I have just purchased the Dragons of Stormwreck Isles starter set as a gift for my Grandson so that we can play as a family on family game nights. My question to you all is are there any good online resources and advice to someone who is totally new to this very interesting hobby.
if anything, there might be TOO MANY online tools as you'll end up getting a lot of conflicting information the more you spread out across the interweb.
The previous suggestion of the basic rules here on DNDB is great idea. Having a starter kit will help you as well, as it's primary focus is on starters...so, aptly named product i guess. :)
Matthew Perkins put on a great series about the former starter kit, and has started one for DoSI (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwW3IftvfGc) but that might be a little ahead of the curve.
In case it helps I made a video about how to play D&D for free and I cover a variety of tools and options, free to use, to help with playing the game. This things like VTTs such as Roll20 or AboveVTT, Beyond20 plugin, as well as making avatars and tokens using HeroForge, maps, and stuff for world building, ways to play and more. Maybe some of this will be useful.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Click ✨ HERE ✨ For My Youtube Videos featuring Guides, Tips & Tricks for using D&D Beyond. Need help with Homebrew? Check out ✨ thisFAQ/Guide thread ✨ by IamSposta.
it might actually help to understand this family game night the OP speaks of. it feels like it's in person, not online. so it may be good to see if your asking more for advice for an in person game.
i just dont want to undulate them in a bunch of online resources that may be too much this early on.
*i misspoke..i mean to say fewer resources dedicated to online play and more directed at in person. obviously online resources can atest to both. i should have been a lot more clear.
it might actually help to understand this family game night the OP speaks of. it feels like it's in person, not online. so it may be good to see if your asking more for advice for an in person game.
i just dont want to undulate them in a bunch of online resources that may be too much this early on.
I have just purchased the Dragons of Stormwreck Isles starter set as a gift for my Grandson so that we can play as a family on family game nights. My question to you all is are there any good online resources and advice to someone who is totally new to this very interesting hobby.
Most online resources, even VTTs, can still be useful when playing in person. A common thing is to put a VTT display on a large monitor that the players use as a table. They move physical tokens on the monitors and the DM uses the connected laptop to change the maps or display stuff as needed. Even using phones and tablets to roll the dice into something like Discord can be preferred and useful due to it being faster, technically more random, and more convenient if you don't have the space and table suitable for rolling. Or when you don't have enough physical dice or dont want to keep passing the one set of dice between everyone.
So, many of the online resource suggestions (which OP is asking for) can still benefit in-person play.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Click ✨ HERE ✨ For My Youtube Videos featuring Guides, Tips & Tricks for using D&D Beyond. Need help with Homebrew? Check out ✨ thisFAQ/Guide thread ✨ by IamSposta.
You're going to get a ton of advice. The problem is with brand new players they don't know what they don't know.
DND has 2 main components. The Dungeon Master and the Players. The Dungeon Master adjudicates the rules, and manages the story. The players run their characters and interact with the made up world.
Stormwreck comes with premade character sheets. Use those. The players have all the information they need to run their characters and interact with the world on those sheets.
The rules book is largely for the DM to run the adventure and other adventures. The rules are to be shared with the players. The adventure book contains the adventure and is NOT for players. The DM will set the scene and the players decide how they will interact with the world. The adventure will contain some advice on how to manage player decisions.
I would check back here after you use that link and look through the books. Once you have some understanding you can be more specific on what you need in terms of questions.
Be Patient. This game is a blast, but it can seem overwhelming. Push past that a little and you'll be good. Good Adventuring to you and your family.
There are SO many resources available that it might almost seem like trying to drink water from a firehose.
If you're looking for advice on how run the game as a DM, I strongly recommend a series of Youtube videos called "Running the Game" by Matthew Colville. Link: https://www.youtube.com/@mcolville/videos
If you're looking for advice on theme and setting and mythology and cool stuff like that, I'd recommend Dael Kingsmill, also on Youtube. Link: https://www.youtube.com/@MonarchsFactory/videos
If you're looking for an example of what a game of D&D could look like, you could spend 500+ hours of your life watching either Season One or Season Two of "Critical Role". Link: https://www.youtube.com/@criticalrole/videos
But remember, the cast of Critical Role are professional actors playing under Matt Mercer, a supremely experienced DM. So watch that only for inspiration and don't judge yourself or your game by their standards. It's like watching the Olympics of D&D.
But remember - if you ever have a question or need help with something specific, there's always a ton of people here on the DNDBeyond Forums ready and willing to help you out.
You're going to get a ton of advice. The problem is with brand new players they don't know what they don't know.
DND has 2 main components. The Dungeon Master and the Players. The Dungeon Master adjudicates the rules, and manages the story. The players run their characters and interact with the made up world.
Stormwreck comes with premade character sheets. Use those. The players have all the information they need to run their characters and interact with the world on those sheets.
The rules book is largely for the DM to run the adventure and other adventures. The rules are to be shared with the players. The adventure book contains the adventure and is NOT for players. The DM will set the scene and the players decide how they will interact with the world. The adventure will contain some advice on how to manage player decisions.
I would check back here after you use that link and look through the books. Once you have some understanding you can be more specific on what you need in terms of questions.
Be Patient. This game is a blast, but it can seem overwhelming. Push past that a little and you'll be good. Good Adventuring to you and your family.
+1 to this. D&D is a much bigger hobby than it was even 5 years ago, and as such there's an overwhelming stream of online content and advice. Just start with the basics, and branch out from there.
