I’m writing this post out of frustration. Bear with me, as it’s meant for people new to D&D.
Okay…
If you are completely new to D&D, and don’t know where to even start, then this post is for you!
The genesis for this post stems from a recent visit to my local big box book store. The D&D section is upstairs, tucked away, gently nestled between the manga books and the graphic novels. It’s a section of the store where you wouldn’t really go to unless you were already geeky. Nobody accidentally stumbles up there. Unfortunately, the store employees are also unaware of where that section is. Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here, as you are on your own.
Well, I’m going to try to help a bit, because that’s what I do. And the lack of newbie-friendly D&D “stuff” is grinding my gears. For realz.
So you are a new player to D&D, and you walk into the big book store don’t know where to start. So many books! And the shelf, what a mess! And the D&D website? Well, it’s a little confusing too, as it doesn’t really talk to you (the curious new blood) too well.
If by chance you walk into my neighborhood store and find the D&D (or rpg) shelf, you’d see the following books, laid out with no order, rhyme or reason. These are just a few:
- D&D Players Strategy Guide
- D&D Dark Sun Creature Catalogue
- D&D Player’s Handbook
- D&D Dungeon Master’s Guide 2
- D&D Dungeon Tiles Master Set: The City
- D&D Heroes of the Fallen Lands
- Dark Heresy (another rpg, not D&D)
- Pathfinder RPG (what an earlier edition of D&D became, run by a different company now)
- Monte Cook’s WOD (another rpg, not D&D)
- The Gathering Storm (Warhammer rpg, not D&D)
- Gamma World (another rpg, uses D&D rules, made by the D&D people)
- The Slaying Stone, Orcs of Stonefang Pass (D&D adventures)
So there’s a small sample of the books available at my local book store. Obviously I can only speak for my store, not other ones around the country. Although something tells me that nationwide, it may be the same more or less. The point is that there is no order to the books, no common sense approach to what books are must-have’s and what a first-time buyer should purchase.
Well, I’m going to try to help you out, because the D&D message is a little muddled online, filled with poisonous edition-warring, and a lack of thought about you, the new guy. Sure, they say that you are important, but in practice, I don’t see it. The focus is on keeping guys like me that already play, rather than luring folks like you into the fold. Some may have a problem with that statement, but I stand by it.
Last year, D&D came out with products called “Essentials”. Those are the ones on the shelf that are smallish and softcover, along with the white box sets. They are the following products, and lets talk about these first:
- Heroes of the Fallen Lands
- Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms
- Rules Compendium
- Dungeon Tiles master Set (3 boxes, city, dungeon and wilderness)
- Monster Vault
- Dungeon Master’s Kit
- D&D Starter Set (it’s a red box with a dragon on the cover)
- D&D Essentials Dice
Heroes of the Fallen Lands
These products were introduced and presented as a way for new players to get into D&D, that would stay in stock, and serve as a jumping on point for new players. Great.
Some of these products may or may not be available at your local B&N, or Border’s. I’ll tell you what’s really essential, and cut through the crap. If you want to play D&D, you need characters. The two “Heroes of…” books provide you with the basic classes and fantasy races you’ll need. The Fallen Lands book will give you an experience closer to say, Lord of the Rings-type races, with dwarves and elves, for example.
Can you play with just that one book? Sure you can. To start it’s a great choice. Put that one in your shopping bag. Now, you need rules for both the player’s and the DM. The D&D Rules Compendium does this nicely. It has all the rules you’ll need to play the game. Put that one in your shopping bag too.
Now the DM needs monsters to challenge players with. As a new group of players, you have a few options to handle this. You can go the published adventure route (which I recommend, more so for newbies), or pick up the Monster Vault and create your own adventures (it also includes an adventure).
There are two recently released published adventures: “The Slaying Stone”, and “Orcs of Stonefang Pass”. These are NOT labeled as “Essentials” products. It doesn’t matter though, you can use these just fine with what’s in your shopping bag. So if you want to save money, go to the register with the Rules Compendium, the Heroes of the Fallen Lands, and The Slaying Stone and you’ll have several weeks of gameplay right there. I’d also recommend the DM Kit box (which includes an adventure and tokens too).
Really, to get started, that’s all you need.
Oh, you need dice, so grab that Essentials Dice box (I hate to tell you to do that) or go online and buy some polyhedral dice from Chessex or someone else. You’ll also need a way to draw your maps. I’d recommend the Tiles boxes, but not yet. You may not use them for that particular adventure you are buying. Rather, go to Office Depot and buy a large easel pad of gridded paper and draw your maps on that. The published adventures may include a poster map too for one or two of the fights, but otherwise, you have to draw them on your own. You also need tokens or miniatures to represent your character. I recommend Auggies for miniatures and my tutorial for making your own tokens.
These purchases will have you playing D&D hours after leaving the bookstore.
The DM needs to read the Compendium and the adventure (and the DM’s Kit if bought) and the players need to read the Heroes of… and the Compendium as well.
Have fun gaming for a few weeks. Come back and finish reading this later….
Oh, you’re back? Did you enjoy the game? Good, then you are ready for more stuff.
Remember back at the store, up on the shelf there that there were other D&D books that weren’t labeled “Essentials”? The hardcover ones, yeah. You can use those too. But be careful, because some aren’t really needed, and others look necessary but really aren’t.
