Best humor & entertainment books according to redditors
We found 15,606 Reddit comments discussing the best humor & entertainment books. We ranked the 5,025 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
We found 15,606 Reddit comments discussing the best humor & entertainment books. We ranked the 5,025 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
Fun fact: Thomas Midgley, one of the guys who invented tetraethyl lead, also invented and promoted freon and other CFCs (the stuff that wrecked the ozone layer). Between his two "contributions" to commercial chemistry, he is probably the most environmentally-destructive individual organism ever to have lived.
It could be argued that if you had a time machine and a single bullet, you might do more for humanity by going back and killing Midgely instead of Hitler. It's a shame, because he certainly didn't intend for either of his inventions to do so much damage.
Luckily (in a way), he died before we found out what a disaster TEL and CFCs turned out to be. Not so luckily (but perhaps predictably), he was killed by yet another of his own inventions. Partially paralyzed by polio, he devised a complicated arrangement of ropes and pulleys to give him more mobility. He ended up getting tangled in the contraption and was strangled to death by the ropes.
EDIT: Since half a dozen people have suggested Bill Bryson's "A Short History of Nearly Everything" and something called "vsauce" as the potential source for this fun fact, I'm just going to mention here that I first learned this bit of trivia on QI. I have also read A Short History, but my first exposure to the inventive tragedy that is Thomas Midgley's career was courtesy of Stephen Fry. If you find facts like this fun, I strongly encourage you to watch QI (most of it is on youtube). I also encourage you to read Bill Bryson's book.
Liar, it's nearly 21$!
Seriously a good deal though, never seen it this low before.
The submarine would be fine, but the crew would be in trouble.
PICTURE (recommended)
-----
TEXT
The submarine wouldn’t burst. Submarine hulls are strong enough to withstand 50 to 80 atmospheres of external pressure from water, so they’d have no problem containing 1 atmosphere of internal pressure from air.
The hull would likely be airtight. Although watertight seals don’t necessarily hold back air, the fact that water can’t find a way through the hull under 50 atmospheres of pressure suggests that air won’t escape quickly. There may be a few specialized one-way valves that would let air out, but in all likelihood, the submarine would remain sealed.
The big problem the crew would face would be the obvious one: air.
Nuclear submarines use electricity to extract oxygen from water. In space, there’s no water,^[citation ^needed] so they wouldn’t be able to manufacture more air. They carry enough oxygen in reserve to survive for a few days, at least, but eventually they’d be in trouble.
To stay warm, they could run their reactor, but they’d have to be very careful how much they ran it—because the ocean is colder than space.
Technically, that’s not really true. Everyone knows that space is very cold. The reason spacecraft can overheat is that space isn’t as thermally conductive as water, so heat builds up more quickly in spacecraft than in boats.
But if you’re even more pedantic, it is true. The ocean is colder than space.
Interstellar space is very cold, but space near the Sun—and near Earth—is actually incredibly hot! The reason it doesn’t seem that way is that in space, the definition of “temperature” breaks down a little bit. Space seems cold because it’s so empty. Temperature is a measure of the average kinetic energy of a collection of particles. In space, individual molecules have a high average kinetic energy, but there are so few of them that they don’t affect you.
When I was a kid, my dad had a machine shop in our basement, and I remember watching him use a metal grinder. Whenever metal touched the grinding wheel, sparks flew everywhere, showering his hands and clothes. I couldn’t understand why they didn’t hurt him—after all, the glowing sparks were several thousand degrees.
I later learned that the reason the sparks didn’t hurt him was that they were tiny; the heat they carried could be absorbed into the body without warming anything more than a tiny patch of skin.
The hot molecules in space are like the sparks in my dad’s machine shop; they might be hot or cold, but they’re so small that touching them doesn’t change your temperature much.^1 Instead, your heating and cooling is dominated by how much heat you produce and how quickly it pours out of you into the void.
Without a warm environment around you radiating heat back to you, you lose heat by radiation much faster than normal. But without air around you to carry heat from your surface, you also don’t lose much heat by convection.^2 For most human-carrying spacecraft, the latter effect is more important; the big problem isn’t staying warm, it’s keeping cool.
A nuclear submarine is clearly able to maintain a livable temperature inside when the outer hull is cooled to 4°C by the ocean. However, if the submarine’s hull needed to hold this temperature while in space, it would lose heat at a rate of about 6 megawatts while in the shadow of the Earth. This is more than the 20 kilowatts supplied by the crew—and the few hundred kilowatts of apricity^3 when in direct sunlight—so they’d need to run the reactor just to stay warm.^4
To get out of orbit, a submarine would need to slow down enough that it hit the atmosphere. Without rockets, it has no way to do this...
Okay—technically, a submarine does have rockets.
Unfortunately, the rockets are pointing the wrong way to give the submarine a push. Rockets are self-propelling, which means they have very little recoil. When a gun fires a bullet, it’s pushing the bullet up to speed. With a rocket, you just light it and let go. Launching missiles won’t propel a submarine forward.
But not launching them could.**
If the ballistic missiles carried by a modern nuclear submarine were taken from their tubes, turned around, and placed in the tubes backward, they could each change the submarine’s speed by about 4 meters per second. A typical de-orbiting maneuver requires in the neighborhood of 100 m/s of delta-v (speed change), which means that the 24 Trident missiles carried by an Ohio-class submarine could be just enough to get it out of orbit. Now, because the submarine has no heat-dissipating ablative tiles, and because it’s not aerodynamically stable at hypersonic velocities, it would inevitably tumble and break up in the air.
If you tucked yourself into the right crevice in the submarine—and were strapped into an acceleration couch—there’s a tiny, tiny, tiny chance that you could survive the rapid deceleration. Then you’d need to jump out of the wreckage with a parachute before it hit the ground.
If you ever try this, and I suggest you don’t, I have one piece of advice that is absolutely critical: Remember to disable the detonators on the missiles.
^1 This is why, even though matches and torches are about the same temperature, you see tough guys in movies extinguish matches by pinching them but never see them do the same with torches.
^2 Or conduction.
^3 This is my single favorite word in the English language. It means the warmth of sunlight in winter.
^4 When they moved into the Sun, the sub’s surface would warm, but they’d still be losing heat faster than they’d be gaining it.
--------
Courtesy of Randal Munroe's What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions
The book is "Safe Baby Handling Tips" by david and kelly sopp
http://www.amazon.com/Safe-Baby-Handling-Tips-David/dp/0762424915
Are you familiar with Randall Munroe's (the xkcd guy) What If? project? He explores very similar questions and also published a book.
What differentiates your project?
A Short History of Nearly Everything. Essentially, Bryson describes the evolution of man through it's scientific advances. I think it will be a little less militarily focused than you want, but it seems pretty close.
A Short History of Nearly Everything
It isn't very much, but reminder that if you use the smile.amazon subdomain a tiny portion of any purchase you make is donated to a charity of your choice. Almost nothing on a purchase by purchase basis, but it costs you nothing except a second of your time to switch domains and choose one and can add up over time with several people doing so
==EDIT== Not tabletop specific, but the list r/gamedeals auto posts could be a good place to start if you're having trouble choosing
>Charity links:
>
> Child's Play
> Electronic Frontier Foundation
> Able Gamers
> Mercy Corps
==EDIT 2== Thought the links would take you to the page to set it to the one rather than the specific product. Updated previous edit to follow the same format with the product listed here rather than the Zelda BOTW template comment I copied from.
Jesus Christ, here:
https://www.amazon.com/Players-Handbook-Dungeons-Dragons-Wizards/dp/0786965606
For those interested in buying it... AMAZON!
Genuine book what scares me more is the other customer views part -https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Talk-Your-About-Safety/dp/045149492X
I'll stick to recommending science communication books (those that don't require a deep background on biological concepts):
---
For books that everyone studying biology ends up reading, my candidate would be Lehninger's Principles of Biochemistry, by Nelson & Cox but that's a textbook.
I always gift expecting parents: (men, women, and everything in-between):
The Baby Owner's Manual: Operating Instructions, Trouble-Shooting Tips, and Advice on First-Year Maintenance
by Louis Borgenicht M.D.
https://www.amazon.com/Baby-Owners-Manual-Instructions-Trouble-Shooting/dp/1594745978
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson.
I haven't quite finished it (it's rather long) but so far it is fantastic.
https://smile.amazon.com/How-Talk-Your-About-Safety/dp/045149492X/ref=pd_sbs_14_img_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=9TBSQ6PNRGPKQENAN41Q
Bill Bryson is the man. I don't know if he is a "Super Dad" I'm making him out to be, but I hope so. I've only read the one book though..
http://www.amazon.com/Short-History-Nearly-Everything/dp/0767908171
why do i feel this should have been in the what if? book?
Edit: fixed link
> I am a borderline exmuslim who is doubting.
Op be safe. What is the penalty for leaving Islam (Apostasy)? [Hint - it is not a firm handshake and a goodbye wishing you health and long life].
> Would you believe in Islam if there were no scientific errors in the Quran?
> In Islam there are no scientific errors and all have basically been worked around as misinterpretations.
First, no I still would not believe that Islam represented credible and supportable trueness concerning the existence of the God YHWH/Allah, nor the claims of Allah's interventions/revelations.
Why?
For the same reason you (and I) [probably] do not accept the existence of the Flying Spaghetti Monster and His Noodly Appendages just because "The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster" is shown to be scientifically accurate; or of the Most Holy of Holy's, The Scared Narratives of Harry Potter, are shown to be completely accurate in the science presented.
Secondly, there are scientific errors within the Qur'an, and even though these errors have been apologized to death, a critical assessment of these apologetics... in accordance with the claimed revelation from Allah in The Heavenly Qur'an:
"Produce your proof, if you should be truthful" (Surat Al-Baqarah 2:111) to me; just as Islam requires that the claims of Judaism and Christianity have to be proved, then the same reasoning requires that the claims of Islam must be proved as well. After all, "Indeed, the worst of living creatures in the sight of Allah are the deaf and dumb who do not use reason" (Surat Al-'Anfāl 8:22).
shows that the errors are actually errors and/or non-credible post-hoc reinterpretation of vague and non-precise ayat/ayah. To wit, an example and commentary:
Now here is an actual example of that would be considered scientific
foreknowledge in the Qur'an, if supportable - a candidate for an actual prophetic
miracle.
Al-Mu'minun 23:14 Then We made the sperm-drop into a clinging clot, and
We made the clot into a lump [of flesh], and We made [from] the lump,
bones, and We covered the bones with flesh; then We developed him into
another creation. So blessed is Allah, the best of creators.
So the bones came before the covering flash. Interesting. And not
supported by contemporary medical knowledge.
Without going into the scientific miracle of where the sperm are
produced (i.e., The Qur'an states sperm is made/stored in the small of
the back near the kidneys - and not the testicles), as I do not care to
argue the mental gymnastics required to apologize this "Truth" of the
Qur'an, the embryonic development of the bone first followed by flesh is
completely falsified. Again, in order to spare myself the crapfest of
apologetics to justify this "Prophecy" I will ask the question - Did
this information concerning embryonic growth already exist prior to the
claimed revelation via the Book of the Mother, via the messenger Angel
Gabriel (Jibra'il), via some form of supernatural to natural
communication to the Prophet Muhammad, via spoken voice to various
followers of the Prophet, from various followers spoken to scribes
years/decades after the death of Muhammad?
Why look at that, Aristotle, in the 4th century BCE described embryonic
development (Aristotle, De Generatione Animalium, Book II,
739b20-739b30, as per Jonathan Barnes \(ed.\), The Complete Works of
Aristotle, \(Princeton, 1985\), Vol 1, p.
1148.),
and his treatise also contains the same erroneous idea that the embryo
developed from a formless mass.
Damn, when the Prophet plagiarizes already "known" information, he still
got it wrong by plagiarizing that which was incorrect.
The post-hoc interpretation of Qur'anic ayat/verses using highly
selective imaginative interpretations of the meaning of the various
words to claim support for a scientific miracle represents highly flawed
apologetics.
It is interesting that the claim of miracle of the prophecies of
"scientific miracles" or "scientific foreknowledge" in the Qur'an are
all post hoc interpretations to their discovery by mere mortal humans.
It would be more convincing if the scientific knowledge was identifiable
as usable knowledge prior to human knowledge based development or
confirmation of this knowledge - rather than a post hoc interpretation
of a verse/narrative such that this knowledge is only, somehow, found
after it already becomes known.
Look at these claimed Qur'an miracles and the date that there were
recognized and the claims made - the overwhelming majority were made
after science laid the foundation for interpretation. Rephrased - All of
the claims of scientific miracles are made in hindsight (post hoc) -
all are made following the advancement of knowledge from other sources
and the verbiage within the Qur'an is then interpreted to show that this
knowledge was, somehow, there all along. As a source of scientific
knowledge, then, at best, the Qur'an has little worth.
If you wish to demonstrate that there is value in the scientific
knowledge claimed to be within the Qur'an, please present a scientific
postulation/hypothesis/theory derived from a verse, or from verses, from
the Qur'an that was developed prior to the development of this
knowledge from other sources. Or make prediction(s) of future scientific
knowledge based upon the Qur'an and develop a method of inquiry based
on this claimed scientific knowledge and gathering observable and
measurable evidence subject to specific principles of reasoning and
experimentation and show that this predicted scientific knowledge to be
true to a high level of reliability and confidence. I am willing to wait
a lifetime for a beforehand/foresight version of scientific knowledge
from the Qur'an to be demonstrated in any meaningful way. Otherwise,
post hoc interpretations holds no credibility of the Qur'an as a source
of scientific claims/foreknowledge.
Finally, let us not overlook the numerous scientific errors, with or
without claims of prophecy/scientific foreknowledge, that are present in
the Qur'an:
1
Astronomy
1.1 Geocentricism
1.2 Setting and Rising Place of the Sun
1.3 Stars are Missiles Shot at Devils
1.4 Moon is Further from the Earth than the Stars
1.5 Moon Emits Light
1.6 Moon was Split in Two
1.7 Seven Planets in the Universe
1.8 Seven Heavens
1.9 Earth Created in Six Days
1.10 Earth Created before Stars
1.11 Sun is a Flat Disk
1.12 Sky is a Tent/Dome
1.13 Sky Guards the Earth
1.14 Sky is Made of Solid Material
1.15 Sky can Fall Down on People
1.16 Ignorance of the North and South Poles
2 Biology
2.1 Evolution
2.1.1 Human Creation from Clay
2.1.2 First Humans: Adam and Eve
2.1.3 Humans Created in Paradise and then Brought to Earth
2.2 Embryology
2.2.1 Sperm Originates Between the Backbone and Ribs
2.2.2 Embryo is Formed from Male and Female Fluids
2.2.3 No Mention of Female Ovum
2.2.4 Humans Created from a Clot of Blood
2.2.5 Only Allah Knows the Gender of a Fetus
2.3 All Organisms are Created in Pairs
2.4 Womb has Three Layers
2.5 Bones are Formed before Flesh
2.6 Source and Purity of Milk
3 Geology and Meteorology
3.1 The Earth is Flat
3.1.1 Facing Toward Mecca
3.1.2 Earth is Spread Out and Flat
3.1.3 Earth is Like a Couch
3.1.4 Earth is Like a Carpet
3.1.5 Earth is a Wide Plain
3.1.6 Earth is Level
3.2 Earth has Seven Atmospheric Layers
3.3 The Earth does not Rotate
3.4 Permanent Barrier between Fresh and Salt Water
3.5 Mountains Prevent Earthquakes
3.6 Mountains Cast into the Earth
3.7 Chest Contracts with Altitude
3.8 Earthquakes are a Punishment from God
3.9 Hurricanes and Blizzards are a Punishment from God
3.10 Rainwater is Pure
3.11 No Evaporation in Water Cycle
3.12 Hail Comes from Mountains in the Sky
3.13 Thunder is an Angel
4 Zoology
4.1 Bees Eat Fruit
4.2 Ants Recognize Humans and Speak with Each Other
4.3 Horses Created as Transportation
4.4 Bird Flight is a Miracle
4.5 Classification of Creatures
4.6 Only Eight Types of Cattle
4.7 Birth Defects and Imperfections
4.8 Poisonous Sea Life is Edible
4.9 Birds Fight Elephants
4.10 Sinful Animals
5 History
5.1 Wall of Iron between Two Mountains
5.2 Christians Worship Mary as Part of the Trinity
5.3 Noah's Ark holds Every Species
5.4 Pharaoh or Pharaohs
5.5 Jews call Ezra the Son of God
5.6 Supernatural Destruction of Cities
5.7 Humans can Sleep for Three Hundred Years
5.8 Humans can Live for a Thousand Years
5.9 Non-Existent Mosque in Jerusalem
6 Sociology
6.1 Fasting and Prayer Requirements at the Poles
6.2 People are Protected in Mecca
6.3 Non-Muslims are Deaf, Dumb, and Blind
6.4 All Animals Live in Communities
6.5 Requirement to Learn in Arabic
7 Myths and Legendary Tales
7.1 Humans Transformed into Apes
7.2 Tribe Trapped Behind a Wall
7.3 Supernatural Food
7.4 A Stick Transforms into a Serpent
7.5 Solomon's Army of Genies and Birds
7.6 Jonah Performs Repentance inside a Fish
7.7 Muhammad Flies on a Winged Horse to Heaven
7.8 Body Parts Speak
7.9 The Ocean Split in Half
7.10 Solomon can Control the Wind
7.11 A Dead Man Testified against his Killer
7.12 Animals Speak to Humans
7.13 Mountains and Birds can Sing Songs
8 Others
8.1 Mathematical Error in Hereditary Laws
8.2 People use the Forehead to Lie
8.3 Space Flight is Impossible
I'm gonna follow whatever my zombie survival guide book says...if it's in print its gotta be true right?
If you enjoyed watching Fan Boys (and enjoy reading) you should check out Ready Player One. Both
the movieFan Boys andthe bookReady Player One were written by the same dude.Also, his nerd credentials check out. He uses technological/MMO terms correctly without spewing too much made-up bullshit.
Edit: Sorry for the ambiguous wording, I meant that both Fan Boys the movie and Ready Player One, the book, were written by the same guy. As far as I know, there are no plans for a Ready Player One movie.
Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything is a very good read.
Yep, there's this ✌
Starter Set has everything you need to start. If you keep playing pick up the Players Handbook and the Dungeon Master's Guide.
Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set: Fantasy Roleplaying Game Starter Set (D&D Boxed Game) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0786965592/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_Yoefvb0F5P4G9
$12 for this starter pack is a crazy price. This box has a really good storyline, prebuilt characters, and a basic set of rules that are extremely easy to get into. Best way to start!
Edit: Snag these too. That way you don't all have to share one set of dice!
100+ Pack of Random Polyhedral Dice in Multiple Colors Plus Free Pouch Set by Wiz Dice https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009R6J8RY/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_DTffvb0WSX43P
Yes. Your best bet is to buy the 5e Starter Set. It's set up really well and seeks to teach the DM while teaching the players. Comes with 1 module, a bunch of pre-filled character sheets, a set of dice, a decent first adventure and a mini-player's-handbook.
You can also look at the DnD basic rules here.
I was going to suggest AShort History of Nearly Everything. It's a book I think everyone should read.
I would recommend:
Patrick Rothfuss's Name of the Wind
Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn series, or his newest series The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive).
If you made it all the way through Sword of Truth series, you probably will enjoy Jordan's Wheel of Time.
Scott Lynch's Lies of Locke Lamora is also very enjoyable.
If you are looking for another big one, enjoy the gritty and dark elements from Martin, Stephen Erikson's Malazan series might be up your alley. The first book is a little difficult to get through, but it picks up after that.
I expect the VR community to EXPLODE in participants once this hits the big screen.
If you haven't read the book (or if you have) and like Wil Wheaton... get the book on kindle and add Audible narration ($17.48 USD total). I've listened to it 3 times during my commute to work over the past few months. It's only ~ 13 hrs of audio so it goes by quickly.
https://www.amazon.com/Ready-Player-One-Ernest-Cline-ebook/dp/B004J4WKUQ/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1504549779&sr=8-1
Having already experienced the book, there's a certain expectation...so I'm hoping the movie does the book justice
Actual source:
How to Talk to Your Cat About Gun Safety: And Abstinence, Drugs, Satanism, and Other Dangers That Threaten Their Nine Lives https://www.amazon.com/dp/045149492X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_ee0XDb7M2H58A
> What would happen if you made a periodic table out of cube-shaped bricks, where each brick was made of the corresponding element?
> You could stack the top two rows without too much trouble. The third row would burn you with fire, the fourth would kill you with toxic smoke. The fifth row would do all that stuff plus give you a dose of radiation, while the sixth would explode in a radioactive, poisonous fire. Do not build the seventh row.
-Randall Munroe's, What If?
It really depends on how much you're talking about. Plainly, you're probably going to die if you're close enough, but if you really want an in depth analysis—and just a plain good read/listen—about what will happen I'd recommend either listening to the talk Randall gave that /u/Esmyra mentioned below or getting Randall's book I mentioned, because I couldn't find this one online.
Edit: FOUND IT
My cousin had a shower for every kid. She has four. I was invited to the first one and brought [this] (http://www.amazon.com/dp/0743224450/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_S_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=999UJX39RKF3&coliid=I229DK1OQILYJP), [this] (http://www.amazon.com/dp/0762424915/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=999UJX39RKF3&coliid=I3NVUOR1RXEXLP), and [this'n.] (http://www.amazon.com/dp/0061759570/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pd_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=999UJX39RKF3&coliid=I2S7SJAR3Q9ZWA). For some reason or another, I wasn't invited to any others. Didn't even get a thank you card like everyone else. And she used to be the snarky fun cousin before she had an "accident" to keep her man from leaving.
Easy one. A Short History of Nearly Everything.
It's largely a history of science. It was amazing finding out how long we've known certain things and how recently we found others. If I get wound up this'll turn into a novel. Just read it.
Source
The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, a book of Native American languages, Native American Sign Language and the Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes on an Android tablet with a solar charger.
I would aim for the East Coast of North America where I would attempt to bring all of the tribes together as a weak federal Pastafarian Republic. I would unify the languages and write a strong, peaceful constitution with equal rights and literacy for all, to keep the tribes from fighting amongst themselves and would predict the arrival of whitey in 3,800 moons and draw pictures of their boats. It would be ingrained in each and every Native American that whitey's are savages and are only coming there to steal their gold, women and maize.
Once it was established, we would expand into South America and the Caribbean islands, Hispaniola first! I would instruct them to build a large, white cross on the coast of Hispaniola where Columbus will land. Once he lands, they will declare Columbus the Messiah and crucify him on the spot. That should get rid of the Europeans long enough for the Americas to be sovereign.
*Edit for explanation.
Some advice on the indoctrination stuff:
counter it with a copy of the Qur'an (in english) a copy of the Torah and just for kicks a copy of this http://www.amazon.com/The-Gospel-Flying-Spaghetti-Monster/dp/0812976568 .
When asked why, just reply that you're very happy to teach her about religions in equal parts. It will be her decision to choose which of them if any she wants to follow.
The Birth room:
No. In the US might be different, but over here in Australia its up to the mother who is in attendance. Oh and I would suggest that NO ONE gets to visit except the father until you're past the baby blues. (approx 4 days) This is what We did for both our children, and I think that quiet bonding and "coming to grips" time is really important Also it takes away any unneeded stress brought about by the sudden hormone influx you're going to get smashed with.
This is not just off the cuff advice, this is exactly how I have behaved and acted with our family. They wont like it, but they'll get over it... little babies are great for disarming cranky grandparents.
oh and Re: the breastfeeding.
F!#K her. She gets zero say in this (and most the rest). you do what you feel is right, incidentally if for whatever reason you can not breastfeed (it happens), don't feel she "won" and you failed, just own whatever decision you make.
She is a momentary blip in the life of your child, you're her mother and she'll always see you as #1 in her life.
> So me and my friends want to get into D&D but we don't really understand how/where to chose an adventure to begin with and also confused on some aspects of character creation, such as skill point allocation.
I mean the best place to start is with the D&D starter set because it comes with everything you need to start - an introductory adventure, character sheets, the basic rules, and dice. Since the Lost Mine of Phandelver is a published adventure, your DM can find a lot of YouTube videos of groups running it (I think DM'ing is one of those things that it's hard to understand from just the rules, it's really helpful to see someone do it.)
You say "skill point allocation" which makes me think you have 3rd Edition sourcebooks right now, or that you're mixing sourcebooks between 3rd and 5th edition. This doesn't work terribly well - it's better to start with only 5th edition stuff to begin with, and you can investigate earlier editions of the game later on. The D&D Starter Set is 5th edition, as is the current Player's Handbook.
Good luck, have fun!
Well, we hit the 10000 limit. Reserving this comment for the misc. section.
FREE TIME/FUN/MISC.
The Art of Deception: Controlling the Human Element of Security
The Art of War
Steal This Computer Book 4.0: What They Won't Tell You about the Internet
How to Disappear: Erase Your Digital Footprint, Leave False Trails, and Vanish without a Trace
The Best of 2600: A Hacker Odyssey
Super Crunchers: Why Thinking-by-Numbers Is the New Way to Be Smart
Casting the Net: From ARPANET to INTERNET and Beyond thanks sjhill
A Quarter Century of UNIX thanks sjhill
A Reading List For the Self-Taught Computer Scientist thanks zinver
How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk thanks segamix
The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable thanks AgonistAgent
Snow Crash thanks AgonistAgent
Cryptonomicon thanks Mirple
Link?
Edit: Link
I first read about it a couple months ago in a book called "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryerson. https://www.amazon.com/Short-History-Nearly-Everything/dp/076790818X
It's a great book if you like random trivia and it takes a casual conversation tone to just about everything and provides great insight into stuff we normally just don't think about. He talks a lot about various scientist and has a lot of good stories about how odd many of these people were.
If you are interested, some of the other amusing/interesting bits of info from the book include:
"Best remembered for coining the word Dinosaur, Richard Owen also gave us the modern concept of museums as places the common folk can visit and not just scientists. He was also one of the meanest persons in science history and the only person Darwin ever hated."
"Carl Wilhelm Scheele one of the founders of modern chemistry, had a habit of sniffing and tasting any new element or chemical he discovered including poisonous ones. He was found dead at the age of 43, killed by his last discovery."
"In the early days of pump and hose assisted diving, there was a dreaded phenomena called “the squeeze” where the diver’s entire body would be sucked into the hose and diving helmet, leaving just some bones and flesh in the diving suit. Ouch."
“In France, a chemist named Pilatre de Rozier tested the flammability of hydrogen by gulping a mouthful and blowing across an open flame, proving at a stroke that hydrogen is indeed explosively combustible and that eyebrows are not necessarily a permanent feature of one's face.”
Hey there, there are a couple of ways to get started. It really depends on how much money you want to spend. It can range from free, to around 20 bucks, to maybe like 100.
For the free start go to this website and it has basic rules and character sheets; http://dnd.wizards.com/products/tabletop-games/trpg-resources
For the around 20 bucks option buy the starter set. Here it is on Amazon; https://www.amazon.com/dp/0786965592/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_xNZFAbKP3Z95A
For the more expensive option you can buy the players hand book, a pre-made quest, some dice, and some miniatures. I hope this helps. It's my favorite hobby so if you have any more questions I'll try and answer them =)
It was also mentioned in Ready Player One, in a key part of the story. Great read btw.
Yeah, it's a novel. I liked it.
So...a $22 junior-sized machete, a $10 book, a pocket-sized first aid kit, thirty feet of duct tape, a no-name flashlight, and a can of SPAM? And you only have to pay one hundred American dollars (plus $16.59 for ground shipping) for the pleasure of getting it all in a wooden crate? Sign me up!!!
Yep yep. Max Brooks. Also the author of The Zombie Survival Guide
World War Z (the book) is far better, but the survival guide was how I was introduced to it all.
Eh. It's this one. It's decent, but the firearms section is really stupid. An excerpt:
> The U.S. Army M16A1 is considered by many to be the worst assault rifle ever invented. Its overcomplicated mechanism is both difficult to clean and prone to jamming. Adjusting the sight, something that must be done every time the target shifts its range [pfft], requires the use of a nail ballpoint pen, or similar device. What if you don't have one, or lost it as several dozen zombies shambled steadily toward you? The delicate plastic stock of the M16A1 obviates bayonet use, and by attempting to use it as such you would risk shattering the hollow, spring-loaded stock... So poor was its early battle record that during the Vietnam War, communist guerrillas refused to take them from dead Americans [right...]. The newer M16A2, although somewhat of an improvement, is still regarded as a second-class weapon. If given the choice, emulate the Vietcong and ignore the M16 entirely.