Another thing to mention is that most campaigns are fairly long-running. D&D is one of those hobbies that you're likely going to spend a lot of time with. Most people play the game around once a week. It's not like a board game, where you spend an hour or so playing through one game and that's it; a single game of D&D is usually an ongoing story. Many people, however, also play "one-shots" which are adventures designed to be played in a single sitting. As said before, though, just start with what you've got.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
[REDACTED]
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Hi all,
I have just purchased the Dragons of Stormwreck Isles starter set as a gift for my Grandson so that we can play as a family on family game nights. My question to you all is are there any good online resources and advice to someone who is totally new to this very interesting hobby.
Thank you
Mozzathemarauder
There are a lot of online resources. Which part or parts of the game are you looking for help with?
if anything, there might be TOO MANY online tools as you'll end up getting a lot of conflicting information the more you spread out across the interweb.
The previous suggestion of the basic rules here on DNDB is great idea. Having a starter kit will help you as well, as it's primary focus is on starters...so, aptly named product i guess. :)
Matthew Perkins put on a great series about the former starter kit, and has started one for DoSI (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwW3IftvfGc) but that might be a little ahead of the curve.
In case it helps I made a video about how to play D&D for free and I cover a variety of tools and options, free to use, to help with playing the game. This things like VTTs such as Roll20 or AboveVTT, Beyond20 plugin, as well as making avatars and tokens using HeroForge, maps, and stuff for world building, ways to play and more. Maybe some of this will be useful.
Click ✨ HERE ✨ For My Youtube Videos featuring Guides, Tips & Tricks for using D&D Beyond.
Need help with Homebrew? Check out ✨ this FAQ/Guide thread ✨ by IamSposta.
it might actually help to understand this family game night the OP speaks of. it feels like it's in person, not online. so it may be good to see if your asking more for advice for an in person game.
i just dont want to undulate them in a bunch of online resources that may be too much this early on.
*i misspoke..i mean to say fewer resources dedicated to online play and more directed at in person. obviously online resources can atest to both. i should have been a lot more clear.
Most online resources, even VTTs, can still be useful when playing in person. A common thing is to put a VTT display on a large monitor that the players use as a table. They move physical tokens on the monitors and the DM uses the connected laptop to change the maps or display stuff as needed. Even using phones and tablets to roll the dice into something like Discord can be preferred and useful due to it being faster, technically more random, and more convenient if you don't have the space and table suitable for rolling. Or when you don't have enough physical dice or dont want to keep passing the one set of dice between everyone.
So, many of the online resource suggestions (which OP is asking for) can still benefit in-person play.
Click ✨ HERE ✨ For My Youtube Videos featuring Guides, Tips & Tricks for using D&D Beyond.
Need help with Homebrew? Check out ✨ this FAQ/Guide thread ✨ by IamSposta.
You're going to get a ton of advice. The problem is with brand new players they don't know what they don't know.
DND has 2 main components. The Dungeon Master and the Players. The Dungeon Master adjudicates the rules, and manages the story. The players run their characters and interact with the made up world.
Stormwreck comes with premade character sheets. Use those. The players have all the information they need to run their characters and interact with the world on those sheets.
The rules book is largely for the DM to run the adventure and other adventures. The rules are to be shared with the players. The adventure book contains the adventure and is NOT for players. The DM will set the scene and the players decide how they will interact with the world. The adventure will contain some advice on how to manage player decisions.
Check out this link that includes tips and tricks on how to actually run Stormwreck: https://dnd.wizards.com/how-to-play
I would check back here after you use that link and look through the books. Once you have some understanding you can be more specific on what you need in terms of questions.
Be Patient. This game is a blast, but it can seem overwhelming. Push past that a little and you'll be good.
Good Adventuring to you and your family.
Teach me papa
Welcome to the tables!
There are SO many resources available that it might almost seem like trying to drink water from a firehose.
If you're looking for advice on how run the game as a DM, I strongly recommend a series of Youtube videos called "Running the Game" by Matthew Colville. Link: https://www.youtube.com/@mcolville/videos
If you're looking for advice on theme and setting and mythology and cool stuff like that, I'd recommend Dael Kingsmill, also on Youtube. Link: https://www.youtube.com/@MonarchsFactory/videos
If you're looking for an example of what a game of D&D could look like, you could spend 500+ hours of your life watching either Season One or Season Two of "Critical Role". Link: https://www.youtube.com/@criticalrole/videos
But remember, the cast of Critical Role are professional actors playing under Matt Mercer, a supremely experienced DM. So watch that only for inspiration and don't judge yourself or your game by their standards. It's like watching the Olympics of D&D.
But remember - if you ever have a question or need help with something specific, there's always a ton of people here on the DNDBeyond Forums ready and willing to help you out.
Anzio Faro. Protector Aasimar light cleric. Lvl 18.
Viktor Gavriil. White dragonborn grave cleric. Lvl 20.
Ikram Sahir ibn-Malik al-Sayyid Ra'ad. Brass dragonborn draconic sorcerer Lvl 9. Fire elemental devil.
Wrangler of cats.
+1 to this. D&D is a much bigger hobby than it was even 5 years ago, and as such there's an overwhelming stream of online content and advice. Just start with the basics, and branch out from there.
[REDACTED]
Another thing to mention is that most campaigns are fairly long-running. D&D is one of those hobbies that you're likely going to spend a lot of time with. Most people play the game around once a week. It's not like a board game, where you spend an hour or so playing through one game and that's it; a single game of D&D is usually an ongoing story. Many people, however, also play "one-shots" which are adventures designed to be played in a single sitting. As said before, though, just start with what you've got.
[REDACTED]