When D&D 4th Edition first came out in 2008, the first books available were the following:
- Player’s Handbook
- Dungeon Master’s Guide
- Monster Manual
The three core books released in 2008.
These books are still available on store shelves everywhere. Unfortunately, they have gone through numerous updates, changes, and clarifications (oh my!) and I do not recommend you buy them if you already picked up the “Heroes of…” books, the Rules Compendium, and the Essentials “Monster Vault”. It is mostly the same material as the Essentials stuff you now own, and are mostly outdated by current D&D standards. Example? Well, the Monster Manual monster math and stats are all off by current standards. The character classes in the Player’s Handbook are all outdated (powers have been changed or adjusted for example) when compared to the Essentials book you already own. I’ve been calling for these books to be pulled for a while, as I believe that selling obsolete material is just plain wrong. But what do I know?
Skip those 3 books, although the DM’s Guide has some good advice. Pick it up if you want, Mr. Newbie DM, but skip the Skill Challenge section. In fact, rip it off the book and throw it out. All those numbers in it are bad, and the mechanic in the book has been changed. Initiative rolls in Skill Challenges? That doesn’t exist anymore. Hasn’t for a long time. The copies at my local bookstore are still a first print run book from 2008 and those haven’t been updated. The Dm’s Guide 2 (another hardcover book) has good advice too, but it can wait until your players are a bit higher in level, Paragon tier. Confusing? I know.
So as a DM, now you want more monsters to throw at your players. You’ve finished both published adventures you own, so do you feel like creating something with new material? Pick up the Monster Manual 3. Is it on the shelf? It should be. It was the last Monster Manual hardcover that they published and has updated math and stats. It’s a good book full of good critters. Get it.
So now that you want to branch out on your own as a DM and as a group, where do you want to play? What world? Do you want to create your own world? Or would you rather play in a setting that D&D publishes? There are currently three worlds available for D&D:
- Forgotten Realms
- Dark Sun
- Eberron
Forgotten Realms is a fairly typical fantasy world. There are tons of novels set in it, and is pretty good for beginner players. There are two books available for it, the Campaign guide, and the Player’s Guide. The Campaign Guide is for the DM, and the Player’s Guide, well, self explanatory. Dark Sun is set in a desert world, with gladiators, slaves, and that sort of thing. There are also two books available for it, a campaign guide for players and DM’s, and a monster book. The third world, Eberron, is kind of a pulpy fantasy setting. It is also split into 2 books, one for Dm’s and one for players. All these books are compatible with the “Essentials” stuff you’ve presumably bought already.
So there’s one aspect I haven’t touched on yet, and that’s the online component to D&D, or the Dungeons and Dragons Insider, DDI as the kids call it. When I say that something is obsolete, it’s because of DDI. DDI has a character builder for you to build characters with, and all the changes made to all the races and classes get updated there. So if someone today, right now, makes a Player’s Handbook Cleric character using the character builder, while the guy next to him (that’s you) at the table makes the same exact cleric by hand, they will be completely different Clerics, due to all the changes that have been implemented these past three years. Your hand made cleric is outdated, yet the book is still on store shelves. Do you understand my point? This leads to possible issues where a new player may walk into a game store to play with someone, and he may be told “dude, your character is obsolete” without the player understanding why. He may say “I just bought this book yesterday!”. And he’d be stuck with an obsolete character.
So should you purchase a DDI subscription? Well, you have a monthy supply of adventures, new rules that add to the game, and the character builder and other half-completed digital tools (in the process of being finished). Sample it for a month or two and then decide.
So lets look at some of the 4e hardcovers, lets review:
- 2008 releases of PHB, DMG, and MM… I say skip it if you’re going to subscribe to DDI, and strongly think about not buying them if you already own the Essentials stuff. These books aren’t needed anymore. Don’t let anyone tell you that they are.
- Players Handbook 2 and 3? Only if you want more classes and races. Personally, for beginner players, I’d stick to the Essentials stuff and then explore these down the road.
- Player’s Strategy Guide… helps you build optimized characters and other things that will make your character “fun to play” as they put it. I say pass for now. As a beginner you aren’t there yet.
- Draconomicons… For the DM, books on Dragons. Honestly, these are cool books, I’m not sure how the stats hold up when compared to current standards.
- The Plane Above/Plane Below… These are DM books with fantastic locations for your game. Good stuff for ideas. Only if you aren’t running published adventures though, otherwise they may just sit on your shelf.
- Dungeon Delve… Good book with short encounters for each level of play. Monster stats may be a bit old, but still fully playable. I say pick it up if you can find it.
In short, if you are new to D&D, go find the Essentials stuff. Pick that up, along with a published adventure or two. Keep in mind that both the Monster Vault and the DM’s Kit boxed sets include adventures, so you may not need more than that for now. Skip the core book hardcovers, as they are useless if you get Essentials stuff, and consider subscribing to DDI. With these few things, you’ll have a few months of gaming assuming you aren’t a gaming freak who’s playing every night.
I’m not crazy about the way D&D is *not* marketed to newbies. I see a game that is marketed towards the already established player base, and a game that is doing whatever it can to keep those players. I don’t see it trying to wrangle new ones. They can say all they want about Essentials being for the new players. When a guy walks into a bookstore and sees the mess that is the Rpg shelf, with hardbacks, Essentials stuff, and other junk thrown around without any sort of context whatsoever, it does him no good that those products are made for him. It really is a disservice to the hobby that new players aren’t being courted better, or advertised or marketed to.
