New to D&D

Good evening.  I have never played D&D before and I am interested in getting started.  I came upon Roll20 and found it rather fascinating.  I have 2 other friends that are looking to get started in a D&D game as well.  All 3 of us have limited, if any, experience at all.  This leads me to a few questions: 1) I am considering being a DM and learning.  I would enjoy it, but I don't know how much of a time commitment and how quickly I could get to a point where it would be entertaining for everyone.  Would you recommend learning how to DM or starting as 3 players with an unknown DM? 2) All of my research thus far tells me that 3.5 or Pathfinder is the way to go for D&D.  Is that true for a brand new D&D player/DM?  Will the group of people slowly move towards 5E or NEXT? 3) How would you start (DM or Player) to learn to play the game?  If I was to find a game within the Roll20 forums, how would I learn to play?  Would the DM/Anyone be able to pass 5E information? Thanks for any assistance! Adam

Howdy -  1)  There's nothing wrong with just picking up the books and starting to try to GM right out of the gate.  A sizable fraction of people in the hobby did just that and it's worked out for them.  That being said, it would probably be easier   to learn as part of someone else's campaign first, but that may or may not be possible for you and I wouldn't let not being able to get in a group stop me from enjoying the hobby.  If you don't take yourself too seriously and act as a good communicator while trying to put yourself in your player's shoes, there's no reason you can't be entertaining right out of the gate.  You'll be self-conscious of what went on, sure, and you'll think of a million things to do differently, but likely everyone will have fun.  Then you can work on getting better for next time...and the next time...and the time after that and so on. 2)  I personally don't think that 3.5 or Pathfinder make good introductions to people brand new to the hobby.  There's a large number of fiddly rules and complex interactions to worry about when (in your shoes) I'd want to focus on enjoyment and moving the game along.  You might want to consider something a little simpler like the free versions of D&D clones like Swords and Wizardry, Labyrinth Lord or even the reprinted versions of Basic D&D.  After you gain a little experience, you might decide that 3.5/Pathfinder offer options that improve your game or you might decide to move in another direction.  After D&D Next comes out, it will be just like after 4E, 3E, 2E and 1E came out - some people will switch to the new game, others will keep on playing the old one and there will be lots of complaining on the internet.  It's completely biased, but I think the old D6 Star Wars game from West End games is still the best introductory game ever. 3)  It's pretty simple - you'd learn by doing.  There's nothing complex about the act of roleplaying and the majority of game time doesn't really interact with the rules.  There should be copies of the playtest packet floating around for D&D Next, so you'd be able to get the rule set if you got into a Next game.  There's also documentation online for most of the 3.5 and Pathfinder rules (legally!) under their respective SRDs.  Googling "3.5 SRD" or "Pathfinder SRD" will take you to them easily.  Other games typically have free quick start or "lite" versions of the game for new players or players who don't own the rule book.  Not having a set of the games rules is not typically an issue and hasn't been a problem in any of the games I've run on Roll20. -Dave

I would personally recommend picking up one of the retroclones like David said. Swords and Wizardry, Labyrinth Lord, and the reprinted Basic D&D are all fine. My personal preference is  Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game which is a rules-light game system modeled on the classic RPG rules of the early 1980's. Though based loosely on the d20 SRD v3.5, Basic Fantasy RPG has been written largely from scratch to replicate the look, feel, and mechanics of the early RPG game systems. It is suitable for those who are fans of "old-school" game mechanics. Basic Fantasy RPG is simple enough for children in perhaps second or third grade to play, yet still has enough depth for adults as well. It is also free just like the other systems mentioned. Pick one and get comfortable with the roleplaying aspect and if you decide that more options are what you want, move on to another system. Nothing and no one can stop you from playing as many systems as you want to learn.

