about every comment to every game. It's hard work.
  
  [4] Strategy/planning
  
  
• http://www.amazon.com/Simple-Chess-Algebraic-Edition-Dover/dp/0486424200 [Simple Chess]
  
  
• http://www.amazon.com/The-Reassess-Y.../dp/1890085057 [Reassess Your Chess Workbook]
  
  
• http://www.amazon.com/dp/9056914340/ [Techniques of Positional Play]
  
  
• http://www.amazon.com/Pawn-Structure-Chess-Andrew-Soltis/dp/1849940703 [Pawn Structure Chess]
  
  
  [5] http://www.amazon.com/Build-Your-Chess-Opening-Repertoire/dp/1901983897 [How to Build Your Chess Opening Repertoire]
  
  Of course someone else could construct an equally valid study plan with hundreds of entirely different books, but ... the ones I've chosen are excellent, and I strongly believe that they are sufficient.
  
  I don't mention computers very much. I think they can be most useful as sparring partners for learning your basic endings and (eventually) openings. But don't let your study center around computers or opening databases or internet blitz.
  
  And of course ... don't let it stop being fun. :-) Maybe that's where some blitz comes in. Otherwise, what's the point?

To my knowledge, please correct me if I'm wrong, but I think 5e is here for a while. I know there is a new version of Pathfinder in the works but I'm not too sure when.


I'm not sure where you were looking, but for all 3 core books it's not even $90.
r/https://smile.amazon.com/Players-Handbook-Dungeons-Dragons-Wizards/dp/0786965606/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1540259805&sr=8-3&keywords=dungeons+and+dragons+5th+edition&dpID=51Vm6tYknZL&preST=_SX218_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch




Also, for the DM, you would need the DMG first, PHB second, and MM third. Here are my reasons:


DMG - For learning tips on DMing 5e as well as being full of useful info to create adventures, this I would say get first.
PHB - Help see what spells your players have and what each class does. Helpful for you to learn more about 5e.
MM - While an AMAZING resource full of monsters, it can be a lot when you are picking what to initially throw at your characters. You can google most monsters and it'll help split the cost up.


As for that starter set: My players loved it. You, especially for your previous experience, could make the Starter set work for probably a few months. You can also find adventures for free or at low costs on dmsguild.com

I'll make a couple suggestions. The first is this video series. This is a great rundown of the game and how it works and it really helped me understand how to play. It will take you an hour or two to get through the videos but it's so worth it. I would recommend having your players watch the first 10 minute video before they show up for the first session or watch it as a group once you're all together (not the whole series, just the intro video.) This will give them an idea of what D&D is all about and what to expect, at least a little bit.

The second resource I'm going to recommend is the D&D Starter Set. This contains a great first adventure for you to run as a DM, as well as pregenerated characters to use and one set of dice. The adventure that the set comes with is The Lost Mine of Phandelver and it literally walks you through everything as you start to DM. It will tell you what to do and hold your hand as you get off the ground. The first session is sort of a tutorial session for you as DM and for the players.

I'd recommend getting some extra dice for your players as well so everyone can play with their own set. If you watch those videos and start off with the Starter Set you should be good to go.

1. Learn the rules. Not memorized to the last detail, but enough to know what spells you may know, when to cast them, when to attack, how much damage you do, and so on. There's an official Players' Handbook if you're willing to pay about 30$ for a copy. One of the other players may have one they're willing to share, or another one of your friends. If you don't want to spend the money and you don't have friends with one, there's a free pdf with most of the rules, but it has less variety of characters, races, and classes. The Players' Handbook (often abbreviated to PHB) has all of the canon ones.
   
   
2. Make a character that you like playing as. You can be anything you want to be. ANYTHING. However you want the character to act, that's how they act. How you play one day may be different from another day, but that's all part of your character growing up. Just be sure that your character doesn't have a jarring change all at once. A religious, uptight Paladin doesn't change to a shameless flirt in a day, see what I mean.
   
   
3. You're there to have fun. So are the other people at the table. You want everybody to enjoy themselves so that you can enjoy yourself. It's a game, not the end of the world. Be yourself and watch the fun happen.
   
