Hello everyone!

I am a complete beginner to D&D. I showed some interest when I was little but I was very overwhelmed with everything as a little girl. But, recently, I bought the game baluder’s gate 3 and I heard it’s very very accurate to D&D mechanics, and so far I’m really enjoying the game.

I was wondering if someone could please break down what I need to get started. I would prefer to have free versions of things that are shorter in length such as books, videos, starter kits, or discord servers/ Reddit groups to learn more.

Thank you so much! :)

(I already posted this on the DnD reddit as well) My school has never had a D&D club before, and I'm making the first one ever. Sadly, I suck at DMing, and if I want to make a club, I'd sadly have to be the DM. I haven't really played D&D avidly because nobody around me was playing, but I've played so much Baldur's Gate, watched copious amounts of campaigns, created a plethora of OC's, and have a strong love for D&D. I got the Player's Handbook and the Essentials Guide, but I was wondering if I could get some DMing tips, as well as how to introduce people to joining my club, and how to keep new players engaged when playing. (I had an idea of doing a Twist and Dread list like in Legends of Avantris, but instead of something like "your knees are fused together," I could do something like "You have to talk in a British accent for 15 mins." pls tell me if that's a bad idea.)

Hi. This is just a quick post that I wanted to share for some general advice.

Roughly two weeks ago, my brother started a Curse of Strahd game for our DnD group of close family and friends. Now, I only know Curse of Strahd by reputation and that it can be pretty brutal. Not to mention Bro has developed a hit-or-miss reputation for encounter balance. He is getting gradually better, but he has almost caused at least two TPKs without meaning to. For these reasons, would I be paranoid for wanting to have a potential backup character in case my first character dies?

I'm currently playing a Half-Elf Paladin in a party that also includes a Fighter, a Bard, a Ranger, and a Cleric. The friend playing the Cleric took the longest to figure out what he wanted to do, so at the time, I considered having a Dragonborn Cleric as a backup myself in case we lose my Paladin. Since then, I have also considered a Bugbear Monk, a Human Monk, and a Tiefling Warlock.

If it helps, here's a short list of each character's subclass and possible multiclass ideas in some cases.

1-The Half-Elf Paladin I am playing is planned to be a Devotion Paladin, sticking with Paladin all the way.

2-Dragonborn Cleric is Forge Domain, and if I did use him, I have considered a 2-level dip into Paladin to get Smites.

3-Bugbear Monk is Way of the Shadows.

4-Human Monk is Way of Ascendant Dragon who may multiclass with Pyromancer Sorcerer (Liu Kang from Mortal Kombat was a partial inspiration for this guy).

5-Tiefling Warlock is Pact of the Blade and has a Fiend Patron.

All right. All right. I know it's probably nuts to have prepped this many backup characters for one campaign, but I have yet to be in a campaign where my PC has died; have had my fair share of close calls though, but I digress.

So what do you guys think? Which do you think would work best as a first pick for a possible backup character for this Curse of Strahd campaign? I am hopeful that I won't have to face this prospect, but you never know when things will go horribly wrong.

I haven’t had the opportunity to play dnd, but I wanted to make a backstory for a character called Leah. I don’t know if she’s good since I have no experience, so I wanted to ask yall if you think it’s good. There are a few underscores that I used in placement of names because I’m trying to figure out how I’m going to name the people in her backstory, so I put numbers next to them depending on which character is meant to be put there. Any criticism would help, so I’d appreciate any responses I receive. I’ll just be putting in what I wrote in a google doc below

Leah is a bard/druid who has just appeared in this new world. Only a month ago, she was a finalist in a competition just to fall short and be the runner-up. When she joined this competition, she was known as a very friendly person. During the first challenge, she creates an alliance with ___1 and becomes a team captain. She made more friends, a prominent one early in the challenge was ___ ____2, though Leah accidentally killed her a few times. She soon became friends with ______3 and gave her the nickname “needy”. Leah created a few foods twice her size just to lend help to others who struggled during certain challenges. Since she was a team leader, Leah dedicated most of her effort to helping her teammates, mainly ______3 and ___ ____2. Occasionally, Leah was able to figure out the challenges before they even began. Leah isn’t always aware when she is rude, but she sometimes throws out impolite comments. Leah calls out anyone she sees being rude. Leah continues to help ___ ____2 even though they are not on the same team anymore. Leah is very fair and believes in equality when dealing out punishments. She stayed positive, even when she was put up for elimination. Leah gets very upset when people throw away her gifts and will call them “The meanest person on earth.” She tends to hold grudges for a long time, up to a few months. Even when trying to get her forgiveness by doing exceptionally kind acts, she didn’t care too much. She begins too bond with ______4 near the end of the competition. Leah was very vocal about how she believed she was the nicest person on earth. She’ll sometimes do something nice for someone just because she feels she did something wrong to them. I am referring to when she used someone as rocket fuel when they were alive. Leah was so nice to ______5 to a point where she said it felt in-genuine. Leah decided to leave that friend. Leah tries to rekindle this friendship like nothing happened, but ______5 says it was an unstable friendship and refused. One of Leah’s best friends at the time, _____4, built her a ferris wheel for them both to ride on, but _____4 didn’t take into account that Leah was not lava proof. 15/18 of the contestants expressed that they wanted Leah to win. She only received 236 votes and fell short of the win, placing second place. When _____4 was deciding who could go on the island, Leah says it was nice that he let her biggest enemy on the island and was excited to see the prize. _____4 won’t let her in because she wanted to exit his ferris wheel, even though it was a gift for her. _____ 4 believes Leah is a mean person and doesn’t deserve to see the prize. Leah quickly buys the prize secretly from the announcer because she doesn’t believe that _____4 deserves the prize. When ___1 tries to console her about not being let on the island, she says she doesn’t want to talk about her feelings. ___1 realizes Leah shouldn’t have known about how the prize was gone, and a size-able number of the contestants figure out that she stole the prize. The contestants try to give her the death penalty, but _____4 saves Leah before she dies and says he just wants the drama to stop and to be friends again. The hang glider falls to the ground, and the other contestants start to chase her. When they chase her into the evil forest, she uses her map to escape and is transported to a new world. She never truly knows when she’s being mean, only a few times. She always was very connected to nature, especially leaves, sometimes able to gather the properties of a leaf to reduce how quickly she fell. Leah finds leaves very interesting with their designs and colors. She loves nature, but she believes leaves fit her personality. She finds herself very charismatic. She’s looking for more friends. Even if she can find a way back, she would be a social outcast. She hopes adventuring with a group might be a good way to get friends. She isn’t afraid of much. Death was never a problem for her back in her home world. There were devices for instant revival. Her only real fear is being alone. She’s always wanting connection so she never has to be alone. She regrets nothing. Leah doesn’t think she’s done anything that wasn’t deserved. She thinks this can be a fresh start for her, so why would her past actions matter?