> On the opposite end of the spectrum, the Soviet AK-47 is considered the best assault rifle ever made...
ಠ_ಠ
It only goes downhill from there. Other fun bits include calling an M1 Garand the best semi-auto you can get and saying bolt-actions can be more effective than semi designs because they "[force] the user to make each round count".
If you want to start your own group with friends or other newbies, I highly recommend the Starter Set.
It's $15 on Amazon, has the core rules, a set of dice, premade characters, and an adventure that will last you a half dozen sessions or so. It's a great place to start--go figure--and is designed for brand new players and brand new DMs. The adventure is laid out in a way that introduces concepts as you go along rather than expecting you to know everything up front.
The premade characters are big because you want to get straight to the playing not sit there explaining character creation to a brand new player. Without the context of how things are used, its just a wall of data and memorization... which isn't fun. You can always swap in custom characters once the group is comfortable with the basics.
You can also grab the free Basic Rules PDF though which will have a little more in it than the Starter Set including some core character generation options.
The Players Handbook contains the full rules and will run about $30. You can wait to see if D&D is for you and get by with the Starter Set or Basic Rules though. Of you have the funds or plan to stick with it though snagging at least one PHB up front will do you wonders.
Absolutely any questions you have at any point you can just respond to one of my comments and I'll gladly help out.
Some of it isn't exactly correct but it is easy and fun to read and you'll definitely learn something:
A Short History of Nearly Everything
Most of these games just cost way too much compared to their enjoyment and very few of them are really good. If they are popular and good, they will eventually hit retail (see Gloomhaven, Scythe, etc). There is no reason why you should buy/pre-order things, pay like an idiot and also shoulder all of the risk.
If you want dungeon crawlers look into DnD 5e and Pathfinder 2e (provided you have people to play with). The starter adventure is 15$ (at least 6 sessions a 4-5 hours of playtime) the rules are free (https://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/basicrules or http://2e.aonprd.com/) and and the best thing: there is no limit/minimum playtime: you guys can decide anytime if you want to quit or play the next encounter.
As a player and Dungeon Master, it makes me so happy to see /r/DnD making it to bestof more than once. :)
For those interested, the newest edition being released book by book right now is 5e (previously D&D Next when it was still in the playtesting phase). Player's Handbook (PHB) and Monster Manual (MM) are the only rule books out right now. The main storyline book out right now is Hoard of the Dragon Queen (HotDQ) and soon The Rise of Tiamat (RoT).
What you need to play D&D IRL:
If you want to play a D&D online tabletop:
Shameless plug: My group streams D&D 3.5e (older edition) on Twitch almost every Monday night at 8pm EST. I also play and DM 5e, so I'm happy to answer questions about either edition!
I fucking know, right? You sit down at the table and all of the sudden they need to look up a spell, "Can I borrow your book?" It's one thing when you're teenagers and people don't have disposable income or they just happened to forget their copy at home. But as for not owning one, we're adults now motherfucker, get your own fucking PHB! It doesn't even cost $30
Safe Baby Handling Tips by David and Kelly Sopp, FYI.
The module is called "Lost Mines of Phandelver". It's from the 5e Starter Set.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0786965592 (If you're interested, it really is a good starting point)
The best book I've read in recent years.
Ready Player One
It's the year 2044, and the real world is an ugly place.
Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes his grim surroundings by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia that lets you be anything you want to be, a place where you can live and play and fall in love on any of ten thousand planets.
And like most of humanity, Wade dreams of being the one to discover the ultimate lottery ticket that lies concealed within this virtual world. For somewhere inside this giant networked playground, OASIS creator James Halliday has hidden a series of fiendish puzzles that will yield massive fortune--and remarkable power--to whoever can unlock them.
For years, millions have struggled fruitlessly to attain this prize, knowing only that Halliday's riddles are based in the pop culture he loved--that of the late twentieth century. And for years, millions have found in this quest another means of escape, retreating into happy, obsessive study of Halliday's icons. Like many of his contemporaries, Wade is as comfortable debating the finer points of John Hughes's oeuvre, playing Pac-Man, or reciting Devo lyrics as he is scrounging power to run his OASIS rig.
And then Wade stumbles upon the first puzzle.
Suddenly the whole world is watching, and thousands of competitors join the hunt--among them certain powerful players who are willing to commit very real murder to beat Wade to this prize. Now the only way for Wade to survive and preserve everything he knows is to win. But to do so, he may have to leave behind his oh-so-perfect virtual existence and face up to life--and love--in the real world he's always been so desperate to escape.
A world at stake.
A quest for the ultimate prize.
Are you ready?
I'd start with the most recent edition of D&D. Wizards did a good job streamlining how things work. If you have a group you could convince to play, there's a starter box that you can pick up from most game stores for ~$20 (or amazon for $13, but I'd encourage you to support your local game shop) that contains the basic rules, an adventure book, all the dice you'll need, and five premade characters (though the rule booklet has character creation rules in it if you wanted to roll up your own, iirc). The adventure you get lasts you a few sessions at least (I'd guess around 4 or 5, depending on how focused y'all stay), so you'd be able to get a pretty good idea if a) you actually enjoy tabletop rpg (it's not for everyone, and there's nothing wrong with that) and b) if you like D&D5e's rules
Awesome catch. Anyone who doesn't know, it's a reference to this book. I'm guessing the gag is also that Alan gets shot and then immediately leaves in the scene.
New dad to a 1 year old here.
By the way, there's a really good sci-fi book about VR. It's called "Ready Player One"
It's different in the narrative, but also touches upon the topic of people becoming addicted to the virtual world. It also contains a mystery that the characters had to solve, which I found to be pretty intriguing. Also, if you grew up in the 80-ies, you'll love it even more.
Okay, so there's a bit to parse here.
First of all the version of the game you linked is the starter set for the 5th edition rules, the newest ruleset. It comes with copies of the Basic Rules for 5th edition, which you also linked. What I mean by Basic Rules is that they use the same basic ideas and mechanics that the full ruleset has, but they are truncated to make learning the system easier.
I don't think it would be particularly useful to go through point by point on everything that has changed since the 80s. I assume you played AD&D 1st or 2nd edition. Since then there have been a 3rd and 4th edition that changed and rechanged things so going through it all would make things more confusing honestly. I think the easiest way is to just dive into those basic rules.
However, since that doesn't answer your question, I will give you a couple things. First of all the core of the game is the same. You pick a race/class, the ability scores are all the same, you roll a d20 and add modifiers to it. One of the only major changes since AD&D is the addition of skills. While AD&D had non-combat skills it wasn't until later that they formalized a skill system. Every character now picks a certain number of skills that they are good at.
The other major change is that it is a lot easier to learn which is why I say you should really just dive into it. There are no longer a ton of charts to consult depending on what class you chose. No THAC0 to calculate, no different amounts of experience to level up, etc. Everything is far more streamlined today to make learning how to play much easier. Bigger numbers are better for everything (No more Armor Class going down), and its designed to be more approachable.
Again, the starter set you linked is really the best entry to the game. It comes with a starter adventure which can serve as a tutorial. It comes with basic rules for characters that limit the options so you can get used to the basic concepts. If you keep going from there then the full ruleset will provide more options to use.
If you have any questions while exploring those rules this is generally a very welcoming place so you can likely find more answers as you run into them.
Good luck and I hope you and your kids enjoy the game.
You might try the 5th Edition Starter Set. It's cheap, gives a basic introduction to the rules (which are now free to look at on Wizards' website, or in pdf form for printable goodness), and comes with what I'm told is a decent length module to start you off.
Normally I'd yell at you for forgoing the sidebar, but instead I'm going to link Matt Colville's DM guide. It's really going to do more for you than anything else I can provide. Buying the Starter Set is the closest thing D&D has to plug-n-play so that's a fast way to fun times too.
5th Edition as it's the newest and simplest and the amazing Starter Set is still in production.
Contains all the rules, an adventure, and pre-generated characters so you can all get stuck in. Written for newbies.
It's the gateway, step inside ;-)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Boxed-Game/dp/0786965592
A few particular items of interest from Amazon :
A few items & vendors from Etsy :
If you like this then you'll really like a book by Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything, highly recommended. Anything by Bryson, really.
Go read the book
Done...?
It got bad reviews because it's supposedly a pretty crappy spin-off book from the original FSM book, which has multiple, positive reviews:
http://www.amazon.com/Gospel-Flying-Spaghetti-Monster/dp/0812976568/ref=pd_sim_b_1
A short history of nearly everything
While it might not change the way he sees the world it'll definitely help him see it more clearly.
It's a pretty funny book if anyone is thinking about buying it.
edit: Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation. Sorry, I thought the title was implied from the parent comment.
Here are the ebook versions!
Ready Player One
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea - FREE
No Country for Old Men
Princess Bride
Looking forward to reading Ready Player One, I've been wanting to read that one, glad it was picked. Amazon has it for sale here for only $8 dollars.
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, No Country for Old Men, and The Princess Bride also all seem to be fairly cheap buys on Amazon.
>but also less freedom.
this is just flat wrong my friend, and I'll tell you why.
your players are allowed to do anything, as long as you allow it, or give them the avenue to do it.
part of what makes DnD, and any tabletop rpg great is that as the GM, you are the arbiter of what happens.
personally I play pathfinder, however, I know from experience getting started and playing is much easier in 5E as it's quite a bit more streamlined. I'd say go with 5e and the beginner box
it's got plenty of content, and if you're buying on amazon, the books are around the same cost as pathfinder.
if you are dead set on pathfinder though, don't let me stop you, I love the system, but I just wish it had less number-crunching and interacting systems.
Step 1: Download the Basic Rules
Step 2: Order the Starter Set
Step 3: Get your son and a couple of his friends to sit still for a couple hours.
Step 4: ???
Step 5: Profit
If you like xkcd, you might also want to check out his book "What If?"
Not very long, but a very fun read. It's a longform format of the other half of his site: https://what-if.xkcd.com/
Snow Crash by Stephenson is something of a modern classic, and a very fun read. I highly recommend it!
Read Ready Player One.. Great book that was really influenced by gaming in the 80's...well hell all things 80's
http://www.amazon.com/What-If-Scientific-Hypothetical-Questions/dp/0544272994
Check out What If? and Thing Explainer.
My personal favourites are;
Links to the aforementioned books;
I would say to get started you'll need the following:
That's really it. You'll have to put some work in designing an adventure, or you can buy the official starter adventure, which is pretty good. Also you can check DM's Guild for adventures (the Adventurer's League content may work really well for a club setting). Good luck!
No, that's just a board game
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/0786965592/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1523616808&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=5e+starter+set
That right there is your best resource for getting into d&d
It includes a fun little adventure, dice, rules, everything you need to get started.
Owen wins 1,169,474 more games then eats, shoots, and leaves.
I would recommend the 5th Edition Starter Set.
I wouldn't recommend going for original D&D, at least as beginners.
hallo,
das starter set von wizard of the coast ist ein gutes eigenstehendes Abenteuer, das die Charaktere von Level 1 bis Level 5 bringt. In dem Set ist ein Heft mit dem Abenteuer, ein Heft mit den Grundregeln, vorgefertigte Charaktere und ein Set Würfel.
Ich habe das Starter Set selber geleitet und wir haben etwas mehr als ein Jahr gebraucht es durchzuspielen (wir haben uns auch nur etwa 1x im Monat getroffen). Danach habe ich die Spieler in meine eigene Welt geschubst.
wenn ihr wirklich das absolut minimum an Geld ausgeben wollt, dann braucht ihr eigentlich nur ein Set Würfel (man kann teilen). Die gibts zum Beispiel schon hier: https://wuerfel-stube.de/Chessex-Opaque-White-Set Oder in einem lokalen Spieleladen, die sind dort dann schöner und etwas teurer. Ich habe in meiner Nähe zwei Läden, da variieren die Preise für sehr schick aussehende Würfeln von 8-12€.
Die Basisregeln, die eine abgespeckte Version von dem Player Handbook darstellen, findest du kostenlos direkt auf der Seite von Wizards: http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/basicrules
Charakterbögen zum Ausdrucken gibts dort auch: http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/character_sheets
Obwohl die Basisregeln sehr abgespeckt sind, braucht man eigentlich nicht mehr um für viele Spielabende Spaß zu haben. Also 1 Würfelset, Bleistift und Papier.
Und wenn man später ein paar mehr Charakter Auswahlmöglichkeiten haben möchte, kann man sich das Player Handbook zulegen. Auch das kann man zwischen den Spielern teilen und notfalls zusammenlegen. Die anderen Bücher braucht man meiner Meinung nach weniger, wenn man kein vorgefertigtes Abenteuer spielen möchte. Das Monster Manual kann ich empfehlen, aber wie gesagt, mit den kostenlosen Basisregeln kommt man schon für Monate hin und das Player Handbook reicht nochmal für eine Weile.
edit: Man kann sogar mit den Unearthed Arcana Pdfs die Wizards regelmäßig herausgibt seine Charaktere anpassen und mehr Auswahlmöglichkeiten verpassen. Und die sind auch kostenlos: http://dnd.wizards.com/articles-tags/unearthed-arcana
falls einer von euch ranger spielen möchte, kann ich da schonmal direkt den überarbeiteten ranger empfehlen, da der im buch von Spielern als etwas schwach eingestuft wird: http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/unearthed-arcana-ranger-revised
I don’t think Barney’s toxic masculinity is unironic. That would mean this book is actually offering a code to live by, as opposed to the humor coming from how ridiculous it is.
This episode definitely touched on why toxic masculinity is a bad thing. When you go around getting in fights (in this case taking credit for one they didn’t even participate in) because it’s “manly” bad things happen.
Posting all the content from a book isn't cool.
Some links:
Purchasable Materials:
Free Materials:
The 5e starter set is a low level adventure (1st to 5th) that you could easily adapt into Collabris. You could just add Phandalin into the setting or rename Phandalin to match an existing setting town.
It's 12-14$ bucks on Amazon. It's very fun and a ton of content for the money. Or 16$. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0786965592/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1486427329&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=lost+mine+phandelver&dpPl=1&dpID=51Ykm93n8ML&ref=plSrch
In terms of branching out: I'm a visual learner so when I'm prepping adventure hooks, I make a cluster graph tied to geography around the PCs. I try to come up with 2-3 different types of hooks for all the various directions they can go: N, E, S, W, Up, Down and staying put.
So let's say you use a typical starting village in Fantasyland: what's there: a reputable inn/tavern, a disreputable inn/tavern, a coster, a smithy, a temple with a priest to heal and a retired Mage to identify shit (because rookies never take identity spell; it's not sexy), and one major form of form of significant income: farms, shepherds, mines, timber, crossroads merchants traffic. And if you want more depth, one major form of illicit income: gambling, consorts, narcotics, pit fighting.
That's 5-6 Hook Locations in a small town. And just make up those 2-3 hooks per each. No matter where they go, there's something to do.
Dew a circle in the middle of the page. Place a dot in the center. This is your party. They are at the disreputable taproom (they have no status in own yet, unless one of the PCs had Origin Story Status).
What are 3 things than can happen:
-something valuable gets stolen and planted on a PC As a diversion
Write bullet points of these 3 hooks under the taproom circle.
Draw a line out to the side and make a smaller circle. Label it, "smithy."
What are 2-3 interesting hooks that a smith would need heroes for?
Jot them down.
Draw a line from the taproom the other way and make a small circle labeled, "Temple of the Hearth."
2-3 things.
After you've done this, starts branching out from the town.
New sheet of note paper. New circle with dot in the center. That circle is TOWN. When your PCs are 2nd level, they will start going out into the world.
Line. Smaller circle. "Flooded dwarf mine." 2-3 hooks.
Line. Smaller circle. "Abandoned Druid grove." 2-3 hooks.
Line. Smaller circle. "Warlock's Crypt." 2-3 hooks.
Seeing the pattern? The underlying structure of a Hooked Sandbox? This method is also nice because this would be pages and pages of notes but only a page or two of cluster graphs. It makes a nice at-a-glance reference while you're running.
You don't have to worry about pre-fabricating connections between hooks. You'll have ah-HA! Moments as you go and that connective tissue forms organically. And your Players will opine about those connections in clever ways. So you will adopt, twist and subvert those expectations to drive the tension.
You can only really ever see as far as the choices that lie directly before your Players. As a much better writer than I once put it, "does a ship caught in the wave say where it's going?"
Not directly answering OP's question, but Randall Munroe from xkcd has treated the subject of a "real life periodic table" and its consequences in his What if? book. He also talks about it in a Talk @ Google. I highly recommend to take the time and watch it.
Hoookay.
To start off with, the two mandatory books are:
Neuromancer, by William Gibson: This is the big daddy, the first example of the genre. Especially notable for pre-dating the world wide web, but managing to predict it pretty well. We still use terminology (like cyberspace) coined by him today.
Snow Crash: Snow Crash (in my opinion) is the close to the genre, the book that took everything unseriously enough to lead us into the world of post-cyberpunk. An awesome book, and more readable than Neuromancer.
Movies:
Blade Runner: The visual inspiration for a ton of stuff, Blade Runner is the shit. Make sure you watch the Final Cut, because there are three versions.
The Matrix: Worlds inside computers are huge in cyberpunk, and The Matrix nails it. The aesthetics are pretty good too, given less sci-fi stuff in the computer world.
The Surrogates: Not the greatest movie in the world, and Bruce Willis has hilariously fake hair, but an interesting approach to a cyberpunk world.
Miscellaneous:
Psycho-Pass: The less well-known cyberpunk anime, Psycho-Pass treads interesting philosophical ground, and pairs it with a really fun cyberpunk police procedural. Season 2 is coming out this fall, mark your calendars.
Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex: The Ghost in the Shell movie is one of the leading lights of Cyberpunk, but I prefer the TV show for it's more drawn-out, easier to follow narrative. Drop magic into GitS, and you have Shadowrun, straight up and down. This is a must-see for anyone interested in the genre.
Akira: I confess, I haven't actually seen Akira, but it's another classic of the genre. Beware that without having read the manga, there are pretty decent chunks that just won't make sense.
If I might recommend a book, Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything sounds like something you'd be interested in.
It's mostly about the origins and stories behind major scientific discoveries and theories that have shaped our view of the world and universe today. He starts at the Big Bang and goes from there. The book is quite accessible to those without formal scientific education (like myself). Bryson dumbs things down just enough so you can understand it while feeling enriched afterwards at the same time. I can definitely say that the book changed me for the better when I read it for the first time back as a teenager. It also has an awesome illustrated edition.
That I exist at all. From A Short History of Nearly Everything:
>If your two parents hadn't bonded just when they did - possibly to the second, possibly to the nanosecond - you wouldn't be here. And if their parents hadn't bonded in a precisely timely manner, you wouldn't be here either. And if their parents hadn't done likewise, and their parents before them, and so on, obviously and indefinitely, you wouldn't be here.
> Push backwards through time and these ancestral debts begin to add up. Go back just eight generations to about the time that Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln were born, and already there are over 250 people on whose timely couplings your existence depends. Continue further, to the time of Shakespeare and the Mayflower Pilgrims, and you have no fewer than 16,384 ancestors earnestly exchanging genetic material in a way that would, eventually and miraculously, result in you.
If you're looking for a fun, but enriching read, I highly recommend Bryson's "A Short History of Nearly Everything". It's tough to put down and you're guaranteed to learn some amazing things.
Similarly, Bryson's "A Walk in the Woods" comes to mind, although I haven't read it in some time. Seems fitting for the gaybros since it's about hiking the Appalachian Trail - a dream of mine some day.
If you read one scientific/historical laugh-riot this year, make it:
Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything.
>modes of operation
This reminded me of the Baby Owner's Manual by Louis Borgenicht.
One section describing the baby's body parts I find particularly humorous.
"Neck: Upon arrival, this feature may appear 'useless.' This is not a defect. The neck will become more useful in two to four months."
Highly recommended.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1594745978/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_HOrIyb6XKAPWM
This is that book that's going to be turned into a Spielberg movie and that seems to be very well-liked by /r/books. Amazon's Kindle store has it on sale for the same price, too.
Mind need to have a talk with your cat...
If anyone wasn't aware from the artstyle, this is by Randall Munroe, of xckd fame. It's from his new book, "What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions"
Pages 290-295 if anyone wishes to read it.
^^In ^^the ^^UK ^^edition
Sounds like Ready Player One by Ernest Cline.
http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Player-One-A-Novel/dp/0307887448
Ready Player One
I own this book. I got it from here: https://www.amazon.com/How-Talk-Your-About-Safety/dp/045149492X
It was brutal. I wasn't that good. But there were many people who were superb. It was such a pleasure watching them perform.
Here are some sci-fi recommendations (you may have read them already, but I thought I'd offer anyway):
Serious Scifi:
Anathem the "multiverse" (multiple realities) and how all that works
Seveneves feminism meets eugenics—watch out!
The Culture series by Iain Banks, esp Book 2, the Player of Games Banks is dead, but wrote some of the best intellectual scifi ever
Brilliant, Visionary:
Accelerando brilliant and hilarious; and it's not a long book
Snowcrash classic
Neuromancer another classic
Tawdry yet Lyrical (in a good way):
Dhalgren beautiful, poetic, urban, stream of consciousness, and more sex than you can believe
Underrated Classics:
Voyage to Arcturus ignore the reviews and the bad cover of this edition (or buy a diff edition); this is the ONE book that every true scifi and fantasy fan should read before they die
Stress Pattern, by Neal Barrett, Jr. I can't find this on Amazon, but it is a book you should track down. It is possibly the WORST science fiction book ever written, and that is why you must read it. It's a half-assed attempt at a ripoff of Dune without any of the elegance or vision that Herbert had, about a giant worm that eats people on some distant planet. A random sample: "A few days later when I went to the edge of the grove to ride the Bhano I found him dead. I asked Rhamik what could have happened and he told me that life begins, Andrew, and life ends. Well, so it does."
I absolutely love Snow Crash. Very humorous writing without becoming pure comedy. Great plot. Awesome concepts.
My recommendations:
Steven Erikson - Malazan Book of the Fallen
Brandon Sanderson - Mistborn
Brandon Sanderson - The Stormlight Archive
Peter Brett - The Demon Cycle
R. Scott Bakker - The Second Apocalypse
Joe Abercrombie - The First Law
Scott Lynch - The Gentleman Bastard
Patrick Rothfuss - The Kingkiller Chronicle
All excellent. Some slightly more excellent than others.
For general fantasy I've enjoyed Gentleman Bastard, The Kingkiller Chronicle, and The Broken Empire. I listen to Kingkiller Chronicle fairly often due to the amount of commuting I do where I live.
For more urban/fantasy maybe try Lives of Tao, Iron Druid Chronicles, or anything by Neil Gaiman. The anniversary edition of American Gods was really excellent on audio-book. Not sure if the others have audio editions or not.
I've also really enjoyed stuff by Drew Hayes (a webnovelist). His banner series is SuperPowereds. But I though NPCs was a great take on an old fantasy trope. Neither come in audio formats unfortunately.
Good luck.
https://www.amazon.ca/Players-Handbook-Wizards-RPG-Team/dp/0786965606?th=1&psc=1&source=googleshopping&locale=en-CA&tag=googcana-20&ref=pd_sl_2uzio69dvk_e
That's the set of core rules you need, for now follow only what the rule booklet in the starter set says, the compendium is pretty much bunk!
Also, check out Dndbeyond.com
Happy gaming!
LGS charge full price so that they can offer sales, the median price on Amazon is $30: 5e PHB camelcamelcamel
easy
Take her brother aside and teach him the fundamentals of the Bro Code, bro.
So for 5e there are a couple of things you can look at getting:
So the Basic Rules help out a lot, the Starter Set is basically a physical copy of the basic rules (plus some), and then the core 3 books in order of (my personal opinion of) usefulness are PHB > MM > DMG. I'd say you probably want at least everyone to have a PHB, or access if you guys continue to play.
Aside from that, most of the other 5e stuff you can pick up from wizards are modules. Modules are pre-created campaigns that have quests, items, locations, enemies (number, size, etc.) already pre-designed for you. Each of the following books has some sort of extra character information (like more subclasses, new races, etc.), but nothing is absolutely required. Generally if one person wants to play something (say, an Half-Elf Bladesinger Wizard) they should pick up the book to help build their character and to provide the GM with references to how the character works, but it's not necessary.
If you need any other help, please feel free to ask!
I'll read damn near anything I can get my hands on, but I prefer fiction.
Some non-fiction books that I'm currently enjoying though are Godel, Escher, Bach and A Short History of Nearly Everything
On the fiction list right now are Foucault's Pendulum and The Broom of the System.
> i will have to check out Neuromancer as it seems interesting.
the movie, Johnny Mnemonic, is also based off Neuromancer, but it's not super great at presenting the themes the book develops.
Snow Crash has a lot of Gibson/Neuromancer elements, but also includes some interesting concepts about language and religion.
here's Amazon links for both of them. $20 well spent IMO.
https://www.amazon.com/Neuromancer-William-Gibson/dp/0441569595
https://www.amazon.com/Snow-Crash-Neal-Stephenson/dp/0553380958
~rings doorbell wearing a bright, over-enthusiastic smile~ Oh, hello friend. I hear you and your friends might be interested in getting started on the road towards board gaming! This is excellent news! There are many excellent resources to help guide you and yours towards many fun-filled experiences with friends and family. ^Please, ^don't ^be ^afraid!
~Whips out a bunch of pamphlets, waving them at you~ I would recommend checking out the /r/boardgames community here on reddit, especially this wiki post on what games you should try if you're new to modern board games. It's got a ton of great suggestions with descriptions to help you figure out if you might actually enjoy the game. That wiki and the subreddit itself also have tons of easily accessed info for you, if you need. They can even help you find your nearest FLGS (Friendly Local Game Store)!
Also you might check out some reviewers like Shut Up & Sit Down, who are my favourites and have a ton of articles and video reviews, or The Dice Tower, who have lots of videos of lists and reviews like the one I linked that can give you some ideas of what to get. (Sometimes way too many ideas... ~waggles her overly long games-to-buy list~) SUSD even has a great Intro to Board Games video for people who are hesitant or starting into the hobby and don't quite know what it's all about or where to start - it's a few years old, but still very relevant, and I recommend any of their videos. I find them hilarious.
And if you decide you're really getting into the hobby, you might start visiting the marvellous, dank morass that is BoardGameGeek, aka BGG or 'the Geek'...
As for recommendations straight from me... The hardest and best thing with board games is everyone likes something different? But I find one can't go wrong most of the time with these:
Most of these are fairly simple and relatively short, but they're all fun starter games that are easy to pick up and play, and I've never known anyone to not enjoy themselves when I've brought out any of these. I often do game nights with different mixes of friends, to which I will usually bring an Ikea bag full of games, and there's almost always at least one or two of these particular games in that bag. I'm pretty sure they're all in print, too, so they shouldn't be too expensive!
Also, if you guys are looking into tabletop RPGs but don't know where to start with that, and you don't have anyone who knows how to DM/GM handy, the newest edition of D&D has a Starter Set out - it's a pack that includes dice, pre-rolled characters, a starter rule book and a pre-written starting adventure. I will always recommend Red Boxes/Starter Sets, D&D does a great job with these and makes it really easy for you to get into it, even if no one in the group is familiar with rpgs to begin with.
tl;dr - Board/card games are amazing, there's lots of resources out there for you, I hope I didn't scare you off with my enthusiasm. Welcome to tabletop gaming!
^Edit: ^Now ^with ^more ^links!!
You can order it on Amazon; https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Wizards-Team/dp/0786965592
Alternatively search for "The Delian Tomb", it's an easy oneshot/intro that Matt Colville wrote up.
Edit: Delian Tomb link - https://youtu.be/zTD2RZz6mlo
Sweet, but she's dead when she runs out of ammo. Swords and bats are fairly effective, and if you'd really like her to live a bit longer, check out The Zombie Survival Guide
I started playing about a year ago so I'm not the expert.
To be honest you already have the most important and difficult thing needed to play D&D; a group of friends. (That's something that I'm still working on) So first you'll need this Amazon is usually the cheapest route but any game shop and most book stores have it.