   When in doubt, go to Google or YouTube or some place and search "What to know for a new D&D player" or something like that. The Internet is a beautiful place.
   
   TL;DR: Learn the rules, play a character who you want to play as, and remember that it's just a game.

If you're interested in D&D, the starter set for the newest edition is a great deal. It's only 15 dollars here on Amazon. It comes with a guide to get you through level 5, a set of dice, pregenerated characters, and a premade adventure for you to run. It's definitely worth a look.

If you're worried about complexity though, my favorite game to pick up and run with newbies is Savage Worlds. It is 9 dollars right now on Amazon for the entire rulebook. You'd just need a set of dice. Its focus is, "Fast, furious, and fun," and it does it pretty well. The best part is that it's only 150 pages or so instead of the hundreds upon hundreds that most people use for D&D.

Either way, I'd encourage dropping by /r/rpg if you're at all interested. The community is super helpful and there are countless RPGs out there that are tons of fun to run and play.

I think the starter set would be good. I'm a very new player/DM and it gave me an adventure to run with my friends, who also had no experience playing. It was a lot of fun.

As for the math, it's really not terrible difficult, mainly just simple addition and subtraction, which would be great for the kids IMHO.

I plan on getting my two year old into D&D ASAP personally. It's something that both her mom and I enjoy so it's something she can be involved in, and the math part, as I stated before, is pretty simple. Just have them add the modifiers and you tell them the outcome, there is no need for them to remember everything.

Now, if you're asking which edition to go for, 5e is probably the easiest for new players to understand (also it's the most recent edition, with the DM Guide having come out online only 3 days ago).

http://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Set-Roleplaying/dp/0786965592/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1418417769&sr=8-1&keywords=starter+set+dnd

That's the link to buy the starter set on Amazon. It's very fairly priced. Give it a try, I'm sure you and your kids will love it. If not, it'll give you somewhat of a base to build your own world that your kids will love. :)

I am a filthy casual able to play 3/4 hours per week. It took time but I am three trophies from Platinum. I would strongly encourage you not to give up. All the bosses can be cheesed (look up videos on YouTube) or head to /r/rhutnersbell where many will help you. Get the strategy guide or look up the one true wiki.

Bloodborne is fantastically rewarding when you get good enough to defeat a boss. The adrenaline rush, the sense of achieving something, and the sheer joy of finally getting good is wonderful. No matter if you cheesed, read up, or whatnot: your skill is what got you there! Few, if any, games are like that.

So if you're on a budget and want to start out, as Stormbow said, see the Basic Rules that are online. You can start playing with them and theres a good amount of content for free. You can find it on the Wizards of the Coast website.

​

When you want a more streamlined experience and you need some assistance getting started, you could get the D&D Starter Set, which comes with a printed Version of the basic rules, pre made characters, dice and an absolutely perfect adventure you can play out of the box. The new D&D Essentials Kit is currently only available from Target, and I do not own it myself. It is a different take on the Starter Set with character creation and a different adventure to play right out of the box. It contains rules to play with just two people as well, so if it's just you and your son, this could be the thing for you.

​

If you want to go all in, or if you decide that it's a wonderful hobby, getting the "holy trinity" of books is a great idea:

• Players Handbook - Everything you need as a player to play the game. Character creation, equipment, spells and so on.
  
• Dungeon Masters Guide - All you need to DM a game, from optional rules to magic items.
  
• Monster Manual - Also a book more targeted to the DM, as it contains a bunch of monsters that you can use in your game.

tl;dr: Get the Starter Set, get the Player's Handbook, get some Dice and go wild. Don't worry about asking for advice on here as well.

There's actually a Getting Started Guide in the Sidebar of this Subreddit; it's a very nice comprehensive list of what to do.

For home games, I would heavily encourage you to get the 5e Starter Set which comes with a Quickstart Rundown of the Rules, Pregenerated Characters, Dice and a really great Adventure. It really is a perfect start.