I get accused of ranting a lot, especially about this. That’s fine. I rant because I care, and this is my site to write whatever I want about a game I’m passionate about.
I hope that if you are a new player to D&D, this cleared things up a bit.
www. Newbie DM .com 
Alphastream
May 18, 2011
More rants should be like this!
Snarls-at-Fleas
May 18, 2011
Good post. The only problem I see – I highly doubt any D&D newbies read D&D blogs 🙂
Pierre
May 18, 2011
Probably an obvious question, but what about the redbox, especially if you want to start with only one thing, to discover a bit what all those RPG thingies are about?
Geek Gazette
May 18, 2011
Really good post. I honestly had not considered just how confusing this could all be to new players. WoTC should be ashamed, as should your bookstore for putting the rpgs in no mans land.
I already own all those books and I’ve been playing D&D for over 20 years and you even made me feel overwhelmed and confused. I would hate to be a new gamer trying to figure this stuff out with no one to help.
I was considering starting up a 4e game, but after reading this I think I’ll run Pathfinder or HEX. 😉
I agree Pierre, I would recommend the Red Box to any new players I encountered.
Geek Gazette
May 18, 2011
@ Snarls-at-Fleas
What’s really sad is that most of the gamers I know don’t even read RPG/gamer blogs. I really think that we all just write blog posts for other bloggers to read.
Adriano
May 18, 2011
@Pierre, @NewbieDM I think that starting with the Essentials Heroes Of and the Essentials DM Kit is the cheapest way to test the waters: two products, cheap, including the rules, the basic classes and races, tokens, and an adventure. You really don’t need anything else to try your hand.
Walmar
May 18, 2011
Thanks. I’m a D&D 4e newbie and considering harassing my group with it. We have played 3.5 and I would like to try out 4e. This post really shows me the books I will look into.
AsmodeusLore
May 18, 2011
This post started with the best intentions, but ended up straying from the path somewhere along the way. The following is what I think newbie should have written:
Part 1
So you want to try out Dungeons and Dragons? Welcome!
First thing you need to do is find a group of players who are already playing. Each group has a member that is called the Dungeon Master(or DM for short). This person knows the game very well, and will teach you everything you need to know.
The best place to find a group of players is at your local gaming store, or with a google search to find local gaming organizations. (Insert more here about finding a group)
Once you’ve found a group, make sure that you send your new Dungeon Master to this page and hve them read Part 2.
Have fun!
Part 2
So, you are a Dungeon Master, and you have a new player? Welcome!
If you’ve been doing this for awhile, you already know the rules, you know what books are needed, and what supplies your new player has to buy. It all seems perfectly reasonable and logical to you. However, to a new player, it can be a bit confusing.
This guide is meant to help you teach your new player the game without confusing them.
Step 1: Basic Supplies
– Advise your player to bring some basic supplies to the game. They should be able to bring Pencil and Paper to their first session.
– Avoid forcing them to buy books and dice right away. If you or another player has some spare dice, let the new player use them for their first session. Otherwise, just share.
Step 2: Character
– You might want to create a character for the new player, if they want to just jump into the game and start playing.
– Alternatively, you can sit down with the new player before the game and walk them through the process of building their first character. Have your own Player’s Handbook or Essentials Player book ready for them to use during this process. Be patient with the new player. They have a lot of information to absorb, and a lot of choices to make. If you have a copy of the Red Box, consider using the Player’s Guide to help them make informed choices for creating their first character.
– If you have a D&D Insider account, log on, and let them use your account to access the Character Builder. Don’t share your username and password though. Keep those private.
Step 3: Pre-Game
– Introduce the new player to the group. If you have another experienced player who is willing and capable of helping the new player with game play, have them sit next to each other.
– Explain how a role-playing game works. (Each player controls their own character, while the DM controls the rest of the people in the world and the environment. The DM will present you will challenges, and you will have to figure out what actions your character takes to overcome them.)
– Explain the core mechanic of the game. (When you decide your character will attempt a difficult task, there is a chance for failure. To determine if you succeed, or fail, roll a d20, and add a modifier. The higher the number, the better your chance of success. )
– Answer any questions they may have. (What is a ‘Dee-Twenty’?)
– Encourage them to ask you (or your experienced player assistant) any questions that come up during the game.
Step 4: The Game
– Play some D&D. If possible, make it a short session with a simple goal, and 1 or 2 combat sessions with some exploration or role playing opportunities. The key here is to keep it simple. you just want to give the new player a taste of what the game is like.
– When the first combat breaks out, take a few moments to explain how initiative works, and what actions each player can take on their turn (move, minor, standard).
– When the new player’s first turn comes up, be ready to offer a suggested course of action. Keep it Simple! (You are a Slayer. You do your best work when you get up close with the monster. Consider moving up to the closest enemy and making a Basic Melee Attack.)
– When their turn comes up again, if they seem like they are struggling, throw out a suggestion for something new to try. (The enemy you are facing seems like he has good defenses. You have a stance that you can use to increase your Attack. That might be a good idea.)(Nice job hitting him. If you are interested in doing even more damage, you can use your Power Attack and do an extra d10 of damage.) If they seem like they are comfortable, let them make their own decision, even if it isn’t the best one.
