Reply To: Dungeons and Dragons – where to begin

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@commodorerob nice to hear your little one is keen to get gaming 🙂

The current version of the game is 5th edition. there is a free ‘starter’ rules set available at the below link if you wish to review prior to procuring anything more tangible:

http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/basicrules

If you want to progress there is a basic D&D starters set which I believe is the core rules, some adventures and some pregenerated characters. Alternatively, if you want to jump in properly you would be looking to pick up the three ‘core’ books (Players handbook, DM’s guide and Monster Manual) which will set you up with all the basics. From there on if you wished to continue you could look at picking up the themed supplements, procuring community content or third party games (Kickstarter or Drive Thru RPG have an overwhelming wealth of options) or just create your own monsters and worlds.

If you want a quick ‘up to speed’ with the basic rules there are many videos up on Youtube.

While 5th ed is a lot more streamlined than previous editions (3.5 for example) this comes at the expense of some of the depth of character flexibility previously available. While this allows a greater focus on the narrative aspect and will probably better suit new players please be aware that things may be a lot more ‘forgiving’ in game that you remember from the old D&D. Ie, current focus is on ‘role’ playing rather than ‘roll’ playing.

Best of luck! Any questions just let us all know 🙂