I've ordered the starter set and want to get friends involved in this. I'm thinking that since I'm the one putting this together that I'll need to be DM at least for the early days. Along with the starter set I'm also wondering if it's worth buying a copy of the Players Handbook and/or the Monster Manual and maybe a tile set in order to enhance the starter set adventure.
I do eventually want to play as my own character but does that mean I'd have to start a level 1 character when everyone else is already at a higher level or do I start one at a similar level to even things out? I'm pretty new to all this as you can most probably tell.
you can start your character at the level you see fit. No need to start necessarily from level 1.
The basic rules have just enough for you and your players to learn while having fun. If you want to enhance your skills as DM and the options for your players you can consider to buy the core books (PHB, MM and DMG).
The adventure and pre-gem characters in the starter set are very well designed, and you have everything you really need to start playing right from the box.
After that, you can decide to expand little by little, having a look at the basic rules (you can download them free from the main D&D website) and then expand further with the core-3 (Players Handbook, Monster Manual and DM Guide) once you guys think it's time and you are ready for the full range on options. The obviously goes if you have never played D&D before. If you are familiar with the 3.X ed, you could skip the basic rules step and go directly into the core-3, but I'd still suggest to first play the starter set adventure from start to finish with what comes in the box, just to see if you like the system.
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Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
The adventure and pre-gem characters in the starter set are very well designed...
I strongly, strongly disagree with that.
I am open to other people's views... care to elaborate? :)
I find the adventure, while sometimes a bit too heavy on combat maybe, well designed to introduce the game to new players, and when I faced it as a player (now I am also running it for a group of friends, but with original characters) I felt the pre-gen characters were stereotypical but original enough to be interesting for someone who's never played D&D (I have played A LOT of D&D over the years [mostly original settings and campaigns, very few published modules], we decided to use the pre-gens to get "the full experience").
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Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
I am open to other people's views... care to elaborate? :)
Sorry, I should've clarified that I only meant in relation to the pre-gens. I feel like the design of them is awful. They could be a lot better.
Aaah, I see :D
Yeah, as I said they are not original characters by all means, but they are good enough to still be fun to play for someone who does not have years of experience in roleplaying games (and the stupid fighter who thinks they are destined to glory always makes me smile, making me think of Minsc or MinMax [from the Goblins web-coming serie]).
Anyone deciding to create a character after they play this can do a better job with just the basic rules, but they are also designed to make the game a good balance of easy and challenging enough to keep the players on edge and promote role-play given they all have a decent amount of information in their background. At least this is the impression I got.
One downside I can find in the adventure itself, now that I think about it, is probably dumping so many groups and secret societies on the lap of the players, which can be confusing and slightly overwhelming, and at the same time seems silly that some of these groups would just offer run-of-the-mill adventurers to join based on very few deeds they perform (DM discretion advised here, I personally did not offer anyone in my party to join any of these, and we are at the ending dungeon of the adventure).
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Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
The pre-gens and the rule book that come with the Starter Set are fine for introducing new players to the game. The OP won't need anything more than what comes with the starter set to get going and learn the game.
"Orcs are savage raiders and pillagers with stooped postures, low foreheads, and piggish faces with prominent lower canines that resemble tusks." MM p245 (original printing) You don't OWN your books on DDB: WotC can change them any time. What do you think will happen when OneD&D comes out?
Thanks for the advice everyone. I should add that the race and class combo that really seems to be attracting me right now is a Yuan Ti Sorcerer build so I guess I'll be needing Volo's Guide when I don't want to be DMing.
Thanks for the advice everyone. I should add that the race and class combo that really seems to be attracting me right now is a Yuan Ti Sorcerer build so I guess I'll be needing Volo's Guide when I don't want to be DMing.
If you don't want to buy the entire guide, you can just get the race here so you can use it in the character builder. Same goes for all components of all books.
Thanks for the advice everyone. I should add that the race and class combo that really seems to be attracting me right now is a Yuan Ti Sorcerer build so I guess I'll be needing Volo's Guide when I don't want to be DMing.
If you don't want to buy the entire guide, you can just get the race here so you can use it in the character builder. Same goes for all components of all books.
Thanks, I think I'll do that for the Yuan Ti stats, so I can spend elsewhere.
The adventure and pre-gem characters in the starter set are very well designed...
I strongly, strongly disagree with that.
I am open to other people's views... care to elaborate? :)
I find the adventure, while sometimes a bit too heavy on combat maybe, well designed to introduce the game to new players, and when I faced it as a player (now I am also running it for a group of friends, but with original characters) I felt the pre-gen characters were stereotypical but original enough to be interesting for someone who's never played D&D (I have played A LOT of D&D over the years [mostly original settings and campaigns, very few published modules], we decided to use the pre-gens to get "the full experience").
