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The Krest
2008-04-13, 04:26 AM
I'm very interested in joining the dungeons and dragons whole gaming thing but living in Australia I don't know much about it, I have a rough idea of it from games such as Baldur's Gate 1,2 Icewind Dale 1,2 and the Neverwinter Nights games, this in no way connects to the real D&D experience, If i wanted to learn more about the game, what gaming books should i buy and are there any tips or things I should know? And as i previously mentioned, I live in a country seemingly isolated from these sorts of games, so I've noticed "online games" in some places, could someone care to explain what these are all about? Any help at all is appreciated! Thanks from a total newb in advance.

Nebo_
2008-04-13, 04:35 AM
What part of Australia do you live in? There are actually a fair few roleplayers here, it's just a matter of finding them.

If you're interested in starting D&D, the books to buy would be the Core three: Players Handbook, Monster Manual and the Dungeon Master's Guide. There is a new edition of the game coming out in a few months, so you might want to hold off your purchases until then.

If you're interested in getting in contact with other Australian Roleplayers, I recommend these sites: http://elysium.invisionplus.net/ and www.rubycovenant.com.au

The latter is kind of dead lately, but Elysium is growing quite well.

Kurald Galain
2008-04-13, 04:50 AM
If you're interested in starting D&D, the books to buy would be the Core three: Players Handbook, Monster Manual and the Dungeon Master's Guide.

No, definitely not. If you're just starting out, the only book you'll actually need is the Player's Handbook. And even that you won't actually need at first, since it's available for free on the internet (http://www.d20srd.org); I recommend that people first play a session or two to see if they actually like the game, before they invest in expensive rulebooks.

Yes, there is a new edition coming out in a few months, but this will be completely different from the old edition (it's not a reprint, they've rewritten pretty much the entire system from scratch), which is to say that if you're familiar with Icewind Dale, you'll be familiar with the present edition.

Nebo_
2008-04-13, 04:53 AM
No, definitely not.

With no other players or games going, having just a PHB will be quite useless. I also don't like to recommend the SRD to completely new players, because it is devoid of all flavour text.

Kurald Galain
2008-04-13, 04:56 AM
With no other players or games going, having just a PHB will be quite useless.
With no other players or games going, other books will be likewise useless :smalltongue:

Grynning
2008-04-13, 05:01 AM
While you can play D&D with just the SRD, rulebooks are part of the fun (pretty pictures and tables and stuff). But he's right, you only really need the PHB and dice to get started with a small group.
If you live in a small town with no Friendly Local Gaming Store (I used to, believe me, I feel your pain) most chain bookstores (like Hastings or Borders, here in the U.S. at least) will carry at least the Core books. While you're there, you can talk to anyone poking around the same section to find out about local groups and such (just be, y'know, reserved and polite, so you don't come off as a maniac :P)
Also, if you play computer games like the ones you mentioned, you might try getting some of your fellow PC gamers in on the action. I would bet that most of them have at least a little bit of interest in table-top gaming.

Nebo_
2008-04-13, 05:08 AM
With no other players or games going, other books will be likewise useless

Yes, but at least he can start a group.

AslanCross
2008-04-13, 05:54 AM
Caveat about the SRD: It doesn't contain character creation rules or experience charts. It certainly is possible to learn from it (my players did), but you'll still need someone who has the whole PHB.

The PHB is definitely a book to have.

Kurald Galain
2008-04-13, 06:09 AM
Caveat about the SRD: It doesn't contain character creation rules or experience charts.

... which, combined, fill less than one page of text, are easily explained in one minute by anyone who has played the game as much as once, and are easily found on the internet with google.

Seriously, try the game first, then buy the books if you like it.