From there you can create characters and begin adventuring. Someone will need to be the Dungeon Master. The DM will know the whole story before the game starts and will run the game. The other players will roleplay their characters and make choices/kill bad guys.
That's just a super basic idea of the game. Sorry, I'm at work at don't have a ton of time to write more extensively.
Dont get your jorts in a bunch. You should try out some D&D, get your imagination juices flowing again, heres a link to the Starter Set to get you set up. Enjoy!
I would highly suggest the Starter Set. It gives you an all around feel for both the Players & the DM. Your local game shop should have it, and if you don't have one of those near by: https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Set-Roleplaying/dp/0786965592/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1473250759&sr=8-3&keywords=dungeons+and+dragons
There are tons of free one offs and short dungeons/adventures here as well: http://www.dmsguild.com/
Hope this helps mate! Let us know how it goes!
Cheers
100% watch the Matt Colville series sticked at the top. The first few walk you through making a simple adventure and the hooks for such but I would recommend (as does he) using a module, in particular, the Starter Set that you can get for about $13.
https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Set-Roleplaying/dp/0786965592/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1468749875&sr=1-1&keywords=dungeons+and+dragons+starter+set
The included module The Lost Mine of Phandelver is an excellent starting point. Even if you decide not to run the module itself, the town of Phandalin is an excellent starting town to repurpose and reskin. The easiest way to make content on the fly is have modules and pre-made things like this that you can adapt to your setting.
As far as improvising goes, it takes some time to develop those muscles. When you have a solid outline ready like that in the module, it's easier to improvise because you have context and a backbone to pull from. In that module there is a patrol of Hobgoblins that can appear at a certain point but if your players wander off track or get stuck with what to do, suddenly they hear the unmistakable sounds of a rowdy warband crashing through the woods filled with the whoops and excitement of victory. Never be afraid to move things around. You know the map and where they should be but the players don't. If they miss a big, fun encounter, pivot it around and put it somewhere else.
Nothing I just said isn't covered in Colville's videos, I really recommend them.
Have you seen the book The Baby Owner's Manual? Your post reminded me of it!
I'm partial to the baby's owner manual. Mostly because it treats it like a car or electronic purchase (ie: troubleshooting, first year maintenance, etc). Keeps the info light and fun.
https://www.amazon.com/Baby-Owners-Manual-Instructions-Trouble-Shooting/dp/1594745978
Welcome to the hobby! You have a bunch of options (assuming you want 5e, which is the most recent version):
Yes, it is still the best way, and still considered one of the best campaigns. It's not as long the the hardbound books, but the quality.
For what you get, LMoP is a great value. Right now, it is just under [$15 on Amazon] (https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0786965592/ref=tmm_other_meta_binding_new_olp_sr?ie=UTF8&condition=new&qid=1499696338&sr=8-1). In this hobby, that is cheap.
> "Quality" means nothing without privacy and comfort.
>
> This just feels like separating the rich from the poor even further.
Indeed, just take a standard dystopian sci-fi book and you will notice the poor people living in a container.
Have a little ambition, please.
How about a copy of How to Talk to Your Cat About Gun Safety: And Abstinence, Drugs, Satanism, and Other Dangers That Threaten Their Nine Lives 😂
Snow Crash
Open-world adventure/mystery game split between dystopian west coast and The Metaverse; player gets to move between the two whenever they want. At least two playable characters; Hiro and Y.T., or a new RPG player-character.
Tons of minigames including pizza-delivery, information brokering, skateboard couriering, racing (IRL and Metaverse). Main story could be a sequel to the novel.
Virtual Reality. Swords. Guns. Cars. Skateboards. Italian Mafia. Hackers. Cults. Drugs. Sumerian Myths. Nuclear Powered Robot Dogs. Why aren't you excited yet?
Get yourself the Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set. Here it is for USD $12.95 on Amazon. If you end up buying it at a gaming store (I have also seen it at Wal-Mart) you can expect to pay about $20.
It comes with a set of dice, five pre-generated characters and a fun little adventure called The Lost Mine of Phandelver. This is a great way for you and a few friends to jump right in and start playing.
You only need one Starter Set per group, but each player should invest in his/her own set of dice. You'll soon learn that it helps to have multiple sets of dice, but one per player is enough to get you started.
Here is the first in a four-part series showing one of the producers at Wizards of the Coast running the first section of LMoP. If you think you'll end up as the Dungeon Master, and you're getting the Starter Set, you should watch this.
The DMG and Monster Manual are 58% off.
About 2 years ago, I was in your place, so this is what I would say would be your best bet.
I would recommend you play Fifth Edition, it is the most well-rounded and least rules-oriented, so it is less confusing for new players. Also, I would start with the Starter Set that Wizards of The Coast (the company in charge of D&D) created. It was intended for new players, and has basic rules for you and your players, 5 pre-generated characters, and an adventure for characters to level from 1 to 5. That is what me and my friends played and greatly enjoyed it. Since the set only comes with 6 dice, I'd recommend getting at least a set for each player from either your local store or online.
Since you are going to be a new DM, it is probably a good idea to get some experience under your belt before making your own story and world. Don't worry, pre-made stories are probably less confusing for the players, they are well-made with a lot of detail.
However, when you want to move on from the Starter Set and the Lost Mines of Phandelver adventure included, you will need the Player's Handbook, the Monster Manual, and the Dungeon Master's Guide. You group want to get more than one Player's handbook for your players, but one is all that is really necessary. The Player's Handbook details how the players make characters, as well as rules, including combat ones. The monster manual is for you to reference and take monsters from and put in your game. The dungeon master's guide has tables and inspiration for things to put in your game. If you want to build your own world, there are also lots in there to help you do so.
Also, while you do not need them, I would recommend getting a battlemap like this one, and minatures, like these for monsters and these for your players to have, it allows your players to visualize what happens more.
TL;DR: Start with the Starter Set, then when done with the adventure, buy the 3 core books: The Player's Handbook, Monster Manual and Dungeon Master's Guide. Then either do premade campaigns from WoTC, or make your own!
I would recommend starting out with The Starter Set. It has everything you need to get started (basic rules, pre-built characters, and a set of dice), but you don't have to sink a lot of money yet.
If you all want to keep going, you will need Player's Handbooks, a Dungeon Master's Guide, and a Monster Manual. Those are your 3 Core Rulebooks. Oh, and all the dice, lots of dice.
Have fun!!
Grab yourself the D&D Starter Kit for fifth edition. Very beginner friendly.
Lost Mines of Phandelver. It's an adventure that is fully complete and even has pre-made characters with backstories that tie into the campaign. It has, in my opinion, a good balance between exploring, combat and social encounters. https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Wizards-Team/dp/0786965592
Check out the Starter set. It's available on Amazon for around $14. It contains 5 pregenerated charactrers, enough rules to get you started, and an adventure. I would also download the basic rules from the WotC website: http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/basicrules.
Then, if you want to continue, you can buy the Player's Handbook which comes out in a few weeks. That will give you access to all the classes and races to create your own characters. The rest of the core books will follow.
There is also two adventure modules coming out soon as well, (the first concurrent with the Player's Handbook). These will take characters from 1st to 15th level, which will take a few months of play time at the very least.
tl;dr: Get the starter set. $14 on amazon. Have fun!
The Lies of Locke Lamora
Solid book
Highly recommended source: Be Prepared: A Practical Handbook for New Dads
I think I have this book as well. Did it come with the responsibility spinner on the front? It's a wheel you spin that has either a "mom" or "dad" space on it. Whichever it lands on is the person responsible for the current baby incident.
Ninja edit: This is it. http://www.amazon.com/Safe-Baby-Handling-Tips-David/dp/0762424915#
It's from this book
https://www.amazon.com/Safe-Baby-Handling-Tips-David/dp/0762424915
If you are interested in such questions, and science generally, I recommend Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything. The book starts off discussing this exact question.
http://www.amazon.com/Short-History-Nearly-Everything/dp/0767908171
Players handbook
This will give you your rules, your goals, your abilities. You need to really buy this because you will want to re-reference it all the time. I tried sharing my first campaign and learned quickly it's easier to have your own with sticky tabs
Set o' Dice
I gave you a set for example but in all honesty poke around and find the colors and mediums that are "you". For example mine are blood red and black which for my character this campaign was totes worth it
Not listed:
Binder and sheet protectors with a dry erase marker. AS you run an encounter it allows you to mark off stuff and then erase it after long and short rests
IF YOU ARE DM'ing
So I'm assuming you have someone else DM for you. If not, never DM your first campaign ever... that's disastrous I found out the hard way
BUT if you do DM
You need the monster manual, dm manual and some paper or a map
Edit to add: Fair enough, Dm your first campaign... I am being unfairly bitter :)
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Players-Handbook-Dungeons-Dragons-Wizards/dp/0786965606
Check out the Baby Owners Manual. It's informative, funny, and doesn't make any assumptions about what you already know.
We really like this book:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Baby-Owners-Manual-Trouble-Shooting/dp/1594745978
My SO has absolutely zero experience with kids or infants and it has really helped him learn a lot and feel very confident. It is written very much like a techincal manual but humorous. I have looked through it also (LOTS of experience with infants here!) and I find the information to be solid and it gets the point across easily.
Butt paste
Burp cloths
Depending on your friend, a book like Geek Dad might be a good advance purchase.
Takeout gift cards
Cereal bars for snacking
NO BLANKETS; NO STUFFED TOYS. Those things breed and you end up with thousands of them. Possible exception: Ugly Dolls.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Baby-Owners-Manual-Trouble-Shooting/dp/1594745978/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1371970870&sr=8-1&keywords=baby+manual
>I want to make sure that when my SO looks back on her first pregnancy, that she sees me right by her side.
Dude, that was heartwarming AS FUCK. I'd say you're already on a pretty good track just having that mindset.
I had a really tough first trimester and was having a lot of trouble eating/keeping weight on. Any time I had any little craving my SO made it happen like he was a freakin' genie or something. That was pretty nice. I think a big one is never making her feel like she needs to rationalize anything to you, whether it's a craving or a bad mood. Let her complain, be that sounding board.
And here are two books I'm really liking:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Baby-Owners-Manual-Trouble-Shooting/dp/1594745978
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1580054846/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_1?pf_rd_p=1944687662&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=1594745978&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=01MTWYFH3MCT00RNPVJS
Congrats on the upcoming addition to you both. :)
The starter kit is a pretty solid starting point, gives you everything you need to run a campaign with your friends, assuming one of you steps up and DMs
It's 4th edition and thus a collector's item. The current iteration of D&D is 5th edition.
This is the starter set you're looking for.
Here’s the link for those who are interested
Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set https://www.amazon.com/dp/0786965592/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_5Bh0Db9QB9A7D
So Monday night the dogs woke me up with a nose to the face during a massive thunderstorm. Having no tornado warnings on my phone and a great appreciation for severe weather, I go to watch the proceedings: lightning doesn't stop flashing before the next bolt goes off, etc, etc. And then a tree lands two inches from my face.
Commence mad dash for the basement. Turns out the university unsubscribed me from severe weather alerts in the past week without telling me. My email and all those printing credits are still active though. Go figure.
So anyways, there is still no power, there is a tree on my house, my neighborhood looks like this and this and this and this, and I'm in Sweden. Very glad that husband was not home for that little escapade or he'd be a gibbering wreck. And I'm still not done compiling survey results.
By strange coincidence though, I was reading (and enjoying) The Lies of Locke Lamora on the plane over, and in downtown Stockholm, I found a little handwritten sign on a bookstore saying that Scott Lynch is going to be doing a signing there in two weeks. I think I may be in Estonia that day though.
...Imgur wouldn't let me make an album. Poo.
And in writing news, I have a hard copy of my MS left with a friend to read while I'm gone, but I haven't had a chance to write as my husband will not leave me alone. I know we've been apart since May, but he keeps following me to the bathroom and generally behaving like a starfish. It's old already.
alternately, the same link unshortened: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0786965614/
or the Amazon Smile charity link: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/0786965614/
https://www.amazon.com/Players-Handbook-Dungeons-Dragons-Wizards/dp/0786965606/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1496689139&sr=8-1&keywords=players+handbook+5th+edition
Buy the book and support the hobby.
Dungeons and Dragons is not a boardgame in the classic sense. It is a Role Playing Game, which means the players take control of characters that are in an imaginary setting typically controlled by the "Game Master" who controls the world outside of the players.
When a characters take an action that has an uncertain outcome (like attacking an enemy), the outcome is typically decided by rolling a die.
You will need to look up handbooks and guides to get into detail of how the rules work.
In general, it is a co-operative game where the players (AKA the party) attempts to overcome a challenge that is usually written in advance by the Gamemaster. The Gamemaster will attempt to adapt to the players' unexpected decisions, but his goal is not to defeat the party so much as produce an entertaining experience.
Think Skyrim with multiple players and another person deciding the reactions of the townsfolk rather than prescripted computer code.
Edit for relevant links:
https://www.amazon.com/Players-Handbook-Dungeons-Dragons-Wizards/dp/0786965606
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/3WXt9CotIy8/maxresdefault.jpg
In Bill Bryson's "A Short History of Nearly Everything" he makes a pretty good case that it is actually the exact opposite: that South America was settled by the Polynesians.
Obviously the Polynesians are incredible boaters, but what makes the most sense is that they initially sailed into the wind knowing that if they didn't find whatever it was they were looking for, the trip back home downwind would be much easier.
The one true word: https://smile.amazon.com/Gospel-Flying-Spaghetti-Monster/dp/0812976568/
I have a friend who is a biology teacher and ordained Pastafarian. He plans on teaching it as an alternative to evolution.
The Gospel CLEARLY states that global temperatures have risen as the global pirate population decreased. Therefore, climate change is anthropogenic but more economic than environmental.
R'Amen.
Human Rights Tribunal gets it wrong again.
Atheism is not a creed, it is the absence of a creed. Calling athiesm a creed is like calling "Off" a TV channel.
People should not be distributing religious materials in classrooms. It's a stupid idea and it should be stopped because:
The whole thing is foolish. The minute Islamic groups start taking the school up on this offer there is going to be a shit storm.
The problem is that Mr. Choinard chose a book that sounds reasonable. This FSM would have gotten the point across more clearly.
Acutally yes I do know how tiring a real sword fight is. I've been in re-enacted battles in a full harness of plate and mail with padded gambeson and then two layers of woolen clothes.
I can fight pretty well in that situation for a reasonable amount of time. Given that in the proposed scenario I would not be in full plate I should be okay. The whole point about having a melee weapon and using it correctly is that you keep the fucker as far away from you as possible.
This leads me to my defensive armament my mail shirt. Recommended in the very Zombie Survival Guide you appear to be drawing your research from.
You are correct, sprung steel is not as good as tempered steel, for that I'd have to go get this, but as it's in the cupboard and would take longer to get than the 3s the OP mentioned I discounted it.
Dull blades kill just as quickly as sharp ones.
In short sir, I do not speak bullshit, I will not purchase a firearm and if desired could use a fucking mace if I wanted to
I haven't seen the movie, and I'm not much of a book reader, but I do love all things zombies and of all the zombies things I've seen or read I loved World War Z the book.
It's a very easy, light read. But in my opinion it's the best, more realistic and rational zombie book. Hell, it was written by the guy who wrote the Zombie Survival Guide.
Technically, nothing.
The basic rules are free, and actually contain enough to play the game in a limited form with no further materials required. You can expand that and get more character options with the SRD (dndbeyond has a compilation of the basic rules and SRD - all the free stuff in one place)There are online dice rollers and character sheets and so on (roll20.net, for example) that mean you don't need to buy anything.
However, if you're brand-new to tabletop RPGs in general and don't have an experienced DM, you want the experience of playing at a table with your friends, and so on - there are a few things that will help greatly, such as having a published adventure to work with.
I'd suggest, for your group, having:
If you have more money to spend, you can buy extra dice (so you're not trading them around the table all the time), the Monster Manual (for more monsters to throw at the party), or some of the other books for more options (e.g., Xanathar's, Volo's, etc). These are completely optional and there's way more than enough in just the PHB to keep you busy for years.
Once you finish the adventure in the starter set, you can look at the other published adventures if you want (such as Tomb of Annihilation, Storm King's Thunder, or Curse of Strahd - you can look those up and read the descriptions to see which one sounds best for you and your group, and can keep going with the characters you used before, or make new ones and start fresh).
If you want to play online, or in the "adventurer's league" at a local game store (organized play), you can get by with the basic rules, or you can just buy a Player's Handbook and that's all you should need.
A quick and easy way to check out the rules is with the basic PDFs. There are the DM and Player versions. The player version has a lot more rules right now; the DM version is mostly monster types. If this whets your appetite for more, there is also the actual Players Handbook.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0786965592/
Looks like Amazon is the same price but out of stock til February 15.
I’ll be honest, it’s one of the starter sheets in the box set the boys use for the campaigns.
It might be helpful if you give us a list of any books you've read that you did enjoy or genres you think you might like.
I have never met a person who didn't love Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy but it may not be your thing if you don't like wacked-out sci-fi so some general idea of your interests could help a ton with suggestions.
A Short History of Nearly Everything is a solid non-fiction
Robot Dreams is a great set of sci-fi short stories
Ender's Game gets a ton of hate but is a pretty great sci-fi
On A Pale Horse is an older series that I'd consider fantasy but with sci-fi elements
Where the Red Fern Grows is well loved fiction
A Zoo in My Luggage is non-fic but about animal collecting trips for a zoo and is hilarious.
Have you read Ready Player One? I think the platform they had in the book is exactly what Zuckerberg sees in the Oculus.
From Snowcrash
> Gargoyles represent the embarrassing side of the Central Intelligence Corporation. Instead of using laptops, they wear their computers on their bodies, broken up into separate modules that hang on the waist, on the back, on the headset. They serve as human surveillance devices, recording everything that happens around them. Nothing looks stupider; these getups are the modern-day equivalent of the slide-rule scabbard or the calculator pouch on the belt, marking the user as belonging to a class that is at once above and far below human society. They are a boon to Hiro because they embody the worst stereotype of the CIC stringer. They draw all the attention. The payoff for this self-imposed ostracism is that you can be in the Metaverse all the time, and gather intelligence all the time.
Sure!
Cryptonomicon
Snow Crash
The Electric Church
Neuromancer
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
That should get you started. :)
[1] [Neil Stephenson] (http://www.amazon.com/Neal-Stephenson/e/B000APS8L8/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1342151712&sr=8-1) also delves into Cyberpunk. [2] Snow Crash is probably one of my favorite books.
The Baby Owner's Manual: Operating Instructions, Trouble-Shooting Tips, and Advice on First-Year. So I haven't read a whole lot of this book yet, but from what I've read so far I really enjoy it. It mixes in some humor with a lot of great information. I saw it recommended in another thread on /r/predaddit and decided to purchase it.
You could check out Ready Player One
Hey and welcome to the community!
So, you've found a group and made your characters, that's great! Hard part is done, actually.
For rules, you'll wanna check out that site there. It's the Official Basic Rules for D&D. If you're looking for more rules, you'll have to purchase the Player's Handbook, and Dungeon Masters Guide. Both are, arguably, the most essential items to buy.
For an awesome start, check out the Starter Set (And it's 10 bucks right now.... honestly, an amazing price)
you can get the 5th edition basic rules for free on the D&D website.
And I would personally recommend the 5th edition starter set. It's only 20 bucks and is designed specifically for new players. it has everything you need to run the game, and will explain it all really well.
Good luck, I hope you get a good game going :)
The different "E"s are the different editions of the game, with 5e (fifth edition) being the current edition. I personally think fifth edition is a great place to start. The basic rules are available on Wizard's site for free. And if you want to try it and spend as little money as possible, I'd recommend getting the Starter Set. The adventure in the Starter Set is very good for beginner DMs, from what I understand, and it's very cheap compared to the other adventure books. I've played through it and enjoyed it a lot as a player.
If you want to invest more than the bare minimum, the Player's Handbook is the most essential of the core books. While you can play using just the premade characters in the starter set or by making characters with the basic rules, the Player's Handbook gives a lot more race and class options to your players. There's other books worth purchasing, but I'd see what you want to do after the starter adventure before worrying about investing more.
If you're new to RPGs in general, watching other people play can help a lot in understanding how the game works. It helped me a lot, at least. I'd recommend watching Acquistion's Inc, Critical Role, or Dice, Camera, Action for some good gameplay examples.
The 5e starter set with basic rules, 1 set of dice and a level 1-5 campaign is less than $15 on amazon.
These:
How to Read the Solar System: A Guide to the Stars and Planets by Christ North and Paul Abel.
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson.
A Universe from Nothing: Why There is Something Rather than Nothing by Lawrence Krauss.
Cosmos by Carl Sagan.
Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space by Carl Sagan.
Foundations of Astrophysics by Barbara Ryden and Bradley Peterson.
Final Countdown: NASA and the End of the Space Shuttle Program by Pat Duggins.
An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth: What Going to Space Taught Me About Ingenuity, Determination, and Being Prepared for Anything by Chris Hadfield.
You Are Here: Around the World in 92 Minutes: Photographs from the International Space Station by Chris Hadfield.
Space Shuttle: The History of Developing the Space Transportation System by Dennis Jenkins.
Wings in Orbit: Scientific and Engineering Legacies of the Space Shuttle, 1971-2010 by Chapline, Hale, Lane, and Lula.
No Downlink: A Dramatic Narrative About the Challenger Accident and Our Time by Claus Jensen.
Voices from the Moon: Apollo Astronauts Describe Their Lunar Experiences by Andrew Chaikin.
A Man on the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts by Andrew Chaikin.
Breaking the Chains of Gravity: The Story of Spaceflight before NASA by Amy Teitel.
Moon Lander: How We Developed the Apollo Lunar Module by Thomas Kelly.
The Scientific Exploration of Venus by Fredric Taylor.
The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe.
Into the Black: The Extraordinary Untold Story of the First Flight of the Space Shuttle Columbia and the Astronauts Who Flew Her by Rowland White and Richard Truly.
An Introduction to Modern Astrophysics by Bradley Carroll and Dale Ostlie.
Rockets, Missiles, and Men in Space by Willy Ley.
Ignition!: An Informal History of Liquid Rocket Propellants by John Clark.
A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking.
Russia in Space by Anatoly Zak.
Rain Of Iron And Ice: The Very Real Threat Of Comet And Asteroid Bombardment by John Lewis.
Mining the Sky: Untold Riches From The Asteroids, Comets, And Planets by John Lewis.
Asteroid Mining: Wealth for the New Space Economy by John Lewis.
Coming of Age in the Milky Way by Timothy Ferris.
The Whole Shebang: A State of the Universe Report by Timothy Ferris.
Death by Black Hole: And Other Cosmic Quandries by Neil deGrasse Tyson.
Origins: Fourteen Billion Years of Cosmic Evolution by Neil deGrasse Tyson.
Rocket Men: The Epic Story of the First Men on the Moon by Craig Nelson.
The Martian by Andy Weir.
Packing for Mars:The Curious Science of Life in the Void by Mary Roach.
The Overview Effect: Space Exploration and Human Evolution by Frank White.
Gravitation by Misner, Thorne, and Wheeler.
The Science of Interstellar by Kip Thorne.
Entering Space: An Astronaut’s Oddyssey by Joseph Allen.
International Reference Guide to Space Launch Systems by Hopkins, Hopkins, and Isakowitz.
The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality by Brian Greene.
How the Universe Got Its Spots: Diary of a Finite Time in a Finite Space by Janna Levin.
This New Ocean: The Story of the First Space Age by William Burrows.
The Last Man on the Moon by Eugene Cernan.
Failure is Not an Option: Mission Control from Mercury to Apollo 13 and Beyond by Gene Kranz.
Apollo 13 by Jim Lovell and Jeffrey Kluger.
The end
http://www.amazon.com/The-Demon-Haunted-World-Science-Candle/dp/0345409469
http://www.amazon.com/Hitchhikers-Guide-Galaxy-Douglas-Adams/dp/0345391802
http://www.amazon.com/A-Short-History-Nearly-Everything/dp/076790818X
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson is good, but I'm not sure if it's quite what you're looking for.
A Short History of Nearly Everything
The starter set for the current edition is $25: https://smile.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Set-Roleplaying/dp/B00SI774U6/
Everything you need to run a game when everyone is new. Dice, pre-built characters for players to choose from, and a story for the Dungeon Master to run them through.
Alternatively you can buy the player's handbook and the dungeon master's guide individually:
https://smile.amazon.com/Players-Handbook-Dungeons-Dragons-Wizards/dp/0786965606/
https://smile.amazon.com/Dungeon-Masters-Guide-Core-Rulebook/dp/0786965622/
and some dice
https://smile.amazon.com/SmartDealsPro-Colors-Dungeons-Dragons-Pouches/dp/B01ABST9S4/
With those you can do the same thing as the starter set but there's a whole lot more information available about all the different classes, races, weapons, combat rules, spells, etc. I'd recommend the starter set and if y'all are interested in going further getting the rest.
Set aside a few hours one evening to play a session. A lot of groups will do a shorter session 0 where they discuss what characters they're going to play and make sure they've got a decent grasp of the mechanics and rules.
In the course of about 2-3 hours you'll probably get through one combat encounter and one non-combat encounter (talking to townspeople, investigating something, dicking around at the tavern) but it all depends on the choices the players make based on the options presented by the DM.
$30 on Amazon. Assuming you're on 5e.
Same for Canada.
https://www.amazon.ca/Players-Handbook-Wizards-RPG-Team/dp/0786965606/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1520473948&sr=8-1&keywords=dungeons+and+dragons+players+handbook+5th+edition
Why write anything? I highly recommend starting with a published adventure, such as Lost Mine of Phandelver. Much easier for a new DM. You'll learn a ton.
https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Set-Roleplaying/dp/0786965592
http://www.amazon.com/Players-Handbook-Dungeons-Dragons-Wizards/dp/0786965606/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1410203099&sr=8-1&keywords=Players+handbook
This may seem snarky but someone else already had a cease and desist sent to them by wotc for posting spells out of the players handbook. If people start filling this subreddit with class entries and the like they'll just start deleting posts (at best...)
For now, basic PDF has everything you need to learn and play the game at a basic level.
Get the MM and PHB on thinkgeek for 61 delivered then look for the DMG on Amazon.
Even if you buy the DMG at the $49 MSRP you are in for just over $100
*edit
http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/1e9e/?pfm=Search&t=dungeons%20and%20dragons%20core%20rulebooks
http://www.amazon.com/Dungeon-Masters-Guide-Core-Rulebook/dp/0786965622/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1420166107&sr=1-2&keywords=dungeons+and+dragon+5th+edition
In for under $100
I prob need to read this.
Current read: https://www.amazon.com/Gospel-Flying-Spaghetti-Monster/dp/0812976568
That's hilarious but I think it's actually this one
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0812976568/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_Wc9Wub1K72CTY
i'm just going to leave this here:
http://www.brocode.com/
http://www.amazon.com/Bro-Code-Barney-Stinson/dp/143911000X?ie=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0
Edit: /facepalm - this is a thread killers link, not the actual question link. Woops...
OP needs to read the following:
http://www.amazon.ca/Eats-Shoots-Leaves-Lynne-Truss/dp/1592402038
Whoa there hombre. Serial comma all the way.
Matt Doyle's response to Twellman's "ding-dong" comment:
>Got my xmas shopping for @TaylorTwellman done:
> http://www.amazon.com/Eats-Shoots-Leaves-Tolerance-Punctuation/dp/1592402038 …
> http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41z6w-f6QeL.jpg …
My husband is not much of a reader and likes things straight-forward. So i got him this: https://www.amazon.com/Baby-Owners-Manual-Instructions-Trouble-Shooting/dp/1594745978 and he loves it.
I'd also recommend The Baby Owner's Manual: Operating Instructions, Trouble-Shooting Tips, and Advice on First-Year Maintenance and the Caring for Your Baby and Young Child book by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Oh... and Happiest Baby on the Block. I didn't read it... we watched the video instead. Really good advice for calming newborns.
Openings are hard as shit to do in sci-fi/fantasy. You have to basically lecture on the world without it sounding like you're lecturing them on the world: excuse me while I grab my smoke and mirrors. I'm not going to do line edits because it's view only. Instead you get my wall of text that I'm compiling on scifi/fantasy openings as I read more and more piles of it, when I should be reading something like literature (Idk, is that what the cool kids are doing?).
It's view only so my line edits will probably be limited, but I'll start with your opening two sentences.
