Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Nodnarb91 Oct 11, 2013 13:00:24	Hi there, I hope this is the correct place to put this thread. I am a new player to D&D, as of last night myself and a couple friends started up some characters and played several hours of the quest included in the Essentials Red Box. We didn't finish the quest yet but we had a great time. We aren't 100% up to par on all of the rules as there are a lot of them and it is quite daunting so we just made up some things as we went along. It was an awesome time, one of the best games I've ever played, however I am unsure of where to go from here. I have been looking into other essentials products such as heroes of the forgotten kingdom and heroes of the fallen lands and am considering picking these up. Our DM is interested in some of the essentials DM products and he will most likely be picking up a few of them.    I guess What I want to know is once we finish the red box where do we go from there, what products do we need to have in order to better understand the game an continue our adventures? Like I said we are all completely new and still very unfamiliar with all the rules, any help you guys could give would be great! Thanks!   p.s Should we consider waiting for D&D Next to come out before investing money in current products or will that be for more experienced players?
#2 1stLevelSean Oct 11, 2013 13:09:56	It sounds like you have solved 90% of your challenges--you have a group of friends who have had a really succesful game together. Don't sweat making up rules (aka house-ruling). Rules are great as a foundation, discard them when they get in the way of your fun.   Next isn't necessarily for more experienced players. The design direction during the playtest has been to reduce complexity and honor core classes and systems, so the official publication may be less complex than 3.5 or 4. I have enjoyed the Next playtest a lot, and you can get the final playtest rules for free and try them out. As a playtest, they are certainly less complex than the official version will be.
#3 Centauri Oct 11, 2013 13:50:44	I recommend picking up the Essentials line of products, starting with the Rules Compendium, Heroes of the Fallen Lands, and the Monster Vault. They're not packaged together nicely like the Player's Handbook, Monster Manual, and Dungeon Master's Guide, but they have the benefit of a few years of design experience with 4th Edition. The original books work fine, but need a little extra thought to understand some unclear writing and mistakes.   Unless you have strong feelings about how the game should work, I would wait to get involved with D&D Next until it's much more solidified.
(Reply to #3) Nodnarb91	Hey there thanks for your response! I am about to place an order for Heroes of the Fallen Lands and am wondering if Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdom would also be good to have? I think my friend is gonna pick up the Monster Vault and if I can find the Rules Compendium for a good price I'll try to pick one up, they seem to either be out of stock or extremely pricey! Thanks again for the response. And any other input you or anyone else may have is extremely helpful!
#5 Centauri Oct 11, 2013 15:43:27	I'd start with one of the Heroes books first. It will have enough options to start with.
#6 crimsyn Oct 12, 2013 12:59:39	Nodnarb91 wrote:
#7 bloodwhitewolf Oct 13, 2013 9:10:17	another thing, if u waant to avoid too many house rules would be to find a DM to either: A teach you DM to DM B just be a DM for your group and have your learning DM be a player C both of the above   as begining players (kind of like myself) tthe way i see 4.0 is it's like playing 3.5 with basic checks not being essential, for example (from personal experence) my charter in 3.5 and in 4.0 got knocked out, in 4.0 u have basic perception and in 3.5 you dont so when i woke up in 4.0 i was told my head hurt, but in 3.5 i was just told i woke up, and i didn't now my head hurt until later in the campaign i checked my body for injuries and found a bump, my DM says basic perception was added in 4.0 and wasn't in any of the previous versions of D&D so for that reason amoung others he's not a fan of 4.0 because it changes all the rules that were set up in the other games, for example... 4.0 there are healing surges and action points, i don't think i've seen those in 3.5 yet (granted i've yet to complete a campaign yet cause i keep trying to do long ones). but he complains how it's way o easy to live in 4.0 and how they should never have made it that easy because that takes the chalenge out of the games   my personal opinion on the matter is that 4.0 seems like it is a lot more user friendly and for beginer players but transiioning to the more advanced play ie3.5 u hae to learn the changes in rules and keep half the rules that you know. so as of right now if your in it for a chalenge i recomend 3.5 play style if your in it to learn, learn 4.0 and switch over later on when 4.0 becomes easy but if u really lie 4.0 playstyle and want aa chalenge there use charters with level adjustment (same way u make it harder in 3.5)
#8 Centauri Oct 13, 2013 9:18:06	3.5 is not "more advanced." It's more complicated in an attempt to be more realistic, but when DMs interpret that to mean that your character can't tell that its own head hurts until the player asks then something has gone wrong.
#9 bloodwhitewolf Oct 13, 2013 9:44:26	i agree with that but becaus i heard that i had asked DM's on another forum and they agreed with it because general perception was never a thing in D&D until 4.0
#10 Centauri Oct 13, 2013 16:44:46	bloodwhitewolf wrote:
#11 Krusk Oct 14, 2013 16:32:47	If you've already got a heroes of book, the other ones are probably a solid buy. You can find 4e books used (and new...) for fairly cheap right now. My game shop sells them for like 5$ a piece. 10 for hardback.    If youve got the rules compendium, you might consider an insider subscription but thats really not a replacement for the rules if you are just starting out. Its hard to play a game using, but is great for referencing stuff.
#12 Rartemass Oct 16, 2013 21:44:17	I wouldn't worry too much about getting new products. As suggested, a subscription to DDI should cover you for a while. Get the group to pay for it and share a single subscription. The D&D Compendium is a great tool to help find rules and options. My best advice however is to stick with the red box and once you have finished the modules presented there, create your own stories. If you can't come up with anything I suggest a dungeon crawl as a start. You can create a random dungeon at http://donjon.bin.sh/d20/dungeon/ that creates a map and the encounters. It includes creature stats and treasure. Drop in a few "prisoners" to rescue and they can become NPCs that spur future adventures.