Adam k, I am running a session with the sole purpose to teach and learn how to be a better Dm using this program. I would love if you and your friends would like to join my group some time~ We run at Tuesdays 9:30ish (night time) &nbsp;Pacific standard time, and play when our kids(and wives hah) go to bed. I have Dm'ed A lot and if u need any advice please just ask... As a new Dm I would gather the crew and set down some goals, both personal and team based, What are you all after? how do you want to play this game, being a team with your players will make your games so much better. I suggest you take this time to assist in Character story, background and if needed teach the crew how to Roll out a Character sheet. take notes, and add a bad guy for your friend from his past, or an ex Girlfriend who dumped you for a bard,, little things make big Splashes. Set down some ground rules and be flexible,,,, for Example:a wizard and doesn't have a clue which spell does what and, so it takes him 40 minutes to cast &nbsp;a magic missile on a rat, so we made a rule, bring your spells, know what they do. u have only 10 minutes per turn.... That being said; all the little things make Big splashes and an example of me being a control freak over a simple matter of Line of sight, we spent an hour arguing about it and the game ended with 3/5 of us burnt out Lesson learned. &nbsp; &nbsp; I suggest that you also Set up a Time limit (your other halves will be so happy) &nbsp;Dming is very time expensive, but thats only at first~ as for me i became an info addict and spent a good month of my freedom reading any thing dm related, &nbsp;now I know enough that I don't know Squat! and moreover learned if I am writing out a scenario for my pc's I will have 12 other things handy because they will completely ignore any and all pre written content i may write up. I tend to have a set goal, baddies for my pc's to kill and rewards for how well they do it as a team and still role play their characters. thus i get what I want, and they have very little Railroading and sheep herding them into the castle full of vampires. Listen and have open communication with your pc's, its their world, your just the Ref, bad guy, Store clerk, the dog, the hooker your friend wants to bang before he even has a name, if they get all crazy and try to batman superman and one hit them, you will have to step in and kindly remind them that batman beats superman, but superman always wins the first fight Always! the 2nd fight ends in a draw, and the 3rd Batman wins clearly. meaning if they try to do too much in a single action then you have to remind them they have a limit, &nbsp;And that there plan of attack will Work out but will have to be stretched out over a few turns. I have a ton more stuff to share, but I would think it best if you told me what you are looking for? &nbsp;I Use&nbsp; <a href="http://www.d20srd.org/" rel="nofollow">http://www.d20srd.org/</a> &nbsp;for dnd as most if not all of the core books are thier and its free! FREE! if you dont like the look/feel of that one, then Google Dnd 3.5 Srd &nbsp;or ask me or any others here on Roll20 Good luck and Take care! Goatrage

When first starting out as a DM, I'd recommend using a precanned adventure, at least for a session or two. They'll help you get used to the feel of running a game, and help you avoid strings of "ums" and "uhhs" when trying to figure out your story (not to mention you won't be spending the week between sessions figuring out what the story should be!) I'll also echo Dave that 3.5/Pathfinder may not be the best choice for starting the hobby with. They can get a bit complicated, especially if you have access to a lot of the books -- even if you stick to the open-source SRD, there's a lot of content available! (Although if you start out with a precanned adventure, many have pregenerated characters for you to use, which would make things simpler.) I've personally found D&amp;D 4e much simpler than 3.5, and just as fun. Most of the people complaining on the internet about 4e are basically saying "I don't like change!" which is probably why D&amp;D NEXT is much closer to 3.5 than 4.

Thank you for the responses. &nbsp;I have met with my two friends that are interested in being players. &nbsp;We have decided to use D&amp;D NEXT. &nbsp;I believe that I am just going to jump in and start DM'ing as we are all relatively inexperienced. &nbsp;It will be a learning experience for all of us! :) With that said, we really want to get into the game and not small versions or variations of it. &nbsp;I like the idea of using a pre-made storyline. &nbsp;I have found a few of those in the NEXT documentation that I think I could change slightly to get the ball rolling. As a DM, what is the general rule for the amount of preparation? &nbsp;I am assuming players will be coming to play with all of their information. &nbsp;We are an older group of people (30s) and will be rather responsible.