>The café of 'Morl's Best Cuppa' was odd, green and uncomfortable to look at. It's rough exterior stood out against the trimmed vein of grey that was the rest of the city-block, like a bulb of gum beaten flat under step, ruining an otherwise pristine side-walk
Protag is looking at a building. I'm not as experienced in third person style narratives, but I'll do my best. If I was writing this in first person I'd be extremely leery of writing a description of the building for the begging portion. I do think you have an interesting world set out. There are genuinely funny moments, but it's packaged in a way that makes me want to put it down. I'd say this is due to an incomplete opening. You have characters and setting, but you don't have a problem for these characters to overcome (plot).I'm going to copy paste parts of a post that I did on sci-fi/fantasy openings that I made earlier, with significant modifications/additions (but the core idea is the same). If this is frowned upon, I'll stop. Disclaimer, I'm not saying that you should do any of these things that I suggest. This is merely my own opinions on ways to get over the initial hump that sci/fi fantasy stories face. These are some good resources/books that I've found.
In essence a good opening has three things
This is kind of vague and bullshitty so I'll use some examples.
The openings in fantasty/sci-fi books are notoriously terrible. For instance, Red Rising, an otherwise half decent thriller book has the shittiest opening that I've read in a published work. But that didn't stop him from selling books out the wazoo and getting good blurbs ("Ender, Catniss, and now Darrow"), because he knows how to write a page turner later on (I'd still recommend it even though the opening is questionable, if you enjoy cheap dystopian thrills). But damn, did the opening want to make me throw the book against the wall. It's not that he doesn't do the three things that an opening should do, it's that he switches voices within it and had several narration snaps when it's clearly HIM speaking and not the main character. I'd also say that Patrick Rothfuss' opening is extremely shitty (and he says so himself), as he takes 50 pages before anything substantial happens. Thus he went back and added a prologue so the reader would feel some sort of plot in the story. Prologues are effective in scifi/fantasy for quickly introducing a problem, if your world takes awhile to build. For instance -- Harry Potter also did this to an extent, since it had the scene with his parents dying. Some openings, like the one that I'm about to discuss, have a really solid hook and immediately grab the reader. Am I saying that you should write a prologue? No , I haven't really read enough of your story to figure that out. I'm just offering a few nuggets of advice that I've seen authors use to get over the initial hump of creating the world.
I think a solid example of a good opening in a sci-fi story, that I've read recently, is the story Wool (here's a link, use the look inside function). The hook is one of the better ones I've read, something along the lines of "Holston climbed his stairs to his death." Is it a cheap trick? Yes. Do I really care, and does it add tension to an otherwise monotonous climb up the stairs? You betcha! He explains certain elements of the silo as he gets to the different actions, e.g. "I put my hand on the guardrail, worn down one flake at a time by centuries of use." He doesn't just come out and say "HEY THE SILO IS OLD LEMME TELL YOU ABOUT MY CHILDHOOD IN THE SILO AND THEN GET TO THE PLOT DAMMNIT". In your case we see some characters mostly annoyed, bored, or not really doing much. Sure the setting is engaging, but the characters, in my opinion, aren't. The pro of an exposition opening is that you can fit a lot of information into a relatively small amount of space. The con is that it's hard to present in a way that doesn't create a POV snap, a boring tell instead of show description, and it's hard to create a problem if you're trying to be an omnipotent narrator. Dune does it, but it hasn't set a trend because it's hard as shit to do. Pride and Prejudice does it, but Jane Austen is incredibly good at writing in different tones. I'll stick to my nice comfortable first person narrative right now. I'm not a good mechanical writer, or a good writer at all yet, but I'm working on it. I do worldbuilding half decently (though I'm put to shame by the people on /r/worldbuilding)
Another solid opening is "Mistborn;" (here's a link) a fantastic example of a dialogue driven opening. I'd say that if a dialogue opening is done right, its exponentially more interesting than an exposition opening. The problem is making the characters feel natural. I spent quite some time on my opening hammering out the robotic narration style, but I still had to go back and write a prologue because I didn't introduce the main problem of the story properly. I problem that I had is that my characters seem to stick their fingers up their butts and don't do anything. Basically a dialogue opening is harder to do, but it's well worth the effort if you can pull it off. Dialogue is also a good way to squeeze information out of your world. Want to have an explanation about scientist, well slap a scientist in there and have your protag ask some questions about it. Don't have random flashbacks in the very begging. Think about a movie that had someone fixing breakfast, and every time they did something relatively minor there was a flashback. E.g. poured some orange juice. That reminds me of my mentor who trained me in how to write a good sci-fi opening. Going to eat some Coco puffs, like me mum used to. But me mum beat me so I angrily ate the coco puffs.
The best fantasy opening that I've ever read is Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch. I'd recommend taking a peek at it here. He casually just strolls in, quickly establishes two characters, a problem, and a setting in half a page. It's brilliant. I can't say I've read the rest of it though, but it's on my list of things to read. The only complaints that I've heard about Lies (aside from the usually fantasy grumbling about tropes), is that the heist narrative is too lowly for such a talented writer. I think that's a pretty good sign that hes doing shit right.
In the words of Brian Sanderson "writing is all smoke and mirrors." In fantasy/sci-fi you have to set up scenes that are more or less infodumping segments that feel natural to the reader. E.g. travelling from town to town, "oh theres a ghost thing over there"
"that's not a ghost its your mum!" laughter ensues
On the bright side, it seems like you've done some good world building, so writing the segments shouldn't be too hard. I highly recommend watching Brandon Sanderson's lectures on the youtube channel "Write about dragons." Start with the first lectures he does, because they cover a lot of mistakes that people make.
Also read this article on common mistakes that editors see (link) . Watching and reading just a little bit will help you from falling into a ton of pitfalls, like I did with my first story. I spent far too long on too little words, that were absolute rubbish. Now I've been able to get at least a consistent word count down every week, with mixed reviews (some chapters are better than others.) Basically, write consistently and read often. Potential and inspiration are bullshit. Hammer out some words, get it torn apart on this sub-reddit, pick up the pieces and repeat. Make sure to give back often, this place is awesome. I think one of my better experiences was posting a basically infodumpy chapter, and had some pretty positive reviews (aside from some pseudoscience that I quickly cut, and leapt back into the warm embrace of space opera).
If you get past the opening hump, this article, is a fantastic way to plan how your plot is going to unfold over the course of a novel, in a concise fashion. I wish I'd found this resource sooner, cause my planning would've been much better. (I tend to discovery write, with minimal planning.)
In all honesty, the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings are pretty tough to get into, since they are practically the ur-examples of fantasy, written back when a lot of commercial fiction methodology was still being developed.
When i read a book, I worry first and foremost if I'm entertained, if I am, I'll give it my recommendation, regardless of the flaws. These are the ones I think you'd find best for jumping in with.
YA/Middle Grade Books
Fantasy
Discworld by Terry Pratchet (I'd recommend not starting at the beginning.)
Sci-Fi
Urban Fantasy
Thrillers/Suspense
These were taken from this book: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0762424915
Did you really imagine it?
From Bill Bryson's book, A Short History of Nearly Everything (for geographic reference he is talking about an impact that happened in Manson, Iowa some 74 million years ago and left the biggest crater in the US (you couldn't tell if you went there...nothing to see crater-wise anymore without using special equipment to see underground):
>An asteroid or comet traveling at cosmic velocities would enter the earth's atmosphere at such a speed that the air beneath it couldn't get out of the way and would be compressed, as in a bicycle pump. As anyone who has used such a pump knows, compressed air grows swiftly hot, and temperature below it would rise to some 60,000 Kelvins or ten times the surface temperature of the Sun. In this instant of its arrival in our atmosphere, everything in the meteor's path - people, houses, factories, cars - would crinkle and vanish like cellophane in a flame.
>One second after entering the atmosphere, the meteorite would slam into the earth's surface, where the people of Manson (an impact site of such a collision millions of years ago) had a moment before been going about their business. The meteorite itself would vaporize instantly, but the blast would blow out a thousand cubic kilometers of rock, earth, and superheated gases. Every living thing within 150 miles that hadn't been killed by the heat of entry would now be killed by the blast. Radiating outward at almost the speed of light would be the initial shock wave, sweeping everything before it.
>For those outside the zone of immediate devastation, the first inkling of catastrophe would be a flash of blinding light - the brightest ever seen by human eyes - followed an instant to a minute or two later by an apocalyptic sight of unimaginable grandeur: a rolling wall of darkness reaching high into the heavens, filling an entire field of view and traveling at thousands of miles an hour. Its approach would be eerily silent since it would be moving far beyond the speed of sound. Anyone In a tall building in Omaha or Des Moines, say, who chanced to look into the right direction would see a bewildering veil of turmoil followed by instantaneous oblivion.
>Within minutes, over an area stretching from Denver to Detroit and encompassing what had been Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas City, the Twin Cities - the whole of the Midwest, in short - nearly every standing thing would be flattened or on fire, and nearly every living thing would be dead. People up to a thousand miles away would be knocked off their feet and sliced or clobbered by a blizzard of flying projectiles. Beyond a thousand miles the devastation from the blast would gradually diminish.
>But that's just the initial shockwave. No one can do more than guess what the associated damage would be, other than that it would be brisk and global. The impact would almost certainly set off a chain of devastating earthquakes. Volcanoes across the world would begin to rumble and spew. Tsunamis would rise up and head devastatingly for distant shores. Within an hour, a cloud of blackness would cover the planet, and burning rock and other debris would be pelting down everywhere, setting much of the planet ablaze. It has been estimated that 1.5 billion people would be dead by the end of first day. The massive disturbances to the ionosphere would knock out communications systems everywhere, so survivors would have no idea what was happening elsewhere or where to turn. It would hardly matter. As one commentator has put it, fleeing would mean "selecting a slow death over a quicker one. The death toll would be very little affected by any plausible relocation effort, since earth’s ability to support life would be universally diminished."
>The amount of soot and floating ash from the impact and following fires would blot out the sun, certainly for months, possibly for years, disrupting growing cycles. In 2001, researchers at the California Institute of Technology analyzed helium isotopes from sediments left from the later KT impact and concluded that it affected earth’s climate for about 10,000 years. This was actually used as evidence to support the notion that the extinction of dinosaurs was swift and emphatic - and so it was in geological terms. We can only guess how well, or whether, humanity would cope with such an event.
>And in all likelihood, this would come without warning, out of a clear sky.
EDIT: Added geographic info for context.
EDIT2: It is worth noting that there were no extinctions associated with this impact. As devastating as it was it was still not sufficient to completely end any species' time on the planet. Now consider what the one that put a sharp and definitive end to the dinosaurs must have been like!
How to Talk to Your Cat About Gun Safety: And Abstinence, Drugs, Satanism, and Other Dangers That Threaten Their Nine Lives https://www.amazon.com/dp/045149492X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_FBVvDbSKF3H4A
Don't forget this important book to ensure the safest home environment for your felines.
Have you talked to your cat about gun safety yet?
A really nice, much prettier, redrawing of this, by the same illustrator, from the inside of the dust jacket of his new book (it's really good):
http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/t_original/875328566035019154.jpg
The book: http://www.amazon.com/What-If-Scientific-Hypothetical-Questions/dp/0544272994
Snow Crash
http://www.amazon.com/Snow-Crash-Bantam-Spectra-Book/dp/0553380958
Snow Crash
I think Salvatore gets sort of a bad rap. His Dark Elf Trilogy was one of the first Fantasy novels I had read and really kickstarted my interest in fantasy. The idea of elves as an evil race was totally groundbreaking for me and made me realize there was more to fantasy than the standard LotR model.
Even if Salvatore isn't your style, don't let it rule out other authors in the "Forgotten Realms" universe. Paul S. Kemp would stand up well against other fantasy authors commonly mentioned in the community. His Erevis Cale Trilogy and Twilight War series are among my favorite books.
Having said that, I'd recommend The Lies of Locke Lamora and The Dresden Files. I'd describe these books as fun, fast-paced, light reading that most folks find hard to put down.
You might even get a kick out of The Hunger Games or Divergent... And of course 1984 :)
The Martian: A Novel - Sci Fi about a man stranded on Mars and his struggle to survive and be rescued.
Ready Player One - Sci Fi about a virtual world/video game scavenger hunt with the winner becoming the new ruler of the virtual world.
Here's a helpful book
Don't know if it's what you're asking, but the one in the center is What If? by Randall Munroe
Insert SnowCrash joke here.
Sounds like you might enjoy Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age. I think Snow Crash is meant to be in the same universe - it's hilarious but not as dense. You might also like his Cryptonomicon, though it's not technically Sci Fi.
Tad Willams' Otherland Series is Epic Sci Fi with a huge amount of detail. Might be right up your alley.
Dune, Neuromancer and The Enderverse if you haven't already read those.
Well, my favorites are
The Moviegoer
The Road
A Confederacy of Dunces
Rendezvous with Rama
Watchmen
Snow Crash
Slaughterhouse-Five
Cat's Cradle
The Big Sleep
The Maltese Falcon
American Gods
A Clockwork Orange
Preacher
Fahrenheit 451
1984
Akira
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Lolita
Love in the Time of Cholera
Naked Lunch
Animal Farm
The Sandman
At the Mountains of Madness
The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Tales
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Brave New World
We
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
Yeah, as others have said, for beginners do try out the D&D 5e Starter Set.
It has enough rules for the small premade adventure they give you to start up, the small adventure itself (which is no small thing for a beginner Dungeon Master), a few pregenerated characters and a set of dice.
You could add to that a few miniatures (or just use paper tokens) and an extra set of dice.
The Starter Set goes to level 5 only (out of 20 max). If you like it, then go ahead and buy the Holy Trinity of D&D Books:
The other books, such as Curse of Strahd, Out of the Abyss or Tales from the Yawning Portal, are simply adventures that you can buy if you don't want to make your own. They are fun to play and way less of a hassle to DMs... but after a while most will like to make their own stories.
On another note... While obviously I can't recommend that both because supporting creators is important and because of subreddit rules, you can find pdfs of all those books online, if you don't want to spend the money. Or simply because Ctrl-F is better than manually searching.
*They have added a few more options is some adventures or the Sword Coast Adventure Guide, and there are some unofficial elements that are being tested in the Unearthed Arcana, but trust me with the core books you have enough to play with for a while.
You create a character and pretend to play that character in various interactions and combat simulations. The game abstracts out many abilities and skills into various numerical values, so that an attempt to do something will involve a roll of a die against a target number representing the objective difficulty of the action.
The game is normally played in a group, with one person acting as the Game or Dungeon Master and the rest as players. The DM is a combination game runner, story teller, and rules adjudicator. The DM's job is to make the game something fun for the players and the players' job is to have fun playing the game.
Anything more detailed than this gets into the specific rules covered in the Player's Handbook. The rules for playing are freely available from this site and there is a D&D starter kit available to purchase which contains all the rules and even premade characters a group would need to play the game.
typing "[text](link)" will hyperlink, by the way.
becomes:
>You can order it on Amazon
Here you go! 13 bucks plus S&H. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0786965592/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1473640433&sr=8-1&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=dnd+5e+starter+set&dpPl=1&dpID=51Ykm93n8ML&ref=plSrch
So if you're on a budget and want to start out, as Stormbow said, see the Basic Rules that are online. You can start playing with them and theres a good amount of content for free. You can find it on the Wizards of the Coast website.
​
When you want a more streamlined experience and you need some assistance getting started, you could get the D&D Starter Set, which comes with a printed Version of the basic rules, pre made characters, dice and an absolutely perfect adventure you can play out of the box. The new D&D Essentials Kit is currently only available from Target, and I do not own it myself. It is a different take on the Starter Set with character creation and a different adventure to play right out of the box. It contains rules to play with just two people as well, so if it's just you and your son, this could be the thing for you.
​
If you want to go all in, or if you decide that it's a wonderful hobby, getting the "holy trinity" of books is a great idea:
If you want to play get a Players Handbook (Amazon link for reference), and some dice. If you want to DM you should get a Dungeon Masters Guide (amazon link).
But you don't have to buy these! Here are some links to FREE downloadable (and LEGAL) things:
Players Guide
Basic DM Guide
Character Sheets
The Starter Set is a great place to start when it comes to monsters with the latest and official monster math.
Some people are suggesting using the monsters from the public playtest. And while that is a great stop-gap solution, you may find some issues with the monster math as it was still undergoing changes during this period. In some cases it is very minor, in others it may not be. So, use your best judgment.
All in all, if you've not played since 2e, I highly suggest picking up the Starter Set and downloading the Basic Rules. If you are wanting to make your own encounters, there was a Legends & Lore article about adventure building just last week.
Good luck and happy gaming!
Anyone who is interested in the starter kit can find it here for $12!
Honestly, I think you'd be better off looking at the full D&D5 starter set (Or the D&D 5 books, or the free basic rules download) as a new player! They do a much better job of explaining roleplaying and explaining the game how the game is played. The starter box is really good, with a nice little mini-campaign and premade characters; it's plenty to get a group started for a few sessions of play.
Microlite games like this are more designed for players with some experience, who want to cut out mechanics they don't think work for the way they play. As a new player, if you attended a group playing something like this then you'd be fine, but they're not good as an introduction on their own.
https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Wizards-Team/dp/0786965592
If you buy the Starter Set it comes with a nice little condensed 20 page rulebook. It also comes with a set of decent dice and a nice 1-5 level adventure. Its a good deal overall.
Start with the basic rules. They are free from Wizards of the Coast on the DnD Website. Its all the rules to play the game. What you don't get are all the bells and whistles options to create characters(you do get some character creation options but just basic ones which are enough for you to learn to create characters).
You can get the free basic rules here: https://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/basicrules
There are also a lot of youtube videos that explain how to play.
If you decide you want to spend money then you will want the Players Handbook and maybe the Starter Set.
You only need to read The Dungeon Master's Guide and the Monster Manual if you want to play as the Dungeon Master and be in charge of organizing and running a game/adventure.
If you want to dip your toes into the water and try playing but don't know anyone then Adventurer's League is something you should look into. Its organized play at local game stores that is open to public. Its more regimented and usually more rigid than a private game but its a start.
Adventurer's League: https://dnd.wizards.com/playevents/organized-play
Store/Event locator: http://locator.wizards.com/#brand=dnd
Edit: Also this post might be helpful but some links might be outdated: https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/3vc42r/newbie_looking_for_help_starting/cxm6vwz/
That's kind of a broad question. :p
There are TONS of tabletop RPGs out there, and they can have vastly different styles, including the genre and the rules.
Nowadays, lots of people record their sessions and post them online, and that is a fantastic way to get an idea of how things work. Some of my favorites:
Critical Role. A group of voice actors who have been playing D&D for years. Here's the DM of the group playing with Stephen Colbert.
The Adventure Zone. It started when the podcasters of My Brother, My Brother, and Me decided to play D&D with their dad as a goof. They actually got really into it and have kept playing ever since. Starts with D&D, then they experiment for a while, and now they're playing a game called Monster of the Week.
The Film Reroll. They play through movies as though they were tabletop RPG adventures, using a system called GURPS. Things often go awry in spectacular fashion.
Anyway, the most popular game out there by a HUGE margin is D&D. Since that's kind of a default and you'll probably have the easiest time starting or finding a game of it...
Here's the free basic rules
There's also a D&D Starter Set (MSRP $20) which is literally everything you need to get started with some friends. Currently $12.57 on Amazon.
And if you want to eventually upgrade (or just jump right in) to the full rules, you'll need the Player's Handbook, might want the Dungeon Master's Guide, and maybe eventually the Monster Manual (since you can find plenty of monster stats online anyway).
There's also unusual dice, but the basic rules will explain it (and the starter set includes them). Easily found at most game or comic shops.
EDIT: That said, there are a bunch of free RPGs out there, too. So poke around; check this subreddit's wiki, for instance, for a few of them.
And that's where I'd start. Then just go exploring, and start playing when you get the chance. And don't sweat the details like rules or how to play a character stop you from getting started—we all did most of our learning by doing when it comes to RPGs. :)
For reference, everyone should be immediately wary if they find any 5e books for less than 20 dollars on amazon. Check out camelcamelcamel.com for amazon price history and you'll see that most of the books have never gone below 25, and typically hover around 30. If verified amazon vendors don't offer it for near the price you're buying from someone else then you can generally expect to get ripped off.
Use the sidebar and the links the previous comments have provided. They'll be very helpful. The Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, and Monster Manual are about $30 each. This can seem like a lot, but they are so useful, and basically a necessity. Also, a couple sets of dice is important of course.
I started playing as a DM. I wanted to play, and none of my friends were as passionate about it, so I stepped up. It was fun to learn as I went, but a bit daunting at times. I've found great inspiration and information from the PAX streams of Acquisitions Inc and podcasts like The Adventure Zone and Nerd Poker. Also, the webcomic Darths & Droids has helpful & humorous information below each page. It helped me understand what DMing is like by "playing through" a story I was already very familiar with. Don't feel like you need a pre-made story either. We've been playing about 18 months now without ever opening one of the WotC campaign books. I primarily get my inspiration from movies, TV, comics, etc and just adapt the pilfered story to a fantasy setting.
Just jump in with both feet, and roll with it.
If you bought it at a brick and mortar store, it's likely the 5th edition (has a green dragon on the front), and unfortunately different versions are not compatible.
If it is the 5th edition starter set. There is the System Reference Document (Link to the PDF) and the Elemental Evil Player's Companion (Link to the PDF) which are official free resources that contains a few more races, classes, spells, items and monsters than the starter set. While it's not really a substitute for the Monster Manual as a Christmas present, he'd likely appreciate the extra content to use regardless.
You might have to shop around if you want to find the Monster Manual cheaper. Amazon and some other online stores usually have it for a bit less than you'd find in a brick and mortar store.
The starter set is probably your best entry point.
http://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Set-Roleplaying/dp/0786965592/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1449995620&sr=8-3&keywords=dungeons+and+dragons
I'd almost rather see a completely new DM than a group wanting an experienced one. That way you can form your own style and group structure rather than having it possibly forced on you. And the world always needs more DMs.
Matt Colville has a pretty good series on YouTube, Running the game. The first 3 episodes take about an hour to watch and give a pretty good introduction about how things usually go as a DM.
The D&D Starter Set is cheap and comes with everything you need to start. That includes some dice, some premade characters, some simplified rules, and an adventure. The adventure is designed for completely new groups and DMs and will have some helpful snippets of information spread through it.
The Basic Rules are free and go into some more detail. They're enough to run some basic games without dropping $90-$150 on the books.
Have you considered the Dungeons and Dragons Starter Set?
Started Set
Bulk Dice
The starter set is a great way to introduce players to the game. I have never played it, but it comes highly recommended as far as I can tell. Wiz Dice is awesome. I got a bulk set for Christmas and it contained at least 10 complete sets. Well worth it. Good luck!
I've built dozens of characters using books like this one
http://www.amazon.com/Players-Handbook-Dungeons-Dragons-Wizards/dp/0786965606
Edit. Added links to purchase the Player's Handbook
Edit 2. Learned what ELI5 means. Sorry for my noobness.
Cara eu sei que a Amazon tem promoção pra livro, e se for comprar da gringa não é taxado!
Aqui Player's Handbook
Trying to buy the Player's Handbook for 5e
Got two links, and I can't tell why one is cheaper. Maybe because one is straight from WOTC? Is one a newer, better printing?
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0786965606?pf_rd_p=d1f45e03-8b73-4c9a-9beb-4819111bef9a&pf_rd_r=2VGJTWAC78JEMZ7KAJ2Z
30 vs 45?
https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Players-Handbook-Rulebook/dp/B00SI5S8M6/ref=pd_sbs_14_9?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B00SI5S8M6&pd_rd_r=f17f5410-b51e-11e8-861c-cd06ea1130b1&pd_rd_w=6nfxt&pd_rd_wg=xhDUW&pf_rd_i=desktop-dp-sims&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_p=0bb14103-7f67-4c21-9b0b-31f42dc047e7&pf_rd_r=HPRC57Q678BCY8FTBJ25&pf_rd_s=desktop-dp-sims&pf_rd_t=40701&psc=1&refRID=HPRC57Q678BCY8FTBJ25
Amazon Smile link. Using Amazon Smile donates a small portion of your purchase to a charity of your choice.
according to Amazon, dimensions for a PHB are 8.5 x 0.8 x 11.2 inches.
I think he is referring to A Short History of Nearly Everything. It is a good book and very readable, like all Bryson's books.
/r/NewDM
I always suggest the Starter Set. It has ready to play rules and a great campaign and it's only like $13 USD.
Great game!
Welcome to D&D. 🙂
How to Build™ : Down Here Buddy(Fighter- Dual Dex Dynamo)
Objective
A dual weilding halfling using a quick wit and even faster blades.
__
Stout Halfling +2 Dex, +1 Con
Background: Criminal
Equipment based off Suggested Quick Build
Stats based off Legal Adventure League Array 15,14,13,12,10,8
Stat | | Stat |
---|---|----|----
Str | 10 | Int | 13
Dex| 14+2 | Wis | 12
Con | 15+1 | Cha | 8
AC 14 (7 more AC possible with higher quality gear)
HP 13 (9 hp/level afterwards)
Level | Class | Gain|Note
---|---|-----|----
1| Fighter | Fighting Style: Two-Weapon Fighting, Second Wind | With every slash you are able to get the needed leverage to drive home the blade.
2| Fighter | Action Surge | Sometimes you just need to do some extra convincing to drive home your point.
3| Fighter | Champion: Critical Strike 19-20 | Every strike digs closer to the threats.
4| Fighter | Feat: Dual Wielder | Your blades move so fast that you can even use them to deflect incoming blows, as well as you have built up strength to wield larger weapon with equal speed (Rapier- 1d8).
5| Fighter | Extra Attack I | Bring the pain.
6| Fighter | +2 Dex | Your blows hit harder and your feet move faster.
7| Fighter | Champion: Remarkable Athelete | Add half your proficiency bonus (round up) to any Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution check you make that doesn't already use your proficiency bonus.
8| Fighter | Feat: Resilient Dexterity | Float like a butterfly, sting like bee.
9| Fighter | Indomitable I| You are able to shrug off attacks and difficulties that those with a smaller heart would crumple to.
10| Fighter | Champion: Fighting Style Defensive | You are able to leverage your armor so that it deflects blows in unexpected ways.
This gets you pretty far progression wise, more beyond this and it can just get too complex as far as flexibility of a guide goes.
Post level 10 I would suggest Feat: Durable, +1 Dex, +1 Con, +2 Con, and even Magic Initiate: Cleric to pick up the spell Shield of Faith or Bless and then Spare the Dying, and Thuamaturgy. These spells augment your team helping their attacks and saves, lets you instantly stop a bleed out, have great RP moments, and are not reliant on having a high wisdom. Also it could work well as your level 19 Feat as you're being blessed by the God of Theives with greater power.
Mayo Clinic Guide to a Healthy Pregnancy
A bit more clinical, and more information (IMO) than "what to expect..."
Be Prepared: A Practical Handbook for New Dads
AWESOME book for dads (me included). Similar info, but much lighter, and easier to read.
Excellent advice from people here. I'd also suggest that you and mom both take a parenting class. Kids are baffling for experienced adults. A good parenting class is extremely helpful for a new parent. Oh, also this book: https://smile.amazon.com/Be-Prepared-Gary-Greenberg/dp/0743251547?sa-no-redirect=1
They are from a book called Safe Baby Pregnancy Tips by David and Kelly Sopp. They make another one for newborns called Safe Baby Handling Tips
I buy these for my friends when they are expecting their first child.
looks like a scan of this book
http://www.amazon.com/Safe-Baby-Handling-Tips-David/dp/0762424915
a really good starting book is
A short history of nearly everything
author Bill Bryson (born in Des Moines, Iowa, living in the UK most of his life) discovered he knew next to nothing about how stuff works. How we know things. Not because of a religious upbringing, but just because he was a hardcore linguist and had never studied science subjects. So he did what he does best, research and ask tons of people about everything and then he wrote a book.
And what a book! To quote the first 5 star reviewer in view on amazon: (almost everybody gives it 5 stars)
>" I cannot think of any other single-volume book I have ever read that was as informative, entertaining, and broad in scope as this classic. Not having excelled in science, nor been much interested in it when I was younger, this gem is a massive refresher course on everything I ever learned about science, and then some."
This book is an excellent introduction in every scientific subject you can think of and dozens others you never heard of. After reading it you can select those fields of study that interest you most and find books by scientists in that field that go deeper.
