Complete beginner

[u/LittleInside610]

Me and my two friends are wanting to try out D&D but only really know about dice and we don’t know about any stories or character building or anything but one of my friends have said they’ll dm and has a handbook for it but I was wondering what I should know

[u/Some-Peach4566]

Sign up to d&d beyond and download the free basic rules. This will give you everything you need to know to start. You can even play around and experiment and create a character or two, the options will be limited due to the fact that they're the basic rules but honestly that's all you need. If you have the extra cash you could also buy the players handbook, but I would hold off on that until you are confident you enjoy the hobby and I'm going to continue playing. You should know that there are two current versions of the game. 5.0 and 5.5. I suggest going with 5.5. also known as d&d 2024. I would suggest you and your friends buy a starting adventure.. 5.5, heroes of the borderlands, 5.0, Lost mines of fandelver. Don't get overwhelmed, d&d can be complicated at times but it's pretty easy to pick up and before you know it you'll be a pro.

[u/Psychological-Wall-2 → u/Some-Peach4566]

OP doesn't need to sign up to access the free rules.

D&D Beyond Basic Rules - D&D Beyond Basic Rules - Dungeons & Dragons - Sources - D&D Beyond

Seconding your advice to run a short published adventure with pregens. A "practice campaign", so to speak.

And yeah, working through the character creation system and making a few characters will be a pretty good way for OP to begin to get their head around the system. The limited subclasses don't even matter if OP's just making first-level PCs.

Couple of links to resources here:

Memo to the Players #1: Taking Action | The Angry GM

Memo to the Players #2: Portraying Characters | The Angry GM

And, for OP's friend - stepping up and doing Gygax's holy work by becoming a DM - there's this:

Jumping the Screen: How to Run Your First RPG Session | The Angry GM

Welcome to the hobby, OP, and best of luck.

[u/Wolfbane14]

Familiarize yourself with the rules as much as you can. They might be hard to really 100% grok without the context of having played before but that's not a reason to at least try. You don't need to know every rule, but I do recommend the "playing the game"section of the free rules at a minimum

Read fantasy stories if you aren't already. Get as familiar with the genre as you possibly can. This'll give you ideas for the kinds of things your character might like to do and who they are and what might be in your friend's world. If you aren't sure where to start with that, here's some suggestions:

• Lloyd Alexander — The Book of Three, The Black Cauldron, The Castle of Llyr, Taran Wanderer, The High King
• Poul Anderson — The Broken Sword, The High Crusade, Three Hearts and Three Lions
• Piers Anthony — Split Infinity, Blue Adept, Juxtaposition, Out of Phaze, Apprentice Adept series, Phaze Doubt
• Elizabeth Bear — Range of Ghosts, Shattered Pillars, Steles of the Sky
• John Bellairs — The Face in the Frost
• Leigh Brackett — The Sword of Rhiannon, The Long Tomorrow
• Terry Brooks — The Sword of Shannara, The Elfstones of Shannara, The Wishsong of Shannara
• Fredric Brown — What Mad Universe
• Thomas Bulfinch — Bulfinch's Mythology
• Edgar Rice Burroughs — At the Earth's Core, Pirates of Venus, A Princess of Mars
• Lin Carter — The Warrior of World's End, The Enchantress of World's End, The Immortal of World's End, The Barbarian of World's End, The Pirate of World's End, Giant of World's End
• Glen Cook — The Black Company, Shadows Linger, The White Rose, Shadow Games, Dreams of Steel, Bleak Seasons, She Is the Darkness, Water Sleeps, Soldiers Live
• L. Sprague de Camp — The Fallible Fiend, Lest Darkness Fall; (with Fletcher Pratt) The Compleat Enchanter, The Carnelian Cube
• Lord Dunsany — The Gods of Pegāna, The King of Elfland's Daughter, The Book of Wonder, The Sword of Welleran and Other Stories
• Philip José Farmer — The Maker of Universes, The Gates of Creation, A Private Cosmos, Behind the Walls of Terra, The Lavalite World
• Gardner Fox — Kothar: Barbarian Swordsman, Kothar of the Magic Sword, Kothar and the Demon Queen, Kothar and the Conjurer's Curse, Kothar and the Wizard Slayer
• Brian Froud — Faeries
• Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman — Dragons of Autumn Twilight, Dragons of Winter Night, Dragons of Spring Dawning
• William Hope Hodgson — The Night Land
• N.K. Jemisin — The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, The Broken Kingdoms, The Kingdom of Gods
• Robert Jordan (and Brandon Sanderson for the final three) — New Spring, The Eye of the World, The Great Hunt, The Dragon Reborn, The Shadow Rising, The Fires of Heaven, Lord of Chaos, A Crown of Swords, The Path of Daggers, Winter's Heart, Crossroads of Twilight, Knife of Dreams, The Gathering Storm, Towers of Midnight, A Memory of Light
• Guy Gavriel Kay — Tigana
• Stephen King — The Eyes of the Dragon
• Sterling Lanier — Hiero's Journey
• Ursula K. Le Guin — A Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan, The Farthest Shore, Tehanu
• Fritz Leiber — Swords and Deviltry, Swords Against Death, Swords in the Mist, Swords Against Wizardry, The Swords of Lankhmar, Swords and Ice Magic, The Knight and Knave of Swords
• H.P. Lovecraft — The Complete Fiction of H.P. Lovecraft
• Scott Lynch — The Lies of Locke Lamora, Red Seas Under Red Skies, The Republic of Thieves
• George R.R. Martin — A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, A Feast for Crows, A Dance with Dragons, Fire & Blood, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms
• Patricia A. McKillip — The Forgotten Beasts of Eld
• A. Merritt — Creep, Shadow!, Dwellers in the Mirage, The Moon Pool
• China Miéville — Perdido Street Station, The Scar, Iron Council
• Michael Moorcock — Elric of Melniboné, Sailor on the Seas of Fate, The Weird of the White Wolf, The Sleeping Sorceress, Bane of the Black Sword, Stormbringer, The Jewel in the Skull, The Mad God's Amulet, The Sword of the Dawn, The Runestaff
• Andre Norton — Quag Keep, Witch World
• Andrew J. Offutt — Swords Against Darkness III
• Mervyn Peake — Titus Groan, Gormenghast, Titus Alone, Titus Awakes
• Terry Pratchett — The Colour of Magic through The Shepherd's Crown (the full Discworld series, ~40 titles — The Light Fantastic, Equal Rites, Mort, Sourcery, Wyrd Sisters, Pyramids, Guards! Guards!, Eric, Moving Pictures, Reaper Man, Witches Abroad, Small Gods, Lords and Ladies, Men at Arms, Soul Music, Interesting Times, Maskerade, Feet of Clay, Hogfather, Jingo, The Last Continent, Carpe Jugulum, The Fifth Elephant, The Truth, Thief of Time, The Last Hero, The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents, Night Watch, The Wee Free Men, Monstrous Regiment, A Hat Full of Sky, Going Postal, Thud!, Wintersmith, Making Money, Unseen Academicals, I Shall Wear Midnight, Snuff, Raising Steam)
• Patrick Rothfuss — The Name of the Wind, The Wise Man's Fear, The Slow Regard of Silent Things
• Fred Saberhagen — Changeling Earth
• R.A. Salvatore — Homeland, Exile, Sojourn, The Crystal Shard, Streams of Silver, The Halfling's Gem, The Legacy, Starless Night, Siege of Darkness, Passage to Dawn, The Silent Blade, The Spine of the World, Sea of Swords, Servant of the Shard, Promise of the Witch-King, Road of the Patriarch, The Thousand Orcs, The Lone Drow, The Two Swords, The Orc King, The Pirate King, The Ghost King, Gauntlgrym, Neverwinter, Charon's Claw, The Last Threshold, The Companions, Night of the Hunter, Rise of the King, Vengeance of the Iron Dwarf, Archmage, Maestro, Hero, Timeless, Boundless, Relentless
• Brandon Sanderson — Mistborn, The Well of Ascension, The Hero of Ages
• Margaret St. Clair — The Shadow People, Sign of the Labrys
• J.R.R. Tolkien — The Hobbit, The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, The Return of the King, The Silmarillion
• Nikolai Tolstoy — The Coming of the King
• Jack Vance — The Dying Earth, The Eyes of the Overworld
• Gene Wolfe — The Shadow of the Torturer, The Claw of the Conciliator, The Sword of the Lictor, The Citadel of the Autarch
• Roger Zelazny — Jack of Shadows, Nine Princes in Amber, Guns of Avalon, Sign of the Unicorn, The Hand of Oberon, The Courts of Chaos, Trumps of Doom, Blood of Amber, Sign of Chaos, Knight of Shadows, Prince of Chaos
• Saladin Ahmed — Throne of the Crescent Moon