– As always, be ready to answer questions they may have. (What does Combat Advantage mean and how do I get it? What does the cleric mean by spend a healing surge? What does Save Ends mean?)
Step 5: Post-Game
– Ask the player if they had a good time.
– Ask them if they have any questions for you.
– If they seem interested in continuing to play, suggest they pick up a set of dice of their own, and a Player’s Handbook, or an Essentials Player book. Perhaps you can accompany them to the store to help advise them.
– Have them go over the rule book, and give them your email address, in case they have further questions.
– Tell them when and where the next game session is.
Step 6: Continuing Development
– As you play, gradually expose the player to new rules. (Cover, Concealment, Magic Items, Disease, etc)
– Be ready to advise your player about what purchases to make. (You’re playing a Rogue? The Martial Power handbook could be useful if you want some more options. You want to try a Hexblade? You should pick up the Heroes of … Book.)
– If after several sessions of play, the player turns out to really enjoy the game, and wants to fully indulge in the hobby, discuss a D&D Insider subscription, and make plans to attend a local gaming convention. Perhaps even discuss the idea of the player trying out the role of Dungeon Master at some point.
Adriano
May 18, 2011
@AsmodeusLore your idea is good, but hasn’t much to do with “Staring at the D&D bookshelf”. Both yours and @NewbieDM’s are valid points, but under his title, his article is definitely on-topic and yours isn’t.
Of course, it could be argued that informing yourself before going to the bookstore in some way is better than going there and getting confused. This is just what @NewbieDM is doing here, you are simply saying “Go ask your FLGS/DM/something”.
morrisonmp
May 18, 2011
This is a great post — and unfortunately, it highlights one of the biggest problems with 4E. Which is not really the game itself, but the mess surrounding it. A lot of people compare Core 4E and Essentials by calling Essentials a stealth edition, or a 4.5 — but to me it more resembles the old days when you had D&D and AD&D on the same shelves in the same stores. They were (mostly) compatible products — but you had to do some work to get them to mesh correctly. And they presented the problem of “well, in this book elves are a class, but in that book elves are a race…” etc. I mean, they use the same terminology, but different mechanical stuffing…
Worse, as Newbie pointed out, the original PHB and first run books are practically useless now since they’ve been tinkered with so much. It really is a marketing nightmare. And I know most of the players I play with — while fully tech savvy and with it people — don’t have the time or energy to spend hours checking out errata or reading update documents just to play the game every week — and they don’t all want to use the character builder… but some do.
4E has reached the point where it’s just a mess. Most of the books are pretty useless at this point, the CB is online only, and the updates are huge. I’d been considering going back after taking almost a year off, but looking back into the abyss in the last two weeks — I think I’m gonna stay gone. Which is a shame.
zteccc
May 18, 2011
For newbies, your guide is very good. I’m not exactly a newbie, but I’ve never owned the books either. After recently going out and purchasing a collection of books (some essentials and some hardbound), I can agree that as a newbie player, the essentials heroes and rules compendium books are all that are needed (the Monster vault is great if you are building your own campaigns). As a newbie DM (actually, I’ll be DM for the first time with an already established group this Friday), the rules compendium and a prewritten module are a very good place to start.
Where I run into a problem with your recommendations is rituals. I haven’t found rituals in Essentials which is a big shortcoming if you are going to be playing with a mix of essentials and 4e characters. Ok, doing so should probably be frowned upon, but that’s what we’re doing, and the players with the hardcover books have characters with rituals, while those who are using essentials books do not (imagine being the only Wizard in the group without ritual casting because you built a Mage from Heroes of the Fallen Lands).
Despite all of the warts on the hardbound books, there are some important parts that aren’t going to be found anywhere else. Do these parts matter? Not if you are in an entirely new group or if you decide to play a strictly essentials game. Yes if you are joining an established group (of course if you are, your DM can help you find the appropriate books).
Adriano
May 18, 2011
@zteccc Why should playing with both “4e classic” and essentials characters be frowned upon? Our group hasn’t had any problems, and some of my 4e classic players are even considering taking powers or feats from the essentials books.
Second: do you really think that 1st-to-5th level characters (as those are the levels covered in the Essentials books) really need rituals for something? Rituals that they can’t get by consulting with -say- a wizard guild and having them performed by others? In that case, you can allow them to take the Ritual Caster feat and give them some feats from the original PHB.
As a newbie DMing for newbies, I haven’t found yet that rituals are needed in my campaign. Essentials books are (at least some of them) a gentle introduction to D&D. Rituals were left out. You can always get a book to add them back.
Finally, it would be interesting to see in story why does one wizard not know rituals, while the others do. What advantages did his mage’s school give him instead?
Jeff
May 18, 2011
Dang… I’m a total noob and I just bought the 3 core books a few days ago.
GregfromCanada
May 19, 2011
I think whats most revealing in this post and some of the responses is just how convoluted 4ed is, and how when you really take off the blinders how poorly designed it is in respects to adding additional material. Now I know this will gain me some backlash but a good game design would allow for additional updates and changes without making the Core Rule books obsolete, plan and simple. 4ed is a system poorly designed for what the designers really wanted: something they could, and planned on, expanding heavily. But it’s also poor design team management, because rather than forcing new material development choices to fit within the Core Rules they chose to back track and rewrite as conflicting or poorly vetted rules breaks cascaded through the system, rendering the Core Rule books obsolete.