There are many editions of this book, including a fully illustrated one.
Here's an idea I think you'd be good at based on your interests: I'm reading a book now called A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. It's about how we came to understand the things we know about our planet and our universe. It's absolutely fascinating but it's super long. Condense some of that information down into a format more accessible for high school students. The universe is unfathomably incredible...like pants-wettingly amazing. But high school textbooks are the most boring possible medium ever for conveying that wonder. Turn it into some captivating format that blows kids' minds and makes them fall in love with science. Start a YouTube channel or something.
The way that they are reacting is actually statistically demonstrated by social scientists to be the most effective way for religious parents to influence their wayward children to eventually return to religious practice as they age: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2013/august-web-only/religion-runs-in-family.html
Also keep in mind the the statistical factor that is most likely to lead to a resuscitation of religious practice for a young adult who has strayed is marriage and children. The younger and less financially and socially stable you are when you have children, the more statistically likely you are to be hooked back into a religious community: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2013/july-web-only/is-family-decline-behind-religious-decline.html
Just make sure that you don't become a young parent, that you seek out secular communities like the Sunday Assembly etc., and that you do your research on miracles and revelation and philosophy, critical thinking, and science in general
repay the favor by giving them this next time:
https://www.amazon.com/Gospel-Flying-Spaghetti-Monster/dp/0812976568
Fierce_Fox is right. FM manuals such as FM-217-76 Survival.....may be somewhat outdated but the information is reliable.
As a Medic/EMT my prepping focuses on my skill set with everything else falling close in line. I have a lot of information in digital format; both on USB and a small external drive. I have a small tablet that is in my BoB for reading documents and such.
At a minimum, here are my suggestions:
FM 21-76 Survival - Department of the Army
https://archive.org/details/military-manuals
SAS Survival Guide - https://www.amazon.com/SAS-Survival-Guide-Collins-Gem/dp/0061992860/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1483496552&sr=8-1&keywords=sas+survival+guide
The Pocket Prepper's Guide - Bernie Car
https://www.amazon.com/Preppers-Pocket-Guide-Things-Disaster/dp/1569759294/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1483496827&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=The+Pocket+Prepper%27s+Guide+-+Bernie+Car
The Complete Disaster Home Preparation Guide - Robert Roskind
https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Disaster-Home-Preparation-Guide/dp/0130859001/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1483496881&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Complete+Disaster+Home+Preparation+Guide+-+Robert+Roskind
How To Survive the End of the World As We Know It-James Wesley,Rawles
https://www.amazon.com/How-Survive-End-World-Know/dp/0452295831/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1483496952&sr=8-1&keywords=How+To+Survive+the+End+of+the+World+As+We+Know+It-James+Wesley%2CRawles
Bug Out - Scott B. Williams
https://www.amazon.com/Bug-Out-Complete-Escaping-Catastrophic/dp/156975781X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1483496991&sr=8-1&keywords=Bug+Out+-+Scott+B.+Williams
When There Is No Doctor - Gerard S. Doyle, MD -
https://www.amazon.com/When-There-Doctor-Challenging-Self-reliance/dp/1934170119/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1483497054&sr=8-2&keywords=When+There+Is+No+Doctor
The Ultimate Survival Medicine Guide - Joseph Alton, MD & Amy Alton, ARNP - https://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Survival-Medicine-Guide-Preparedness/dp/1629147702/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1483497109&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=The+Ultimate+Survival+Medicine+Guide+-+Joseph+Alton%2C+MD+%26+Amy+Alton%2C+ARNP
Last, but not least, The Zombie Survival Guide - Max Brooks
https://www.amazon.com/Zombie-Survival-Guide-Complete-Protection/dp/1400049628/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1483497158&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Zombie+Survival+Guide+-+Max+Brooks
The last one is more humor but it does have many great points and ideas.
A library that covered everything would be very heavy and take up a bit of space. For the minimum, at least 1-2 books on everything one will need to survive will still be a lot. These books should be read, reread, and read again. We can't memorize everything, but having this to go back on when needed is a great addition. There's tons of information online and downloadable for free.
Depending on one's skill set, then they may not need as much. Teach others in a group is a must. Can't have one person be the ONLY one who can do 'this' skill. IMO, research should always be the first step. So much information out there and it's free.
Easy Choice...
Settle in, hunt, gather, and prepare a defensible structure for the warmer months when the zombies will thaw out and come to attack you again. Preferably one big enough to allow some farming in the warmer periods. Of course, this means no timely return to a normal life as we know it, which is a bummer.
The last few chapters of the ZSG cover exactly this :)
On that note, everyone should read The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks.
It gets better. At 3 months you leave the "OH MY GOD WILL IT BREAK IF I HOLD IT? IS IT BREATHING? I NEED TO CHECK." stage. At that point you don't wake up every 5 minutes to check on them if they don't cry. You think: "Oh thank goodness, they're sleeping for more than 5 minutes"
You should get this book, it's awesome.
Haven’t dug into this yet but I bought it specifically because it is structured like an owner’s manual:
The Baby Owner's Manual: Operating Instructions, Trouble-Shooting Tips, and Advice on First-Year Maintenance (Owner's and Instruction Manual) https://www.amazon.com/dp/1594745978/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_kMH6Cb98YH7AT
The Baby Owner's Manual: Operating Instructions, Trouble-Shooting Tips, and Advice on First-Year Maintenance (Owner's and Instruction Manual) on Amazon
Let's check...
My brother got me this book it's a baby instruction manual.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Baby-Owners-Manual-Trouble-Shooting/dp/1594745978
I ordered the manual separately for my husband. He needed one with pictures.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1594745978
> "That bus is full of children Superman!!"
You should read Eats, Shoots and Leaves at some point in your life.
There are formal grammar guides and more 'layman' and humorous guides, but I've found the best success just by learning from context. Read quality books in any field and see how authors write. Read articles in newspapers and magazines that are not sold on supermarket checkout lines, and notice the writing. Learn by osmosis, just by seeing correct grammar and observing it. You'll get a feel for comma placement, apostrophe use, and so forth. Honestly, that's how I learned.
I will say the few sentences you've typed above are pretty decent. Only a couple of minor, nitpicky, errors.
This one is pretty good - it's a good "dad" book, and keeps things pretty straightforward but in a fun way. It's not the most detailed book (I don't think it covered things like sleep regression) but it might be a start? http://www.amazon.com/The-Baby-Owners-Manual-Trouble-Shooting/dp/1594745978
The Baby Owner's Manual:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1594745978/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awd_8EvQwb5MKDQYT
The scary thing is it's actually really well made and has a load of well thought out information.
One of my favorite gifts was The Baby Owner's Manual, which gives practical advice on being a dad to an infant in terms similar to those used in car-repair books. (How to change a diaper, etc)
The Baby Owner's Manual is fun and informative. We have a copy that we both read before our baby arrived.
Player's Handbook is really all you'd need as a player.
There's also the Basic Rules you can download for free to get a feel for things, but you'll want the PHB.
There's also the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide which is optional. It has some nice stuff in it, but one copy within a group is probably enough.
You can try getting a replacement from Wizards like the guy said below. If that doesn't work, the 5e Handbook is only $20.98 on Amazon now.
Get the D&D Starter Set. It provides a premade adventure with guidance on how to run it as a DM, along with five pregenerated characters and just enough rules to run those characters. It also comes with a set of dice, though you may want to buy additional dice.
Extremely recommended: Get the D&D 5th edition Players Handbook. It will expand greatly on the options available in the Starter Set, and let you and your players create your own characters.
In decreasing order of recommendation: the D&D 5th edition Monster Manual and the D&D 5th edition Dungeon Master's Guide. If you don't want to spend the money on those, you can get by with the D&D 5th edition System Reference Document and the D&D 5th edition Basic Rules, the latter two of which are available for free download from Wizards of the Coast.
I play 5th edition and all advice is for that edition. 5E is pretty wallet friendly if you don't get it all at once. Here's a bunch of stuff you can look at to help your decision, though not all of it is mandatory.
So now that books are out of the way, let's talk figurines. You really don't need them, because ANYTHING can represent things on a board. But they're a fun thing to collect and use. BUT they are a great and fun thing to have. What we do at my table is have everyone acquire their own. I like to buy from Reaper Miniatures, but local comic book and hobby shops might have them as well. Make sure you have bases that are less than an inch wide (A square inch works best), because if you're using miniatures, then you're using a battle grid.
Speaking of battle grids, they're also not entirely necessary, but they definitely help. This is a very reliable one if you take care of it and don't crease it too much. But the fun thing is, if you have a printer, you can print your own Battle Maps! Just set it to print a grid set to 1-inch increments and have as big or as small as a battle mat as you need. 5E technically uses a hex grid for outdoor maps, but we've always ignored that at our games.
As for dice, I think it's the players responsibility to acquire their own dice, but on the off chance you just want to buy the things for everyone, I find a lot of enjoyment in picking through a Chessex Pound-o-Dice, or a Wiz Dice 100+ pack just so everyone has some. Plus, you never know when you'll suddenly need 20d6 for maximum fall damage!
Other than that, just have pencils, paper, and a good way to keep notes handy and you're set.
This is far from a comprehensive guide, and probably the worst thing you could do is buy everything or nothing right at the start. Consider asking friends or checking libraries for these books (And secondhand bookshops near you!) to save a penny or two.
So, in summary, if I were starting out DMing and buying anything, it would be a player's handbook, a set of dice, and if I weren't confident in my ability to homebrew, I'd buy a module or a dungeon master's guide. But you can go further or less far if you like.
Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set https://www.amazon.com/dp/0786965592/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_AhmtDbT48X8WS
Is this the box set you’re referring to?
If so it’s great for starting out and has everything all ready for you including a DM’s guide.
Lost Lines of phandelver, it's made for new players :)
https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Wizards-Team/dp/0786965592/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8
This is a good way to get your feet wet: https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Set-Roleplaying/dp/0786965592/
Now is a great time to get into D&D. The starter set has pretty much everything you need to get going. It is also like $12 on Amazon right now. It gives you a starter rulebook and an adventure to run.
https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Wizards-Team/dp/0786965592/ref=mp_s_a_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1542848833&sr=8-7&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=dungeons+and+dragons+5th+edition&dpPl=1&dpID=519gxvY55zL&ref=plSrch
Mine (my starter kit, not this one) was £20 from Amazon and so worth it.
Where are you buying from?
​
Edit: Clarification
Edit: £15 on Amazzon here
The second time I met Victoria (/u/chooter), she recommended Ready Player One and The Room to me. I'm not sure exactly what that says about her, but it's something good, I think :)
Started reading Ready Player One this weekend and am really enjoying it. I often wonder how technology will steer our culture in the next few years...
If you like to read I suggest Ready Player One
It's a bit heavy on the '80s 'members, but otherwise a fantastic adventure story.
Holy shit, this is a real book. LOL!
https://www.amazon.com/How-Talk-Your-About-Safety/dp/045149492X
https://www.amazon.com/How-Talk-Your-About-Safety/dp/045149492X
For a serious suggestion that isn't subversive per se but would be good prep material for more subversive stuff, XKCD's What If book is great. It blends science with the absurd in a way that captures the imagination.
There's not nearly as many characters as Game of Thrones or Tolkien, so it's not that hard to follow the story line. But as TGSICaptain notes, it requires some extra 'commitment'. It's not a series you're going to read through quickly.
Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash is shorter and is lots of fun. The story is absolutely hilarious at times.
Here are some quick recommendations from my list of favorites for those who are interested (I hope mods are OK with links to make looking easier, otherwise I'll happily remove them). These books engaged and inspired me and my imagination:
The Alchemist:
>The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho continues to change the lives of its readers forever. With more than two million copies sold around the world, The Alchemist has established itself as a modern classic, universally admired.
>Paulo Coelho's masterpiece tells the magical story of Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who yearns to travel in search of a worldly treasure as extravagant as any ever found.
The Three Body Problem is a Chinese Science Fiction novel that has recently become popular in the West thanks to a good translation (I recommend reading my synopsis and not the Amazon one, to avoid spoilers):
>Set against the backdrop of China's Cultural Revolution, a secret military project looks for signals in space from alien civilizations. Meanwhile, in the present day, a physicist joins a grizzled detective to investigate why famous scientists are all committing suicide.
Fahrenheit 451:
>Guy Montag is a fireman. In his world, where television rules and literature is on the brink of extinction, firemen start fires rather than put them out. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the printed book, along with the houses in which they are hidden.
The Art of Happiness (by the Dalai Lama):
>Nearly every time you see him, he's laughing, or at least smiling. And he makes everyone else around him feel like smiling. He's the Dalai Lama, the spiritual and temporal leader of Tibet, a Nobel Prize winner, and a hugely sought-after speaker and statesman. Why is he so popular? Even after spending only a few minutes in his presence you can't help feeling happier.
Snow Crash:
>Hiro Protagonist delivers pizza for Uncle Enzo’s CosoNostra Pizza Inc., but in the Metaverse he’s a warrior prince. Plunging headlong into the enigma of a new computer virus that’s striking down hackers everywhere, he races along the neon-lit streets on a search-and-destroy mission for the shadowy virtual villain threatening to bring about infocalypse.
The Ender sequels (Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, Children of the Mind) and The Mote in God's Eye all have a lot of soft science. This is probably true for a lot of stories involving first contact.
Edit - Snow Crash deals a lot with linguistics as well.
It could also just be shortened to https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Wizards-Team/dp/0786965592
I think 5e is far better but your mileage may vary.
You can look at the Basic Rules here for free.
The buy-in for 5e is really slim. I HIGHLY suggest the Starter Set.
> You have the Core Rulebooks:
Not bad to start.
> Then there are only a few splatbooks:
The only other products are the mega-adventures. I'm out of time or I'd link em for ya but here is a list of products: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Dungeons_%26_Dragons_rulebooks#Dungeons_.26_Dragons_5th_edition
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0786965592/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1465564429&sr=8-1&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=d%26d+starter+set&dpPl=1&dpID=51Ykm93n8ML&ref=plSrch
That gets you started with preset characters and an adventure. It's all you need for beginners to play through and learn the basics.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0786965606/ref=pd_aw_sim_14_1?ie=UTF8&dpID=510Cy8v8H3L&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL100_SR100%2C100_&refRID=42WB6B3F0QV8S8DG712P
This is the core book with all the rules you need to make your own characters, and basically go into the full game. It's what you go to after the starter set. Whoever is the dungeon master (guy who runs the game, sets up the story, monsters, etc) may eventually want to pick up the dungeon master guide and monster manual as well.
DM here.
Firstly, I'm really happy you're taking that leap and have decided to get into D&D. You seem enthusiastic and brave, which is what DM's like to see in players. Here are a few points based on my experiences as both a new player (long ago) and as a DM now.
A mere 4 months ago I was in your very shoes, having never played DnD but wanting to DM. Now I'm running 3 weekly games [Protip: Don't do this]. Luckily for me I found a couple great resources to help me out:
The Dungeon Master Experience is a collection of articles written by one of the best: Christopher Perkins. He's not only a Senior Designer for DnD, but he's also the DM for a number of groups including Penny Arcade, Robot Chicken, and the other designers over at Wizards of the Coast. This will be your most valuable resource.
New DM Guide Reddit's #1 Resource for new DMs.
So You Want To Be a DM: A great collection of starter tips.
/r/loremasters: A subreddit dedicated to worldbuilding.
/r/dndnext: Like /r/dnd but solely for 5e.
The Angry DM: He can be a bit preachy at times, but Angry DM has a great amount of thought put into everything he writes.
/u/famoushippopotamus If you see him post on something, just read it. He's been DMing longer than most of us have been aware that DnD existed.
DnD Encounters is a weekly event at your friendly local game store. Check it out. It's also a great place to recruit players!
[Your head!](Link Not Found): The only thing you really need to get started is an idea, write it down. You'll learn a lot just putting your thoughts on paper and thinking of how to flesh it out.
I would recommend that you go and pick up the Starter Set (HOLY SHIT GUYS ITS $12 RIGHT NOW. BUY BUY BUY!). It comes with the basic rules, a set of dice, a prewritten adventure, and some characters for the adventure. Get a couple players together and this is all you need to get started. After that you can move onto other prewritten adventures, like Horde of the Dragon Queen, or you can write your own.
It shouldn't be that difficult to find people to play with, some people might care that you've never been a PC, but you don't need to play with them. If you have friends who enjoy gaming see if they're interested. And check out your FLGS (friendly local game store). If none of those work, there are plenty of online options as well.
One last note: In my short time DMing I have to say I did not expect the sheer amount of prepwork that goes into a single session. Players have to inhabit a single character and their mechanics. You need to understand not only the characters at the table, but every NPC, trap, and monster you put in front of them. It can be time consuming. It can be hard. But it is also one of the greatest feelings in the world when you hit that flow state where you and your players are building your world together.
Good luck! And welcome to DnD, where the rules are made up, and the rules don't matter either, as long as what you're doing is awesome.
First you have to choose what edition of the game you want to play. D&D is currently on its 5th edition. The most popular edition seems to be 3.5 (3rd Edition's majorly revised release), though the new 5th Edition (5e) is picking up steam as a more elegant, streamlined system. 5e's Starter Set contains everything a group of four to six people needs to start playing: a set of player rules, a set of Dungeon Master (basically the storyteller and referee, if you're unfamiliar with the term) rules, polyhedral dice, and a pre-written adventure crafted by the people who developed the system.
The Pathfinder Beginner Kit you mentioned is not a Dungeons and Dragons product. Pathfinder is a different tabletop RPG, though it is developed from the same sort of framework as 3.5 Edition D&D. It's a popular game, too; I think that there's a subreddit for it if you want more information.
If you already have a group that wants to play, I would recommend picking up the starter set. It comes with all the basics (condensed version of rules, pre-made characters, simple DMG, small adventure). Once you get your feet wet there, you can jump into picking up the core books and whatnot.
You can find it here for like $13. Really easy way to get started quickly. https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Set-Roleplaying/dp/0786965592/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1480368064&sr=8-1&keywords=d%26d+starter+set
edit: added link
Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set https://www.amazon.com/dp/0786965592/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_Zd4LDbF4NJYB3
15 bucks on amazon. Includes a starter dungeon to play, full rule book, full book on explaining everything you need to know, as well as dice and character sheets 🙌🏻
Edit: this is how I got started and just expanded from there
There's the starter set that can be found online
The "Here there be Gerblins" arc is actually built on the "Lost mine of Phandelver" starter set, which is designed as an intro for the modern version of d&d. You can find it online for about $10-15. That's what my group used to get us started.
https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Set-Roleplaying/dp/0786965592
Grab the 5th edition starter set, it will have a book for your DM on how to run the adventure, 5 pre-made characters so you can just get right into playing, and a set of dice.
Heads up. Like 2 minutes in everyone is going to realize they want their own set of dice rather than sharing one set as a group. They range from $5 to $15. Grab 'em before you start playing.
I'd also recommend getting a DM Screen for multiple benefits. On the inside are quick formulas and name/quest/monster tables and hints for the DM to use. The other benefit is the players can't see what the DM rolls.
The DM's #1 job is to make sure people have the most fun they possibly can. So if he rolls something that would wreck your party, and decides that wouldn't be very fun, he can fudge the roll to something else, and since the DM is rolling behind a screen, the players are none the wiser.
Almost every group starts out rotating the role of DM because everyone wants to have a character. This isn't the wrong way of doing it, but every group eventually comes to the realization that they're better off if one person is the full-time DM.
Here are some good rules of thumb for DMing.
Make sure whoever is DMing is up to the task and understands their job is to maximize the amount of fun for everyone else, not necessarily themselves. A good DM will find enjoyment in his players having fun. He will challenge them, not punish them.
It is not PCs vs DM. To liken it to Skyrim, it's 3-5 Dovakhiin traveling together, and the DM is Skyrim. He is the world and all it's inhabitants. The world isn't out to get you, but if you make poor decisions there will be consequences.
----
>These games take like a week or so to finish.
It took us like 5 or 6 sessions that were 3-4 hours each to get through the adventure in this pack, and we only had 3 players.
The game never really finishes. It's like Skyrim, completing an adventure doesn't end the game, you just move on to the next one.
----
Check out /r/DnD, it's way more active. And for the whoever DMs /r/behindthescreen and /r/loremasters are helpful.
Grab the 5e starter off amazon, you won't be disappointed. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0786965592/ref=cm_sw_r_other_awd_T5zRwb1M8BVBP
If you're interested in playing or even just learning more about the game you should come on over to /r/DnD! Also, the player hand book (PHB) is a super cool read even if you don't intend on playing (though you will by the time you get through making a character!)
Yes.
the website http://www.venganza.org/
the bible http://www.amazon.com/Gospel-Flying-Spaghetti-Monster/dp/0812976568/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1299369194&sr=8-2
http://www.amazon.com/A-Short-History-Nearly-Everything/dp/076790818X
I recommend Why People Believe Weird Things and How to Think About Weird Things to start. Also A Short History of Nearly Everything would be good.
A Short History of Nearly Everything - Bill Bryson
Bill Bryson explains this very simply and well in his book A Short History of Nearly Everything. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/076790818X
The object would be traveling at such massive speed that you would almost certainly be powerless to do anything about it.
Depending on what it was made out of, but almost any substance would vaporize before IT would actually hit you. In fact, something of the dimensions you state would most likely never make it through the atmosphere.
Even if it somehow did, it would be the resulting explosion that would get you rather than the object itself.
Lost mine of Phandelver is a great starting set, though it is designed for 4/5 adventurers so the encounters may need to be tweaked to reduce the difficulty slightly, or run them with an npc to aid in combat.
If you have a few people interested in D&D, then the D&D Starter Set (https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Wizards-Team/dp/0786965592/) is a great choice. It includes a solid basic rulebook as well as a few premade scenarios and characters which help cut down on a lot of the prep work involved, getting you all into the game faster. It's pretty cheap, though I'd highly recommend picking up a few extra sets of dice as it only includes one.
For board games...it's a bit more complicated. As you can probably already tell, there's a TON out there, ranging from simple party games, to heavy economic strategy games, and even dice-chucking dungeon crawls. The two daily stickies are great places to learn more as well as getting personalised recommendations on what to possibly buy.
I'd also recommend checking out the subreddit index (https://www.reddit.com/r/boardgames/wiki/index), particularly the 'New to Board Games' page.
The Starter Set includes a short summary of the basic rules, as well as a complete adventure including monsters with their stats.
To someone who is new at DMing or playing I would recommend this as a great place to start. You can get some experience DMing without having to come up with everything yourself and your players will get a chance to really figure out the basic mechanics of the game before your homebrew campaign begins.
Either way, the starter set includes the stat blocks for 27 monsters, including skeletons (as you mentioned) as well as other iconic D&D monsters. This would probably be good enough for you until the monster manual comes out.
For the level 1 Elf necromancer you could use the character creation rules from Basic to make a full character, tweaking it to suit your needs.
the DnD 5th ed starter set of perfect Amazon
Agree with this. Also enjoyed Be Prepared.
Got this for my buddy as a gag gift when he told us they were having a kid.
A Short History of Nearly Everything
SCIENCE.
A short history of nearly everything
http://www.reddit.com/help/faqs/atheism#RecommendedReading
also.. here is my own list of things I've actually personally read and recommend.
http://www.amazon.com/Demon-Haunted-World-Science-Candle-Dark/dp/0345409469
http://www.amazon.com/Letter-Christian-Nation-Sam-Harris/dp/0307265773
http://www.amazon.com/Misquoting-Jesus-Story-Behind-Changed/dp/0060738170
http://www.amazon.com/Some-Mistakes-Moses-Robert-Ingersoll/dp/0879753617
http://www.amazon.com/Short-History-Nearly-Everything/dp/0767908171
http://www.amazon.com/Lies-My-Teacher-Told-Everything/dp/0684818868
http://www.amazon.com/Genome-Autobiography-Species-23-Chapters/dp/0060194979
I love Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything
http://www.amazon.com/Short-History-Nearly-Everything/dp/0767908171
Funny, interesting and educating.
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
This is super entertaining and interesting. It covers so many topics, that it's almost impossible to get bored with it
A short History of Nearly Everything- http://www.amazon.com/A-Short-History-Nearly-Everything/dp/076790818X
>“Tune your television to any channel it doesn't receive and about 1 percent of the dancing static you see is accounted for by this ancient remnant of the Big Bang. The next time you complain that there is nothing on, remember that you can always watch the birth of the universe.
>It is a slightly arresting notion that if you were to pick yourself apart with tweezers, one atom at a time, you would produce a mound of fine atomic dust, none of which had ever been alive but all of which had once been you
This might be better suited to be asked in /r/books
I would recommend Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything for it's very clear writing and great breadth of science/science history.
"A short history of nearly everything" is a really good book where he tells about everything from the beginning of the universe to where we are now through science.
My reccomendation would be The History of Science. Everything is available on YouTube in decent quality.
As a matter of overview, I would suggest Bill Bryson's a A Short History of Nearly Everything. It's a book, which requires reading, but there's an awesome illustrated version that's a good time. The book is as accessible as they come, and it's entertainingly written.
I would also suggest Cosmos, since you seem to be focused more on space. Both the original and the remake are available on Netflix. The original is my favorite, beucase Carl Sagan, but the remake is also a solid show, and probably more what you're looking for. There's also Through The Wormhole with Morgan Freeman, and a Stephen Hawking on the universe series which you might like. Pretty much everything is available on YouTube, just search "<show name>, long, hd".
The Mayo Clinic Guide to a Healthy Pregnancy was by far my favorite. I thought it was going to be dry and medical, but it had everything I was looking for. I found "What to Expect" to be a little disorganized and kind of scary, but I know a lot of women like it.
We also really like Be Prepared, which is really a dad book but I enjoyed as well. It's lighthearted and easy to read in quick segments, but has a lot of good info.
Online, I really like the Babycenter.com community because it has so many people... almost any question I have has already been asked and answered, so I find lots of answers. If your town has a chapter of the Mommies Network you'll absolutely get great info there, and meet local parents/parents-to-be. Finally, if you're breastfeeding, Kellymom is a must.
Whew! Hope those help!
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0743251547/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_apis_1491009224831
This book is incredible for that! It has step by step how to do everything, and its funny without being demeaning about how useless dads are (like so many others). I bought it for my SO but use it for quick reference myself! Even my MIL wanted a copy!
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0743251547/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_UzDIzb2GH5D2E
Have you read A Short History Of Nearly Everything? It's an awesome read about, well a short history of nearly everything. From the beginning of time. It's great and Bill Bryson really does a great job of making light of topics that are usually "too dense" for non-science people.
This book had a whole chapter about this guy and his two "contributions" and their eventual ban.
It's a great read. It's basically a history book that details the progress of our scientific discoveries. He also talks about the people behind them, and it turns out that many of our famous scientists and inventors were basically crazy people. Genius and insanity are separated by a very fuzzy line.
An excellent starting point is Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything. Almost universally praised, this history of scientific thought covers... well, nearly everything. The basics, like physics, biology, chemistry, and then stuff like cosmology, evolution, quantum mechanics, environmental science... the list goes on and on.
Very readable, not aimed at technical audience. Highly recommended.
Once you have finished that (and it is a big book), you can then home in on areas of particular interest. For me, it's evolutionary theory, paleoanthropology, quantum mechanics, primatology and so on. If you have particular interests in those areas, please let me know.
And I simply can't leave without recommending my favourite book that combines wonderful history and science. You simply must pick up and read a copy of the Pulitzer Prize winning The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes. Not only will you learn about the history of WWII, the amazing feats of the American government in achieving what they did, but also the science of atomic theory and the beginning of quantum mechanics. This is, quite simply, a wonderful book.
Go for this one. The one you linked is a reseller, I believe, so it's a bit more expansive than normal.
> iv been thinking about trying to learn to play of late
Welcome!
I'll talk about the newest fifth edition here (D&D 5 or D&D Next), but there's other editions as well, you can see the choosing an edition in the sidebar.
> i have no clue where to begin and i know no one into this sort of thing.
You want the PHB – The Players Handbook, which you can find a free, slightly restricted version of here – split in a players and a DM (the game referee) version. Read this to get the basic grasp of the game.
> any suggestions on getting started?
There's a Starter set, which comes in at around 12 dollars on Amazon, which has a starting adventure, a lightweight version of the rules for players and the DM, as well as a dice set. It has basically all you need to start playing.