We have never used pre-gens and, to be honest, didn't even look at the pre-gens in the starter set. But, I have to agree that Lost Mine of Phandelver is a fun little adventure. My group enjoyed it. We already had the PHB, DMG and MM, so I haven't really looked at the starter rules either. So, I can't vouch for those either. To me, the starter set was worth the purchase simply for the adventure.
While they aren't specific to the LMoP set, WOTC has quite a few pre gens that may be helpful--if you're simply looking for some starter characters to introduce new players to the game.
The adventure and pre-gem characters in the starter set are very well designed...
I strongly, strongly disagree with that.
I am open to other people's views... care to elaborate? :)
I find the adventure, while sometimes a bit too heavy on combat maybe, well designed to introduce the game to new players, and when I faced it as a player (now I am also running it for a group of friends, but with original characters) I felt the pre-gen characters were stereotypical but original enough to be interesting for someone who's never played D&D (I have played A LOT of D&D over the years [mostly original settings and campaigns, very few published modules], we decided to use the pre-gens to get "the full experience").
We have never used pre-gens and, to be honest, didn't even look at the pre-gens in the starter set. But, I have to agree that Lost Mine of Phandelver is a fun little adventure. My group enjoyed it. We already had the PHB, DMG and MM, so I haven't really looked at the starter rules either. So, I can't vouch for those either. To me, the starter set was worth the purchase simply for the adventure.
It indeed is worth the price for the adventure (and dice, one can never have enough dice) alone already.
I find it to be a good level of difficulty even with original characters, but I had the impression the pre-gens gave it a slightly higher level of danger, given they are not at all optimised. It was still fun seeing the bard of the party convince one of the mini-bosses of the wrongness of their ways and break down crying (thank you natural 20).
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Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
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Hi all,
I've ordered the starter set and want to get friends involved in this. I'm thinking that since I'm the one putting this together that I'll need to be DM at least for the early days. Along with the starter set I'm also wondering if it's worth buying a copy of the Players Handbook and/or the Monster Manual and maybe a tile set in order to enhance the starter set adventure.
I do eventually want to play as my own character but does that mean I'd have to start a level 1 character when everyone else is already at a higher level or do I start one at a similar level to even things out? I'm pretty new to all this as you can most probably tell.
Cheers,
William.
EDIT: Also thinking about getting the DM guide.
Hi Paraiyar,
you can start your character at the level you see fit. No need to start necessarily from level 1.
The basic rules have just enough for you and your players to learn while having fun. If you want to enhance your skills as DM and the options for your players you can consider to buy the core books (PHB, MM and DMG).
The adventure and pre-gem characters in the starter set are very well designed, and you have everything you really need to start playing right from the box.
After that, you can decide to expand little by little, having a look at the basic rules (you can download them free from the main D&D website) and then expand further with the core-3 (Players Handbook, Monster Manual and DM Guide) once you guys think it's time and you are ready for the full range on options.
The obviously goes if you have never played D&D before. If you are familiar with the 3.X ed, you could skip the basic rules step and go directly into the core-3, but I'd still suggest to first play the starter set adventure from start to finish with what comes in the box, just to see if you like the system.
Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
Sorry, I should've clarified that I only meant in relation to the pre-gens. I feel like the design of them is awful. They could be a lot better.
Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
The pre-gens and the rule book that come with the Starter Set are fine for introducing new players to the game. The OP won't need anything more than what comes with the starter set to get going and learn the game.
If you want more pre-gens than what comes with the starter set, there are a whole bunch available from the WotC web site here (scroll down): http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/character_sheets
"Orcs are savage raiders and pillagers with stooped postures, low foreheads, and piggish faces with prominent lower canines that resemble tusks." MM p245 (original printing)
You don't OWN your books on DDB: WotC can change them any time. What do you think will happen when OneD&D comes out?
Thanks for the advice everyone. I should add that the race and class combo that really seems to be attracting me right now is a Yuan Ti Sorcerer build so I guess I'll be needing Volo's Guide when I don't want to be DMing.
I just realised that the version of LMoP here doesn't include the pre-gens. I mean, sure, I get why, but... it still means they don't come with it.
While they aren't specific to the LMoP set, WOTC has quite a few pre gens that may be helpful--if you're simply looking for some starter characters to introduce new players to the game.
http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/character_sheets
It was still fun seeing the bard of the party convince one of the mini-bosses of the wrongness of their ways and break down crying (thank you natural 20).
Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games