As for "Adventurer's League", that is the Official D&D 5e game-style; it uses specific adventures and a certain set of rules that is consistent between stores and events so you can theoretically take a character from one Store/Event and play it at another place without problems. It follows a couple of specific rules, and is mainly a way for people to play that don't have a consitent home group to play with. It's fun, and if the Store does have an AL table for Children specifically, that is great; without much knowledge of the rules yet, AL may be overwhelming though.


If you are serious about starting, get the Starter Set, an extra Set of Dice (usually called a "Polyset"), and maybe the Player's Handbook, this will last for the first couple of Months I'd wager. Getting the Player's Handbook is great for when your Boys want to make their own Characters instead of using the Pregenerated ones, as it has all the standard Race and Class options, equipment for characters, and all the other things you need for playing.

The other books, like the Dungeon Master's Guide and Monster Manual are nice to have, but not a necessity. The DMG goes into a lot of detail on how to make your own worlds and adventures and lists a lot of magic items; good to have, but not a necessity I'd say.

The MM has the stastics and information on Monsters; a lot of those can be looked up via the 5e System Reference Document or the Roll20 Compendium. More monsters are always nice to have, but again, not necesarry for when you're starting out.

There's other books as well - Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide, Volo's Guide to Monsters, Xanathar's Guide to Everything, Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes..., but all those are Supplement Books that offer Information on Campaign/World Settings, have new Monsters or more Player Options in terms of Races and Classes, but they are also entirely optional and a little more "advanced" content, so to speak, so I wouldn't pick them up right away.

A couple of months ago I was making the exact same sort of post on rpggeek.com (a rpg related website pretty good to have a look at their forums if you are just starting out as well). The advice I got was to just bite the bullet, buy myself a D&D 5e Starter Set, let my friends read the starter rules and just DM my own first game. If you're interested in how the night went you can check out the session report I wrote for it on rpggeek here.

If I'm honest the first night was, from a "following the rules" and running the game etc. sort of point of view it was a train wreck we got a lot wrong. However, it was also a shed load of fun and has kicked my friends and I off on our D&D journey. At the end of the day us getting the rules wrong just helps us to learn the rules properly when we go back to look them up it's all part of the fun I guess. It's too early to tell if it will be a long lasting interest in the hobby but we have a second night planned, so one step at a time I guess.

I don't have nearly as much experience as the other people who might answer your question here but from one newbie to another I will echo to you the advice I got. Just do it, man. Sure my first night flew in the face of the rules but its all a learning experience and the fact is speaking with a GM first isn't going to stop you from making those mistakes anyway. The starter set is so cheap as well, I know I've spent more on other things "just to give them a go".

Whether you decide to take the plunge as I suggested above or continue with your search to find a DM to host your game I wish you the best of luck and hope you enjoy yourself as much as I have so far.

I would suggest OP purchase:

1. The Players Handbook
   
   
2. The Monster Manual
   
   
3. A Chessex battlemap
   
   
4. Pathfinder Assorted Bases
   
   I feel like the inclusion of the PHB and MM are self-explanatory.
   
   The battemat is something I own and I have used to great effect - It's supremely durable, survived multiple moves, and still looks great. I'm moving more towards tiles now that I have a little bit more money to spend on D&D, but the mat was one of my biggest tools when I was first starting out as a DM.
   
   The token bases are from pathfinder, a related tabletop RPG, but can easily be used in DnD 5E. Simply print out pictures of the monsters that you've found online, cut them out, and place them in the bases, and viola - instant miniatures! They can help tide your players over while you build your own miniature collection.
   
   N.B. I agree with many of the other posters here that the use of a map and miniatures is not at all necessary for doing D&D, however, I have found that using them greatly enhances the experience, and it is my opinion that I like them. If you feel so inclined, OP, instead of the battlemap and bases, purchase the DM's Guide, which contains great advice in building and running your own adventures and campaigns, which might interest you down the road if it doesn't already.
   
   Total cost: $95.86 on amazon.

> So me and my friends want to get into D&D but we don't really understand how/where to chose an adventure to begin with and also confused on some aspects of character creation, such as skill point allocation.