But there's more from then on:
There's the basic PHB, which has all the rules and the classes and the races you'll need to play. This is essential – and at least one should exist around the table.
Then there's the Monsters Manual (MM), which is filled with monsters, creatures, and enemies for the players to fight. If you're the DM, you might need this, especially if you're not playing a published adventure (more on that later).
Then there's the Dungeon Masters Guide (DMG). If you're the DM, you'll be needing this, as it's a plethora of rules and tables for making encounters, a catalogue of items, and rules for the DM to throw at their players.
Also, there's the published adventures: The Hoard of the Dragon Queen and its sequel, Rise of Tiamat. These are ready-made for DMs to let players in to a world quickly. They are set in the Forgotten Realms, "standard fantasy world".
From here it depends if you're a player or a DM.
If you're a player you can absolutely make a character from the free rules, and perhaps buy a set of dice (with 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, and 20 sides) to play with (although this can be done with a dice app for your phone). But I'd recommend you buy the PHB with time.
If you're the DM, you'll need someone at the table to have a PHB (maybe the players could split the cost), and I'd recommend the DMG as well. The MM is handy if you're making and populating your own adventures. This'll be around 50 dollars per book (varying from country to country).
Welcome to tabletop roleplaying games :)
If you've never played D&D before, download these pdfs: http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/basicrules
Otherwise, if you've got the funds and are dedicated, the Starter Set is nice.
I also highly recommend these books: the Player's Handbook (useful for character creation and teaching new players), the Dungeon Master's Guide (great for helping new DMs build a story), and the Monster Manual (book full of monsters and stats for them, also great inspiration for stories)
D&D isn't so much of a 'board game' (can typically be ended in one session, self-contained/limited gameplay, hard rules, etc) as it is a game played on the tabletop.
That being said, it depends what you want. You'll need dice, character sheets and an adventure at minimum. The DnD starter set comes with that (and also a version that comes with enough dice for 6 players) The adventure included is pretty good.
Alternatively you could look up one-shots (adventures intended to be started and completed in a span of a few hours). There are both free and paid ones of varying quality for each. You'd still need dice, but many one-shots include pregenerated characters.
Hope this helps a bit, and enjoy!
Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set https://www.amazon.com/dp/0786965592/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_N1yOzbTX8W3GQ
The red box is ancient as far as DND goes. The link above is for the most current version.
It includes everything you need for about 20 hours of fun! The adventure in it is awesome!
You could have a look at Getting started from the sidebar for some brief information.
Most people (including myself) recommend 5e for being most noob-friendly. For starting fresh with 5e:
If you're going to play with friends around the table, buy the starter set and it does exactly what it says on the tin.
You can check out the basic rules in the mean time, which you will get with the starter set.
If you're looking to find a group online, head over the /r/LFG and I'm sure some friendly folk will pick you up
Grab the Dungeons and Dragons starter set and a few willing friends and do it!
The 5th edition starter is probably the best option at the moment. 5th edition DnD is pretty easy to get into and learn.
This might belong a bit more in /r/boardgames but regardless...
The dnd board games can actually be pretty fun. I like the dungeon delver board games. A good board game you might like if you like these type of games is mageknight that also follows a similar play style (though pseudo random generation with different mechanics) of going through a world and getting stronger.
If you like these board games, but want to delve more into tabletop rpgs look into something like DnD 5th edition or the starter set. Someone can correct me if I am wrong, but I think the starter set has everything you need for a small adventure, and if you get the basic book you can continue the characters if you want.
I am distinguishing between these rpg/dungeon crawler board games and rpgs. This might confuse you, so I will go more into what's different. In the rpg/dungeon crawler board games there may or may not be a dungeon master (someone who controls the game other than the players), in pen and paper rpgs this sub focuses on most of the time there is a separate player running the game. The main difference though is that a pen and paper rpg relies more on imagination, improvisation, and give much more freedom. In a game as you linked, you typically kill monsters, get some xp, and then just get stronger. You don't have much choice in how your character develops typically. Also the story is usually very linear as well. You progress, you get small tidbits of story, but the main goal is to just complete the dungeons. This is reverse of pen and paper rpgs, classic dnd being the main example. In these you normally focus on the story, the dungeons and fights being the obstacles to that. You also are not focused on a grid the whole time, you can have grid based combat, but there are a lot of "off the grid" moments where the board game variants are typically all on the grid.
They are both fun, are similar and related, but differ in a pretty fundamental way.
Plus, the Basic Rules are available online for free.
If you want to spend money, I'd highly recommend the Dungeons & Dragons Starter Box. It's tremendous value for money, worth it for the adventure alone which lasted us months!
Sorry mate but this isn't really the best advice.
OP would do just fine to pick four of his potential players and snag the Starter Set.
Between the starter nature of the adventure and the plethora of resources online they'll be more than set to take up the DM mantle.
Dungeon World
Fantastic fantasy RPG that plays a lot more the way you, a newcomer, expect a RPG to play like.
Online available for free
Character sheets
Free PDF version (Without the artwork)
Book on Amazon $17
Either the website, the PDF, or the book will do. What you need to add are a bunch of 6-sided dice (2 for each player is best) , a set of polyhedral dice, pencils and paper.
Dungeons & Dragons Starter Kit
D&D is less beginner friendly in my opinion. More tactical combat, less focus on story. A good fight in D&D can take 30 minutes easily while Dungeon World combat flows through the rest of the story/adventure. That is the biggest difference in my mind.
D&D is a good system but it can become intimidating for many players especially when they don't want to own and read their own Player's Handbook.
D&D can also become expensive very quickly. The free "Basic Rules" are very limited and there are 3 basic books at an MSRP of $40 each.
That being said, the D&D Starter Set is pretty great for newcommers. It doesn't include rules to create your own characters/adventure but it gives you 5 pre made characters, a pre written adventure, and the rules you need to play.
All you need to add are pencils and paper because the Starter Set also comes with a set of dice. But more sets of polyhedral dice would be better when playing D&D (1 set for each player). With Dungeon World 2 regular 6-sided dice for each player and one set of poly-dice will do.
D&D Starter Set on Amazon $13
The basic rules for 5e are on WotC's website for free.
The 5e Starter Set is available from Amazon for just $12.
Starter Set link. 12 bucks!
Yes!
The rulebooks aren't out yet. But you can get the starter set from anywhere that sells that sort of thing: http://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Set-Fundamentals/dp/0786965592/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1405885218&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=dnd+starter+set
Also the basic rules are available for free from Wizards of the Coast: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/Article.aspx?x=dnd/basicrules
The Starter Set from Wizard's of the Coast is available online, and provides prebuilt character sheets, rules, and a story for you to use! Here's the link.
Check out Running the Game, Matt Colville's YouTube series. You don't need to watch the whole series of course, but the first few videos will help you out a lot.
Your best bet if you're starting out is to get either the Starter Set or Essentials Kit. Both have everything you need to get started, and while I personally like the Essentials Kit more, either will work.
https://www.reddit.com/r/dndnext/wiki/resourcelist
Links to the free basic Players and DM rules, characters, OGL, adventures, etc.
The Starter Set, aka Lost Mines of Phandelver, is less than $13 on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Set-Roleplaying/dp/0786965592
If you go with the starter set, I suggest sticking with the pregenerated characters because they have story tie-ins.
Great place to begin is the Starter Set
Try this? I just started playing a month or so ago. Started with this box set, loved it, bought more things. :)
https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Set-Roleplaying/dp/0786965592/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1486518187&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=D%26D+starter+set
I recommend getting this:
https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Wizards-Team/dp/0786965592
It's the starter set of the most current edition, containing the basic rules, an adventure that eases both DM and PC through the basic mechanics, a set of dice and some standard character sheets, including an empty one for photocopying. This is the cheapest way to start playing the current edition and wanting some kind of guide to learn the game while playing.
As a matter of fact, there is a starter kit! It includes a basic set of rules for D&D, a short adventure, a set of dice, and some pregenerated characters. If you have $12.59 to spare, I suggest picking it up and reading through the rules. Chances are it won’t all make sense to you, but you can always come back and ask questions.
If it helps, basically D&D is just a group of people getting together and telling a story, and resolving certain actions by rolling the dice. Like, imagine playing Cops and Robbers, but instead of arguing about whether or not someone got caught, you roll some dice, do a little math, and that tells you what happens. Typically, one person acts as the Dungeon Master. They set the scene and narrate the action. The other players each control their own character, and declare how they act and react in each scene.
The Bro Code
https://www.amazon.com/Bro-Code-Barney-Stinson/dp/143911000X
You could also buy The Playbook and stay in budget
https://www.amazon.com/Playbook-Suit-Score-chicks-awesome/dp/1439196834/
The first thing that I suggest is that you buy a reputable book that will teach you how to write. I'm not saying that you're a bad writer, but I would wager that most people write three times worse than they think they can (I am including myself). On Writing Well is a classic, and you might also want to read this one and this one, although I strongly recommend completing the first one. What's included is:
a) Keep it simple. Don't say it's going to be a turbulent precipitation, say that it's going to rain. A lot.
b) Study each adverb and adjective. Any words that aren't necessary should be cut. Is it really important to say that the violin was wooden? Probably not. What about the sentence "She smiled happily"? The "happily" isn't necessary, that's what "smiled" means.
c) Use specific verbs.
d) Consistency is key. Switching tenses or something similar in the middle of writing is generally a bad move.
e) Proofread. Duh. That goes hand in hand with editing.
So, yeah. You should
reallylook into thatstuffarea. One read-through will help significantly.Ok. So now that I finished preaching to you, let's move on. I didn't find any templates in my quick search, so that's of no use right now. What you can do, though, is study
verywell-written program notes. Are their sentences long or short? When are they longer or shorter, and why? Is the tone active or passive (psst. it's probably active)? What's the tone that they use, and what is your impression at the end? You get the gist. If you write downwhat you thinkyour thoughts for three of these, you'll have a good idea what you're shooting for. Other than that, it's all up to you, so go nuts.Anecdotes are also a nice way to make things entertaining. Search for stories, or impacts on the audience. Did you know there are at least six editions of the Rite of Spring? Why was the one your orchestra's performing (let's assume) created? Many people also don't know about the riot after its premier. Stravinsky escaped out the back entrance to avoid the aristocratic mob. Say fun things, win fun prizes, or something like that.
It's also important to know that stories tend to follow the path of one person. The Odyssey could have had its crew be the focus, instead it was Odysseus. Inside Out could have placed all the emotions front and center, but it was Sadness and Joy that saved the girl. Keep that in mind if you're going down a similar path.
Man, I went all out on this. Good luck with your program.
The Baby Owner's Manual: Operating Instructions, Trouble-Shooting Tips, and Advice on First-Year Maintenance.
S’ok, you can always buy it from Amazon if you’re too tired for the ceremony:
https://www.amazon.com/Baby-Owners-Manual-Instructions-Trouble-Shooting/dp/1594745978
(I have this book, it’s pretty funny, but not sure how much better it really is than flying by the seat of your pants)
Easiest recommendation I've ever made, Dr. Louis Borgenicht. He is a great guy, funny as can be and fits your last criteria by being Jewish. Here is a link to a book he wrote and a video he did for, "Old Jews telling jokes." He is a great doctor and a very good person.
https://www.amazon.com/Baby-Owners-Manual-Instructions-Trouble-Shooting/dp/1594745978
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTF6dOJmxqw
If you have the mind of an engineer or programmer, this.
How did you react? When my wife woke me up I just replied, "me too thanks." I don't have much of a brain until about noon.
Decent book. Also check out this one. Seems goofy but was super fact heavy and spoke to me in a language i both found humorous and easy to read.
https://www.amazon.com/Baby-Owners-Manual-Instructions-Trouble-Shooting/dp/1594745978
Baby owners manual
Kindle
Well, to get started, I'd recommend picking up a Player's Handbook (on sale through Amazon for $27.27) and some dice (There's a 7 dice set per player and DM. They consist of a D4, D6, D8, D10, D12, and D20, but standard 7-dice sets also include a second D10 which is used for percentile rolls) as well as maybe a playmat and some minifigures (characters that can act as placeholders). As far as adventures modules go, I'd recommend coming up with one yourself or doing the Lost Mines of Phandelver campaign. I would probably recommend that as the best module a person could point to for beginners. It will be a great way to get into [Storm King's Thunder] (https://www.amazon.com/Storm-Kings-Thunder-Dungeons-Dragons/dp/0786966009/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1523372215&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=storm+king%27s+thunder) later on.
The Starter Set is okay, but intended for larger groups of like 4+. Once you get the hang of things with the required Player's Handbooks and the optional module Storm King's Thunder, I'd recommend picking up a Dungeon Master's Guide to create your own worlds together.
That's all you need to begin! It's got step by step instructions on how to play as a DM, or how to play as one of five pre-generated characters.
If you want to stretch your creative muscles, you'll need the Player's Handbook for all of the base rules, including all 12 classes and a full list of spells to pick from.
>an incredibly deep and thorough exploration of a versatile and deep magic system.
>a history or physics textbook but for magic
Look no further my friend!:
https://www.amazon.com/Players-Handbook-Dungeons-Dragons-Wizards/dp/0786965606
PHB (with smile link):
https://smile.amazon.com/dp/0786965606/
Monster Manual:
https://smile.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Monster-Rulebook-Roleplaying/dp/0786965614/
DM's Guide:
https://smile.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Dungeon-Rulebook-Roleplaying/dp/0786965622/
Yep, it's called the Player's Handbook. It has all the current versions of the official classes. Beyond this is only the PHB Errata
Everything else you may be referring to is called Unearthed Arcana. This is playtest material, is not balanced for multiclassing, and is not the current version of anything. The only "exception" to this is the Revised Ranger, which many people would say is the new Ranger class, but it's technically still unofficial at this point.
If you're asking for a compilation of Unearthed Arcana, just do a quick google search, there is nothing official but many have put this together.
It's this one.
You can tell because it has the same cover as the one your friends are using.
The most recent edition, and arguably the most accessible, is fifth edition, or 5e for short. There's also 1e, 2e, 3e, 3.5e, Pathfinder, and 4e, but most people play 5e and it's probably the easiest for beginners.
Start off by going to this link here to get a copy of the Basic Rules. These are available to download, free of charge, and will allow you to get acquainted with the basic game mechanics. Most of the mechanics revolve around polyhedral dice; you've got 4-, 6-, 8-, 10-, 12-, and 20-sided, plus another one called percentile dice (or d% for short) that is like a 10-sided die, but with 10, 20, 30 on it instead of 1, 2, 3, and allows for rolling numbers 1-100 when used with a standard 10-sided. Dice are abbreviated with the notation XdY; 3d6 would denote 3 six-sided dice, 6d10 would denote 6 ten-sided dice, 8d4 would denote 8 four-sided dice, etc.
Basic rules will also allow you to create a character if you'd like to try out the process before spending any money. Your character will be fairly cookie-cutter; you get four different races, four different classes, and four different backgrounds to choose from, along with a limited spell list and so on, but if you'd just like to get a feel for the process it's a pretty good way of doing so. The first chapter of the rules takes you through the character creation process step-by-step, and if you read through the basic rules in order, you'll probably be able to create a character. You can also snag free character sheet downloads here in either a format that you can print or one that you can edit in Adobe Reader.
If you're looking to find a group, I've heard /r/lfg mentioned a lot. Most people that want to play online use a site called Roll20, which is free and accessible. There's some other sites in the sidebar of /r/dnd that you could use. If you have some friends interested in the hobby, you could look at picking up the starter set on Amazon, which contains a premade adventure, some premade characters, and a dice set. Once you get more into things, you should look at picking up a Player's Handbook for more choices when creating a character.
I was you last April. Get yourself the Starter Set. It has mostly everything you need including characters, a set of die, a mini rule book, and a real solid campaign "Lost Mines of Phandelver". It is all you will need for a while.
Am I right in assuming you will be the DM? If no one has volunteered then you should do it. It's super fun and not as hard as it seems.
I would say you need to pick-up more dice than the Starter Set provides. Have the players buy a set or provide your own. Dice are cheap. You can get a set for $1 or $2.
I also bought a Battle Mat and Wet Erase Markers and ,to me, made the combat side of things way easier to track as well as making the game more enjoyable to the players. Don't worry about having cool mini's the first time around, you can use coins or candy. Though I am sure that in time you will succumb to the seduction of mini's.
Have fun playing and good luck in your future adventures!
EDIT: When you start itching for more information that the starter set can buy I would highly recommend you purchase the Player's Handbook first before the Monster Manual and then the Dungeon Master Guide.
I believe the easiest way is buying the $20 starting kit. It has pregen characters, basic rules, and a fun adventure to run. Only other book you need is the Player’s Handbook, and you don’t HAVE to have it if you buy the starting kit. Good to have for reference though.
Amazon is the best place to buy material, normally $5-20 cheaper than shops. Also great if you have prime!
Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set https://www.amazon.com/dp/0786965592/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_G71dBbS55YNEB
This is THE book : The players handbook. Get this book, get a dice set and you are set. This book is enough to play. https://www.amazon.com/Players-Handbook-Dungeons-Dragons-Wizards/dp/0786965606/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1484785043&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=dungeon+dragons
You can also get the starter set if you want to try the game before investing in more expensive books.
https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Set-Roleplaying/dp/0786965592/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1484785225&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=dungeon+dragons+starter
Not so much a reference but the books title.
http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Player-One-A-Novel/dp/0307887448
I ain't so good at book descriptions but here's some stuff I really enjoyed -
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline: http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Player-One-A-Novel/dp/0307887448
The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi: http://www.amazon.com/The-Windup-Girl-Paolo-Bacigalupi/dp/1597801585
The author would argue with me about this being SF - Atwood prefers the term "speculative history" I believe - but the entire Oryx and Crake trilogy is very good.
http://www.amazon.com/Oryx-Crake-Margaret-Atwood/dp/0385721676/ref=la_B000AQTHI0_1_2?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1397411558&amp;sr=1-2 the first book in Oryx and Crake, followed by Year of the Flood and Madaddam
Have you read Ready Player One? Based on the first part of this post, I think you'd really enjoy it.
Ready Player One
I enjoyed it, sort of a Willy Wonka meets Grand Theft Auto V less the killing.
Just finished, "Ready Player One" and it thoroughly entertained me.
Ready Player One is also required reading if you enjoy this space.
How to Talk to Your Cat About Gun Safety
😆 brb I’ll text them.
Edit: I have not heard back from them yet. They’re probably exhausted from all the moving.
I googled it though. :) https://www.amazon.com/How-Talk-Your-About-Safety/dp/045149492X
https://www.amazon.com/dp/045149492X/
This might be what you're looking for.
It covers a wide variety of topics. For those that the link doesn't work for, it is "How to talk to your cat about gun safety"
He's excellent. Just published a book of What If? thats worth the price.
I got mine signed :)
What If by Randal Munroe. assuming that he does not have it already, this book is absolutely perfect. I own a hardcover copy my mum got me and it is one of my prized possessions. I can absolutely guarantee he will love this. https://www.amazon.com/What-If-Scientific-Hypothetical-Questions/dp/0544272994
I'm a physics teacher, and this is one of my favorite books. She might enjoy it.
What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0544272994/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_9u9czb74GVC44
the picture is from What If and the question that leads into this is what if you tried to build a periodic table of the elements with each square being a 1x1x1 meter cube of that actual element. so the first 91 pigs would be messing with the first 91 elements. fluorine does not end well.
"Direct friction upon the reentry object is not the main cause of shock-layer heating. It is caused mainly from isentropic heating of the air molecules within the compression wave."
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmospheric_entry#Real_.28equilibrium.29_gas_model
Also from "What If?" which is an awesome book by Randall Munroe the creator of xkcd http://www.amazon.com/What-If-Scientific-Hypothetical-Questions/dp/0544272994
I think the best way is to suggest a few that got me into reading. One or two are YA, but well-written enough that I find it as worthwhile a read at 28 as it did at 14.
Ender's Game - Earth Has made contact with an alien species, and... It didn't go well. A program is started to teach a new generation of soldiers how to fight this alien threat. Children are not allowed to be children for long when the future of mankind is on the line. Also, it's being adapted into what is shaping up to be a pretty badass movie.
Snow Crash - Written in the 90's, but it essentially pioneered the concept of the online avatar, and predicted the rise of the MMO. Also, pizza-delivering ninjas. Trust me on this. It's good stuff.
Neuromancer Classic cyber-punk. Most sci-fi is like you see in star trek. Clean and sterile. Cyberpunk is the dirtier side of sci-fi. Organized crime, computer hacking, and a heist on a space station. And Molly. This book is the reason I have a thing for dangerous redheads.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Considered by most to be the very best in sci-fi humor. Lighthearted, hilarious, and I find I can read it in the course of about two days. It is absolutely, completely, and utterly amazing.
American Gods - What happens to the old gods when we start worshiping the new ones? Can the likes of Odin or Anubis compete with our new objects of worship. like television or internet? Remember, Gods only exist as long as folks believe in them. The old Gods aren't going down without a fight, though...
Hope some of these strike your fancy. It's admittedly more sci-fi than anything, but it's all soft sci-fi (Where the science isn't as important as the fiction, so story comes first), and nothing too out there. Please let me know if you decide to try any of these, and especially let me know if you enjoy them. I always like to hear if I help someone find a book they love.
A book. I liked it.
Thanks! I'll check these out... and maybe I'll reread the Dark Tower series, so friggin' great.
<>
Edit:
Amazon links:
The Rational Optimist by Matt Ridley
Abundance Peter H. Diamandis and Steven Kotler
Better Angels of Our Nature by Steven Pinker
Stephen King's Dark Tower Series
Patrick Rothfuss's Name of the Wind (Kingkiller Chronicles)
Scott Lynch's Gentlemen Bastards series
(yeah, these are smile.amazon.com links... if you aren't already supporting some organization with your Amazon purchases, how about my kid's school's PTA?)
Handbanna84 has good recommendations.
It's an easy read, but gives a lot of insight into 3rd-world countries. The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
A Short History of Nearly Everything - Then what you do is keep a note of things you want to dig into deeper, and you can start to get more granular with your requests and searches.
EDIT: - Just thought, Malcolm - Blink - this book isn't about religion/cults, but gives an interesting insight into how we think and why we do the (stupid) things we do.
If they're brand new get the starter set
https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Set-Roleplaying/dp/0786965592/
premade characters. decent adventure. They can try it out and see if they like the game itself. If successful, then get into character creation. And you can save up $ in the meantime.
There's also the free PDFs at wizards too.
Wizard's of the Coast has released a bunch of their material for free in the SRD. If you want to play for free that should give you a good start. However, the material is rather scant as they want you to buy the full books. It would take a lot of work to turn just that into an adventure.
If you want to just start playing, the cheapest way to do so is the starter set. For under 20$ you get all you need to start playing (dice and adventure included). It should keep your playgroup engaged for some time.
If you want to have all the player's options and more detailed rules, all you need to play is the Player's Handbook. Hypothetically you could run from the SRD, but then the players would have a lot less options for their characters. (Or you could use homebrew and risk the game being unbalanced.)
The Dungeon Master's Guide is mostly about how to do worldbuilding. The Monster Manual is a whole bunch statblocks and lore to help the DM prepare encounters. Hypothetically you could just run it from the SRD, but then it would be a lot of work on the DM.
This is it
Player's Handbook (Dungeons & Dragons) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0786965606/ref=cm_sw_r_other_awd_jc4JwbCDD6G4A
Dungeon Master's Guide (D&D Core Rulebook) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0786965622/ref=cm_sw_r_other_awd_7c4JwbBVGGET8
Monster Manual (D&D Core Rulebook) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0786965614/ref=cm_sw_r_other_awd_yd4Jwb88PWSB0
These books, dice, and a bag of Lego men is all we had on day 1.
The PHB has all the basic rules and lists the races and classes and walks you through building characters. DMG has info for creating encounters and building your world. MM is a giant list of creatures, info about them, and their stats.
If nobody has ever played dice games before and you don't have any dice, it wouldn't be a bad idea to just buy something like this: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009R6J8RY/ref=cm_sw_r_other_awd_Kj4JwbCDMRFGF That'll be enough for everyone to have a matched set plus extras.
It's about half off on Amazon right now, actually.
The newest book is the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide, only $27-ish on Amazon. Assuming they already have the Player's Handbook, which is down to about $25.
Anyone got a good link for fancy dice?
Pathfinder core rulebook or Dnd 5th edition player's handbook
And then some dice
First off you'll need to pick an edition you want to play. Most people reccomend 5th edition (also called 5e) to beginners since it is the simplest to learn and has the most support online.
Then you'll need to learn the rules. There's a free basic rulebook that you could start with if you don't want to spend money, or you could shell out $30 for the Player's Handbook for the complete set of rules. The only thing the basic rule book doesn't have is a few of the player races and classes so you won't miss out on too much if you go the cheap route. Don't worry about knowing all of the rules but read the book over once and then read over your class abilities a couple times so you know them well.
You'll also need a set of dice. If you for some reason have a bunch of dice laying around, a complete set consist of dice of the following side counts: 20, 12, 10, 8, 6, and 4. You'll also need a percentage die also but you can also just use your d10 for that. If you don't have loose dice laying around then you can buy a set from Amazon or your local game store. You can also just use an online dice roller if you're concerned about money but physically rolling them is more fun and dice are cheap.
You can also buy the DnD starter set which comes with a basic rule book, a set of dice, and a book for a pretty good tutorial adventure that you could play with friends.
Speaking of friends, you'll need a group to play with. You can convince a group of 4 or 5 friends to play if you have them or you can play with strangers. A good place to meet strangers is on /r/lfg where you could either find a local or online game, or you could trot down to the local game shop which will probably have a weekly dnd night that welcomes beginners.
If you need help understanding the rules or making a character you can ask here or on /r/dnd /r/dndnext or /r/dnd5th
Good luck getting started, you'll have a lot of fun.
If only Wizards would release a book filled with creatures that you could look at.
http://www.amazon.com/Monster-Manual-Core-Rulebook-Wizards/dp/0786965614
Well Pokemon releases pokedex books periodically. There are some monster compendiums on itch.io, such as Apple Quest Monsters.
https://splendidland.itch.io/apple-quest-monsters
Really love this fake game monsterpedia, has a deluxe version
https://splendidland.bigcartel.com/product/apple-quest-monsters-dx
Wikipedia usually has a good compendium of monster entries for most series.
https://play.pokemonshowdown.com/sprites/
Or
http://www.pokestadium.com/tools/sprites
Has all Pokemon sprites from most games on it.
Not sure exactly if this is what you're looking for though
https://www.spriters-resource.com/game_boy_gbc/dwmons/
Has sprite rips from many Gameboy games, I've linked to DQM, but I think they have shin megami on the site as well.
https://www.spriters-resource.com/saturn/shinmegamitenseidevilsummoner/
If you are just looking for images, you can typically search for "gamename sprites" and there will probably be some site that has them.
Many games have artbooks, which typically have detailed drawings of things from their games. Not really laid out in an encyclopedia way, but they have beautiful art.
Shin Megami Tensei IV: Official Artworks https://www.amazon.com/dp/1927925584/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_G8RwDb50SEVZJ
If you like lore and monsters, dungeon and dragons Monster Manuals typically have a huge variety of monsters and little blurbs about each one. If you ignore the monster stats, it has great pictures on most pages and descriptions.
Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual (Core Rulebook, D&D Roleplaying Game) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0786965614/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_xaSwDbE1TX9MN
Sure, originally, I had intended on providing source and citing for all entries but that proved to be more work than I was up for. Mostly because some of the source material contradicts itself and I started getting myself confused over which source I was choosing to use as definitive.
The official publications I referenced were:
Unofficial references used were:
Yea, messenger is Bobby Henderson and book is The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. As it is known, FSM is quite a tricky god, he loves deceiving humans and causing confusion for his own amusement. That's where all other gods come from, it's Him playing with us.
A few other books you might want to add which fit nicely with the Bible (in no particular order):
> Ok, så er det tid til at tanke op på dåseretter, rippe den lokale jagt-butik, finde et sikkert sted og zombiesikre det.
Du glemte helt at nævne at man lige hiver den obligatoriske guide frem og sikrer sig at man tager de rigtige forholdsregler
Sounds a lot like The Zombie Survival Guide. Awesome book, it pretty much started the recent zombie revival, and it's essential for anyone with a passing interest in the genre.
Jesus christ, have you not read the Zombie Survival Guide? SETTING THEM ON FIRE ONLY MAKES THEM FLAMING ZOMBIES!
