Tips on how to play DnD?

[Manko-sensei]

what's a good first rpg?

It depends on which genre do you want to play, but generally speaking a mechanically simple system that doesn't rely heavily on rolling dice. Non-specific setting systems such as Fate Core System or Accelerated, games with Powered by Apocalypse system, a lot of generic d6 systems with four or five characteristics at most... of course it matters more that the game you're going to have is tailored for new players and the GM understands that than anything else. Ideally the first games should go with a small lesson at the beginning by the DM/GM, pre-made characters or simple character creation for 20 minutes at most and go. Some games don't even need character creation or dice, since you're new to this it's more about talking it out with your group.

 

[TheDragonMaster]

How to play D&D in a nutshell: learn to do quick math to roll as many d6 or d8 for damage as you can, use The Gamers films as source material and bribe all the table (not only the DM) with food & drinks. Jokes aside, there are essentially three kind of groups for any roleplaying game: those who gather because they enjoy building up stories together, those who want to play a complex tabletop system inspired by videogames and those who do that as a friends group activity. Know which of them you'll be joining to and you'll learn the answer, not that it'll save you from meeting a significant amount of toxic players that only know how to have fun by giving others a hard time (it also applies to DMs of course).
As for editions, first edition (BECMI, AD&D, Old School Essentials, Dungeon Crawling Classics) is the simplest mechanical way to play (and the most rewarding), second edition is both for Beamdog nostalgics and rarely for old modules players (it's half old school and half third edition), third edition had the first mess of Wizard of the Coast because they only wanted more rulebooks to sell and players ended up switching to Pathfinder progressively (it was preferred playing 3rd/3.5E adventures with Pathfinder), fourth edition was an entirely combat focused system poorly executed and fifth edition was a great recycling scheme that used fourth edition as a base and brought back some things from the past to make it look presentable (though it's poorly written, both system and official adventures). 5.5 (or D&D5 Next) is nothing else than D&D5 fan service.​

My tip? Read classical literature and start playing something other than D&D (at least as the first roleplaying game).

 

[TheDragonMaster]

It's very much like the D&D I'm used to, but that would be 3E/3.5, not 4E or 5E. I'm not sure how WOTC changed the mechanics in 5E. I know they tried to streamline some things in 4E, but (IMHO) they went about it entirely the wrong way.

But as TTRPGs go, it's not really that 'hard.' (It's certainly not as bad as AD&D 1 or 2, or any number of other, generally older, systems.)

Also, I think there's a Pathfinder 2 now, which I haven't looked at.

5e rolled back a bit on the 4e changes, it's a weird mix of both 3.5 and 4e which unironically ended up making the more boiled down version of the game. But it's always good as a stepping stool for other systems. If I had to recommend someone start playing I'd say to try 5e (not 5.5 cuz of the fucked class progression) and then move to Pathfinder 2e. Pathfinder's skill system is much more complex but much more rewarding and my own system is gonna borrow from that + Skyrim

 

[TheDragonMaster]

It depends on which genre do you want to play, but generally speaking a mechanically simple system that doesn't rely heavily on rolling dice. Non-specific setting systems such as Fate Core System or Accelerated, games with Powered by Apocalypse system, a lot of generic d6 systems with four or five characteristics at most... of course it matters more that the game you're going to have is tailored for new players and the GM understands that than anything else. Ideally the first games should go with a small lesson at the beginning by the DM/GM, pre-made characters or simple character creation for 20 minutes at most and go. Some games don't even need character creation or dice, since you're new to this it's more about talking it out with your group.

I always found it interesting how there's this divide between d20 and d6 players, again, something straight out of /tg/.

I respect whoever likes to use d6s, it's just that personally I prefer the d20 since it's a 5% increment of odds and basically an easier to understand percentile dice.

 

[Manko-sensei]

I always found it interesting how there's this divide between d20 and d6 players, again, something straight out of /tg/.

I respect whoever likes to use d6s, it's just that personally I prefer the d20 since it's a 5% increment of odds and basically an easier to understand percentile dice.

I was recommending easy ways to start playing, but I've run/played more than twenty different systems since I started (right now I'm on a break), it doesn't matter if it doesn't use dice at all, a deck or d6/2d6/d10/d20/2d20/1d100/etc. for the system, there are great systems for everything but not all of them are beginner-friendly. BECMI/AD&D (first edition) can be played without knowing the rules and character creation is extremely simple, and unlike later editions you are forced to roleplay (the actual purpose of this niche).

I was, but some users pulled a heck of a ritual to bring me back... temporarely.

 

[TheDragonMaster]

I was recommending easy ways to start playing, but I've run/played more than twenty different systems since I started (right now I'm on a break), it doesn't matter if it doesn't uses dice at all, a deck or d6/2d6/d10/d20/2d20/1d100/etc. for the system, there are great systems for everything but not all of them are beginner-friendly. BECMI/AD&D (first edition) can be played without knowing the rules and character creation is extremely simple, and unlike later editions you are forced to roleplay (the actual purpose of this niche).

