Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Seventhstrike May 04, 2015 7:58:03	I'm considering starting playing DnD, as it sounds like something I'd enjoy, from what I've read at least.   I've never played ANY DnD in the past (Although I do play RPGs on consoles/PC etc, so I understand the concept of an RPG), as I never had a group of friends who were interested in playing.   Now I have 2 other people who would be willing to try (We would be playing 5th Edition), so my questions are:   1) Can 3 people have a fun time playing this, including one of them being Dungeon Master? I imagine more is better, but as a start, could a total of 3 people get a lot out of DnD?   2) What exactly would I need to play? Would the Players Handbook and the Starter Set work? (Starter Set mainly for the included dice).  Or would the Monster Manual and Dungeon Master's Guide also be required?   3) Do all players need a copy of the Player's Handbook ideally, or is a single one usually shared?   4) If I understand how the game works correctly, would I be correct in assuming that the rules of DnD could be applied to ANY setting? For example, could we use the rulebooks, but replace the World described in the game with a real-life city, or a world from another work of fiction?  I ask this because we were considering creating our own stories and quests without adhering to the official books that are available.   I hope those questions were clear enough!   Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions!
#2 iserith May 04, 2015 8:09:40	1. Yes. An optimal group, in my view, is four players and one DM.   2. The Starter Set on its own is sufficient to start. After that, you'll want to add the rest at some point. Even so, you can play for a good long while with just the stuff that's free.   3. I prefer it when everyone has their own, but you can share one copy. Ideally you're not referencing it during play at all.   4. There are probably better systems out there for other genres like modern, futuristic, or the like. But if you're going for standard fantasy fare, D&D will work fine.   Check out my actual play transcripts to get an idea of how one could run and play the game.
#3 mellored May 04, 2015 8:13:33	1: Yes.  The DM will need to adjust things, but it can work just fine.   2: You can get the basic version for free here.  Enough to get you started.  The other books will give you more options. So that, dice, and some paper and pencils.  Or possibly a laptop with a dice app and note pad.   3: You can share.  Once you get used to the rules, you won't refer to it very much.   4: You can certainly make your own stories, but it will take a quite a bit of work to make a new setting.  There's other RPG's that work better for other settings.
#4 sandvirm May 04, 2015 8:31:17	Welcome to the forums and the fun of D&D.   A1.  You can play D&D with three people and still have fun.  Just be aware that most published adventures assume a party of four characters, so the DM may need to make adjustments to encounters, add NPCs to the party, or both.  When adding NPCs, make sure they do not outshine the players.   A2.  The Starter Set is a great place to start.  I do not own it, but a friend says it is great and the adventure that comes with it is highly rated by most people.  That should have everything you need to start for both the players and the DM up to level 5.  It was probably written for a party of four player characters, so some adjustments or NPCs will probably be necessary.  The Basic Rules are available for free and covers the iconic classes and races all the way up to level 20.  You can find links to the free rules here: http://dnd.wizards.com/products/tabletop-games/trpg-resources     A3.  You can certainly get by with only one copy (or none using the Basic Rules!) of the PHB, but having multiple copies can make things go faster while playing.  Edit:  As others have pointed out, the more you play, the less frequent the need to reference the PHB.   A4.  You can use the rules in any setting, and there is some material for modern equipment posted in the articles on this website.  http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/my-new-d20-modern-campaign The DMG also has optional rules and suggestions that help adapt the rules for modern settings and equipment, but I have never used those so can't comment on how useful it is.
#5 Seventhstrike May 04, 2015 8:27:12	Hey guys, thanks for the advice!   iserith, the transcript you linked is very useful, I might use some of the ideas in there as a basis for our game.   I might get the Starter Set at first, and use the basic PDF rules to start, as you both suggested. Depending on how that goes, I think we'll decide from there.   It'll be a while before we even have our first session, so we have plenty of time to learn the basics.
#6 Seventhstrike May 04, 2015 8:32:04	sandvirm wrote:
#7 CCS May 04, 2015 8:38:03	Ideally you should also have a set of dice for each player. And a handful of d6.