My advice to Newbies: buy Dragon Age, and if you really want to use D&D adventures or settings convert them (somebody will develop a conversion tool sooner or later).
zteccc
May 19, 2011
@Adriano
Perhaps frowned upon was too harsh, but as Newbie said, the characters from the 4e hardbound books would be “obsolete” or “outdated” (not my words). As such, mixing those two would end up with a hodgepodge of “obsolete” and “current” characters built on different rule bases. Does it mater? As I said that’s what we’re doing and it works fine, but it comes down to who you play with.
The essentials books cover characters through level 30, not just levels 1-5 (at least the two Heroes of … books do). So rituals do indeed apply.
Two in game examples of ritual use: We found a message scrawled on the back of a statue. It was in a language that we did not understand. Fortunately, our 4e classic bard had ritual casting and comprehend languages as a ritual, so we were able to learn the contents of the message. Without that ritual, yes, we could have broken a chunk off of the statue and carried it to a wizard’s guild (and risked breaking the script), or perhaps we could have brought a wizard back (at an exorbitant cost). Or perhaps we could have pulled out some paper and ink and copied it down (oops, nobody was carrying any and we didn’t know the script, so we probably would have messed it up anyway) or perhaps taken a snapshot with our cell phone (oops, again, no characters were carrying one).
Shortly thereafter, we were outside a room that we stealthily peeked into. We saw a few goblin guards. As a colorful approach, one of our ritual casters had control light and we used that ritual to make the room completely dark, then our mage/illusionist cast a spectral image of a battle ready elven warrior just behind the goblins and then the ritual caster brought the light back on to full brightness. The result was an intimidate check that resulted in two fleeing goblins. Could we have just gone in and killed the goblins? Absolutely, we outnumbered them and they would have been easy (they were probably minions), but we had a bit more fun with the rituals and let’s face it, having fun is why we play, right?
The biggest problem with just taking ritual casting as a feat, especially for a wizard, is how rituals are gained in classic 4e as opposed to essentials. In 4e, a wizard gains rituals at certain levels. There isn’t a monetary cost, just part of the wizard’s development (which make sense, as a wizard grows in power, he will uncover more arcane secrets). A non-wizard has to pay for rituals because they are outside their line of work. In essentials/4e mixed a wizard has to choose to take a ritual casting feat, instead of it being a class feat, which means that the wizard isn’t likely going to gain rituals at defined levels in the same way as a 4e classic wizard (I guess the DM could always allow it, but the rules don’t support it). As a result, we don’t find essentials mages taking ritual casting.
Yes, you’re right, rituals are not necessary, they are fun and colorful additions to flesh out the capabilities of the characters in the game (which is one reason to not take the ritual casting feat as opposed to a more “necessary” one that gives more damage in combat or helps succeed in skill checks). The truly necessary rituals (mostly cleric rituals) have become higher level powers in essentials (which is one reason that adding rituals can become redundant).
So what does the essentials mage get that the 4e wizard doesn’t? As near as I can tell, the mage gets a feat, apprentice mage, for a specific school of magic at first level and then at later levels, they can apprentice in a different school, become a master or even even an expert mage which gives better results in encounter spells. I don’t really see anything else to offset the lack of the ritual casting feat. Since rituals are rarely useful in encounters (due to the amount of time necessary to perform one), and typically are only used during adventuring/roleplaying segments, I’m not sure how an encounter feat offsets rituals effectively. An essentials mage, playing only with essentials rules, would never be able to enchant an item, would never be able to teleport, knock, create a floating disc or magic mouth, or do any of the colorful things that make a mage more than just an artillery piece. Sure it’s fun to have a shock sphere that takes out all of the minions in a room, but it’s also fun for a mage to be able to be able to do magic outside of an encounter and that is mostly where rituals come in.
Brent
May 19, 2011
Great post. I have the Essentials books and got a great deal on the core books ($14.99 for MM1 and DMG) and $16.99 for both PHB1 and PHB2. I like to to look at them for ideas. I also subscribe to DDI and have a good time messing around with it and making up random characters. So maybe if I had read this before I might have saved some $$$$. Love the posts and keep it up.
Rob
May 19, 2011
WotC and Hasbro need to kick thier Sales Reps up the arse. That’s thier job to educate the staff of the book stores and make sure thier products are displayed in an appropriate manner. Ive been a sales rep for 16 years and its just not on, Newbie you are 100% correct.
Dave
May 20, 2011
Just curious… how much does all of your recommended books cost? Especially if you’re paying full retail at your local gaming shop or Barnes & Noble, instead of getting the Amazon discount.
I often wonder how difficult it would be for a young kid to afford to play D&D these days. When I was first getting into the game, I couldn’t really afford the books. I got them all as gifts and saved my pennies for the odd Dragon magazine here and there.
Adriano
May 20, 2011
@zteccc “The essentials books cover characters through level 30, not just levels 1-5 (at least the two Heroes of … books do). So rituals do indeed apply. ”
Sorry. I regretted my phrasing as soon as I posted. What I meant was that the adventures included with the Starter Set, DM Kit and Monster Vault only cover up to level 5. You’re absolutely right that the player books cover from 1 to 30.
Still, your explanation of rituals is insightful, or at least, I didn’t know that. I’d like to check how hard it is to make an Essentials mage into a ritualist.
