I run a weekly D&D game with 4 Players (sometimes 5). I've been making a slow shift to using online tools and such for my gaming, but have not plunged into D&D Beyond, Fantasy Grounds, or any of the other 'leaders' in this.
If I were to stick with a free membership, not purchase any rules sets or books, but purchase Tomb of Annihilation or Curse of Strahd, can I use this to run a game?
A friend shared their campaign with me to look through, and I notice a TON of amazing links in the Adventure products. Would any/all links outside the book simply disappear/not work?
I know SOME content (the SRD stuff) is available w/out purchasing anything. But I'm concerned that I might drop the $25 on an Adventure, only to find that it's extremely limited if I don't also purchase the PH, DMG, and MM.
In the adventurers' module, usually, some monsters from the MM and not the Basic Rules appear. So, if you buy an adventure and you encounter a monster present in the MM, it will not show in the listing.
It is true that, in adventurers like Curse of Strahd and Tomb of Annihilation, the appendixes provide the stats for a lot of unique monsters, and those will appear in the listing.
However, in those cases where the monster is from the MM, either you can use something similar from the Basic Rules or homebrew it.
It is as, if not more, viable to buy just an adventure and run it using D&D Beyond as it is to buy it in physical book format and run it with the Basic Rules and/or SRD.
WotC specifically set out to make it so that the 5th edition D&D game can be played for free for as long as the group playing want (which usually boils down to however it takes for the people playing to want more character options without making them up for themselves), so buying just an adventure book gets you nearly everything you need (as filcat pointed out, there are a few times that a monster that isn't part of the SRD or Basic Rules slips into an adventure, but that is a rarer case and can be easily remedied as filcat mentioned).
Also, if there are only a handful of monsters from the adventure that are not in the SRD or the appendix of the adventure, you could just purchase those specific monsters in DDB rather than the whole MM. This would then discount the cost of the MM if you bought it later.
Hoard of the Dragon Queen, The Rise of Tiamat, and Princes of the Apocalypse have free online supplements in their product pages so that you can run them without having the Dungeon Master's Guide or Monster Manual. They contain the relevant stat blocks and magic items used in the adventure. Even if you're running another adventure, you can use those supplements to help fill the gaps.
However the Dungeon Master's Guide contains a lot of useful tips on running the game so I'd consider buying it regardless. You can shave off $10 by buying only the compendium content.
I'd recommend buying the basic starter kit for 5th edition. It's $20 or less depending on where you buy it, and it comes with dice, and premade characters and enough rules to play them up to level five.
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The title sums it all up.
I run a weekly D&D game with 4 Players (sometimes 5). I've been making a slow shift to using online tools and such for my gaming, but have not plunged into D&D Beyond, Fantasy Grounds, or any of the other 'leaders' in this.
If I were to stick with a free membership, not purchase any rules sets or books, but purchase Tomb of Annihilation or Curse of Strahd, can I use this to run a game?
A friend shared their campaign with me to look through, and I notice a TON of amazing links in the Adventure products. Would any/all links outside the book simply disappear/not work?
I know SOME content (the SRD stuff) is available w/out purchasing anything.
But I'm concerned that I might drop the $25 on an Adventure, only to find that it's extremely limited if I don't also purchase the PH, DMG, and MM.
Thoughts?
Thanks folks!
Hi Jim,
In the adventurers' module, usually, some monsters from the MM and not the Basic Rules appear. So, if you buy an adventure and you encounter a monster present in the MM, it will not show in the listing.
It is true that, in adventurers like Curse of Strahd and Tomb of Annihilation, the appendixes provide the stats for a lot of unique monsters, and those will appear in the listing.
However, in those cases where the monster is from the MM, either you can use something similar from the Basic Rules or homebrew it.
It is as, if not more, viable to buy just an adventure and run it using D&D Beyond as it is to buy it in physical book format and run it with the Basic Rules and/or SRD.
WotC specifically set out to make it so that the 5th edition D&D game can be played for free for as long as the group playing want (which usually boils down to however it takes for the people playing to want more character options without making them up for themselves), so buying just an adventure book gets you nearly everything you need (as filcat pointed out, there are a few times that a monster that isn't part of the SRD or Basic Rules slips into an adventure, but that is a rarer case and can be easily remedied as filcat mentioned).
Excellent information, folks. Thanks so much!
Also, if there are only a handful of monsters from the adventure that are not in the SRD or the appendix of the adventure, you could just purchase those specific monsters in DDB rather than the whole MM. This would then discount the cost of the MM if you bought it later.
Trying to Decide if DDB is for you? A few helpful threads: A Buyer's Guide to DDB; What I/We Bought and Why; How some DMs use DDB; A Newer Thread on Using DDB to Play
Helpful threads on other topics: Homebrew FAQ by IamSposta; Accessing Content by ConalTheGreat;
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Ah excellent point!
Thanks so much!
Hoard of the Dragon Queen, The Rise of Tiamat, and Princes of the Apocalypse have free online supplements in their product pages so that you can run them without having the Dungeon Master's Guide or Monster Manual. They contain the relevant stat blocks and magic items used in the adventure. Even if you're running another adventure, you can use those supplements to help fill the gaps.
However the Dungeon Master's Guide contains a lot of useful tips on running the game so I'd consider buying it regardless. You can shave off $10 by buying only the compendium content.
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I'd recommend buying the basic starter kit for 5th edition. It's $20 or less depending on where you buy it, and it comes with dice, and premade characters and enough rules to play them up to level five.