I don't know the slightest thing about D&D but after heading into the MMO Neverwinter, realizing that nobody in the game roleplayed and I wanted to roleplay my character, I thought I'd give D&D a shot. I like roleplay and I've been in one adjacent thing before but it was in a genre I'm not fond of.
I don't know how any of this works other than the personality and backstory aspects of character creation, but I don't know how anything else works and I don't know too many people who do. Where can I find some good resources for people like me who are interested but don't know much of anything about anything?
Look for critical roll on youtube (or any of the other gazillion D&D live plays), a podcast like Godsfall. Dungeons and Drongos is an amusing Aussie take on the game set in "Fantasy Australia" (I don't listen to it but it's kind of hilarious if you're into Australiana). I've found watching live plays the best way to get a feel for the game.
Edit: Starbucks went broke where I live because it was the worst coffee in town. You'll have to do better than that :)
As Barbarulo says, one of the easiest ways nowadays to get a feel of the hobby is to watch some actual play. Critical Role is I'd say the most newcomer friendly, and even if the 100+ episodes might scare you, they are about to start a new campaign on the 11th January, and they'll probably start if not from level 1, from low level.
Aside from those, you can also have a read at the Basic Rules here in DDB. They explain in a simplified way (meaning with less optional rules and less choices for the character creation) how the game works. I would also recommend, if you think you might like this, invest 15$ in the Lost Mines of Phandelver (the physical boxed set might be preferable in this case, as it comes with pre generated characters and a set of dice), which gives more or less the same rules as the Basic Rules (but in an even more "redux" version) and an adventure to introduce up to 6 people to the Hobby with very little preparation needed (the only real thing needed is for whoever wants to be the master to read from cover to cover the adventure, especially the 2nd and 4th acts, one or two times, but it's not long so it doesn't take much).
Other than that: you have us. The community here is always available to clarify any doubt and help with anything you might need. Now go and start adventuring!
P.S. We also have a "Looking For Group" section here in the forums where people can post their availability and will to find or Master a group, be it in real life, online (via skype or the like) or play-by-post, so you might want to have a look or even directly post there to find or start a group.
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Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
I would also recommend, if you think you might like this, invest 15$ in the Lost Mines of Phandelver (the physical boxed set might be preferable in this case, as it comes with pre generated characters and a set of dice)
Lost Mine of Phandelver is definitely a great way to start. If you're not buying the physical box, you might want to consider buying it on roll20 too.
While I agree Roll20 is a nice toolset, I feel it could be confusing for newcomers to the hobby (I was confused myself at the beginning running LMoP there, and I have always been a "gearhead" and DM 5ed since it was D&D Next).
I also feel Roll20, as nice as it is, can give the wrong impression to new players, as it could give a more "videogame" feeling than the first impression of an RPG should. Again, it is a wonderful tool, but more suited for experienced groups and with a DM having A LOT of time if they want to run home-made adventures, as the whole preparation of a session can take quite longer than usual if one wants to do it using the full potential of Roll20.
With the chance of playing around a table, the only digital aid I'd use would be D&D Beyond (for rules/spell reference and maybe the character's sheets) and a scree/tablet for images related to what is going on in the game and music. (minis are also a good idea, and one could argue that at that point there is not much difference than using Roll20, but I'd disagree: the physical connection to a mini and moving it with your own hands is very different from moving a token on a virtual table, imho)
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
As a sidenote to LeK's comment, all of the pregens from LMoP are available on the official D&D website, in case you decide to go the digital route. There are a bunch of other pregens there too.
Speaking of Starbucks, I’ve had some success with my long-term scheme of playing board games in public or simply having my DnD books out on the table while spending time at the cafe. You’d be surprised how many times this has led to conversations with people who are also interested but didn’t know where to start! Especially with things like Critical Role and Stanger Things being so popular, it’s a great time to jump in.
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I don't know the slightest thing about D&D but after heading into the MMO Neverwinter, realizing that nobody in the game roleplayed and I wanted to roleplay my character, I thought I'd give D&D a shot. I like roleplay and I've been in one adjacent thing before but it was in a genre I'm not fond of.
I don't know how any of this works other than the personality and backstory aspects of character creation, but I don't know how anything else works and I don't know too many people who do. Where can I find some good resources for people like me who are interested but don't know much of anything about anything?
Look for critical roll on youtube (or any of the other gazillion D&D live plays), a podcast like Godsfall. Dungeons and Drongos is an amusing Aussie take on the game set in "Fantasy Australia" (I don't listen to it but it's kind of hilarious if you're into Australiana). I've found watching live plays the best way to get a feel for the game.
Edit: Starbucks went broke where I live because it was the worst coffee in town. You'll have to do better than that :)
Hi Enigma, welcome to the hobby! :)
As Barbarulo says, one of the easiest ways nowadays to get a feel of the hobby is to watch some actual play. Critical Role is I'd say the most newcomer friendly, and even if the 100+ episodes might scare you, they are about to start a new campaign on the 11th January, and they'll probably start if not from level 1, from low level.
Aside from those, you can also have a read at the Basic Rules here in DDB. They explain in a simplified way (meaning with less optional rules and less choices for the character creation) how the game works. I would also recommend, if you think you might like this, invest 15$ in the Lost Mines of Phandelver (the physical boxed set might be preferable in this case, as it comes with pre generated characters and a set of dice), which gives more or less the same rules as the Basic Rules (but in an even more "redux" version) and an adventure to introduce up to 6 people to the Hobby with very little preparation needed (the only real thing needed is for whoever wants to be the master to read from cover to cover the adventure, especially the 2nd and 4th acts, one or two times, but it's not long so it doesn't take much).
Other than that: you have us.
The community here is always available to clarify any doubt and help with anything you might need. Now go and start adventuring!
P.S. We also have a "Looking For Group" section here in the forums where people can post their availability and will to find or Master a group, be it in real life, online (via skype or the like) or play-by-post, so you might want to have a look or even directly post there to find or start a group.
Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
While I agree Roll20 is a nice toolset, I feel it could be confusing for newcomers to the hobby (I was confused myself at the beginning running LMoP there, and I have always been a "gearhead" and DM 5ed since it was D&D Next).
I also feel Roll20, as nice as it is, can give the wrong impression to new players, as it could give a more "videogame" feeling than the first impression of an RPG should. Again, it is a wonderful tool, but more suited for experienced groups and with a DM having A LOT of time if they want to run home-made adventures, as the whole preparation of a session can take quite longer than usual if one wants to do it using the full potential of Roll20.
With the chance of playing around a table, the only digital aid I'd use would be D&D Beyond (for rules/spell reference and maybe the character's sheets) and a scree/tablet for images related to what is going on in the game and music. (minis are also a good idea, and one could argue that at that point there is not much difference than using Roll20, but I'd disagree: the physical connection to a mini and moving it with your own hands is very different from moving a token on a virtual table, imho)
Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
As a sidenote to LeK's comment, all of the pregens from LMoP are available on the official D&D website, in case you decide to go the digital route. There are a bunch of other pregens there too.
Speaking of Starbucks, I’ve had some success with my long-term scheme of playing board games in public or simply having my DnD books out on the table while spending time at the cafe. You’d be surprised how many times this has led to conversations with people who are also interested but didn’t know where to start! Especially with things like Critical Role and Stanger Things being so popular, it’s a great time to jump in.