Adriano
May 20, 2011
Dave, I just (a few months ago) paid around $100 for the two Heroes Of books, the Monster vault, the DM Kit and the Rules Compendium, and you don’t even need all those books to start, as NewbieDM says.
– Heroes of the Fallen Lands costs $13.57
– The DM Kit costs $26.39 (You’d only need this and the above to start a decent campaign).
– The Monster Vault costs $19.79
– The Red Box starter set costs $19.60 (you’d only need this to check what’s it about).
So it’s relatively cheap to start and see if you like it.
zteccc
May 21, 2011
I just came back from my first session as a DM (ever). It went well.
The Rules Compendium was an invaluable resource. Having read through it once really helped. Much better than going through several hardbound books for the rules.
The adventure was from the Essentials DM Kit and thus all resources were available (maps, counters, DM Screen, etc.) The adventure was engaging and fun to play. As I’ve mentioned before, we have a mix of 4e and essentials characters, but the only necessary rules were essentials (we didn’t use any rituals this time around). So from a newbie DM side of the screen, I’d have to say that Newbie’s review of these books is right on.
The one thing that made me want more was populating treasures. The adventure has the DM select treasures of the appropriate level. The essentials books simply don’t have as extensive a library of treasures as the hardbound books. I found most of the treasures that I wanted to use in the hardbound books (PHB and PHB2). I could have used the Heroes of … books, and in the end, they would have been treasures of the correct level, the selection simply wasn’t as great (and thus, not as fun).
Jay Jennings
May 22, 2011
Thank you! Very helpful for this newbie looking at shelling out scads of cash. I would have bought the “wrong” things I think.
I just joined a DnD Encounters group 2 weeks ago — the last time I played DnD was almost 20 years ago (just once or twice) so I’m kind of flailing around. Posts like yours really help.
Jay
Dungeons & Dragons Guy
May 22, 2011
Hey great post.
I agree with you on needing to cut through the crap. There is a lot of books out there that simply are just not necessary.
Honestly all you need is the Player’s Handbook, the DM Guide and the Monster Manual. If you play long enough like how I have, you can get away with just the Player’s Handbook and just get creative.
Though the books, regardless of which one, are always fun to have if for nothing else than just the fluff they add with the characters, stories and various cultures.
I just recently got involved in 4th edition, looking forward to playing more!
Adriano
May 24, 2011
@Dungeons&DragonsGuy yes, but this article is aimed at newbies.
Hotwire
May 25, 2011
WOW, this has REALLY made things easy for me, and my GF. We both were looking for somthing we could play, that was not and electronic embilicle (?sp) cord to the TV. Somthing we could play on a cold, rainy day, without too much noise and light.
Im going to be hitting up the local DnD shop and grabbing the DM Kit, and the other 3 books you suggested. It sounds like Im in for a lot of reading tonight.. and the next few days. lol. Thank god the military pays me a salary!
Hotwire
May 26, 2011
Well, you sent me on a shopping trip last night…
– DM Box Kit
– Monster Box Kit
– Both “Hero’s of” books
– City Tiles box
And $200 later, Im on a roll… Litteraly… lol.
Thanks again.
Jill
June 8, 2011
Just wanted to say thanks for this post – I have been looking into 4e for myself and group of friends (all of us are noobs) and have found this post invaluable. Trying to get into DnD on a tight budget and with little prior knowledge has meant a lot of nights in front of a pc screen. I have been flip flopping between which version to run/buy but finally decided (after reading this article) that we’d go with Essentials. We aren’t playing with other people and so only have ourselves to answer to… We will be getting started with Essentials 4e in a few weeks. I plan on raking through your website to help me get started in DMing too 🙂
Thank you for taking the time to write this.
Geek Gazette
June 9, 2011
I’m not sure where everyone is buying there stuff, but I got both of the Heroes books and the RC when they first came out on Amazon for less than $13 each( about $38-$39 total). The DM Kit was $14 so for a grand total of around $50 I got everything I needed to run a game.
Of course I already owned the 3 original 4e core books, the 2 FR books and the MM3 so I haven’t bought or needed the Monster Kit, yet. I like the Essentials stuff a lot better than the original core books, so I’m glad I bought them.
NP
September 14, 2011
I am a new player who has spent the last few weeks trying to choose between Pathfinder and 4E. I can’t tell you how much time I wasted reading through the 4E books before I finally realized, and grasped exactly what the Essentials line was. My conclusions about what books to buy matched your recommendations entirely, so that makes me feel good =)
Meech
September 22, 2011
I’m a newbie DM myself, but I’m also a perfectionist, kind of – and you can’t even begin to imagine how pissed off I was at first when researching about D&D 4. I like the core’s complexity and versatility (?) more than the Essential’s static builds, but I do appreciate their newbie-friendly style, and I’m mad at having to buy any of the Heroes of… manuals just for the fluff, specially now with the Heroes of Feywild soon to come. I kind of wish they’d make a Player’s Handbook 4 with the Essentials’ approach and the Heroes of Shadow and Feywild in it, like how the Monster Manual 3 resembles Monster Vault.
