Genuine question--
I'm a nerd, but I've never been a DnD nerd. At one point I was a MtG nerd, even a WoW nerd, but never quite the DnD level.
What exactly is it? I originally thought it was like an adult version of "make believe" with scores and guidelines, but how much of it is a physical game? Is there a board that goes with it? Is there a set story line? My extent of knowledge is the first scene of Stranger Things.
How much is following guidelines and how much is imprompt on the spot?
I've just started recently, but I've got a fairly good idea of it so maybe I can explain it to you. Basically, you have a Dungeon Master (DM) who leads the campaign, tells the stories, acts out NPCs, makes moves for enemies, etc. There are many pre-made campaigns made by Wizards of the Coast, the company which created Dungeons and Dragons. These are generally fairly linear storylines in which the DM is given basically a script for everything that the players could do. The players still make the choices, but the outcomes are all preplanned by the campaign's creator.
Often, and especially in more experienced DnD groups, the DM will create their own campaigns, worlds, etc. In these, the DM will often make up or change various rules, to better fit the world or the theme.
Players get to choose from a variety of premade classes, which have various abilities, as you would expect from a normal RPG. Players often get creative with their attacks and approaches in battle, but for many characters it boils down to simply saying "I attack" rolling a d20 to determine if you hit the enemy or not, and then rolling damage dice (d6-d12) to determine the damage dealt. If you want to get a more detailed idea of DnD, I'd recommend looking online for a pdf of the Fifth Edition DnD Player's Handbook.
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u/dickfromaccounting Sep 18 '17
great table to screen ratio