The Krest
2008-04-13, 06:14 AM
Ok, I'm thankful for all replies and would be happy if people kept replying, I'll look up those gaming forums (probably Elysium) and might have a look for a level 1 D&D one, I'll combine the SRD with a downloaded PHB, I won't say where though, but i will switch to a real one after first impressions, a pdf book is no match for a real one in any case whatsoever, thanks for the advice so far.

squishycube
2008-04-13, 06:30 AM
- Find your Friendly Local Gaming Store (FLGS) and ask around, maybe put up an ad.
- In the same FLGS take a look in the Player's Handbook
- To get a taste try some play-by-post (PbP) gaming or play by IRC, etc.

Dode
2008-04-13, 06:32 AM
Or Telnet

http://simplemu.onlineroleplay.com/

Judge
2008-04-13, 06:43 AM
Is there any good online D&D thing?

If not, can I find the rules etc online?

Kurald Galain
2008-04-13, 06:56 AM
If not, can I find the rules etc online?

Yes, on several websites as pointed out earlier in this thread.

Judge
2008-04-13, 07:02 AM
Yes, on several websites as pointed out earlier in this thread.

Woops, didn't read that link you gave there.

Thanks!

Solo
2008-04-13, 11:21 AM
I'm very interested in joining the dungeons and dragons whole gaming thing but living in Australia I don't know much about it, I have a rough idea of it from games such as Baldur's Gate 1,2 Icewind Dale 1,2 and the Neverwinter Nights games, this in no way connects to the real D&D experience, If i wanted to learn more about the game, what gaming books should i buy and are there any tips or things I should know? And as i previously mentioned, I live in a country seemingly isolated from these sorts of games, so I've noticed "online games" in some places, could someone care to explain what these are all about? Any help at all is appreciated! Thanks from a total newb in advance.

The Introduction to DnD

I will explain with a song!


Let's start at the very beginning
A very good place to start
When you read you begin with A-B-C
When you play you begin with P-H-B
P-H-B, P-H-B
The first three letters just happen to be
P-H-B, P-H-B

Now people, PHB, MM, and DMG
are only the tools we use to play DnD.
Once you have these rules in your head,
you can play a million different campaigns by mixing them up.

When you know the rules to play
You can play most any way!

Together now!

When you know the rules to play
You can play most any way!


P . . . HB
D . . . MG
T . . . oB
S . . . RD
L . . . oM
X . . . PH
P . . . iH CAr
SaS ECS -- Du, UA, SpC!



Now that I’ve got that out of my system, I think we should begin discussing what DnD is about at the most fundamental level.

The most basic DnD game needs three elements; the Player’s Hand Book, the Dungeon Master’s Guide, and the Monster Manual. These make up the “core” game. (Extracts from these books can be found online on various System Reference Documents.)

To quote Kamikasei’s post on the subject, without permission, http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3068866&postcount=4

This lets you know the basic idea of how the game* works

Now, I shall talk about the eleven classes outlined in the Player’s Hand Book by linking to a post by Dausuul, again without permission.
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3179625&postcount=44

There is also Falrin’s guide on your “first steps” in DnD, which I have deemed worthy of being linked to.
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=52924


In addition to the general advice, there are specific guides and handbooks to playing these classes. The best seem to exist on the Wizards of the Coast Character Optimization Board, but our own Giant in the Playground Boards do have a few gems.

The most famous is this Guide to Wizards, http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18500

While a more recent one for Sorcerers, http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=74801, has recently swept the forums by storm.

More indigenous guides will be added as people come up with them, of course.


AKA_Bait's recent guide to DMing would fall under this category.: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=76474

One Winged Angel’s regularly updated Handy Thread Compendium, which has not been regularly updated: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=63565

Non-indigenous guides:

WotC Campaign Smashers: http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=587555
Just so you know.

The 3.5 ed Weapons Special Abilities thread: http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=642656

DnD Archive Handy DM Links thread (Lots of handy links. For DMs!): http://www.dndarchive.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=124

The Dungeonomicon (Frank/K article):
http://bb.bbboy.net/thegamingden-vie...m=1&thread=698




*You have just lost the Game.

Nebo_
2008-04-13, 05:56 PM
*You have just lost the Game.

My sig disagrees.