As far as books, if you really want to get a lot of them, go with these:
DMG1
DMG2
PHB1-3
MM3
Rules Compendium
DDI subscription*
Monster Vault**
Monster Vault Threats of the Nentir Vale**
* - DDI Sub gets you access to the Online Character Builder and the Compendium. The Compendium lets you search through all the material in the game if you need something to refer to. It isn't a perfect substitute for the books in their depth, but it is a very handy tool for looking things up. And the character builder is extremely easy to use (if sometimes not 100% correct).
** - Contains mostly tokens. I mention getting them because tokens can be amazing for just starting out. You don't want to limit yourself by your mini collection and having a good set of minis can run you a huge amount of money.
As far as minis and other things I'd check with some pathfinder stuff. The Pathfinder token set is actually a really cool mix between minis and tokens (They have a base and stand up in them). If I was going to spend more money on DnD minis/tokens I would start there.
Yes you got the abbreviations correct.
The DDI sub is a monthly thing. So you can pay for 1 month ($10) to get the character builder access and the searchable compendium. I can't stress how helpful this tool is for getting the game off the ground. You just kinda have to trust me on it. At worst you have spent $10 to have pretty copies of the groups characters and you turn the sub off after only 1 month.
As far as tokens, I'm not saying they are the end-all-be all. But mini collecting tends to be something that either takes a ton of money to Ebay a big collection, or it takes time to collect. Getting the monster vault(s) can give you a huge bulk of stuff to work with while you get your mini collection off the ground, and it can be about the price you would pay for just a few nice minis.
Even if you go completely with the mini route, the tokens can still be useful. For instance my halfling rides a direwolf into battle. I use the direwolf token since it fits well under the mini and can be separated if need be. I have a mini for the dire wolf when I'm not riding it, but having the token is very handy.
I am all for minis for characters, but its for monsters where the cost starts to skyrocket and cause problems. If you don't mind me asking what part of the world are you from? Depending on where you are a convention might not be too far gone and there is a lot of non-gaming stuff to do at a con to suck people in (one that makes me think of your description of your GF is the free mini painting tables and chain-mail suits for teddy bear stations).
Again, to be clear. Spending $20 so you have two hundred tokens to use in your games until you get tons of minis / as an alternative to tons of minis is a cheap and great investment.
I'm pretty much locked in with 4e i own all of the books and have digital copies as well. I have to say that they are all worth getting, not just particular ones as some have suggested on here...you cant just get by with monster manual 3..you need 1 and 2.
Find something to use as a playing surface. Ive seen alot of great ideas on here, i myself use grid paper under a glass table..lets me draw out the map without having to buy a new roll of grid paper(not the notebook kind..the larger kind). We use tokens atm.
That's what I am looking for! But you are saying you can't roleplay with the 4th Gen? The videos I were watching seemed to have a great deal of all that and they were using the 4th gen Red Box www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FeiNEsLElA
You don't have to play any particular edition to RP. You can RP in any edition. What you don't have in every edition is a balanced combat system.
4e goes into a ton of detail on combat and leaves you to figure out how to RP. Minimal rules for RP, tight and balanced rules for combat was the design philisophy.
My games have a strong mix of combat and RP (and a lot of RP in combat for that matter) and it is 4e. If you want to listen in, feel free to check it out in my signature is a recording of one of my sessions in detail.
That's what I am looking for! But you are saying you can't roleplay with the 4th Gen? The videos I were watching seemed to have a great deal of all that and they were using the 4th gen Red Box www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FeiNEsLElA
You should be aware that there is a LOT of conflict between proponents of various editions.
You absolutely can role play in any edition of the game.
Many people on here will give a lot of flack towards one edition or the other. I'm not going to say any edition is best. What I am going to say is that I have found the barrier to entry for 4e DnD to be a good bit lower than the other generally suggested systems (3.5, PathFinder). Which means it is a bit easier to pick up and play reasonably well with very little experience.
Generally speaking it is easier to start with an established world or module in 4th edition, but you can change whatever. One of the other videos in my sig is about "refluffing" in 4e which goes a long way towards playing whatever you want to play as.
