What weâre doing (for complete beginners): Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) is a fantasy tabletop roleplaying game published by Wizards of the Coast. It consists of a group (usually 3-6) of players who control characters and embark on adventures given to them by an additional player called a dungeon master (DM). D&D has a long history that I wonât get into here, but the release of the fifth edition of the game (5E) has attracted a considerable amount of attention.
If youâve never played a tabletop RPG before, the closest analogy that might make sense is a Western-RPG game like Skyrim, or, even more accurately, CRPG games like Pillars of Eternity and Divinity: Original Sin. You control an individual character that you get to decide the backstory, class, and playstyle of, and work with other people to achieve desired goals. However, thereâs a few things that are worth noting if youâve played computer RPGs but not tabletop ones:
- Itâs a tabletop game, not a video game. This means that there are no animations, game pieces have limited representations on the board, and the rules of the game inherently cannot address every situation that arises. Your and the other playersâ imagination is essential both to making the game enjoyable and mechanically feasible.
- Thereâs a social aspect. Youâre not playing alone, youâre playing with a group of other people. Your party members are often working towards the same goal, but may not agree on the best way to achieve it, and sometimes may even differ on what to do at all.
- Thereâs no real notion of âwinningâ. The DMâs goal isnât to prevent you from achieving yours but rather is to make that achievement enjoyable by putting obstacles in your way. Youâre winning if youâre having fun. That doesnât necessarily exclude min-maxing your character to be the best they can possibly be, but it does encourage things that might not be seen as often in a video game like roleplaying, doing âwhat your character would doâ, and so on.
- Unpredictable things happen. A video game is able to limit what youâre able to do through its mechanics and through âgame logicâ, like invisible walls, or limited conversation options, or limited quest triggers. A tabletop game throws away all of that and instead limits you only by your imagination and your DMâs ability to keep up. If youâve ever played Divinity: Original Sin, youâve seen how player freedom in how they approach objectives can lead to massive differences in what results they see. Tabletop games amplify this enormously.
What weâre doing (for people who already know what Iâm talking about): A reasonably short 5e adventure, with the potential to go further if thereâs interest and time. Iâll be DMing this unless someone else has DMâd before and really wants to do it. For the first adventure, weâll probably run the WOTC-published Lost Mines of Phandelver. Itâs a good introductory point, and Iâve run through parts of it already so Iâll have some preparation available.
How weâre doing this: Through roll20.net
Thatâs a website which facilitates playing tabletop RPGs online. It takes a little bit of time to get used to but is a great tool thatâs receiving continuous development.
When weâre doing this: Plan for three to five sessions of three to five hours each. Timezones will make things complicated, but weâll probably be able to work something out. Chances are weâll be playing on weekends, but scheduling will happen once we have an idea of whoâs playing.
Whoâs doing this: Thereâs me on the DM role (unless someone else really wants it), and thereâs @fightinfrenchman and @chrisie who are going to be players. The ear has given me his word on pain of two thousand years of ban that he wonât troll (this entire thing was his idea anyway). Chrisie is great at D&D and will likely end up helping you all (and me) with rules and staying organized. Weâre interested in adding one to three more players for a party of three to five. Iâd be hesitant to add any more than that, but if this goes well you may have a chance to play in the future.
In a last thread on the subject I saw potential interest from @hleung, @princeofcarthage, @Cometk, and @Mitoe. Thereâs a lot of purple in that list, and so Iâd love to see some other colors of people represented too. Sircallen is not invited.
What youâll need: A working mic and computer. In order to play the game, itâs recommended that you acquire a copy of the 5th edition of the Playerâs Handbook, but if you canât do that for whatever reason, there are subsets of it available online at websites like http://www.open5e.com
A webcam is also strongly recommended and borderline mandatory. After a discussion on the subject with chrisie, I think that having a camera to get peoplesâ facial expressions and reactions is an essential part of the D&D experience that weâd want to capture if at all possible. If you canât do this or arenât willing to, I wonât go so far as to say that you wonât be allowed to play outright, but I think that you and everyone else will have a substantially diminished experience without one.
If youâre already familiar with the character creation process, feel free to make a character of any race/class combination in PHB (if you have supplementary materials that you want to make a character from, this is probably fine, but please check with me first). Weâll be using Standard Point Buy for ability scores. If you donât know what any of this means, donât worry, weâll make characters during the first session, or Iâll call you for a one-on-one character creation session before we play. Take some time to review the races and classes available so that youâll have some idea of what you want to play, though.
Q&A:
I didnât sign up in time/canât commit to this/donât want to play but am still interested, halp!
Depending on interest, I may record this or, internet connection permitting, livestream it. Thereâs a good chance that even failing this I will summarize the events that happen during the game in this thread or another similar one.
Is that Divinity: Original Sin II campaign still happening?
Yes, but itâs on hold while we wait for the definitive edition to come out in August.
I donât want to be involved in this nerd stuff.
Fear not, youâre arenât required to be involved.
I have a question that wasnât listed here. Also, most of the âquestionsâ in this section arenât.
Feel free to add questions or comments as long as they are good ones.