Todd Kenreck: For those of you who are thinking about playing D&D for the very first time, do not be intimidated. This is a game that gets better as you go and as you learn from session to session. You're not required to know every D&D rule on your very first game. That's why I talked to Mike Mearls about some of his tips and tricks that will help not only new players, but also old players as well, get the most out of their sessions.

Mike Mearls: How you get ready to play Dungeons and Dragons. First, there's the element of knowing what your character can do. So, if you're playing a spell caster, I totally recommend doing this, it's a little bit of work, but it pays off. Take the spells you want to be able to cast and write them down on an index card. Even if you own the spell cards that we made with Gale Force Nine, sure use a spell card, that's great, but write it down so that it'll help you remember it, because the thing that drives me nuts playing D&D is when it's someone's turn to do something, and they have no idea what they want to do, or they have to keep looking everything up.

So just take so time to learn the least, don't learn all the rules, you don't need all those, and don't worry about all the details, but just know generally what your character can do. So that's in terms of just being ready to play, and then obviously bring your dice, bring a writing instrument, bring some scrap paper, and bring a snack for the DM, and bring your favorite beverage, and you're good to go, you're set.

Now, for making your character, the one thing you need to do. Alright, if you're a first time player, you're used to playing games. You think game, you think, "I need to win. And I want to win by having an awesome defense and a great offense, that's how I'm going to win." That's not how D&D works. D&D's about having fun taking on challenges in the fantasy world, but that are also filtered through a great story.

So the best thing you can do is have a weakness for your character. Think of what your character's bad at, and don't make it a bogus like, "I'm really bad at killing dragons." No, no, make it something really fun like, "I'm really bad at resisting the urge to grab treasure. I'm greedy, I just can't help it. If there's a risk, a really goofy, foolish risk, but if I take it I might get a really awesome treasure, I'm going to take it." Figure out what your character's weakness is, and tell the Dungeon Master about it, and when it comes up, play into it. Remember you're there to have fun, you're not there to win and emerge unscathed on the other side, you're there to have a campaign develop organically that plays both on your character's strengths and your achievements, and also your character's failings, like when you try the heist that goes sideways because it was so foolish to try to steal the crown jewels, but you couldn't resist because your character wants to be wealthy. Things like that.

So, that's what you do to get prepped. Know what your character can do, take some time to read your abilities, look at your spells, take some notes on them. If you're in combat, think about what you want your character to do before it's your turn. If it's not in combat, listen. Make listening your first priority and speaking your second priority. Give everyone a chance to shine, give everyone a chance to do their thing, and step in, don't just sit there passively when it's your time. Wait for the right moment, be considerate of others, and also take actions and play into the group as a whole, don't just try to play your own little game.

So, and then character creation wise, come up with a really fun weakness, like I know the standard array, you might not have very low ability scores. Just give yourself a six in something, make it a real weakness, and think of your personality, like what is your character's flaw, and make that flaw something that's going to come up in the game, don't try to hide it.

For me the most exciting thing about playing a character, I'm playing a goblin wizard right now, what I love about him is that he is a total idiot. He is book smart, and he has no social skills, and has no actual idea what's going on around him, and that makes him a ton of fun to play, because he's a total goofball. Yeah, he's basically a danger to himself and others whenever he plays. He's a bit like Maverick, he's a little goblin that casts burning hands, rather than being a fighter pilot, but yeah, he's a little bit of a mad scientist.

As a Dungeon Master I love it, because it means I can build off the characters flaws and their mistakes to build adventures that really have the players really bought into it. Like, "Hey, we need to break out of prison, not because the Dungeon Master threw us in here, but because Ben's rogue could not resist trying to steal the crown jewels, and the plan went sideways, and now we've all been arrested, and now what do we do?" That, I love it when the players basically create their own adventures, and I just build around that.

Put your character's weaknesses front and center. Tell me, "My paladin has, his elderly mother is his last remaining relative. He loves her dearly and would do anything for her, and she runs an orphanage that's right in the path of the dark lord's invading army." Like, yes, that's awesome. And when she gets kidnaps, or when her hometown is under siege, the players are going to care, they're going to want to go and do that, because they help make that adventure, even if they did it indirectly. As Dungeon Master, I love that stuff.

I think combat, so often people think of combat as the one path forward, and I think that sells the game really short. I would encourage Dungeon Masters ... My biggest regret about 5th Edition, we almost did this, we didn't have space and I wish, we'll do this in 6th Edition, if we ever do a 6th Edition, is we were going to include personality traits for all the monsters, that in its stat block there would also then be goals, and flaws, and bonds, and all that stuff, because I think adding those role playing noted then makes the Dungeon Master think about the monsters as people, as much of a person as an aboleth could be, but as characters. And then I think helps then shape people, the players especially, to think of them less as just things we fight, and maybe seems something you can talk to, because I think that is something which, yeah, I think people default sometimes to combat too quickly. Dungeon Masters and players, not just players.

Dungeon Masters think of scenarios where, "Okay, these goblins are guarding this cave, and you're going to fight your way through the goblins and go deeper into the cave, rather than thinking, "These goblins are guarding this cave because this cruel bug bear killed their leader and told the rest of them, you're next. Now stand here, don't let anyone in, and if someone is trying to force their way in and everyone but one of you has died, that last one is who has to run and warn people." And you're like, well, okay. Now, these guys actually don't really like this guy, so you can play them up and maybe the players end up talking to these goblins, right? And then what could have been a fight becomes a role playing game.