Many people on here will give a lot of flack towards one edition or the other. I'm not going to say any edition is best. What I am going to say is that I have found the barrier to entry for 4e DnD to be a good bit lower than the other generally suggested systems (3.5, PathFinder). Which means it is a bit easier to pick up and play reasonably well with very little experience.
Yes, I actually just got done watching that it was very insightful and answered my question perfectly but seeing as I am just beginning I don't see me refluffing right away unless it's purely cosmetic. A question about that by the way not sure if this exist but didn't you say that changing shock to fire was cosmetic? I'm a little sleepy and may need to re watch it again but if certain creatures are resistant to shock and you changed it to fire wouldn't this affect gameplay somehow? Like the objective is to find some sort of shock weapon where the shock effect would be used to somehow progress further in a dungeon (by I dunno unlocking a door seals which can only be broken by shock) but if you were to refluff to change it to a water type weapon wouldn't that throw everything off balance or would the DM specifically say that you can't refluff this weapon. i may not even know what I am talking about so please go easy on me lol I haven't even touched a D&D HB yet lol.
Seconding Matyr's initial post on stuff to purchase- and interjecting a snippet on the Gelatinous Cube Mini...pick up one of those fake icecubes from say, Michael's (the craft store) or somewhere similar for extremely cheap; win. Also minis from D&D as well as Reaper, Mage Knight, and tons of other sources can be found (often in large groups) for cheap on eBay and/or Amazon. Also hobby shops and the like as we'll. Welcome to 4e. Any questions, fire away.
And possibly go over it with a light green color while still maintaining a transparent look....you might have something there
And thank you and trust me I haven't even got my hands on the game yet and I have a ton of questions, so I plan on sticking around to ask away and possibly go through some adventure ideas. But that can wait for another topic section ;)3.5 bro.
the pbh
mm
and dmg
that all you need to buy.
no 4e stuff will teach you to roleplay.
itl actualy mask it under combat.
ex.
lets say i envited you to participate in an boxing match. you would roll a 20 and watch the dice do the work.
same offer in 3.5......its potentilaly the same thing but.......ill hit your ribs, your dm will say oh its bruised, you hit my face, blood drips down my nose
potentialy engageing you into a story, in a real life inspired situation, with noticleable concenquences.
Nothing says you can't roleplay in 4e. That's a very silly notion imo.
PS. Use spellcheck please.
I have some other ideas too; let me know if ya need anything. As for brainstorming adventure stuff, are you planning on DM'ing or playing- or both?
Both actually, but I will be doing alot more DM'ing considering how low of an imagination my friends currently have.
I have some other ideas too; let me know if ya need anything. As for brainstorming adventure stuff, are you planning on DM'ing or playing- or both?
Both actually, but I will be doing alot more DM'ing considering how low of an imagination my friends currently have.
Lol! I know the feeling. I was going to be just a player for our upcoming game, but due to one of the people not coming through, I've now gotta DM & play (which is frowned upon on these forums, lol!) but such is life. We're running from the ground up though, so hopefully someoe takes over in Paragon at least.
If you want, post some ideas and I'll see what help I can offer.
I have some other ideas too; let me know if ya need anything. As for brainstorming adventure stuff, are you planning on DM'ing or playing- or both?
Both actually, but I will be doing alot more DM'ing considering how low of an imagination my friends currently have.
Lol! I know the feeling. I was going to be just a player for our upcoming game, but due to one of the people not coming through, I've now gotta DM & play (which is frowned upon on these forums, lol!) but such is life. We're running from the ground up though, so hopefully someoe takes over in Paragon at least.
If you want, post some ideas and I'll see what help I can offer.
single player campaign used to create a campaign world. any thoughts?
On that note, use the Nentir Vale (sandbox 4e setting) and build it as you go. Being a Points of Light setting, you're given X amount of locations and details about the lands/native creatures/locations, and it's your job to fill in the blanks.
I have some other ideas too; let me know if ya need anything. As for brainstorming adventure stuff, are you planning on DM'ing or playing- or both?
Both actually, but I will be doing alot more DM'ing considering how low of an imagination my friends currently have.