(Reply to #6) sandvirm	Seventhstrike wrote:
#9 lawrencehoy May 04, 2015 21:17:29	I agree with pretty much everything said by the others in this thread.   I would just like to add that, with just two players, each player could play two separate PCs; this would bring the party size up to the expected norm and make "adjusting" the adventure material unnecessary. Being new to the game, this might be overwhelming; but, it all depends on the players/group and how well they can handle playing nultiple roles.
#10 mellored May 05, 2015 6:42:37	Seventhstrike wrote:
#11 strider13x May 05, 2015 9:14:01	Get the Starter Set! It's all you need to begin your journey.   Stick with one character per player, otherwise the characters become numbers on a sheet instead of personalities in a world.   Focus less on looking up rules during play, you can always look up any mistakes afterwards and correct them in the future. Keep the story going and you and your players will have tales to tell for years to come!
#12 lawrencehoy May 05, 2015 21:40:22	strider13x wrote:
#13 strider13x May 06, 2015 4:29:07	Ridiculous? My 25+ years experience with D&D says otherwise. I've seen long time D&D players reduced to staring at the wrong character sheet for what to do next. I feel D&D is best when each player is focused on telling one characters story. But again, I'm story driven. How dare I have an opinion!   We did the Mines of Madness have 2 characters per player but we used pre-generated chatacters. It was awesome when a players Dwarf decided to flee leaving his other character to die! The players had little emotional attachment so played with less caution. Memorable? Absolutely, but the story of those characters ended that night...
#14 sandvirm May 06, 2015 6:30:18	Can some people do a really good job at roleplaying multiple characters simultaneously?  Absolutely, and that player would probably make a good DM.  However, as a general rule, adjusting encounter difficulty is going to work better than running multiple characters, especially for new players.
#15 lawrencehoy May 06, 2015 23:16:45	strider13x wrote:
#16 lawrencehoy May 06, 2015 22:40:54	sandvirm wrote:
#17 EthanSental May 06, 2015 23:01:01	Keep it positive guys, new players do not need to hear (in this case read) the small, family (in this case gamers) squabbles that might turn them off the game.  Thanks!   Keep us updated on your game and ask any questions going forward so we can try to help answer things for you as they come up.
(Reply to #16) sandvirm	lawrencehoy wrote:
#19 lawrencehoy May 07, 2015 23:26:07	sandvirm wrote:
#20 Coredump00 May 08, 2015 13:41:54	We used to play with multiple PCs all the time.  I don't see it being all that difficult for a new player to have 2 PCs to deal with. In some ways it makes things easier because they tend to work together really well....   Having only 2 PCs makes just about every encounter more 'swingy'... a couple bad rolls can quickly turn into a TPK. It also means Class selection becomes *really* important, and it puts more pressure on the DM to scale things down correctly.   Another option is for the DM to run a couple of NPCs.  These are not the DM's PCs.... but rather NPCs that decide to hand with the party.  If you go this route, think of them as the sidekicks, or support characters.  They can have their own drives, goals, personalites, etc.  But don't let them steal the spotlight.
#21 randl May 08, 2015 16:22:31	Here is my bit of advice.  For the first time thru, try to avoid guides, builds, and deep rule discussions on the many different forums.  Read the rules, build characters that look fun, and find what works for you.  From time to time, you may need to find a specific ruling or such and that is fine, but it is better to come to your own understanding before getting influenced how other people think the game should be played.
#22 Sword_of_Spirit May 08, 2015 22:31:11	I believe the expected rate of level advancement is one 4-hour session per level for the first 2 or 3 levels, and then 2 or 3 sessions per level for the remaining levels.   Basically, if you play almost every week, your characters would go 1-20 in about a year.   That is something you can adjust through a variety of means if it isn't what you're looking for (too fast for my tastes, personally).   I highly recommend the Starter Set to get some positive experience. After that, don't feel beholden to specific starting levels or leveling rates, etc.   The simplest way of adjusting overly difficult scenarios is just to reduce the number of opponents--or if you need to, throw an ally or two in for the PCs (you can just use the generic NPC stat blocks in the free rules).   I do not recommend messing with monster stat blocks (such as adjusting their hit points or how much damage they do) until you are much more familiar with the game. (And even then I don't recommend arbitrarily messing with those numbers, but that's a playstyle issue rather an experience issue.)