How do I get into DND and all that type of stuff?

[strmblsd he/him]

Ok I have never done them before but I think they would be fun to do. I would want to do them but I know that my friends would not want to do it and would maybe even make fun of me for it... I think that type of stuff seems like fun tho... I don't know how to get Started and how to do it all so yeah.. any advice?

[Quantus he/him]

DnD lives and dies by the group of friends that you have around you, so finding a group and a Vibe that everyone enjoys is the real trick. But to get your feet wet with the general system and methodology, or to get your friends to see the fun of it, Baulder's Gate 3 is DnD in videogame form, and does a pretty good job of introducing the system.  Neverwinter Nights was a similar attempt made 20-ish years ago. Also, the DM is really the core of the effort, the are the narrator and director that holds it all together, and it's a lot more work than you expect to do well.  So lacking that Passion for the effort, definitely consider using the pre-written modules rather than building your own campaign from scratch.  

 

[EdgedancerJacob he/him]

Echoing what Quantus said, you should start with a pre-made module (the classic one is "The Lost Mines of Phandelver," which comes with the DND 5e starter pack). If you can't find a good group to play with, try hitting up a local game store or even finding a group online; with my friends, everyone wanted to try but nobody wanted to take the lead, so I had to step up and DM. Best choice I ever made... besides reading the Cosmere.

[Hyper129 He/Him]

The easiest way in my opinion is to find a group near you, especially one for beginners. I'm an avid D&D fan and that's how I currently play.

[LightRinger he/him]

Obviously the easiest way is to book a ticket to Alaska, carpool with my family to the Loussac Library and join us for the D&D meeting that meets on the second Thursday of the month, and play a Wereboar named Pumbaa. 
 

but really, see if your library has a group. It’s been awesome for the only time I’ve ever played. 

[Treamayne]

On 6/25/2024 at 1:25 PM, strmblsd said:

Ok I have never done them before but I think they would be fun to do. ... I think that type of stuff seems like fun tho... I don't know how to get Started and how to do it all so yeah.. any advice?

Others have already made some great suggestions, so I'll just add my 20yen. . . 

Assuming you have some discretionary budget, I would recommend picking up a few main book pdfs (on sale if possible) on DriveThruRPG so you can read a bit about the setting and system. Many people use "D&D" as shorthand for Table Top Role Playing Game (TTRPG - or just RPG). You can then evaluate if the settings and systems interest you (I've played over a dozen RPGs since 1982 - D&D is not in my top five). So, exposure to variety is more likely to find something that really clicks (and maybe your friends might like something other than the Tolkien-esqe setting of D&D, if they considered other options (yes, there are also some D&D settings outside of "traditional elf-dwarf fantasy" settings)). There is likely to be an RPG for almost any setting you may consider intriguing.

Outside of an established circle of friends, you can usually meet new groups of players to try a game with at an LGS (Local Game Store), high school or college campus, or through forums like this (and others). As said previously, a group with good synergy is really the most important part to finding a fun experience. 

Unsolicited Life Advice (read at own risk):

Spoiler

Quote

I would want to do them but I know that my friends would not want to do it and would maybe even make fun of me for it

If your friends really do/would mock you for enjoying a hobby (even if they do not/would not enjoy the same hobby) then you may want consider if they are really Friends, or just acquantences with whom you share some geography (such as school, church, etc) or some interests. 

True friends should be supportive of things that each other do not necessarily enjoy together (unless you are purposely going for that VBB vibe). Good natured teasing is one thing, true mockery is very different and learning to recognize the difference and how that impacts personal relationships takes most people a long time - but considering it should not be ignored.

It's okay to have interests that are not shared with your friend(s), but we should not be making each other feel bad for what we find enjoyable. 

I have often lamented that English has such a poor lexicon of "friend" synonyms to accurately reflect the many varieties of how two people may intersect on one or many planes of interest (and even the ones we do have are poorly understood in a larger context - what I mean by "bud" or "pal" or "mate" is unlikely to be the same idea others have for those same terms). . .

Just my 200won.  

 

Edited June 29, 2024 by Treamayne
SPAG

[clowncarcrash]

Do you want to get into in-person DND or online virtual tabletop DND?

 

For the latter there are plenty of discords and subreddits you could join and find a group that meshes with your personality + playstyle.

 

For in-person, that's going to require some networking. The best way I think, is to go to your local game store, and see if they have a tabletop night or a facebook group to find party members.

 

Best of luck!

[Just_a_Fan he/him]

Some tips:

If you find pathfinder, try it out for yourself, don't ask the d&d community about it, 5e's community has a "bit of" an inferiority complex compared to pf; it's kinda like asking a Nintendo stan what they think about Sega or Microsoft. 

(these next tips are about d&d 5e, as that's what I play, although it has some use in other systems.) 

practice making characters of various levels, that way you 1, have plenty of backups in case your PC dies or is rejected, and 2, you can quickly whip up a PC if you don't have access to your backups. 

Don't be a jerk, especially if it's for gameplay reasons, aka "i'Ts wHaT mY cHaRaCtEr wOuLd dO1!1"

rule 0, the DM/GM has the final say. It doesn't matter if the munchkin OHKO'd the big bad with the chunky salsa rule, or if Sam the bard used a charm spell to mate with an archfiend, if the DM/GM says "No.", that. does. not. happen.

rule -1: players can always talk with other players and the DM/GM, or leave if diplomacy fails, thus DMs/GMs should be prudent with their use of rule 0.

rule -2: with VERY FEW exceptions, out-of-game things (ex. a rivalry between friends, one of the player's prideful holier-than-thou mothers, some lovebirds breaking up, some lovebirds getting together, etc.) should not affect in-game events, nor the actions of characters, and vice versa. (exceptions might include "thing is harsher in hindsight" or "person became bad" or "whoops, turns out that phrase in that context is offensive", or the inverse, "whoops, turns out we don't have to axe that, the person who told us that's offensive is an trash rep and is just using a minority as a shield. rust that punk.") 

[kpShadowFox He/Him]

On 6/25/2024 at 1:25 PM, Ookla The Loser OfThe Game said:

Ok I have never done them before but I think they would be fun to do. I would want to do them but I know that my friends would not want to do it and would maybe even make fun of me for it... I think that type of stuff seems like fun tho... I don't know how to get Started and how to do it all so yeah.. any advice?

MY FRIEND THE OOKLA, YOU HAVE COME TO THE RIGHT PLACE!

I am an avid D&D player, and I can tell you that if you can con your friends into playing dnd just once, they will love it. i.e. I did that myself. Barring that, go scream in some online forum(like the 17th shard) or a discord server to find people who'll play with you. I'd offer to let you join one of my campaigns, but they don't have a set schedule, per say. We normally just play whenever everyone is free. But the campaign is set in the cosmere, and yes there are the cosmere magic systems in it. DM me if you are interested, and I'll get my friends to actually make a schedule(we should have done that a while ago). If you have an IPhone, we do it in an apple group chat, and actually play via a group facetime audio call. 

I'd recommend the website:

https://5e.tools/

It has ALL the books including the recently updated Players Handbook. 

here is a good guide on how to make a character sheet:

https://www.wikihow.com/Create-a-Dungeons-and-Dragons-Character 

And if you have Adobe Acrobat and don't want to calculate things yourself, I've attached 2 pdfs that will automatically do the calculations for you.

MPMB's Character Record Sheet (v13.2.1) [Printer Friendly - Redesign].pdf

MPMB's Character Record Sheet (v13.2.1) [Colorful - Letter].pdf