Hello D&D Community!
Ever since I found the Mysterious Monsters Manual book up in my shelf, I have been extremely hooked on this interesting sounding game! Apparently my Dad was in Love with the game when he was in High School and I'd like to play with him, but he keeps kind of dodging me, so I'd like to self-educate myself a bit!
I have been scrouning around the wiki and other sites and have found out (Correct me if I'm wrong) that the D&D 5th edition is the latest and best version, NO idea what my dad played. It was in the Mid-late 80's if anyone has a clue. And I'm almost certain that things have changed. SIGNIFICANTLY. So, I've been reading through the Monsters Manual, titled 'Advanced D&D Monstrous Manual Copyright '93 and vaguely understand the Statistics of the Creatures I will encounter. I've also created a Character, a Neutral Good Human Paladin, of which i got through an Online Quiz. So this brings me to why I came here:
What should I start off with?! I am the noobiest noob you're gonna find, what are the Bear Necessities that a Modern Day player will need? How should I progress? What do I do? Any general Information will be a HUGE help.
Thanks a Million 
Variks
(ps YES, VARIKS FROM DESTINY, ANY PLAYERS ON ps3?)
Hello and welcome!
Think of each edition as a separate game. You can express the same sort of concepts between them (i.e. you're still a fantasy adventurer slaying those monsters), but it's very hard to directly port things between editions. You need to decide on one edition to learn at first - 5th is the newest, and it's quite newbie-friendly, so I strongly endorse it.
Once you've picked an edition, you need at the bare minimum the Player's Handbook. 5th, however, is a little unusual, in that the "basic rules" (fighters, clerics, rogues, and wizards, with one focus area for each class) are available for free. To get the other focus areas for the classes there, and the other classes (including the paladin), you'll need the full Player's Handbook, but nothing stops you from playing with just the basic rules.
Apart from the rules, the only other "stuff" you need are the dice, which are easy to come by these days. I usually suggest two or three d6 and at least one die of every other type (d4, d8, d10, d12, d20) as a good starting point. If you like the game, you will be amassing more over time, but that's a start.
You'll also need to find a group to ask to join. When you do, you should talk to the leader of the group - the Dungeon Master - and ask about any rules he's using on the table that aren't in the books (notably, what sort of world or stories he's telling) to see if it's a good fit for you. Different players favor different styles of play - some with lots of combat, others with intense roleplaying intrigue, some with epic stories, others with gritty ones, and every blend of these - and you should find a group that tells stories you want to play in.
At this point, the best thing to do is to keep working with your group, learning from them.
If this isn't clear or if you have other questions, don't hesitate to ask!
Thanks on the clerification on the editions, I'm PRETTY sure that my dad has the full set of editions from his heydays, but If you say 5th Ed is Newb-friendly, I'll try to get my hands on it, using it as a tutorial for past editions in the future, maybe(?)
Ok, thanks for the class info, I actually did go there before this post and look at free classes, and I clicked VIEW ALL CLASSES but it wouldn't do much. I just looked'em up online :P
I have had the dice for years, not knowing they were gaming dice actually. NOW AIN"T THAT SOMETHING? I used them in other tabletops I play.
Well, I think the best groups are gonna get is me my dad and maybe my brother. Is 2-3 enough? And friends could come over too.
Another important point, is that the Monster Manual that you found on your shelf is probably not for 5th edition. Its probably 2nd edition. As pointed out above, the rules vary immensely between various versions of D&D, especially since 2nd edition. So you can't use monsters from an old 2nd edition D&D book for 5th edition. 5th edition has a Monster Manual of its own, in which many of the classic monsters have been updated for the new rules.
I also highly recommend you start with 5th edition. I play 3rd edition myself, but I wouldn't want to go back to 2nd edition ever, because it is so convoluted. All the combat rules have changed for the better, and thus monsters have changed as well. 5th edition no longer uses the weird reverse armor class from 2nd edition, for example.
There is only one thing I can recommend everyone to start off with: D&D 5E Starter Set and its campaign Lost Mine of Phandelver. It's just too good to not start with it. It can be played with 3 players, but you probably should either get a friend over or let the character's start with 600 XP at level 2 maybe.
Most groups are 5 people, 1 DM (runs the world/monsters) and 4 PC's (heros, main characters). But you can play with as little as 2, we have 7. Though it's get's a bit unwieldly with more people.
Here's a more direct link to free PC stuff, and here for the DM stuff.
The starter set is a good deal, and has everything you need to get started (including dice). Designed to help newbs get into the game quickly.
Thank you everyone for the Positive Support! Particularly Imaculata for Clearing up the Monstrous Manual. So with this Info here is what I've interpreted:
The Starter set, is well, the Starter set. It has everything you need, and is the Most Modern. It is also rather cheap, from what I can see only $20. So here is my New Question: Why sell the Monstrous Manual, PC Guide and DM guide for more than 2x the price if the Starter Kit is all you need to get going? Is it just more info, or for more campaigns or what?
VarikstheLoyal wrote:
VarikstheLoyal wrote:
"Why sell the Monstrous Manual, PC Guide and DM guide for more than 2x the price if the Starter Kit is all you need to get going? Is it just more info, or for more campaigns or what?"
Cheddar and mozarella are pretty good cheeses. Pretty versatile too. If that's all you have in the kitchen, you can use them in a lot of dishes.
But a day will come when you're ready for some brie, or feta, or smoked gouda. and then a whole new world of possibilities opens up.
It's like that.
Its funny cause thats makes a lot of sense to me actually and all I've ever cooked is: Water