Pensive made good points. Also the fraction of time you spend playing is inversely related to the number of players. 6 party members means at least 5 people have to do something before it is your turn.
CestinShaman wrote:
My main big question though, is - How does it work? How does DnD actually work? You keep track of everything (stats, XP, level, details, etc) on paper, right? I imagine that could take up to a complete notebook or something, eventually.
Paper works. There are also software resources.
This is what you will need.
Players need 4 things generally.
1. Dice.
2. Some sort of figurine. It can be a miniature, token, or even a nickel, but they need something to represent themselves spatially.
3. Character sheet. This keeps track of stats, level, and equipment and the like. Most everything about a character can be found here.
4. Power sheet. It's useful, especially when you are new an unfamiliar, for each player to have a quick reference to what all they can do. If I'm a wizard, then it's nice to see what spells I can use at any given moment.
The group as a whole needs a battlemat.
It can be a fancy store bought battlemat, or just a dry erase board laid flat. You need something large with grid lines to conduct combat on.
The DM needs lots of stuff.
It's hard to think of everything, because you need so very much, but here are a few things I can think of.
1. A combat rule book. The basic D&D book (player's handbook) has combat rules in them, and you will want to bookmark that section for quick reference. Players are going to be asking you specific questions like how to grab an enemy, or how much bonus they get for flanking, or if they get an opportunity attack. You won't know everything, so be prepared to look it up.
2. A combat log. It can be a piece of paper or an excel file on the laptop. You need some way to record what happens in combat. As a DM you can delegate certain responsibilities, but otherwise it is your duty to keep track of monster HP, to know whose turn it is, to keep track of effects with duration. Whenever something happens in combat, write it down.
3. Prepared list of characters, monster, or events that could possibly happen. If you players are heading to town they might want to purchase supplies, so have an NPC merchant ready and know what type of stuff he is going to sell. If your players are going to be ambushed by orcs, have the orcs stated out and their general tactics prepared before. Know where the story is generally going to go before you start a session, and be prepared for changes. You don't need exhaustive lists. You don't need to list everything an individual merchant sells, but something like jotting down "this guy only has weapons up to level 7" or "this guy is a weapon smith so he only sells weapons," will help you.
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Also, what do you play on? Are there maps, boards? Is it based on squares? Or am I completely missing the point, I know there's an element of made-up story - is it all made up, the only actual physical things are the pens and paper?
There is what is called a battlemat. You need some sort of grid to conduct combat on. If you've played gridded RTS games like FFT or Nippon Ichi games, think of it like that.
D&D can loosely be broken up into
combat and
story. Combat is the part of D&D for which there are a lot of rules. It's like playing most any RPG-RTS game, except instead of the computer calculating things for you, people do it. Combat is "I move 6 squares and attack the orc with my fireball for 17 damage and stunning him for one turn." Story is more free form. There aren't rules to story. Story is "I go to the tavern and regale the keep with my legendary tales. Then set off on a journey to the north on a quest for the legendary sword of Zanzibar."
For D&D the most basic information is found in the Player's Handbook, and because you are DMing, also in the Dungeon Master's Guide. Buy/download these before you play and read them. You will have to choose a version of D&D to play (just like FF5 has different rules than FF6, D&D 3.5 has different rules than D&D 4.0).
I strongly recommend D&D 4.0, the newest edition. It is by far the most friendly for new players, and in my opinion the most fun. The rules make sense and are highly standardized. There is no "I before E except after C," it's just "I before E, always."
Also, what do you play on? Are there maps, boards? Is it based on squares? Or am I completely missing the point, I know there's an element of made-up story - is it all made up, the only actual physical things are the pens and paper?
Is there some kind of starter kit that'd be good for us? There would probably be four, sometimes five players. Maybe six. What is a good version? I know there are new and old versions, and some olde time players don't like the newer ones.
if anyone could offer help, it would be greatly appreciated, or even just the link to the old DnD thread that was in here awhile ago.[/quote]