How to get started in D&D

Rewritten and expanded from a response I wrote to someone asking 'how do you start in D&D' after a buddy of mine pointed them my way.

Starting from the baseline of 'I've heard about this thing, where do I start?' - I would say there are two paths.

First - the long route, which is pretty labour intensive - buy the books, figure out the game, round up a bunch of players yourself and throw dice. It worked for me but it takes a while and you are making a chunky time commitment before you ever get rolling. Lots of fun to be had world building, prepping and so on and when it works, it is magical but this is the high risk, high reward path.

Today, I would suggest the best way to start is to get stuck in; find a new joiners table and say 'I am new' - people are usually welcoming. You may need to hop about a bit to find the people you really gel well with but this is like finding a favourite pub, try it and see. Make contact with folk on forums or wherever and say you are interested - they will point you to the easiest way to get involved. As mentioned on this Adventuring Party episode, there is a ton of free stuff out there because people want to get you playing, this is a social game after all.

You can get a sense of your local activity by checking for a D&D Meetup group or the Store & Event locator that Wizards of the Coast run. Hopefully, you see somewhere local to you and can go check it out. If nothing is local to you, see what you can find online.

If you know noone involved at present, the 'Adventurers League' locations are a good place to start. These are published one-shot scenarios that are designed to be 'drop in, join up' where whoever is present at the time forms a group and does the adventure. It could be a good way to start - turning up and saying 'I'm a newbie, can I start a level 1 guy' is absolutely fine - my local place even has folk who will come a little early to help you build a character if you ask them about it.

One thing to be aware of getting started - as noted on the discord of my welcoming local bunch - is that D&D can be flagged as 'you can do anything!' and while true, the anything you want to do may not be the anything that table you are sitting to is about to do that session. Maybe you want to do high stakes roleplay intrigue, but you've just sat to a table defending village from a siege. There is frequently a significant battle component at the drop-in games and the roleplay can come into play more once you are in campaign games with persistent groups. I would suggest you will get a feel for who you like to play with no matter what is happening at the tables - once you have found those people, see about playing more with them.

Find a location from the link above that works for you, follow up on their online presence, ask in their chat/discord/forum if it is ok to join as a newb and take a view on their response. Most places are eager for more players, but good to check in case they are in the middle of some big campaign or something (unlikely but good to check).

Don't worry too much about mastering the system first - watch 1-2 actual play videos, skim some of the links below, then go find a place that welcomes walk-ins and get stuck in. D&D is like cooking in that way - it is a practical pastime that you can get a good sense of by watching other people do it but really you need to give it a shot yourself. There is a long tradition in the hobby of people learning at the table and players rocking up with no clue how the system works (the rulebooks are hundreds of pages, no one can be expected to learn that off before their first day).

If you want some direction for starting off - fighters and rogues are good starting characters - easy to conceptualise and 'do right' - fighters get stuck in, be the big damn hero, clear. Rogues are mobile, about running about and flanking or support sniping. I would start there for a couple of sessions then consider if you want to move to add spell casting - a spell caster is more complex to operate since you need to know how their magic work and so it is easier (but still highly effective as part of the party) to go with a fighter or rogue to start.

With all that said, from here there are some additional things to look at if you want a broader perspective before you get stuck in. None of the points beyond this are necessary, but if like me you like to know as much as you can first, some of these might be helpful.

Kobold Press published a series of 'Introducing players' articles - First Session, Using the Three Pillars and Teaching Combat. The DM is trying to make the game fun and encourage creativity - lean into the situations presented to you.

There is a good write up on I Cast Light - (Very) Basic (5E) Dungeons & Dragons: All You Need To Know To Get Playing, Plus A Few Tricks. If you want more, D&D Beyond has a guide to the basics or Sly Flourish has a nice intro piece on getting started.

Even if you just want to play, it is a good idea to take a moment and see what a DM is trying to do at the table because then you can better contribute to making it a good time. I wrote up 'how to make the game flow' which might be helpful here.

If you want a view of how deep the rabbit-hole can go, this comprehensive guide on Bell of Lost Souls is good.

There is a great deal of stuff out there for free - see this big list on Reddit - so you can pull something together and see if you like it before dropping a pile of cash on rulebooks.