Table of Contents
What is D&D and how is it played
D&D is a game with an elaborate and detailed history, many players gather around a table with pencils and paper to create their own experience of the world. It was first introduced in 1974 by Gary Gygax. A few years later, he released the Dungeons & Dragons Basic Rules. Despite its popularity, Dungeons & Dragons is not for everyone; it has a complex history of tropes that make it hard to understand sometimes without prior knowledge of how D&D works. A person who has never even heard of D&D doesn’t need to understand anything about the game for it to be interesting and fun for the person. However, if you are new you should prepare yourself for some things that may seem odd or out-of-place.
What Is Dungeons & Dragons?
Dungeons & Dragons is a tabletop roleplaying game, where the players take on the roles of characters in a fantasy world. They use their skills and abilities to complete quests and gain experience in the form of an XP (experience points) which they can use to improve their character’s stats. The campaign is controlled by a Dungeon Master, who controls the world and non-player (computer generated) characters while creating adventures that players can partake in.
What Is A Dungeon Master?
The different editions of the game and what they offer
Before inventing the game, Gary Gygax worked in the world of role-playing games (RPGs) as a player. He wanted to create his own version of what he felt was an unlimited and incoherent genre. D&D is different from other types of RPGs in that there is not just one set game. The many editions that exist are not really different from each other; they all have the same about of elements and rules, but in different ways for different groups of people. The editions of D&D that exist make sure that the game is playable but there might be some changes. In some ways, the games are different because they are published by different people, but they all share something unique in common which is that they follow a standardized set of rules and elements.
The five editions of D&D were made by different companies and are as follows: Dungeons & Dragons (1977)
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (1989)
Dungeons & Dragons 11th Edition (2010)
Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition (2014)
How to get started playing D&D
The best way to understand how D&D works is to play it. If you haven’t already, you should go to the Free Online D&D site and create a character. There are many types of characters: monsters, characters from other RPG games, spells from other RPG games, and a new type called “classes”. You should experiment with all of them until you find what makes your character unique. Classes are very common and easy to understand but they can be limiting. If you want to try something different, you should look into the other types of characters. If you want to find out what kinds of characters are available, you should check out Basic Class Descriptions. [ARTICLE END]
A new kind of play blogger is emerging—the first-time player . This is a blogger who has never played Dungeons & Dragons before but is interested in learning how to play. This type of play blogger has become more common as the number of D&D games around the world has increased. I am willing to help these new players with free advice and support.
One quick note about D&D—it is simply a game. You do not want to take things too seriously, because that will make your gaming group miserable. Now that that’s out of the way, let’s get started!
The benefits of playing D&D
For a lot of people, Dungeons & Dragons is a way to socialize or escape from their everyday lives. It gives you an outlet to say things, do things, and be something that you may not be allowed to otherwise. For example, someone who is shy in his normal life might become the most outgoing character in the game. It can be very comforting for people to know that their imaginations can become more interesting than reality, and D&D provides this ultimate outlet. It provides a place for people to work together to solve problems and be creative.
The most obvious benefit of playing D&D is that it is fun. It gives you the satisfaction that comes from succeeding at something. When you make a character, you decide what your role will be and then try to do everything in your power to make that character succeed, whether the PC’s succeed or not. This makes it more enjoyable than other games because everything revolves around the characters own desires and goals.
In D&D, you also have the opportunity to explore life in a fantasy setting through your characters. You can overcome challenges that you may not be able to accomplish in real life and almost always get the ending you want.
During play, D&D characters become more than just players; they make decisions for their character and act as if their actions are actually happening. They don’t do this in a literal or mechanical sense, of course, but they do it emotionally. At each session, the characters become more involved in the story and make decisions that will affect their future. The story develops and changes based on the characters’ thoughts and ideas. As a result, D&D is believed to be fun because it allows you to become a character for a short time, then be yourself for an extended time.
A list of resources for learning more about the game
Even if you don’t want to play Dungeons & Dragons, it is worth learning more about the game. There are many resources on the internet, so you can learn as much or as little as you like. One of the most popular and well-known groups on Youtube is called Critical Role. They are a group made up of many well-known voice actors and actresses who play every week and make videos that show off their characters. There are many other places you can go to learn about the game:
* [D&D Resources](http://www.dndresources.com/) – Lots of resources for the DM and the players. A great place to go if you want to learn more about the game itself, or want to get ideas about running your own campaign.
* [How to DM](http://www.howtodm.co/how-to-be-a-better-dungeons-dragons-dm/) – A great article on how to run a better Dungeons & Dragons campaign.
* [D&D Insider](http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/dungeon-lore) – A great resource for how the D&D team thinks about the game.
* [Wizards’ Tower of Art](http://www.wizards.com/artists/) – For making art and such, lots of really good stuff here.
