A couple of friends and I are looking to start playing D&D. What would we need supplies wise? Any sorta boards or playmats we need? What is really required outside of the rule books and dice?

Core Rulebooks (others are optional), Dice Set, laminated 1' Square mat, erasables markers, and your imagination especially if you the DM, trust its lots of work.

caffine, munchies, projectiles to throw at your friends instead of throwing your dice and losing them, good imagination, good story telling, common sense which mixes well with outlandish ideas, silly accents, did I mention caffine? willingness to depart from the plan, a notion that rules are for fools, more munchies, and ban the cameras!

Ok, it sounds incredibly stupid, but this one actually is quite important. It'll happen at least a few times in a campaign. You may not throw it at each other so much as at each other's character's miniature.

Edit: Also, wasn't there some forum game of this going recently? Whatever happened to that, it's my summer break now so I should have some more time.

Haha I have a tendency to throw lose coins at people.

What edition would you recommend for beginers?

You actually don't need boards, figurines, or any of that fancy graphical representation stuff, but it's handy if you don't feel like drawing your own battle grid on graph paper. The DM will probably need (not necessary, but nice) a separate partition (the "DM Screen") for hidden rolls, which can be as simple as cardboard or as decked out as one of the official screens with tables and rules printed on the inside.

You'll need a playing space where everyone is comfortable; a big table, or several smaller tables bunched together, with some chairs around it is the most basic you can get. Make sure there's plenty of snacks and beverages to go around, since sessions can go on for a while and someone is bound to get peckish. And, make sure wherever you're playing won't mind a bunch of people crowing and yelling... groups tend to get loud when a critical success or critical failure happens.

Other than that, I would make sure everyone has their own set of dice: 1d20, 1d12, 2d10, 1d8, 4d6, and 1d4. You may also consider keeping a coin or two on hand for a makeshift d2 (or use the d4), and a d6 can always substitute for 1d3 rolls. Try to have everyone decide their action and scores before their turn in the initiative count rolls around; it makes the game run smoother.


I personally prefer 3.5, and I hear Pathfinder (which is essentially 3.75e) is pretty good. But you might consider 4th because of how much everything has been consolidated together.

Wheres a good place to get minis for dnd?

I have the forum game going on. We're full up with 5 players at the moment, but will always put someone on the reserve list if they just ask. It's a Star Wars Saga game set in the old republic era.

3E is where it's at!

I dont know any big name stores that carry them, but if you go to your locla major road there should be an individula hobby shop somehwere along it close by to you. Dont buy too many though, it can really svck alot of cash out of your wallet.



3.5E for the win, 4E is bad. (lol jk, its aight)

I play 40k so i got some mini Im more interested in non painted mini preferably plastic so I and my buddies can customize them.

http://newbiedm.com/2008/11/22/newbiedm-tutorial-counters-tokens-or-pogs/
This seems like a good alternate to non character minis.

To be honest, it doesn't matter WHAT core rule book you get. The basics of DnD are the same. 3rd and 4th Edition both provide a relatively different way of playing [sort of]. Any store that sells your regular DnD stuff will have a clerk whom you can say "I need the essentials for DnD for me and a few friends" and he will give you the bare essentials and some suggestions on other stuff you might want to get.

I'd avoid asking these questions on forums though. Not because it's against the rules, but people have VERY fierce differences when it comes to different editions and extras for DnD. It more or less gets into extreme opinion-based personal preferences. So again, i'd go ask your local pen and paper store clerk for some help.

Is the D&D Starter Kit worth picking up? Or should I just get some books make my own maps and such.

Are the D&D minature game figure good for using the figures as regular models in a game of DnD

we just use whatever we want for our miniature stand-ins My friend used a risk cannon once (it's fitting! he was a pirate)

So about how long does a typical session last?
Im also wondering if the Starting set is a good buy or just a waste?

Ours usually last an hour or two. Sometimes less, sometimes more depending on the schedules.

Best part is the first time someone is incredibly late, so we start without them, and something bad "accidentally" happens to their character due to their absence :whistling: -- we're good DMs I swear!


Can you get it with 3E? I really can't suggest enough that you stay away from 4th edition, as that's my personal conviction.

Nope 4e only. Whats the difference?

They "streamlined" it, and after a bit, your character has feats out the butt. 3.5 also suffers a bit from feats out the butt, but not nearly as bad. Basically the pacing of 4th edition just is completely not to my liking and sometimes just feels like you are getting too ubered. It also, to me, feels like it lacks the intricacies of developing your character as lot of the options on how you can develop your character are removed/restricted.

3E is my favorite, and I'll play 3.5. Won't play 4E anymore.

If you do go 4E, you WILL need to get a tablemap. It is impossible to play it without one (I think it's a good idea in general, but 4E it's really hard to get by without it). 4E is simpler, and is ok for short campaigns, but for long campaigns you'll miss out on some of the options you can choose in 3E

Why a table-map? Is it counter/mini's based? That'd be a bummer. I remember geeking out in Basic Training when 5 of us just shared a set of dice, some paper and pencils, basic knowledge of the game (no rule books) and common sense. Guess a company can't make too much money that way (which is why I dropped out when all the class suplements came out for 2nd ed.)

it pretty much forces you to use minis and all the measurements are in tiles (hence you need the map).

XD You′re lucky to have the key ingredient. I wanna start D&D but none of my friends have any interest in playing tabletop D&D, much less role-playing in first person as I′d like it. They just wanna pop heads in FPS games.

Can you give me better examples of this?
Ive noticed lots of complaints about 4e but none really give specific things that are wrong.

multiclassing is gone in the traditional sense, lots of restrictions on how you can multiclass and the "preferred" way of multiclassing is to choose feats (goddammit! feats should be special!) in another class.

Really hurts in making the character the way you envision and in the long-run really hurts on how you can power up.

I did this in grade 7 and 8 at recess with a few buddies. We'd take turns drawing out maps in class, and at lunch we'd usually start our session with nothing but the paper, and a pencil to mark where the party currently is. One guy brought the nice we needed, and from there on out it was a free-for-all. Was pretty fun.



The main complaint with 4e is people [censored]ing about WoTC bleeding people for money. Asides that, you'll notice the pacing is quicker, and character development basically comes down to real obvious choices. You end up having the same type of class, doing the exact same stuff. You'll know what I mean if you take a look at 20 peoples separate character of the same class.