Adam K. said: As a DM, what is the general rule for the amount of preparation? &nbsp;I am assuming players will be coming to play with all of their information. &nbsp;We are an older group of people (30s) and will be rather responsible. It depends on how you like to play. If you are good on inprov and not to concerned about the rules then just roll dice and go with it. If you like planning out a rough idea about the adventure then it might take up to an hour. That is making notes about what monsters the group might encounter, any quick maps you might want.&nbsp; I personally will spend about an hour or two to make my notes and take any map that fits in with what I want to do and work on it. As you are starting out I would say keep the combat encounters down to about 2 or 3 unless you are dungeon crawling until you are more familiar with your rules. As your first adventure, don't go overboard and plan out everything, you will get upset when your group takes some small thing you drop in your npc's description/speech, etc and go off on a totally unplanned direction. This is fine, roll with it for this helps you practice the running a game on the fly. example : In a group I was in and running an adventure, I was npcing an old miner that was talking to the group about how dangerous it was to transport material to and from the mine and they heard about an old abandoned mine in a different direction. Guess what they did, nope they didn't bother with either mine but instead when down to the docks and became a crew on a ship. I had nothing planned but guess what while they were playing their characters learning on the ship, I made a few quick rolls and had ther ship come upon a lost ship. They didn't know anything about it other that it was just an abandoned ship that had tattered sails. When they boarded it and went exploring, undead came out of the woodwork and attacked their ship. &nbsp; It went over pretty well with the running battles and the struggle to reach their ship before it got totally over ran or abandoned them to their fates.

Adam K. said: As a DM, what is the general rule for the amount of preparation? There are two basic types of campaigns: The DM has crafted a story, and the players become characters. This has the risk of railroading, but if you are flexible and don't try to plan specific details too far ahead, you should be fine. (Think JRPGs like the Final Fantasy series.) The DM has crafted a world, and the players live in it. This is a lot more work for the DM, as you're letting the players go anywhere they please and do anything they want, creating their own story. (Think sandbox RPGs like the Elder Scrolls series.) In order to do this kind of campaign "right," in my opinion, there also needs to be events progressing in the background, independently of the players. Events don't wait for the players to show up, and they'll end if they players take too long to get there. The former kind of campaign usually has the DM preparing material only a week or two before the session in which the material is used. You may have the general plot of the story laid out before the start of the campaign, but the specifics evolve with the players; they have to, in case the players go and throw you for a loop. (For example, in one of the 4e campaigns I'm currently participating in, a young white dragon attacked the town during our trip returning to it. The dragon spotted us on the trail back and attacked us. Instead of killing it, the minotaur warden [me] tamed it, and turned it into the dwarf runepriest's mount! The guards were understandably wary when the dragon that had just attacked the town came back with the party's dwarf on its back. Now the DM is scared, because I'm threatening to turn the entire party into a band of Dragon Knights.) The latter kind of campaign requires a lot more work to develop. You've got to plan out multiple plot lines, as well as areas the players may never see . However, it lets the players craft their own story, rather then depending on the DM to do it for them. This kind of campaign does have one other flaw though: sometimes, players can be a bit dense, and may feel lost without an obvious plot hook. I've seen players complain about not having enough information about the story, when the DM had intended them to go and do anything they wanted. If you try to run this kind of campaign, you should make it clear to the players that the game is a sandbox, they're free to do whatever they want, and you're not going to hold their hand.

my prep time is : too figure out what bad guy i want slain, where he is, how many of them, and how to prolong the trip there... how does it fit into the story is the part that is the hardest because if i want to kill a drow drider in the middle of an ocean how do i do that lol!

Make it the captain of a drow crewed pirate ship.

Lol sounds like a fun encounter. Where's &nbsp; Captain Deudermont

Lol turns out its an&nbsp; Eilistraee missonary vessel, stranded on a reef. Full of food and supplies for a besiged coastal town.&nbsp;