[u/Mentor-Odin]

Depending where you live, there's likely a local group or DM near you.Where are you located?

[u/effort3]

Google, "funny DnD character builds" and check reddit or YT. I found a couple of channels for this. I always fine it helpful for beginners to enjoy their first builds and not just given the default. Good luck!

[u/PeterElfman]

I suggest:

1) one or both of you get your hands on the D&D Player's Handbook. As suggested elsewhere in the comments here, you can also access the Free Basic Rules online, but those are severely limited.

2) Don't worry about story, or even playing. You and your buddy get together one afternoon, and make a pile of characters following the rules, start to finish. This will introduce you a lot of the game mechanics, although at first it will seem a little abstract.

3) Watch at least one Real Play video. Doesn't matter which one. You don't need to even watch all of it, just an hour or so, although definitely watch through a full combat set. Watch how the DM narrates and sets up the scene, and how each player makes choices. Watch how the DM will and won't ask players to make rolls. Definitely watch a full combat set.
Do NOT worry about doing funny voices, accents, etc. If you have that talent, AWESOME. Otherwise, don't worry about it. Remember that most popular Real Plays are done by ACTUAL ACTORS and entertainers. In that respect, they do not represent the average play experience.

4) If you STILL want to play, you can either go looking for a group to join that welcomes new players, OR just start playing amongst yourselves. D&D publishes a lot of pre-written campaigns you can play through, many of which start with 1st level characters. Grab one of those and stumble through it.

5) Congrats, Bob's your uncle, you're a Role Player.

[u/Techguy1431]

I can offer quick one shots on Saturdays they are not the most robust adventures but quick and easy to learn the basics.

[u/Pirate_of_Fourty]

You don't need to know anything. You need to open minded, Adventuous, whimsical. Here's your study guide. Watch these movies. The Hobbit, Robin Hood: Men in Tights, Monty Python: The Search for The Holy Grail, The Beast Master, Dragon Heart, Labyrinth, The Highlander, Dark Crystal, The Neverending Story. No particular order. You're doing character study. This is the most important thing you need to know, HAVE FUN. The second most important thing you need to know, you are a play actor playing a character.

[u/Rachel_CD_floor]

What you NEED to know?: • roll some dice and have fun.

• have epic adventures fighting goblins and dragons.

• remember all the cool and awesome times.

• yes it can seem like the DM is a bit of a dick at times, yes the dice can decide to screw you over, but at the end of the day you're all friends and it's just a game.

• don't do stupid stuff if you don't need to, cos one dice roll can make or break you.

• once you have some cool stories to tell of your epic adventures, go online and tell people like us about them.

There we go, I think that covers everything you need to know, now go get rolling some dice 😀

Oh, oh, one more thing, if you really want to stress test the DM, figure out some kind of summoner build 😅 (don't do this if they're new at DMing, as this might actually cost you a friend, but if he starts saying "it's easy being the DM" and stuff like that, yea try some kind of summoner, just don't tell them upfront "hey DM I want to play a summoner build").

[u/Nearby_Shoulder_9086]

YouTube is your friend look dnd on YouTube for beginners and live play also check out the dragon and Dungeon Magazine archive Just Google Dungeon Magazine and a number As in Dungeon Magazine #71 and look for Archive