I mean the best place to start is with the D&D starter set because it comes with everything you need to start - an introductory adventure, character sheets, the basic rules, and dice. Since the Lost Mine of Phandelver is a published adventure, your DM can find a lot of YouTube videos of groups running it (I think DM'ing is one of those things that it's hard to understand from just the rules, it's really helpful to see someone do it.)

You say "skill point allocation" which makes me think you have 3rd Edition sourcebooks right now, or that you're mixing sourcebooks between 3rd and 5th edition. This doesn't work terribly well - it's better to start with only 5th edition stuff to begin with, and you can investigate earlier editions of the game later on. The D&D Starter Set is 5th edition, as is the current Player's Handbook.

Good luck, have fun!

Just my opinion, but the beginners boxes for games are helpful for introductions. I know you can get a D&D starter box (http://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Set-Roleplaying/dp/0786965592/) with some basic rules, dice, and such for getting your feet wet.

Alternatively, Steve Jackson has some things for free, like GURPS Light and some free modules compatible with that system. (http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/details.html)

Atomic Sock Monkey has some freebies there (http://www.atomicsockmonkey.com/freebies.asp) including simple games with some mods, I think.

I haven't played Pathfinder, but that wouldn't be bad for the more complex side of things.

Dungeon World is good for a little less complex action: http://www.dungeon-world.com/

Apocalypse World is based on Dungeon World for a post-apocalyptic feel. Has a world-building element to it, or at least that's how my group played last. http://apocalypse-world.com/

I hope these help.

About 2 years ago, I was in your place, so this is what I would say would be your best bet.

I would recommend you play Fifth Edition, it is the most well-rounded and least rules-oriented, so it is less confusing for new players. Also, I would start with the Starter Set that Wizards of The Coast (the company in charge of D&D) created. It was intended for new players, and has basic rules for you and your players, 5 pre-generated characters, and an adventure for characters to level from 1 to 5. That is what me and my friends played and greatly enjoyed it. Since the set only comes with 6 dice, I'd recommend getting at least a set for each player from either your local store or online.

Since you are going to be a new DM, it is probably a good idea to get some experience under your belt before making your own story and world. Don't worry, pre-made stories are probably less confusing for the players, they are well-made with a lot of detail.

However, when you want to move on from the Starter Set and the Lost Mines of Phandelver adventure included, you will need the Player's Handbook, the Monster Manual, and the Dungeon Master's Guide. You group want to get more than one Player's handbook for your players, but one is all that is really necessary. The Player's Handbook details how the players make characters, as well as rules, including combat ones. The monster manual is for you to reference and take monsters from and put in your game. The dungeon master's guide has tables and inspiration for things to put in your game. If you want to build your own world, there are also lots in there to help you do so.

Also, while you do not need them, I would recommend getting a battlemap like this one, and minatures, like these for monsters and these for your players to have, it allows your players to visualize what happens more.

TL;DR: Start with the Starter Set, then when done with the adventure, buy the 3 core books: The Player's Handbook, Monster Manual and Dungeon Master's Guide. Then either do premade campaigns from WoTC, or make your own!

Hello! Glad to see you're interested in playing.
Take a look at the subreddit's Getting Started page for some tips on getting going.

If you're completely new, i'd recommend grabbing the DND 5e starter set (Amazon) from your local game shop, or from online.
For your first time playing, I'd recommend the following:

• Make sure you pick a Dungeon master (DM) in advance. They'll be in charge of running the adventure, and should probably be most familiar with the rules.
  
• Don't sweat too much about getting the rules absolutely correct the first time. Most of D&D for me is having fun, rolling dice, and eating food. (Of course, this differs per group).
  
• One of the biggest draws for D&D and tabletop RPG's for me is the rollplaying aspect of it. Encourage your friends to spend some time writing characters, or if you're using the characters in the starter kit kit, learning a bit more about their characters. I've had DM's hand out small bonuses on rolls (+1 or +2) for good rollplaying.

That's kind of a broad question. :p

There are TONS of tabletop RPGs out there, and they can have vastly different styles, including the genre and the rules.

Nowadays, lots of people record their sessions and post them online, and that is a fantastic way to get an idea of how things work. Some of my favorites:

Critical Role. A group of voice actors who have been playing D&D for years. Here's the DM of the group playing with Stephen Colbert.