Lol! I know the feeling. I was going to be just a player for our upcoming game, but due to one of the people not coming through, I've now gotta DM & play (which is frowned upon on these forums, lol!) but such is life. We're running from the ground up though, so hopefully someoe takes over in Paragon at least.
If you want, post some ideas and I'll see what help I can offer.
That sounds very confusslesome! You have to keep track of both the plot and also ruin the game for yourself, like you know whats coming so the illusion of surprise is gone. Also since you are playing both sides you could say "My character walks into the next room and finds a lightsaber which gives me +1,000,000,000 to all my die rolls" hehe >: ) I need my very first game with what geeky pals I have to be a very interesting one something that will leave them wanting more...don't want them going "eh this shart is boring, imma ditch" Which I have a very active imagination so it won't be hard to think of something simply amazing for the first game but also I don't want to piss them off either with surprise traps and encounters. (even tho that's what I would like if I was playing) Don't want the whole "That's not fair!......Stupid GM". I'm so crossed
lol just asking man. i realy wanted your input, all i got is some hate mail.
You often get from these forums what you put in. You put in a lot of unfiltered troll-like text. Your posts are not spellchecked, have confusing grammar, and generally have no point. If you get anything from the forum with that input, consider yourself lucky.
lol just asking man. i realy wanted your input, all i got is some hate mail.
You often get from these forums what you put in. You put in a lot of unfiltered troll-like text. Your posts are not spellchecked, have confusing grammar, and generally have no point. If you get anything from the forum with that input, consider yourself lucky.
+1
@Trashoon; you got input, I advised you what to do; you also got 'hate mail,' as you put it, because (as I've already warned you) you tend to be troll-ish. Not my fault. Fix your posting habits, and maybe you'll get better responses.
@Typical: I'd suggest a 'Session 0,' see what kinda stuff the players are into, and then build your first session based upon that input and continue to utilize it throughout the campaign, simple enough. Who knows, maybe they'll like the surprise encounters and other plot twists and turns. They can also work their backstories, personal plot devices, and playstyles into the campaign as well- all you gotta do is ask and it doesn't hurt to try.
All you need other than dice and pens is a couple pads of scratch paper - you can have all the cool toys you want, but you can get the job done just fine with a pencil and a notepad. You may want a calculator if your players can't deal with basic math in their heads.
New players (and DMs) may want to write down important or frequently-used information on notecards and keep them handy. Things such as the formulas for how to figure out your attack numbers, your actual math for your attacks including all your bonuses, how much damage you do, etc., as well as how your spells and magic items work. DMs will want to write down notes about their monsters' statistics and strategies, whether or not they'll run or fight to the death, send for reinforcements, what they'll do if the players decide to negotiate rather than fight, etc.
If you're planning on painting minis, you can get unpainted versions of the official D&D minis in the D&D boardgames, but that will get incredibly expensive and you won't get a wide variety.
Reaper Miniatures (and several other companies) sell unpainted plastic miniatures for reasonable prices, and the startup cost of getting into seriously painting miniatures as a hobby can be as low a $30 or so (Reaper sells a series of learn-to-paint kits that come with paints, brushes and instructions). The Reaper Miniatures painting forum is one of the best resources available for the hobby.
To add to MJ's post- minis, both painted and unpainted are available on Ebay/Amazon (often in big 'lots') for dirt cheap. Craigslist also may turn up some things, but that place is a cesspool.
I am most likely going to do my shopping at Amazon, Ebay, and Minature Market. However I might hire me some "companions" to come play some D&D off of graigslist. ;)
Make sure u have at LEAST an Amulet of Resistance (STDs) +6 lol!
Shart...rolled a natural one...vs armore class...*mumble*...the math isn't looking good, do I have an action point?
Or pray you've got some elf blood you didn't know about, and use Elven Accuracy for a reroll.
For your sake, you better hope so.
Or pray you've got some elf blood you didn't know about, and use Elven Accuracy for a reroll.
Haha well that's all she wrote.
lol just asking man. i realy wanted your input, all i got is some hate mail.
You often get from these forums what you put in. You put in a lot of unfiltered troll-like text. Your posts are not spellchecked, have confusing grammar, and generally have no point. If you get anything from the forum with that input, consider yourself lucky.
Yeah, gonna echo that. It's a rude way to post.