I was, but some users pulled a heck of a ritual to bring me back... temporarely.

Hope we can get to bonding over Manga and TTRPGs before you peace out again then!

 

[Smashed]

#1 tip: choose a better TTRPG

 

[Manko-sensei]

At least the trend among wannabe otakus that played Anima: Beyond Fantasy died before the Covid, I never understood the allure of having to roll dice to do any mundane action... not to mention that on the mid-term you were bound to use a calculator just to know what you rolled. That's one of the systems I've never ever going to accept as an actual TTRPG, but you can find even worse systems published by Yenpress.

 

[Angry_Panda]

I never understood the allure of having to roll dice to do any mundane action...

You wake up in your bedroom. What do you do?
I get up, walk to the bathroom, and get a glass of water.
Roll Dex.
For drinking water?
You're first level, roll a Dex check.
Uhhh... shit. I rolled a 1.
You choke on the water when it goes down the wrong pipe. Roll a Con check.
...that's fucked up and you know it.

 

[Manko-sensei]

You wake up in your bedroom. What do you do?
I get up, walk to the bathroom, and get a glass of water.
Roll Dex.
For drinking water?
You're first level, roll a Dex check.
Uhhh... shit. I rolled a 1.
You choke on the water when it goes down the wrong pipe. Roll a Con check.
...that's fucked up and you know it.

You get a glass of water from the bathroom?! Here we go to the kitchen... anyways, for a Dex roll or Reflexes saving throw I'd expect a puddle leaking from a pipe, a gremlin-kid rolling on the corridor, a toy intentionally forgotten there or something similar, as for Con/Fortitude would be a test of being able to keep your voice in or waking up the entire house. This is why people got tired of WotC...

 

[Argroh]

what's a good first rpg?

Sword World.

I have that detailed on a different topic.

Alternatively, Ryuutama.

 

[Cloverfieldo]

Sword World.

I have that detailed on a different topic.

Alternatively, Ryuutama.

Can you send the topic?

 

[Manko-sensei]

Can you send the topic?

It's just a few places below of this one, Japanese TTRPGs. With Maid RPG you can make a game about your friends trying to be D&D characters, it promises a good amount of laughs (specially if you put on maid outfits during the game and have tea with sweets).

 

[Cloverfieldo]

Thanks guys, the first session was today, but it didn't go very well
Some players really didn't care, and were just there because their friends were there too, so they didn't take it seriously

 

[Angry_Panda]

Thanks guys, the first session was today, but it didn't go very well
Some players really didn't care, and were just there because their friends were there too, so they didn't take it seriously

Finding a good group, in terms of chemistry and level of dedication, is probably the most challenging part of gaming. I tend to be pretty laid back and like to have fun, so there have been some folks who were way too serious for me to want to play with. But I do actually want to game, not just have social hour, so there are also some folks who derail sessions I don't want to play with, either. It can take some time to get the group 'right.'

 

[Cloverfieldo]

Finding a good group, in terms of chemistry and level of dedication, is probably the most challenging part of gaming. I tend to be pretty laid back and like to have fun, so there have been some folks who were way too serious for me to want to play with. But I do actually want to game, not just have social hour, so there are also some folks who derail sessions I don't want to play with, either. It can take some time to get the group 'right.'

I realized that just now
It's quite hard to get "accepted" to already existing groups, I just tried to enter an online campaign but got rejected, just like in a job interview.
this is slowly killing my interest in the hobby, tbh

 

[Angry_Panda]

I realized that just now
It's quite hard to get "accepted" to already existing groups, I just tried to enter an online campaign but got rejected, just like in a job interview.
this is slowly killing my interest in the hobby, tbh

Yeah, I can see that. Best bet is to pester some friends who are already gaming and get into an established group where you know you get along with at least a couple people.

 

[Cloverfieldo]

Yeah, I can see that. Best bet is to pester some friends who are already gaming and get into an established group where you know you get along with at least a couple people.

well, there's the problem panda, I don't want to sound too annoying, but I don't really have friends. one of the reasons I wanted to play rpgs was to get friends

 

[Angry_Panda]

well, there's the problem panda, I don't want to sound too annoying, but I don't really have friends. one of the reasons I wanted to play rpgs was to get friends

Might check at local comics/hobby shops for open game nights.

 

[TheDragonMaster]

well, there's the problem panda, I don't want to sound too annoying, but I don't really have friends. one of the reasons I wanted to play rpgs was to get friends

Playing to find friends has worked out for me, for the most part. I recommend checking out social media places like reddit (ouch it hurt to say this), other forums such as /tg/ or discord servers to find people looking for groups. I'd welcome you into my game but I'm already running for too many people.

You could try to start a thread see if people pop up from here.