DoubleDamage31
November 9, 2011
Nice writeup. I just happened to stumble in here today after doing a little “catch-up” reading on 4e/Essentials et al. Here’s a couple things I’ve had in my skull:
WOTC rolled a serious 1 with 4e. We’re talking fumble, stumble, and fall on sword. From the outset, they pissed off long time gamers by ignoring their input and by denigrating the older versions of the game and its history. A lot about 4e is D&D in name only. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying tweaking things and even wholesale system upheavals are necessarily bad, but they way they went about it was horribly ill conceived.
Second, they muddled everything with the Essentials line. The entire concept and their insistence that it’s not 4.5 is hollow for those who got burned by the 3 and 3.5 debacle. That quick turnaround with that system, and then seeing Essentials dropped into the short life of 4e has made a lot of people uneasy, and they’re hesitant to buy into 4e/Essentials for fear that as soon as they do, 5e will come out. It’s one thing to have errata (which I still maintain is far too high a quantity given all the playtesting and editing work that should be done on these games. If you’ve got 100+ pieces of errata in a single core book then you’re seriously failing in quality control before that book prints) and it’s another thing altogether to be doing these larger rules adjustments and “refinements” just a few short years into a game cycle. AD&D had nearly a 10 year lifespan and while it had its share of errata, each successive book worked hand in hand with the others. They didn’t replace them. Even AD&D2e had a good 7 years before it revised. Then along comes 3e and gets the 3.5 makeover just 3 years later, and 4e sees Essentials give the rules an overhaul/refinement just 2 years in. This does not breed trust in gamers.
As you pointed out, standing in a bookstore or game shop and looking at this wall of boxes and hardcovers is horribly confusing for new players. Heck, I dare say it’s confusing for ANY players. Solution? Streamline. Stop futzing around. Take the Heroes of rule books and the usable portions of PHBs 1,2 & 3 and put out one concise Player’s Handbook. One book on the shelf. Done. Simple. Do the same thing with the MMs and the DMs. Get the flood of outdated junk out of the way. If you’re not going to do that, end the line and get 5 on the shelves and DO IT RIGHT FROM THE BEGINNING.
One of the things WOTC ripped TSR about when they took over D&D was that TSR killed themselves during the AD&D2 period by putting out way too many books. They weren’t going to do that. They were going to limit the output and focus on quality.
We see how that worked.
Thirdly, someone commented about how book store employees are not up to speed about how to answer questions regarding starting points with D&D, and the shelves are a tangle of mish-mash systems and settings. A couple things on that point (being an 11 year bookseller with some insight here):
You’re right. Almost none of the booksellers are up to speed on D&D. Every bookstore has employees who are proficient in various areas. It’s hard to find one bookseller who can give you optimal assistance in all areas. But we try. Now, I’ve been a D&Der from the old Red Box and then AD&D days. They lost me in 3.5. I’ve looked at 4 but not played. I’m too leery, and the Essentials release didn’t easy my fears. But even doing all the reading and keeping up that I’ve done, even I am hard pressed to properly advise someone where to start. In general, our staff directs people to Essentials because, well, it’s ESSENTIAL. So that must be the place to start. Gone are the days of companies sending enough material or even a staff employee to give guidance to sellers. Even book reps, who came into stores to hawk the up and coming titles in an effort to get you to bump your orders, are long gone. So I feel your pain when you lament that booksellers aren’t much help, but they’re honestly NOT given any guidance from the manufacturing company. And at the corporate level, where the store design and layouts are done, it’s all just dollar signs to them. Pathfinder, D&D, Warhammer. Just put it on a display. People that want it will find it. That’s the mentality. I’ve been the default game guy in our store (in fact, I just had to special order the new Pathfinder Beginner’s Box for our store because corporate did not see fit to put in that order themselves.) but given that I’ve not played 4e, I have a hard time really giving what I feel would be the best guidance. But I do enjoy talking to the folks who come in, especially those who are playing 4e and can pitch me their plusses and minuses of the system. Would it be nice to get a proper introductory package or a visit from an actual gaming company? Damn right it would. I can better sell your product if you sell ME on the product.
That’s what I’ve got. Again, nice post up. Glad I stumbled in.
Matthew Isaac
February 6, 2012
I am planning on becomig a DM and have no idea how the game works, so thanks a lot for posting this. I completely ignored the “essentials” stuff and was going for the core rulebooks. Thanks for posting this.
Elliott
February 23, 2012
Could someone who is experienced in D&D able to help me with some questions?
some of it is related to the posts above.
I am a D&D Newbie, and i am trying to learn the game, and DM for my friends, (also Newbies).
If your willing to help answer a few questions for me, send me a message at emazzuca@gmail.com
thanks 🙂
Tim
February 23, 2012
I just wanted to thank you for writing this, because I literally just started playing two weeks ago. I have been watching my friends play for about 10 years now, and have finally decided to play myself (my friends said they were breaking down the wall to my inner nerdness). Anyways, it is very confusing, but with blogs like this, it helps create order in all the chaos. So yeah thanks again.
dagonsrazor
April 26, 2012
Reblogged this on Dagonsrazor Says… and commented:
For anyone looking to get into it. Very good for beginners.
NewDM
June 21, 2012
Awesome blog! Thank you. I’ve been a long time fan of D&D with never anyone to play with. A group of friends suddenly took interest. Much to my chagrin, classic red box costs an arm and a leg new. Used it still costs an arm and it’s usually in very poor shape!