The Adventure Zone. It started when the podcasters of My Brother, My Brother, and Me decided to play D&D with their dad as a goof. They actually got really into it and have kept playing ever since. Starts with D&D, then they experiment for a while, and now they're playing a game called Monster of the Week.

The Film Reroll. They play through movies as though they were tabletop RPG adventures, using a system called GURPS. Things often go awry in spectacular fashion.

Anyway, the most popular game out there by a HUGE margin is D&D. Since that's kind of a default and you'll probably have the easiest time starting or finding a game of it...

Here's the free basic rules

There's also a D&D Starter Set (MSRP $20) which is literally everything you need to get started with some friends. Currently $12.57 on Amazon.

And if you want to eventually upgrade (or just jump right in) to the full rules, you'll need the Player's Handbook, might want the Dungeon Master's Guide, and maybe eventually the Monster Manual (since you can find plenty of monster stats online anyway).

There's also unusual dice, but the basic rules will explain it (and the starter set includes them). Easily found at most game or comic shops.

EDIT: That said, there are a bunch of free RPGs out there, too. So poke around; check this subreddit's wiki, for instance, for a few of them.

And that's where I'd start. Then just go exploring, and start playing when you get the chance. And don't sweat the details like rules or how to play a character stop you from getting started—we all did most of our learning by doing when it comes to RPGs. :)

I think /u/NecronosiS nailed most of the important stuff, but I'll add some things I've picked up as well.

• When it comes to DMing I've found that I take bits and pieces from each person that throws suggestions my way. I like the way this person does this particular thing, and the way this other person handles this particular aspect of the game. When to and not to use things, how to handle situations, the game is so much in your hands that each DM is a very individual beast.
  
  
• When it comes to deciding on how to read a rule, there are times where as the DM I just decide this is how it is and stick with that. There are other times I ask for a consensus from the players on how they want to play it, making sure they know that it will work this way for both players and monsters so that if they just choose the most favorable outcome for them it could come back to bite them in the ass later.
  
  
• As for which adventure to start with, I've found that the Lost Mines of Phandelver that comes with the Starter Set ($13.50 on Amazone right now) is great at giving players and DM's a window into all the various aspects of D&D 5E. After they play it for a little bit they'll be able to know which aspect they like better and that can guide you on what adventures to run in the future.
  
  **Ninja Edit

I feel like a lot of the answers in this thread was to your title only, so hopefully I'm answering all of your other questions as well.

> what exactly DnD encounters is

This is all in the PHB – The Players Handbook, which you can find a free, slightly restricted version of here – split in a players and a DM (the game referee) version.

> what books will I need

There's the basic PHB, which has all the rules and the classes and the races you'll need to play. This is essential – and at least one should exist around the table.

Then there's the Monsters Manual (MM), which is filled with monsters, creatures, and enemies for the players to fight. If you're the DM, you might need this, especially if you're not playing a published adventure (more on that later).

Then there's the Dungeon Masters Guide (DMG). If you're the DM, you'll be needing this, as it's a plethora of rules and tables for making encounters, a catalogue of items, and rules for the DM to throw at their players.

Also, there's the published adventures: The Hoard of the Dragon Queen and its sequel, Rise of Tiamat. These are ready-made for DMs to let players in to a world quickly. They are set in the Forgotten Realms, "standard fantasy world".

> much am I looking at spending?

It depends if you're a player or a DM.

If you're a player you can absolutely make a character from the free rules, and perhaps buy a set of dice (with 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, and 20 sides) to play with (although this can be done with a dice app for your phone). But I'd recommend you buy the PHB.

If you're the DM, you'll need someone at the table to have a PHB (maybe the players could split the cost), and I'd recommend the DMG as well. The MM is handy if you're making and populating your own adventures. This'll be around 50 dollars per book (varying from country to country).

BUT, thankfully there's a Starter set, which comes in at around 12 dollars on Amazon, which has a starting adventure, a lightweight version of the rules for players and the DM, as well as a dice set.

If you and some friends are just starting out, it's a nice way of getting in to the hobby. Welcome to tabletop roleplaying games :)