5e's (codename: Morningstar)
Will likely be the primary way for us to digitally access the resources at first...
Beta signups here
P.S. if cost is a real issue, Amazon has the PHB, MM, and DMG available for pre-order at a decent enough discount.
It sounds like you want to learn more about the great, the wise, the merciful, FSM!
The FSM watches over us with is meaty eyes and every so often, when we are hungry, he touches us with his noodly tentacles.
I'd like to offer you a book that explains more about the FSM. Unfortunately this book isn't free, but you can order it from Amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/Gospel-Flying-Spaghetti-Monster/dp/0812976568
are they also going to require Koran lessons as well? what about the Vedas? will there be daily readings from the Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster?
https://www.amazon.com/Gospel-Flying-Spaghetti-Monster/dp/0812976568
Welcome!
Zombie Survival Guide. It will scare you shitless. World War Z is also good. http://www.amazon.com/Zombie-Survival-Guide-Complete-Protection/dp/1400049628/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1252519573&amp;sr=8-1
I found the Zombie Survival Guide to be an interesting one to go to..
Yes it’s about zombies, but take out the zombie aspect and it seems to be a decent book still.
Least the zombie idea makes it interesting more then just survival imo
Altho, it’s the only survival book I’ve read, so I don’t have any comparison
In fact.. I just stumbled in here..
and this is my first post in Reddit!
Here’s a link to see..
https://www.amazon.com/Zombie-Survival-Guide-Complete-Protection/dp/1400049628/ref=asc_df_1400049628/?tag=hyprod-20&amp;linkCode=df0&amp;hvadid=312139954763&amp;hvpos=1o2&amp;hvnetw=g&amp;hvrand=12536411841858454967&amp;hvpone=&amp;hvptwo=&amp;hvqmt=&amp;hvdev=t&amp;hvdvcmdl=&amp;hvlocint=&amp;hvlocphy=9015428&amp;hvtargid=pla-433825695584&amp;psc=1
Books
Lost Mines of Phandelver. This adventure comes with the D&D 5E starter set. Its designed to be run as a first campaign for new players and new DMs. Its not the most intriguing of the adventures, but its fun and touches on a lot of different areas for new players to experience. There are lots of little spots for RP, but nothing overwhelming, and also in general the dungeons are short and not very grueling. I highly recommend this for you and your new group.
Get the 5e Starter Set and three to five friends who are willing to commit to a good four or five hours of play.
Read the books that come in the box and dive right in.
It's actually pretty laid back, especially when starting a new campaign and creating characters. Everyone helps each other.
You should lurk over on /r/DnD. They have a wiki with resources. You need access to some form of the basic rules or even better, a Players Handbook.
If you are able to get a copy of the Players Handbooks (PDF versions exist), start reading it! It explains the various races, classes, weapons, tools, etc. It will walk you through making a character. Also, I highly recommend the app Fifth Edition Character Sheet because it lets you plug in what you want and does a lot of the hard work for you.
Of course, to begin you are going to need a set of pretty dice, like these. Picking out dice is fun! They should feel special to you- there is a lot of superstition about your personal dice and luck :)
By the way, I am not affiliated with Borderlands even though my name is Kamielle (it's got a 'K' not a 'C'), but they have all the books and lots of dice and stuff for DnD. I am sure someone there, an employee or a patron, would be excited to talk to you about it.
Answer: One person runs the campaign, the dungeon master (DM). DMing is doing that. They often create the campaign themselves and play the monsters that the group fights.
Amazon, dude. Get that thing on discount.
Right now 5e would be the best for new players. The core 3 books are player's handbook, dungeon master's guide, and monster manual. The players handbook would be what you would use to make your own player character. The dm's guide gives extra info on how to run the game. And the monster manual has premade monsters for the dm to use.
If you are brand new and have a group of friends that want to play I recomend the starter kit: https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Wizards-Team/dp/0786965592/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1510979359&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=5e+starter+kit&amp;dpID=51Ykm93n8ML&amp;preST=_SX258_BO1,204,203,200_QL70_&amp;dpSrc=srch.
Which starter set should I buy? The 17.99 Starter set or the 29.99 starter set? They look the same but I think the 29.99 is newer?
Edit:
Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set https://www.amazon.com/dp/0786965592/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_v4E-zbC0EKBF1
Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set: Fantasy D&D Roleplaying Game 5th Edition (RPG Boxed Game) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00SI774U6/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_74E-zbJDMQQZP
The starter set is just a box that has all the basics you need to run a game.
Here is a link to it on Amazon
The starter set has
Those are the bare minimum what you need to play D&D. All of your players should also get their own dice. My friends and I like to make an event of going to the local game store to get dice when we start a new game sometimes.
If you have the money I would definitely suggest at least getting the Player's Handbook. The Dungeon Master's Guide, as well as the Monser Manual, also have helpful information, but aren't really necessary until you go beyond LMoP.
EDIT:
I also wanted to add I would advise all of your players getting their own PHB's as well. They are very affordable on Amazon as they are pretty much always on sale. From what I noticed, most games' rulebooks are typically $50
This is the 5e handbook:
http://www.amazon.com/Players-Handbook-Dungeons-Dragons-Wizards/dp/0786965606/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1409674884&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=player+handbook
If you are only starting out the Starter Set might be a good idea:
http://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Set-Roleplaying/dp/0786965592/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=undefined&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=starter+set
In my opinion it would be better for you to start with the 5th edition (above) as it is the newest, it should be relatively easy to find people at least willing to try it out.
Another option is to try the 4th edition as it is also fairly straightforward and already established. 5th and 4th editions are VERY different from one another so if you don't like one, don't dismiss the other.
As for the editions before that I would not recommend it mostly because you will have a hell of a time finding people to play with.
The new D&D 5th edition actually rocks. I'm excited to (hopefully) be changing to that system in our group soon) :)
Or you could downlaod the Basic Rules PDF. :) That's free!
The PDF has more rules than the box set, but the box set (which is on sale right now) has some cool stuff, too.
Once you get a few people to play with, split the cost of the new 5th edition Starter Set:
D&D Starter Set
The starter set comes complete with pregenerated characters and an adventure for your group to play that will take you from level 1-5.
That's an easy one—pick up the Starter Set for $12.
And (optionally) check out the free basic rules while you wait for it to arrive.
If you want to make your own characters instead of using the pregenerated ones, you can get the Players' Handbook, but honestly, the Starter Set is probably the best place to start—the special rules for each character are spelled out right on the character sheets.
Start with a pre-printed module. There are many for all the editions. I would also suggest taking a look at 5th Edition. You can get the basic rules (and Basic DMG) for free to get an idea of what the system is like.
It is way easier to introduce someone to 5th Ed than 3.5 if they've never played RPGs before. Even though your familiar with 3.5, I'd recommend looking through those Basic Rules (which is essentially the PHB minus some of the classes/archetypes) to decide for yourself.
If you do end up liking 5th edition, people can't stop raving about the Starter Box adventure called the Lost Mines of Phandelver. It's a great starter adventure (takes your characters from level 1 through level 5).
I highly recommend trying out 5th Edition to start with. It's the newest iteration of the rules, what most game stores and events are currently playing, and is streamlined and easy to learn for new players and returning players alike.
5th edition's Basic Rules are also available online for free. It doesn't have everything that the players handbook does, but it's free and will let you check out things before spending any money.
For new players the Starter Set is a great first adventure. It comes with premade characters you can use if you want, the adventure book for the DM that gives all the NPC information and monster stats, a set of dice, etc.
This guy has a accent which may or may not be an issue for you, but check out these videos:
Amazon, any hobby store
https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Wizards-Team/dp/0786965592
http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/basicrules
These are the free rules, which is everything you need to run the game (besides dice). These are a good start to see if you're going to like the game. The Players Handbook includes way more options for classes and goodies.
I would also suggest getting some friends and running thru the Starter Set Adventure. It also includes a print out of the basic rules and some dice.
If your friends arent interested, find a local fantasy gaming shop and see if they have someone running 'D&D Encounters'.
Hardest part is probably either learning how to be a dungeon master and understanding the rules well enough to explain to a group of people. Getting a group of people might also be tricky depending on how many people you know. You can probably get some people to cross over from board games, D&D is getting really popular lately.
I had some luck and started playing with people that already knew how to play second edition, I liked it, picked up the rule books for the latest edition (5th) and dungeon mastered a couple of games with a different group of friends.
I guess you could either try to find a group or start by yourself. Be aware that some things might be overwhelming at first, there's a lot of content and gaming supplements out there. However the beauty of D&D is that technically you can just play with pen and paper. There are also some basic rules PDFs you could skim through, I guess that would be a nice way to start. You can also buy the starter kit (which is often really cheap in Amazon) and play that adventure with 3-5 people.
EDIT: On a proper computer now. These are the basic rules and the starter set I think it might be on sale right now.
Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set https://www.amazon.com/dp/0786965592/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_dr31CbVFBRNFP
As good a place to start as any
For the social manipulator request, there are a few I can recommend.
(The Lies of Locke Lamora) [https://www.amazon.com/Lies-Locke-Lamora-Gentleman-Bastards/dp/055358894X] is the first novel in a series about con men in a fantasy world. The main characters frequently manipulate people and use their wits to survive, but despite their advantages rarely have total victories. Highly recommended.
(Weaver Nine)[https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/weaver-nine-worm-fanfic-au-thread-2.304177/] has some social scenes from Jack Slash's Point of view as he navigates conversations with capes. The meat of the story is on an Endbringer battle, but still lots of social manipulation.
There's also (Weighed Down)[https://m.fanfiction.net/s/13083387/1/], a short, incomplete Worm fic using Theo (the son of the charismatic villain Kaiser) as he establishes himself as the leader of a team.
Edit: Did the links using mobile and messed up, but the infos there so not going to worry about it.
Fellow fan of series here! Let me see...
Young Adult
Percy Jackson series is fun (and finished, too, I think).
Artemis Fowl series isn't quite as good as Percy Jackson IMHO, but it's got a following.
Fantasy
Harry Dresden series This is one of my favorites. Harry is Chicago's only professional wizard. There are a ton of these books and they are still going strong.
Game of Thrones These are great...but unfinished. If you watch the show, reading the books does help you get even more out of the story, I think.
Wheel of Time Another good series. There is a LOT of this series and it's finished. (Thank you, Brandon Sanderson!)
Mistborn Speaking of Brandon Sanderson... This one is very good. I highly recommend reading the Mistborn books before trying the Stormlight Archive, but only because as good as Mistborn is, Stormlight Archive is even better.
Stormlight Archive Amazing. Man, these are good. The series isn't finished, but the two books that are available are some of my favorites ever.
Kingkiller Chronicles I loved the first book. I could not freakin' believe I enjoyed the second one even more. The third one is still pending.
Temeraire Dragons in Napoleonic times. Super cool premise! This one is not finished (I don't think, anyway).
Gentlemen Bastards Con men in a fantasy realm. It's pretty light on the fantasy elements. Very light, I'd say. I'd also say that it has some of the very best swearing that I've ever come across. :D
Scifi
Old Man's War I'm almost finished this one--it's amazing!
Horror/Thriller
Passage Trilogy I've heard these described as vampire books...maybe zombie books... It's apocalyptic for sure. Great books!
Mysteries
Amelia Peabody Egyptology + murder mysteries. Super fun, but trust me...go with the audiobooks for these. They are best when they are performed.
Stephanie Plum Total popcorn reads. If that's your thing, shut off your brain and just enjoy.
Walt Longmire These get particularly good as it goes along. The main character is a sheriff in modern day Wyoming. (Side note: The TV show is also great--just don't expect them to stick to the books.)
Graphic Novels (Everything recommended can be gotten in a "book" format instead of only in comic form, in case that matters. I've gotten most of these from my local library.)
Locke & Key Eerie as crap. Love the art! This one is on-going.
Y: The Last Man All the men on the planet drop dead in a day...except for Yorrick. REALLY good. This is the series that got me reading graphic novels. Plus, it's finished!
Walking Dead I am not a zombie fan...but I like these. They're not done, but I've read up through volume 22 and am still enjoying them.
Other
OutlanderI have no idea how to categorize these or even give a description that does them justice. I refused to pick it up for AGES because it sounded like a bodice-ripper romance and that's not my bag. But these are good!
I hope there's something in there that'll do for you. Have fun and read on!
Edit: Apparently, I need to practice formatting. :/
Edit 2: I forgot to add the Lies of Locke Lamora (Gentlemen Bastards #1).
My husband read Be Prepared: A Practical Handbook for New Dads He thought it was very informative without being overly serious.
Friend loaned me this. http://www.amazon.com/Be-Prepared-Practical-Handbook-Dads/dp/0743251547
That's from this book.
A Short History of Nearly Everything.
Yes and yes.
Came here to post this. Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything is a great way for the layman to become scientifically literate, and it's entertaining. I like all of Krakauer's works, but would particularly recommend Where Men Win Glory for a perspective on the war in Afghanistan as well as a portrait of Pat Tillman, a complicated man.
I've been on a non-fiction kick myself.
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson is good. Very funny, very informative.
Packing for Mars and Stiff: The Curious Lives of Cadavers both by Mary Roach were also fun to read.
I recommend Lies My Teacher Told Me or Bryson's Short History of Nearly Everything. If you are looking for something a little more scholarly and drier then I suggest A History of Knowledge by Van Doren. As a world history teacher myself, I loved all of these books.
This is also an excellent book http://www.amazon.com/A-Short-History-Nearly-Everything/dp/076790818X
Can't recommend enough. I got the audio book version and the performance is awesome, I can listen to it while doing other stuff and still follow along, which I love in audio books.
A Short History of Nearly Everything - Bill Bryson
If you want to do Forgotten Realms and only have $75 to spend:
5e Starter Set $13.07
https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Set-Roleplaying/dp/0786965592/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1488305292&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=5e+starter+set
Storm King's Thunder $31.42
https://www.amazon.com/Storm-Kings-Thunder-Dungeons-Dragons/dp/0786966009/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1488305205&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=storm+king%27s+thunder
Out of the Abyss $27.17
https://www.amazon.com/Out-Abyss-D-Accessory/dp/0786965819/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1488305481&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=out+of+the+abyss
That gets you a pretty fun sandbox from levels 1 to 5, an epic sprawling set your own pace sandbox across the Savage Frontier, and an alternative hook into the Underdark. Two to three solid years of adventuring.
You also get a ton of information on the Savage Frontier and The Underdark.
You get three different Level 1 to 5 scenarios, two different 5 to 10, then one level 10 through 15.
Lots of replay value. And you can fight a dragon, fight giants, and fight demons.
Honestly, the D&D starter campaign is really good for that. It's $9.99 on Amazon right now, and comes with a few dice and some pregen characters if you want. I know you said free, but this is a dang steal.
Plus it has a dragon, which is neat.
Second for Savage Worlds, it's very customizable and adaptable to multiple settings. Also the D&D 5e starter set is currently less than 15$ on Amazon right now. But the 5e basic rules are free on the wotc website and so are character sheets so if you really wanted to give that a try you could.
You might look at the D&D starter set...it's got everything you need to run a simple campaign out of the box.
http://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Set-Roleplaying/dp/0786965592/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1417093100&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=d%26d+5th+edition+starter+set
The starter set: http://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Set-Roleplaying/dp/0786965592/ has pretty much all you need.
Happy first adventure!
EDIT:formatting and added link
I guess it's about the kind of game you're looking for. I don't pay AL either, so I can't speak to it. I want to have real agency. I want to feel like I have choices, and that those choices have consequences that shape events. I have no desire to bowl with bumpers on. Maybe the paid DM route limits you to only running extended one-shots, but I certainly wouldn't pay for that type of game.
When I run games, I try to give my players a lot of freedom. Even a self-contained module like Curse of Strahd doesn't need to be a totally railroaded experience.
Most of the dissatisfaction I've felt for myself and heard from players over the years about D&D is from being railroaded, and essentially feeling like supporting cast in the story the DM wants to tell. If I just want to passively observe someone else's story, I can read a book or watch a movie.
If Andrew is correct and people are lining up to pay to play in his games, this should be seen as an indication of a problem for the hobby, not as a testimony of his skill. For every person waiting for one of his games there's a missed opportunity to create a new DM and spread the hobby even further.
Being a DM isn't that hard. It takes a little time and practice, but it has never been easier. We have access to amazing resources today that I would have killed for in the 80s. It doesn't require incredible amounts of free time, and it's extremely rewarding And if you "don't want to get stuck being the DM", then make a plan with your players to swap roles every so often to avoid burnout.
Sure, you can pay $100 to play in one of Andrew's games... OR you can spend $14 for the 5e Starter Set and have everything you need to learn and enjoy running and playing countless games for years to come.
https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Wizards-Team/dp/0786965592
You could go with the Lost Mines of Phandelver as it is a great introduction for both players and dungeon masters for Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition. They have other modules but in my opinion this one is the best for starting out.
> 1) what do you recomend to do?
I'd personally start with 5e, because it is a much more simplified system that allows for more aspects of role-playing, which is great for everyone - especially new players.
A nice start for new groups to DnD is a starter set. Here is a link to buy a starter set which comes with a 64-page adventure pre-made module book, a 32-page rule-book for playing characters level 1–5, 5 pregenerated characters, each with a character sheet and supporting reference material, and 6 dice. If you are playing 5e, you need the 5e books - the 3.5 books won't work for 5e, they are completely different games due to additional information added over each new edition.
I'd also recommend that you all sit down together in the same room, hook up a computer to a TV in the room, and watch some good DnD games to figure out what role-playing means, how DM's look in action, and how the game runs overall. Shows such as Critical-Role, or Acquisitions Incorporated are amazing.
Here is the playlsit for Critical Role on Youtube:
Here are the Acquisitions Incorporated games on Youtube:
> 2) what dices do we need to get either way?
You each need a 7 set of DnD dice, and DM's do well to have some extra dice for faster group monster rolls. Plenty of bulk dice sellers on Amazon:
> 3) do we need to get board/minutures?
You can if you want, it's a nice visual aid. I'd recommend to use a large table to play around, and then buy some battle mats which can be written on with wet erase markers. Mineratures are all over the place for sale, so just google them. Or if you don't want to spend a ton of money on physical maps, you could use a virutal set-up in an IRL game, like my party does. You can use Roll20 which hosts privtae game rooms with virtual tabletops on which you draw maps into and insert images. Plug a laptop into a huge TV, and boom, you have a giant virtual battle-mat to use during the game!
Tons of other info on the sidebar of this subreddit, or just search the subreddit for other "starting DnD" posts, because there are a ton of them with good info.
Yes, it absolutely works for one DM and one player!
The game does assume a party of about 4 players, so the math will be different, since you'll have one DM and one player. Look for monsters with similar or lower stats to the player.
You can start with the free basic rules online, or buy the starter set for about USD $13, which also includes a print copy of the basic rules and a starting adventure.
Alternatively, here are a bunch of free adventures.
If running an adventure overwhelms you, here's an easy starter adventure:
One of you creates a character, while the other (the "Dungeon Master" or DM) creates a simple 5-room environment, which is a ruined temple. It can be just a linked set of rooms in a straight line, or something more complex. Then the DM puts a monster in each room, starting with something easy in the entrance and working up to harder monsters. The free Dungeon Master's Basic Rules includes dozens of monsters to choose from, but make sure you choose ones that have a "Challenge" of 1/4 or less.
The DM then explains to the PC that he/she has been chosen to rid the nearby temple of the monsters that infest it, so it can be purified and used for worship again. Nobody else in town is willing to go with the PC. Then describe the first room and the monster inside, and you're off to the races!
Start with either the Starter Set Adventure $13 on amazon or look at the basic rules pdf in the sidebar and take it from there.
Absolutely the 5th edition starter. It's amazing!
http://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Set-Roleplaying/dp/0786965592/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1451617645&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=d%26d+5th+edition+starter+set
Here you go. The "Frequently Bought Together" books are the three core rulebooks. You need all three to play Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition.
The link to hottopic is the starter set as mentioned. You can get it cheaper off of amazon. Linked here is the companys official dungeons and dragons page. https://www.amazon.com/Wizards-RPG-Team/e/B009KAKQIC/
If he is starting out for the first time, the starter set is great. If he has any experience in table top rpgs or if he does know a good deal about dnd from all the shows he watches, i recommend buying him the players handbook. Its a hardcover book, that goes 20xs more in depth then the starter box and he will never need another book again unless he gets into building and running his own dnd games. https://www.amazon.com/Players-Handbook-Dungeons-Dragons-Wizards/dp/0786965606/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
Other gift ideas are Dice Set for about $7, maybe a small battle map from Chessex for $20, perhaps dnd figurines for $10-$20 for a handful.
Keep in mind the only gifts he will need to actually play the game in person are these two options.
Beginner
1.) Dnd Starter Set: Comes with Short version of rules, dice, character sheets, and camping book. ($20)
Novice - Advanced
2.) Players Hand Book (Complete set of dnd rules used for play) and set of Dice. ($35)
Hello, and welcome!
Here is a link to the basic rules of D&D 5e (I'm assuming that's what you'll be running):
http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/basicrules
That will give you a good idea of what to expect in regards to combat, dice rolls, and the way a campaign plays.
If you feel as though this is something you enjoy, and want to continue playing, the players handbook (https://www.amazon.ca/Players-Handbook-Wizards-RPG-Team/dp/0786965606 or at your local game store) is a great resource. It gets into depth about the classes, races, and rules.
I hope this helps!
You should find out which version and/or edition he is using. Then get him a player's handbook in that format. Player's Handbook 5e
There are other RPG formats:
ICRPG
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Core Rulebook
We found this place very handy.
Bud's Place Games
8033 Parkway Dr, Leeds, AL 35094
(205) 699-1066
https://goo.gl/maps/7aYwwxPAQ8M2
https://dnd.wizards.com/products/tabletop-games/rpg-products/rpg_playershandbook
Notice that the MSRP is $49.95.
https://www.amazon.com/Players-Handbook-Dungeons-Dragons-Wizards/dp/0786965606/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=phb+5e&qid=1572986410&sr=8-1
Notice that the "list price" is $49.95.
There's no misrepresentation. They are using the MSRP straight from WotC. If you don't like it, take it up with WotC.
The Bro Code is the code of conduct that was documented by Barney Stintson (Neil Patrick Harris) on the hit TV show "How I Met Your Mother."
A copy of the Bro Code written by Barney Stintson can be found on Amazon.
I once had a paladin player whose religion was The Bro Code and was a devout follower of Neil’pa Trickharris
http://amzn.com/1592402038 ;)
Congratulations! Welcome to the journey :D. As far as books go, my husband likes The Expectant Father--it's full of good advice and doesn't treat you like a clueless idiot. For after the baby's born, The Baby Owner's Manual takes a humourous approach to the first year of newborn care.
I'm going to make my husband a shirt that says "copy" and a onesie that says "paste" and [The Baby Owner's Manual: Operating Instructions, Trouble-Shooting Tips, and Advice on First-Year Maintenance] (https://www.amazon.com/dp/1594745978/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_mwzmzbKFYZ7Q4)
I got a great instruction manual with my kid.
The PHB is basically always $30 on Amazon: https://camelcamelcamel.com/Players-Handbook-Dungeons-Dragons-Wizards/product/0786965606
Ready Player One
edit: Yeah, it's an angsty teen story, but it does give an interesting glimpse into how the generationally poor may develop a one-sided relationship with commercialized virtual reality.
Nah, I've got a friend who calls herself that. I've also seen it used in Ready Player One, which is a great read, especially if you're old enough to remember the 80s.
Agreed, I also wouldn't want to live in the past, unless your royalty, and even that is fraught with hassles. I want to live in the future on my own Dyson Sphere.
That's why the recent Interstellar movie was so interesting. An ultimately hopeful story written to advance a positive view in Sci-Fi movies, kind of like the Hieroglyph book, yet they still needed a dystopian element to even tell the story. And while there are glaring plot holes in the movie big enough to drive a black hole through, they were needed to advance the story. I still liked both the movie and the book.
Speaking of Star Trek, I wouldn't have my cell phone if some engineer didn't like it so much. Or even the Internet itself if DARPA hadn't been worried about nuclear bombs destroying the infrastructure. What's really interesting his how Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality will change society in the future. Like ReamDe or Ready Player One explore.
I can't vouch for it personally but Ready Player One has been on my to-read list for a while. I've heard from a few different sources that it's really good. Ties in with his interest in video games.
In the year 2044, reality is an ugly place. The only time teenage Wade Watts really feels alive is when he's jacked into the virtual utopia known as the OASIS. Wade's devoted his life to studying the puzzles hidden within this world's digital confines—puzzles that are based on their creator's obsession with the pop culture of decades past and that promise massive power and fortune to whoever can unlock them.
But when Wade stumbles upon the first clue, he finds himself beset by players willing to kill to take this ultimate prize. The race is on, and if Wade's going to survive, he'll have to win—and confront the real world he's always been so desperate to escape.
If you liked this video, you'd probably enjoy the book Ready Player One.
For those wondering how this was made:
(http://www.planetminecraft.com/project/native-trees-of-europe-template-repository-1779952/).
In Conclusion:
These kinds of renders do take time. A user commented:
> Pretty Certain you just imported a 3D model of a head using Binvox..
And that's absolutely correct. However, that doesn't mean this kind of thing is simple to create! Certainly, this wouldn't be what it is without the help of external software- but the use of that software doesn't mean it can't be respected as a build. Don't say I just imported it-- it took a lot of work!
TL;DR: I used a lotta software and it took a lotta time.
http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Player-One-A-Novel/dp/0307887448
I try not to watch anything while I eat, it helps contribute to overeating.
For relaxing, I read. I was never a big reader, so I have to force myself to read a lot of the time. Once I start reading, I enjoy myself. If I'm not enjoying it, I'll find a new book. I'll throw out a recommendation -- Ready Player One was a pretty sweet book.
Hopefully he went over this book with the cats.
Well tell your boy congrats but I think you should read this
How to Talk to Your Cat About Gun Safety: And Abstinence, Drugs, Satanism, and Other Dangers That Threaten Their Nine Lives https://www.amazon.com/dp/045149492X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_rH6fAbTG7YHJM
Amazon says yes
&#x200B;
https://smile.amazon.com/How-Talk-Your-About-Safety/dp/045149492X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1550612295&sr=8-1
&#x200B;
I need this.
I nominate /u/allergictoapples because this is badass as hell and someone needs to wear it.
Also /u/lessons_learnt because im really interested to see how the plot of this book unfolds
That's the only book of his I have read.
You can look at basically anything by Gibson if you want the same general setting.
And of course Snow Crash and The Diamond Age are heavily inspired by KWC's culture but the locations are very different.
Yes, we agree, I was satirizing the OP with his "I should take a screenshot"
Someone else is downvoting us.
Snow Crash is a cyberpunk adventure book. It's been a long time since I've read it, but the plot contains (hinges upon, maybe) the idea that an ancient language took the form of forcible memes, words which forced people to act, and then pass the words along. Or something. It's good, regardless.
As opposed to this snow crash?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0553380958/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1451837824&amp;sr=1-1&amp;pi=AC_SX110_SY165_QL70&amp;keywords=stephenson+snow+crash
It's usually the first one suggested:
-"The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss (Kingkiller Chronicles)
Whilst different in terms of scope and story, the world building is on par with ASOIAF. I was a little skeptic, being in the same position as you are in, when I picked it up, but now I'm anxiously awaiting both Winds of Winter and the third book in the Kingkiller Chronicles.
I've also started Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch (Gentleman Bastards series). So far I'm enjoying it A LOT. I do love having an anti-hero protagonist, and the world so far is pretty engrossing. But I can't officially recommend as I'm not even half way through.
Read "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson. Best damn science for laymen book I've ever read.
Try this! One of the best books I’ve ever read.
A Short History of Nearly Everything https://www.amazon.com/dp/076790818X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_pIXACbY3N7CZP
https://www.amazon.com/Short-History-Nearly-Everything/dp/076790818X
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson.
Rule #2 of this subreddit:
> Do not suggest, promote, or perform piracy. This includes illegally distributed official material (TSR, WotC), reproductions, dubious PDFs, and websites or applications which use or distribute non-SRD rules content.
As such, you should know that no legal PDFs exist for 5th edition (the most new player friendly version of the game).
> I really don't have any problem to spend money in a book or game I enjoy but I want to know if it's worth it's price.
The starters edition (link on amazon is $15 right now. That's what you'd pay for eating out one night.