Anyway, new(er) red box looks like it is going to work out well. I ran one through the solo adventure to create a character and I will be running 4 PCs through the pre-made. I personally don’t really enjoy 4e as much, but I think it will work out great for these guys completely new to D&D. Got my fingers crossed that they will enjoy it and want to continue.
Unfortunately when I look for “what next,” all I’ve been able to find is nerd rage and bickering. Luckily I found this and now got a better feel of what is offered in the others essentials kits. MUCH APPRECIATED!
Dennis
July 17, 2012
This is amazing. Complete noob here, but excited to get started. Thanks for this great post.
Mitch
July 26, 2012
Thanks a lot man. Wasn’t to sure what to buy, but your blog really cleared the air. Have a good one.
Scott Parker (@scoparker)
October 23, 2012
I’m brand new to the game, and in charge of setting up a game for a group of newbs interested in trying the game.
This post was invaluable in knowing what to buy, and I now regret picking up the Red Box first (even though that’s the adventure we’ll be starting with).
So thanks so much for sharing this info! It was exceedingly helpful!
(And you’re right, from a marketing perspective WotC does a miserable job with their muddled product offering of lowering the barrier to entry.)
Scott Parker (@scoparker)
October 23, 2012
… and I apologize for the terrible syntax in that first sentence. 😉
Dracoprimus
October 23, 2012
Actually, there are 2 great ways to get started in 4e D&D with almost no cash outlay.
The first is Encounters. This is an organized play program run on Wednesdays, normally 7-9pm. Just use the store locator on the D&D website to find a nearby store running it. Pre-generated characters are provided if you don’t want to, or can’t, create your own character. While it’s preferable for you to have your own dice(you can normally buy a full set for under$5), a lot of players are willing to loan or share their own dice. So you COULD possibly walk in off the street and play, for free. This also helps get around the issue of finding enough friends interested in playing to create your own group.
If that doesn’t work, go to the D&D website, and look for ‘learn to play’. You can download a free PDF of the quick-start rules, pre-generated characters, character sheets for making your own characters, and even find several free PDFs of published adventures. You can get started this way for the price of dice(or even use an online dice roller), and printing out character sheets( you can also find many PDFs of character sheets with forms added if you want to use your computer/laptop to manage your character). If you like it, you can then go out and buy the books suggested by newbiedm.
Winston
December 4, 2012
I am a new D&D player and an aspiring DM. However, I really don’t know the point of the DM guide. If I know the rules of the game, have a good imagination for making home brew, and have the Monster’s vault, what else is there to know?
Dracoprimus
December 4, 2012
The DMG gives some decent behind the scenes guidance. How to build a balanced encounter that will challenge, but not destroy your PC party. How to set the proper DC for skill checks.
So, while not required, it CAN still be very usefull.
Oliver
May 24, 2013
I found this really helpful as a complete newb to DnD. Thanks for taking the time to write it. Much appreciated.
Per
June 2, 2013
I am most definitely a D&D newbie. Me and two other friends wanted to start playing DnD this summer, we know nobody else who plays and aren’t really interested in joining a group yet. Essentially we are trying to find an affordable way to get into the game.
I found this blog by googling “how do I start playing Dungeons and Dragons?”. Yeah i wrote a full-sentence into google, lame I know, but I’m glad I did. Thanks for the advice because this is a daunting experience with mislabelled products and a seemingly steep learning curve. However we are still excited. 🙂
aircraft stripper
June 20, 2013
Hello, all the time i used to check website posts here early in the dawn, since
i like to learn more and more.
sanam
July 9, 2013
was reading Player’s guide ~.~”” n It’s Confusing as hell ~ ( never played Any table top RPG before )
Things like Paragon , AoO are damn hard to understand ~ via just reading
Thanx for the advise ~ i will give a go to Essentials 😀
Gretchen
August 19, 2013
Hello there! This blog post couldn’t be written any better! Looking through this post reminds me of my previous roommate! He continually kept talking about this. I’ll forward this article to
him. Fairly certain he will have a good read. Thanks for sharing!
SlappyMcGrue
December 26, 2013
Wow. So much good info. I am a newb to dnd. I bought the red box and was intrigued. I managed to score the three hard bound books off eBay for the price of one book. But after reading this I’m thinking I should have waited. What do you suggest I do from here? What books? What are some good beginner adventures? Thanks.
newbiedm
December 27, 2013
There is a whole new edition arriving this summer. In my my opinion, you should wait until then to jump into dnd head first. The books currently on sale are all obsolete and Wizards will not be supporting that edition any more. 4e is dead. The magazines which supported it are no longer being published. I would wait until the summer. They just finished a 2 year public playtest of the new edition. It isn’t as reliant on miniatures as 4th edition. Just wait until the summer. If you ask around on twitter using #dnd or #dndnext hastags, someone will give you the playtest documents, which were free, but aren’t being distributed anymore. This is a bad time to get into dnd, since we are between editions. It is disingenuous of them to still sell these books are bookstores when they know it is a dead system. shame on them.
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July 29, 2014
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Joseph cutcher
August 22, 2015
Im completely new to D&D and googling something about “why so many books” popped this guide up. Could you please update for this year what i should get,if im starting today? This is old stuff because we are on the 5th edition now right?
This online group i want to join let me see this book called “complete adventurer” and i wonder how its different from say the players handbook. Why would i buy this adventure book that the players handbook doesnt give me?
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