A starter’s guide to Dungeons & Dragons

I am still waiting for another series to top Stranger Things, so far no luck...

If you have watched the record-breaking Netflix series Stranger Things, you will probably already be familiar with the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons. But fear not, the monsters that the Dungeon Master summons won’t come to life. At least, not in this reality.

If you haven’t watched Stranger Things, you are probably thinking: what is she talking about? Role-playing, Dungeon Master? What? No worries! In this blog post, I will catch you up on what D&D is all about.

What is Dungeons & Dragons?

So, role-playing... No, not that kind of role-play game (rpg)! Dungeons & Dragons is based on storytelling. Actually, you can compare it to when you combine theater with a board game. In a play, you portray a fictional character: you act like them, talk like them. For D&D, you can pick your own character (but more on that below). Board games have fixed rules that you need to follow in order to win the game. So, when you combine theater and board games: you portray a character who needs to 'win' the game, but in this case winning almost always equals surviving.

The Dungeon Master (DM) is the 'producer of the play', they know the story and what will happen, i.e. who you will encounter, what quests are in store for you, what dangers lie ahead, etc. Of course, your game play can alter the plot, so the Dungeon Master will need to adapt accordingly. Good Dungeon Masters adjust the plot without you noticing anything. But no worries, less experienced DMs can get their inspiration in ready-made adventures.

A Dungeons Master can't do much without, you guessed it, the players. That's where you come in. All the players together forms the 'party'. Before you begin, you'll need to pick out a fantasy race for your character:

The race 'elf' is a beloved race to play in a D&D campaign.

• Elf

• Halfling

• Human

• Dwarf

• Half-Orc

• Gnome

Of course, if your DM allows it, you can also include your own favourite race, like I did for the Dungeons & Dragons campaign with my friends. I chose 'merfolk', and it's no coincidence that my protagonist is a mermaid... Subscribers to my newsletter will already know why that is the case.

Once you have chosen your race, you need to pick out a class. It defines a character's capabilities, strengths, weaknesses and determines their available skills and abilities. This is a non-exhaustive list of character classes:

• Fighter: fights with melee weapons, such as swords and axes.

• Wizard: uses magic

• Cleric: due to their worship, they are granted divine magic

• Rogue: uses stealth and deception

• Ranger: uses a mix of ranged attacks using bows, ranged spells

Sometimes the DM can choose to grant you extra bonuses (when throwing the dice for example, see below), if you make an effort to play as your character and keep their backstory in account. You can ask yourself: how would my character react in this situation? And the hard part is to make choices that might impact your character negatively, because choosing an alternative would be out-of-character.

What does the D&D game play look like?

It's easy to get overwhelmed in the beginning by how the game works, but don't worry, the bottom line are these easy three steps:

1. The DM decides the course of the adventure.

2. The players, a.k.a. you, decide how they react on what's happening.

3. The players roll a dice to see whether they will succeed or fail when doing an action.

The different types of dice you will need to play Dungeons & Dragons.

Those dice are important. You need different kinds of dice: d4, d6, d8, d10, d12 and d20, where D stands for 'dice' and the number stands for how many sides the dice have. So, a D6 is a dice with 6 sides. And you use the dice for various types of throws, but let's not lose ourselves in the details in this starter's guide.

You see, the game is a healthy mix of intent (acting as your character) and chance (rolling the dice). The three steps are repeated throughout each D&D session. Of course, there is more to D&D than I can explain here, but now you at least know the basics. So, grab your (nerdy) friends and remember: nerdy/geeky is the new cool.