Getting into D&D

>Read the rulebook.
>Have all your friends read the rulebook.
>?????
>Profit.

First, don't buy the books until you've played the game and decided you really want them. It's a pretty big investment for a game you haven't played yet and 5e's core rules are all online.

Go to /5eg/ and download the three core books and the starter set. Read the starter set and one of you run the introductory adventure. Lost Mines of Phandelver is fun and does a good job of steadily expanding the scope as you figure out the rules.

Once you're done with the adventure decide if you like 5e enough to stick with it or explore a different version.

The three domains of D&D are combat, exploration, and storytelling.

If you like exploration (discovering cool places and treasure, interacting with traps and puzzles) old-school D&D is where it's at. 2e, OSR games, or OD&D/1e if you're a real man.

If you like combat (the tactical challenge of killing monsters with complicated rules as in a wargame or video game) 4e is the best.

If you like storytelling (the act of cutting off and consuming your own penis as penance for the crimes of the white patriarchy) 5e's rules do their best to stay out of the way.

If you're autistic or a weeb 3.5 and 3.PF are your quarantine games.


The game's not all that hard. It looks very complicated but the vast majority of the numbers all interact with each other in the same few ways. You'll pick it up faster than you think.

>>52559480
Go buy the starter set, it's like $12 on Amazon, play with the premade characters.

The game is about having fun with your friends, everything else is secondary.

>>52559797
Awesome thank you. So I don't need to buy any figures or grid mats?

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>>52559577
>getting players to read the rulebook

I've had to memorize most of the rulebook because my players will only ready through osmosis while playing

>>52559902
Either you've somehow convinced them to play a game only you want to play or you're a bitch and need to tell them to figure their shit out.

D&D is cancer, but at least 5E is better. Try another system that's not Pathfinder.

Honestly, FATE (Dresden Files Variant) is a pretty good starter, because while it's narrative tripe, it teaches you how to focus, how to make a back story, and everyone's characters will know each other.

It's also pretty good for baby DMs. and I'd look at it anyways just for that--the whole city creation thing is great.

Savage Worlds ain't bad from what I heard...GURPS, I suppose, start off with Dungeon Fantasy. But it has the same problem as D&D/Pathfinder, people who start with GURPS tend not stray much out of their system, though they're a bit more open to it than the Pathtards

Ryutama if you just want an easy breezy time.

>>52559861

No. The only one that desperately needs grids is 4e and you can just use grid paper.

When I was a kid we played by drawing the map in on grid paper and used individual squares ripped off the edges of the page with letters written on them as minis.

>>52559902
Yea same here. They can barely remember the names of NPCs, the most basic lore or their spell's effects.

It's a real bummer when you feel like you're the only one truely enjoying the game enough to take interest in the lore and the campaign.

>>52559959
>Being this mad that nobody likes your obscure games
There's a reason DnD is so popular, anon.

>>52559902
My group played 3.5 once a week for five years. By the time we switched over to a different better system one guy was still asking shit like "So can I full attack on a charge?".

>>52559977
Oh they love the setting, but they just don't want to bother reading the rules.

>>52559941
You act like I don't punish them by running combat encounters where the enemies are much more familiar with the combat rules.

>>52560003
Yeah, it's got brand recognition so it's an 'entry level' system that makes it hard to move on because it's shit

>>52559959
Savage Worlds is quite simple and players other than the DM only need to (carefully) read about 60 pages for the rules and character creation. Honestly, because it plays quite differently from any other popular system (aside maybe GURPS) it will be even easier to start than if you were a veteran at some other system.

The only downside of Savage Worlds is that it's not super new and has much less of mainstream appeal. There's gigantic communities playing D&D, so you'll find potential newcomers/veterans way easier, as well as discussions about the system.

Oh, and as the DM: Read the fucking book. Thrice. It cannot be stated enough. Too many rooky DMs don't know the rules to the most basic shit everyone must know. If you don't want to spend 3 minutes flipping the book every time a player swings his sword, read the rules, since the players still forget their rules.

>>52559797
Surprisingly good post.

>>52560003
>here are some statements
>KEK WHY SO SALTY

Part of forming a good argument is understanding what an argument is. D&D has been coasting on brand recognition for decades.

>>52559902
It goes both ways. I've had DMs who were veterans of their system for several years and within a couple weeks of being introduced to their games I was already more familiar with the rules than they were. It's crazy that this has happened to me more often than not.

>>52561134
Most DMs fudge, make shit up, and roleplay it. The autists who learn the rules create 5dimensional trapfests where every single NPC is lying and plotting to kill you, and death is your fault cause you suck.

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>>52559977
I always get the feeling my players are only humoring me and they're only present because they had nothing better to do.

>>52561520
>Or they're simulationists instead of narrativeists?

>>52559902
> players refuse to read the rulebook
> think I'm just going to give them reminders every single turn on what they can do, the options they can take, what their modifiers were, etc
> told them that I was going to stop doing that and if they rolled without adding their mods, that's what they're stuck with
> they don't believe me
> they roll without mods
> like two turns later they get shitty because 'hey i was meant to have +whatever on that roll'
> too bad you've been playing for over a year, once a week, you should know by now

>>52559480
D&D is shitty, it's the call of duty of pen and paper games.

>>52562319
It's a popular entry-level game with a large playerbase that's known worldwide, even to people outside the hobby?

>>52563141

Brand Recognition doesn't mean it's good.

>>52559480
Read the book of your choice. Have your friends read the book.

Go to /osrg/ and read B2 "Keep On the Borderlands" from their trove. If you are not using an OSR system, convert to whatever edition you are using.

Listen to this guy >>52559797

>The game's not all that hard. It looks very complicated

>>52562319
Because people try to push the system outside of what it's good at. If you center your campaign around exploration and combat in any edition but 3.PF, you should be able to have a solid game

>>52559480
Free 3.5:
http://www.d20srd.org/index.htm

Free PF:
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/
http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/

Free 5ed:
http://5e.d20srd.org/

If you find the scan of BECMI, Rule Cyclopedia or the free Dark Dungeons (the retroclone, not the Chick Trait) I would recommend. I fell in love with the game with BECMI.

If you find ADnD 2nd edition, you are on google search away from all the monsters.

>>52564382
It's pretty good for babby's first rpg

>>52564831
>It's pretty good for babby's first rpg

Jesus fuck it's not. GURPS is better, and that's saying something.

D&D is a goddamn tar pit. How many people start in D&D and don't move into other systems besides other editions or PF? What about people who started in other systems, how often do they branch out?

Ars Magica is okay, but that's bias showing on my part. FATE is pretty good for bfr. I kinda like Mouse Guard, which I hear is actually the Burning Wheel engine? But MG is probably a bit too cutesy on the face of things if you never read the comics.

Mutants and Masterminds, maybe?

>>52565233
>"Hey hello tell me about D&D I wanna try"
>/tg/ answers "play other games"
Every fucking time. You people suck.

>>52560922
>D&D is cancer
>argument

kek

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>>52565233
Calm down and decenter yourself bud, I don't think your problem is with the game.

>>52565233
>This game is shit because people won't stop playing it!!!

Ummmmmm......