Should be fine, switching DMs might even be a good way to make it clear that it's a role anyone can occupy.
Every time I hear someone recommend the Starter Set, they say it contains enough to get started playing. If you post the particular kit you're looking at it'll be easier for folks to confirm
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson.
I agree read a lot of great non-fiction books.
You can start with the series and related books of this:
http://www.amazon.com/A-Short-History-Nearly-Everything/dp/076790818X
http://www.amazon.com/Book-General-Ignorance-John-Mitchinson/dp/0307394913#immersive-view_1457311562058
^^ This reminds me of A Short History of Nearly Everything. A good read btw.
I too sometimes worry about dying just when things are getting really good with all the awesome VR stuff that's surely coming. And I'm 50 years old, so I have a valid concern. If I was 21, I'd be feeling pretty good about getting to experience all the really good stuff.
I also somethings feel the "be careful and don't die" thing. In addition to that, I worry about going blind in one or both eyes. That would really suck too!
A short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson.
It's kind of dated now, but still interesting.
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
A Short History of Nearly Everything. Anything by Bill Bryson, really.
Yep. I'm in the middle of A Short History of Nearly Everything, and it's pretty astounding reading about it. I just assumed we had known about it forever.
Even more amazing are the intra-plate quakes. They happen all the time almost everywhere and we have literally no idea what causes them.
used from Amazon for $5, which is what i bought when it was $4
It assumes I roll above average so if I try to add some other monsters, a lot of battles and adventures happen in buildings/dungeons/tunnels. [The Starter Set] (https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Set-Roleplaying/dp/0786965592/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1480871488&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=D%26D+starter+set) is exactly what you want and have fun telling stories together.
Hello! Glad to see you're interested in playing.
Take a look at the subreddit's Getting Started page for some tips on getting going.
If you're completely new, i'd recommend grabbing the DND 5e starter set (Amazon) from your local game shop, or from online.
For your first time playing, I'd recommend the following:
Run Lost Mine Of Phandelver, it's the adventure that comes with the starter set.
Best option:
You can buy the starter set, as it comes with basic rules, a low level campaign, some pre-made characters, and one set of dice. That's enough for you and a couple friends to play together for several weeks. It generally costs less than 20 bucks.
https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Set-Roleplaying/dp/0786965592
Second Best Option:
You can get the basic rules for free from Wizard's page. http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/basicrules?x=dnd/basicrules
Make yourself up a few characters to see how it works. http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/character_sheets
Buy yourself some dice: https://www.amazon.com/Elven-White-RPG-Dice-Set/dp/B015GE9PP0/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1484696538&amp;sr=8-14&amp;keywords=rpg+dice
And now go on meetup.com and find a group. Or hit up your local game stores and ask if they have adventure's league (a semi-official dnd local club meetup).
Would this cover everything? https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Wizards-Team/dp/0786965592/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?keywords=dungeons+and+dragons&amp;qid=1562715355&amp;s=gateway&amp;sr=8-3
One of the cheapest ways to get into D&D 5e is to but the starters kit (link below). It contains one set of dice and enough information to run a premade adventure with premade characters. From there if you enjoy yourself I recommend buying the Players Handbook.
https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Set-Roleplaying/dp/0786965592/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1474925689&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=dnd+5e+starter+set
If you have a friendly local game store (FLGS) near you, they likely have it as well as the right dice. With any luck, they'd even have staff that are knowledgeable enough to help further.
If you don't, there's several online outlets, with amazon being the most obvious. Internet stores tend to have the advantage of a significant discount, but of course require waiting for the things to ship and arrive.
The absolute simplest way to get into it would be purchasing the Starter Set. It comes with simplified rules, one set of dice, and an adventure you can run.
If you enjoy that, or are just absolutely certain you will like the game and want to go ahead and get it all, there is the Player's Handbook. That is the only essential, but you will want sooner than later the Dungeon Master's Guide and Monster Manual.
As for dice, there are tons of ways to go about that. There are phone apps that can do the job cheaper, which you can find with a quick search. Most groups I think will find they prefer using physical dice. It's more expensive but also just that much more fun.
The correct type of dice come at a variety of costs and qualities, but the only necessity is that you have all 7 types of dice available. That is, you want a 4-sided, 6-sided, 8-sided, 10-sided, 12-sided, 20-sided, and percentile die.
Chessex is the most popular dice company and has an absolute ton of varieties. Here's just one example and luckily it is standard to sell all the necessary dice in sets together.
There are also various bulk sets which make up in volume what they lack in choice, and are good for getting started.
Last but not least, you'll need friends willing to play with you. But that's true of any tabletop game.
That was longer than I anticipated, but I promise it's not too hard. There's a bit of a learning curve with any game, but RPGs are a lot of fun once you get comfortable with them.
Grab the starter set. For less than $20 it gives you everything you need to play for a while--even an adventure. If you like the game, you will need at least one Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, and Monster Manual. (You can benefit from having more Player's Handbooks to pass around the table.)
Here is a link to the starter box
I would start with the free D&D Basic Rules. These are from the most recent edition and include the core races and classes. The Starter Set has a pretty good adventure and is written to introduce both new DMs and players to the game. The Starter Set is only 12 bucks on Amazon at the moment and it comes with a set of dice, so I think it's a pretty good deal.
From there get a group of friends together and see what happens! Best of luck to you!
The Starter's kit for 5e has a cheap campaign that is relatively low level. https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Set-Roleplaying/dp/0786965592?ie=UTF8&amp;*Version*=1&amp;*entries*=0
http://www.dmsguild.com/ is another place to find player made content.
Easiest place to start would be a 5e starter kit. Why? They are cheap entry points to the hobby, they include an adventure module (this is a big deal, it makes the GM’s first go at things much easier), it’s in print, they have shorter manuals to read (which will get you right into playing to see if you like it) and frankly, 5e is a pretty approachable edition and is currently the lingua franca of the broader RPG community.
There are a couple of starter options:
Essentials Kit: the newer version, includes character creation options out of the box. I don’t know much about the included adventure module, but look around and you’re likely to find reviews.
Starter Set: the older one of the 5e starters, but well worth considering. It’s dirt cheap and I’ve heard lots of praise for the supplied adventure module “Lost Mines of Phandelver.” The only downside would be no character creation options out of the box (it comes with pre-gen characters which work fine but aren’t everyone’s thing), but this could be supplemented with the free Basic Rules which would let you generate characters with the “classic” race and class options as well.
If you like it, then consider picking up the core book set (Players Handbook for the big set of character options, DM Guide, and Monster Manual). If you don’t like it, come back to this sub with specifics on what you did and didn’t like: you’ll get hundreds of new suggestions that will point you in the best direction from there. Happy gaming!
You don't need miniatures or paints to play the game.
You do need a set of dice, preferably one that has all the standard numbers of sides (4, 6, 8, 10, another 10 for simulating 100 sides, 12, and 20). Something like this: https://www.amazon.com/Chessex-CHX26449-Gemini-Purple-Teal-Purple/dp/B01CEFDWVM/
Getting one of the older editions of D&D at this point may be difficult. There are a lot of different versions and printings, so it's hard to know which one to recommend.
However, the recent 5th Edition of D&D, called "5e" or "D&D Next" is very good and readily available. You can either buy all three of the core books OR the starter kit. The nice thing about the starter kit is that it comes with dice, a pre-written adventure, some pre-made characters, and so on. However, the starter kit is not enough to really create and run your own full adventures and characters from scratch, as it only has a much trimmed-down version of the rules.
Starter Kit: https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Complete-Printable/dp/B07MHTBVG3/
Core books:
Come on over to /r/rpg, /r/dnd, or /r/dndnext if you want more help.
You're in luck: the Basic Rules are available for free online. They don't cover everything, so you could buy a Player's Handbook for much more detail and information, but the free stuff is a good starting point.
It should have everything he needs to kick things off yeah! But if anything I would recommend getting him a 5th edition players handbook
Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook (Dungeons & Dragons Core Rulebooks) https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0786965606/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_RrghAb1KKEQQD
He himself will know what he wants to do if he watches a lot of it. He will know if he wants to play the game as a player character or wants to play the game as the dungeon master in charge.
If he wants to play the latter then get him a 5th edition dungeon masters guide
Dungeon Master's Guide (Dungeons & Dragons Core Rulebooks) https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0786965622/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_jughAbBXWK1M1
Good luck!! He’s about to jump into what I think is the best hobby you could possibly have!
For you, try watching critical role
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7atuZxmT954bCkC062rKwXTvJtcqFB8i
If you haven’t already.
amazon afaik
http://www.amazon.com/Players-Handbook-Dungeons-Dragons-Wizards/dp/0786965606/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1407316829&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=phb+dnd+next
I agree on Magic and Warhammer, but D&D can also be really cheap if you stick to the core books and don't need to purchase every supplement.
You can get the 3 core books for about $80 (though players really only need the PHB at about $28) and either a dice set for like 4 bucks or the starter set with dice for like 12. Then buy a ream of paper and take some pencils out of your school stuff and you should be good to go at about $100.
Beyond that you just need a DM who is good at making stuff up. The books can be shared with new players, and most of the basic rules are available here if you just want to try it out.
Again, this is if you don't need to purchase every campaign setting, mini, dice bag, custom gaming tables with built in dice towers, etc.
The absolute best way to get started is the Starter Set. It's everything you need to get started including some dice and an adventure. As you get more into it, you'll want to pick up the Players Handbook, the Monster Manual, and the Dungeon Master's Guide (If you don't want to get them all at once, I recommend getting them in that order.) Also very useful is a Dungeon Master's Screen. Moving into more advanced stuff, Xanathar's Guide to Everything is a book full of a bunch of optional rules to spice up the game, and Volo's Guide to Monsters gives more monsters for players to fight, and some you can actually play as. If you need more adventures to run, Tales From the Yawning Portal is a nice big book of dungeons.
It all depends on your preference but I recommend 5th edition also theirs a starter kit https://www.walmart.com/ip/Dungeons-Dragons-Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Set-Game/37282882 if you down to buy that it comes with a premise campaign for beginners and I believe it comes with premade characters it’s ideal for 4-6 players. One of you will have to be the dungeon master(dm) who leads the characters through the story and plays the npcs(non playable characters) you’ll also play the creatures/characters your players fight against id recommend these books for now or later on when you start building your own characters etc... this for the dm https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Dungeon-Rulebook-Roleplaying/dp/0786965622 and this for more monsters https://www.amazon.com/Volos-Guide-Monsters-Wizards-Team/dp/0786966017 and this for character creation etc https://www.amazon.com/Players-Handbook-Dungeons-Dragons-Wizards/dp/0786965606 as for dice it’s not that hard each player needs one d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, and a d20 you’ll also want a 10 sided percentile die here’s a cheap set off amazon with plenty of dice(theirs probably cheaper this is just the first thing I saw) https://www.amazon.com/Polyhedral-Drawstring-Dungeons-Pathfinder-Including/dp/B07DSCST6K now non of this is required of course for character creation you can always use sites such as dnd beyond or apps like fight club 5 which are free the only thing that’s really required is the dice. Now I know that’s a lot but honestly it’s a externally fun game and I’ve met some of my closest friends through it
Amazon.ca has them for less than that, and it qualifies for free shipping. Unfortunately, with the way our dollar is right now, the books have gone up in price recently... But it's still a better price than pretty much anywhere. You could also go on the official site and download the basic rules and basic DMG for free if you just want to try it out.
PHB $42.34 CAD
Stater box $18.35 CAD
And then there are the... ahem digital offerings ^^if ^^you ^^know ^^what ^^I ^^mean.
If you decide to go with 5E, consider getting the player's handbook (PHB) instead of the starter set. If you decide you like the game a lot, the starter set won't be enough to get you past about level 5. The PHB has the full rules and all the information you need to play the game effectively. It's available on Amazon for about $30.
What country are you in? In the US its $30.77 with free shipping from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Players-Handbook-Dungeons-Dragons-Wizards/dp/0786965606/ref=pd_sim_14_14?_encoding=UTF8&amp;pd_rd_i=0786965606&amp;pd_rd_r=JT6C23X4YY1M4PMR6CVC&amp;pd_rd_w=2fnJV&amp;pd_rd_wg=WPvuc&amp;psc=1&amp;refRID=JT6C23X4YY1M4PMR6CVC
then only drop tree
http://www.amazon.com/Players-Handbook-Dungeons-Dragons-Wizards/dp/0786965606/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1412129685&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=players+handbook+5th+edition
D&D (Dungeons & Dragons) is a collective story-telling game where you play as a single character encountering a fantasy world and adventuring. There is a Dungeon Master or Game Master who plays the part of The Narrator and all of the other characters and events in the fantasy world. Together with other players and the DM/GM you create a fantasy story that fits your party and your players. There is a rulebook that goes over the specific rules, but in general you play a specific class that has specific mechanics, and you use those mechanics in-game to advance the story, fight enemies, complete quests, solve puzzles, etc. If you're still curious, there's a Wiki and Getting Started Guide on the sidebar. Roll20 is just a tool that some people use to play the game online. Don't let this post about Roll20 dissuade you, though, D&D is still an incredibly fun way to spend some time. If you have a comic book store or tabletop game store near you, you should pop by and see if they're running any starter adventures that you could join.
You probably want to roll with the Starter Set first, before venturing into worldbuilding and tailoring Tolkien's World to you players. Also, they still need to get a hold of the mechanics, and the Starter Set is good for new DMs and Players.
If you're set on being in Middle Earth, you could just flavor everything as if its in Middle Earth.
Edit: Also, there is no "one" DnD world. There are multiple settings, though the one that 5th Edition is primarily based around is the Forgotten Realms Setting.
Edit2: One last thing. Here's the free basic rules from the creators of DnD. It has the Basic Rules for players, and the Basic Rules for DMs. You'll wanna read both, and your players will wanna read the former. The free SRD also has a more expanded list of creatures than the Dungeon Master's Rules starting from PDF page 261.
In terms of products you'll actually wanna buy, consider the:
Player's Handbook Hint: Your players should also get get their own copies eventually
Dungeon Master's Guide
Monster Manual
If you've got an idea for a story, you can start right now with an online dice roller and the free basic rules, both on Wizard's official website. These are essentially the full rules with limited options.
Step two would be to buy the Players Handbook and some real dice. You could also go with the official Starter Set, which includes dice and an adventure module, but I'd reccomend the PHB instead, because if you want to keep playing you're going to buy one anyway.
As for the other two core books, I'd suggest putting the Monster Manual at a higher priority than the Dungeon Master's Guide. The DMG has tons of great ideas and optional rules, but you'll get more direct use out of the various baddies in the MM.
This one is going to be long-winded so I apologize in advance :)
I have been DMing D&D for a really long time. I have been DMing D&D and Pathfinder on roll20.net for a while as well. I dumped all other versions of tabletop (at the moment) for D&D 5e. D&D 5e moves away from the spreadsheet stat crunching type of play that D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder embraced. D&D 5e also departed the mechanical MMO style play of D&D 4e. I think you are making a good choice in choosing 5e especially being a group of new players & new DM.
Here are the things you'll need to make roll20.net work well:
Since you are all new, I would recommend running the Lost Mines of Phandelver. It is included in the D&D Starter Set (On Amazon for $12). It is an adventure that will take a group of 4-5 players through level 5 (roughly). I ran this for a group of newer players and it took us roughly ten 4-hour sessions to complete. The set comes with some helpful things for you as the DM and them as the players. It comes with the basic rules for both the DM and the players. These are also available and updated through Wizards of the Coast for free as PDFs and browser-friendly sources. It also comes with some pre-made character sheets. These are handy as they can save you time (and money) from generating your own characters. Usually for 4 players, it can take an entire session to plan out a character for each of them if you are new. This can give you all a taste of how the game works, how characters work, and if everyone is on board. Totally optional though! The adventure itself contains a DM booklet that gives you tips as a new DM as well as maps, layouts, monster stats, and descriptions.
On the subject of maps and roll20. Roll20 gives you a graph-paper view that takes up most of the layout of the app. There aren't many gridded, digital versions of the maps for 5e adventures that I have seen. The ones that do exist will cost a little bit of money. This artist sells both player and DM versions of the maps for the adventure, but leaves some of the smaller encounters out. 5e relies on a lot of mind theater and imagination on both the players' and DM's part.
What I tend to do for maps is, use the graph paper and draw on it using the simple controls roll20 provides. I tend to do this when I can't accurately describe the way things are laid out. For instance in the Lost Mines the first encounter can be tough to explain so I drew a rough outline of how the map looked while explaining to the players where they were, and where what they saw was.
I'd highly recommend you get a free account at roll20.net first and then log in and play around with it, just to see what it handles like. It has its quirks for sure.
Aside from the Lost Mines of Phandelver, there is one other official campaign called the Tyranny of Dragons. It contains two adventure books, Hoard of the Dragon Queen and Rise of Tiamat. They take a party from levels 1-8 and 8-16 respectively. Hoard takes a lot of skill to run as it is a bunch of loosely related occurrences that clever or adventurous players might want to explore outside of. It doesn't provide much support to a new DM for handling this. Rise of Tiamat opens up a little more and is easier to run but without Hoard, it can be confusing as to what is going on.
Drivethrurpg has some smaller 5e adventures available. I haven't played any myself, but I have heard some good things. They are located under their D&DNext/5E heading.
If you decide you do like 5e or are really committed to the cause from the get-go, I would recommend any player and the DM get the Player's Handbook (Amazon). This contains the rules governing attributes, player creation, combat, downtime, and a full description of all spells and spell casting classes. It goes well above and beyond the basic rules for players and I feel it is truly necessary to having the full experience. It can be pricey if you end up not liking it though.
The DM additionally should consider the Dungeon Master's Guide. It really helps in running adventures, giving good flavor to the game, and creating your own campaigns. The Monster Manual is an optional buy, but helps by giving a large list of classic D&D monsters to populate your game with.
I'm guessing you have already found /r/DnD, but for 5e you might want to consider /r/dndnext which has weekly question threads and is more focused on 5e (which was previously codenamed next).
tl;dr: Whatever you end up doing, just make sure you and your friends agree that it is to have fun. You don't need to be perfect with the rules and you can feel free to make mistakes along the way as long as you all agree to laugh it off. You are playing with your players as a DM and not against them! Good luck.
Thank you! Got the MM for $25 (including shipping), which was the only core rulebook I was missing.
For those who missed out on other books, you can get them through Amazon at not-awful discounts (considering ThinkGeek charges shipping), particularly if you have Amazon Prime:
There are tons of premade campaigns out there. I'd recommend kicking off with either the Starter Set or the Essentials Kit. They include basic rulesets, dice, and a short campaign. You can get started with just one of these sets just fine.
If you want to get more into the rules, I'd strongly suggest picking up the Player's Handbook at a minimum - it goes more in depth on the rules and lays out more race and class options for your players than the limited ones in the starter sets.
After that, whoever ends up as the DM may want to pick up the DM's Guide, which gives tips on how to run the game, random tables for lots of stuff (items, encounters, etc), and suggestions on how to make your own world if you're interested in that in the future. If you want to run other published campaigns or build your own homebrew setting, you'll also want to pick up the Monster Manual- the starter set rules only include stat blocks for the monsters that they use.
There are several other published sourcebooks out right now as well that add additional monsters, playable races, and class options to the game, but the three core books get you the vast majority of the content.
200$? Challenge accepted.
Buy the books for 100,76$
players handbook
dungeon master's guide
monster manual
To be fair, you're already set now. I would advise the players to also buy a player's handbook or at the very least download the free basic rules
If you need figurines you can google what you want, print them off and use them or you can use this from u/printableheroes and pay him 10$
You don't need an erasable battle map to play, you can just draw everything yourself but I would highly recommend it and it's not that expensive. just 21,66$
For the dice, just buy a bag of everything for 19,99$
you're now all set to go on epic adventures for a combined total off 152,41$
If you have any money left that you would want to spend, I would recommend buying the starter set, so you can learn how it is to DM before making everything up on your own. And at 29,99$ it's really a steal
This would bring your money spend on 182,4$
Allright we're 17,6$ under budget. You can use that to buy some drawing paper, pens and what not.
Then if you want to start DM-ing go and watch these videos, You will learn a lot from them. Also, if you want to start playing on wednesday, you're either going to have to read as a maniac or use the first adventure that u/mattcolville talks about in his first videos. If you make up a town with a few NPC's and have them travel there with an encounter (let's say wolves in a forest), you've already got a few hours playtime. However, you will all need to roll up characters which will also take some time. Especially if you are all new at this. Maybe use the templates from the starter set to get the feel.
Also, because they are fun, awesome and it will help you understand what d&d is and to grow as a DM, watch some critical role.
In the spare time you have left, contemplate on how much time you had before you started this awesome hobby and how you wished somebody else would DM so you could just sit down on a lazy chair and kill things.
Congratulations, you're one of us now.
One feature of Reddit that a lot of subreddits take advantage of is the sidebar on the right. If you take a look under Resources you'll see some helpful links, including this Getting Started page.
I'm also fairly new to the game so I can't really offer answers to your specific questions as well as others can, but I would recommend the Starter Set. It's written by the creators of the game and it's meant to be an introduction for new players and new DMs. It has a premade story, premade characters, and goes over all of the basic rules.
It'll take a lot of the pressure off of you guys to create your own characters, stories, battles, and dungeons and let you get a feel for the game. Once you've got the basics down you can choose to finish the starter set story or start working on your own characters and story.
I suggest running Lost Mines of Phandelver from the starter set. It should only take a few sessions, then go off what you've learned and your PCs' background and just continue with your own material.
I wanted to link to the Starter Set on Amazon, but for some reason the price is ridiculous. Retail is $19.99
here it is anyway: https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Set-Roleplaying/dp/B00SI774U6
edit: here is a better price https://www.amazon.com/dungeons-dragons-starter-set-roleplaying/dp/0786965592/ref=pd_sim_21_4?ie=utf8&amp;dpid=51ykm93
I️ would recommend the Starter Set. I️t comes with basic rules, premade character sheets, dice, and an adventure they can play.
> As much as I would like to be a player I think our best bet would be for me to DM, only I really don't know where to start.
Before you buy anything, make everyone read the basic rules.
Once everyone has at least glanced at that, start with The Starter Set.
If you're the DM, I recommend anointing one of the other players as Chief Cat Herder, and have him or her be in charge of organizing when and where to play. You will have your hands full preparing the adventure.
>Is homebrewing my own system just a bad idea?
Probably. I mean, if 'designing my own system' is the goal, go for it. But 'I'm designing my own system so as to lead towards this other goal that I want to achieve for my first time out', whatever that other goal is, it's probably a really horrible idea.
>Firstly, I wanted to try and homebrew my own simple version of the game, as a way to make it easier for all of us to get into it, and to save all the expenses of books and materials.
Since that's the goal, you're actually kind of already covered.
http://media.wizards.com/2014/downloads/dnd/playerdndbasicrules_v0.2.pdf
The free basic version of the rules is 100 pages of simple version of the game.
https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Wizards-Team/dp/0786965592/ref=pd_lpo_vtph_21_tr_t_2?_encoding=UTF8&amp;psc=1&amp;refRID=QAZXMMATM4NRG1FFM8H8
This is 17 bucks and basically gets you stuff already printed and some dice and an adventure. You'll have to share dice, but between that and and the thing I linked above you wouldn't necessarily even need to spend any more money for the lot of you, though you'll probably want to.
I think /u/NecronosiS nailed most of the important stuff, but I'll add some things I've picked up as well.
**Ninja Edit
There is a very super basic ruleset that is free so you can sample a few classes for a few levels.
And this is a low cost risk.
http://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Set-Roleplaying/dp/0786965592/
If you're just starting and have no money, download and print out the basic rules for free. You can find them here.
http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/basicrules
You're also going to need some dice. Dice run about $9 per set. As an alternative, you could buy a couple basic starter sets for $12. They have dice, the basic rules printed, as well as a starter module called the Lost Mines of Phandelver which is a great way for players and DMs to learn. This would be great for starting a club.
https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Set-Roleplaying/dp/0786965592/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1474379491&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=dungeons+and+dragons+5th+edition+starter+set
If it were me, I'd buy about 3 starter sets. You'll have 3 printed handbooks, a set of dice for the DM and two sets for players to share. Plus the three LMoP modules that comes with it. You could start by running a single session. With more dice, you could run up to 3 sessions at once.
No idea on the best way to raise money for this. But the cheapest place to buy the actual books is probably Amazon.
Hope this helps! Good luck.
Edit: removed light hearted suggestions of piracy. it's bad kids. it's just like drugs, don't do it.
If I had to guess, of the D&D products popular in stores now, that would probably be the 5th edition Starter Set. Unlike the normal D&D books it is sold in the kind of box you would expect a board game to come in. The rules are amazing (my favorite edition so far), the adventure it comes with is great, and I would highly recommend it, but it is an RPG, not a board game. You would need someone to DM and such. Again, that's just a guess based on the description you gave.
If you are at all interested in D&D, I would recommend getting it. There's also a free PDF that gives you all the rules you need to play, but the starter set is a bit easier to understand and comes with dice, pre-generated characters, and a pre-written adventure. The basic rules are also missing monsters and magic items, which will be added eventually, but for now are only in the starter set.
The Starter set is currently a pretty good price for what it offers but the rest of the 5e material will be pretty expensive, but will be needed to adventure past level 5
Even if you have the books already, 4e is a complex strategy game. There are a whole host of statuses, conditional bonuses and varying roles players have to constantly think about. It is also infamous for requiring many on the fly calculations. It takes higher level, chess-like thinking that while very fun, would probably be beyond 2nd graders.
Their new edition is much simpler, can be done verbally and has both the rules and a small variety of races and classes freely available. If you're looking for a pre-made adventure to use, the starter set is meant to introduce new players to the game. It's currently like 13 dollars on amazon right now and so far both fun and easy to pick up. Also, if you want to see the first little part of the adventure being run, some of the people at wizards put a video of the first few encounters up on youtube here.
If you begin with the starter set now, they're planning on updating the (free) basic rules with monsters in about a month, so you should have everything you need to run your own campaigns after finishing the pre-made adventure.
PS, I just want to commend you for going the extra mile for your students. Good on you, I hope everything goes well.
The 5E Starter Set is a campaign that runs from level 1 to 5 and is designed for new players.
Of course the best starting place is with Matt's Running the Game series, and specifically the Delian Tomb.
I made this for my friend a few months ago as a sort of accompaniment to the series: The Delian Tomb Module.
I started running the game with the Delian Tomb, and then moved into the Starter Set by setting the Tomb in the woods near Phandalin.
I have my issues with the Starter Set, primarily that the adventure is not written as an entry point to TTRPG -- there is a lot left unsaid and the motivations of the antagonists are weak.
As a first time TTRPG player and DM I felt like I had to stick to the book 100% or I would ruin the fun for the players... This is not, in fact, true.
The published stuff should be looked at as guides, not playbooks -- and the Running the Game series is invaluable. Good luck :D
Would this suffice? https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Boxed-Game/dp/0786965592/ref=asc_df_0786965592/?tag=googshopuk-21&amp;linkCode=df0&amp;hvadid=310868039252&amp;hvpos=1o1&amp;hvnetw=g&amp;hvrand=8780255887356095265&amp;hvpone=&amp;hvptwo=&amp;hvqmt=&amp;hvdev=m&amp;hvdvcmdl=&amp;hvlocint=&amp;hvlocphy=9045939&amp;hvtargid=pla-435131198789&amp;psc=1&amp;th=1&amp;psc=1
I would suggest picking up the starter set because it really is exactly that: a starter set. It has a small rule book, dice, premade characters, and best of all Lost Mines of Phandelver which is a great adventure for beginners. You can PM me if you want any more help!
Buy the starter set.
https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Wizards-Team/dp/0786965592
Buy a pound of dicehttps://www.amazon.com/Chessex-001LBCHX-Pound-O-Dice/dp/B008C0KXYSBuy 18 sets of dice
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01FRQI6CA
Buy a battlemat
https://www.amazon.com/Chessex-Role-Playing-Play-Mat/dp/B0015IQO2O
That's all you need to get started. Don't spend $300 buying EVERYTHING. That's just a silly thing to do.
Matt Colville has some great tips for new players: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-YZvLUXcR8
I would recommend picking up the Starter Set (not the "Essentials Kit" they recently released, which isn't as newbie friendly): https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Wizards-Team/dp/0786965592
It has a set of dice, some starter characters and a mini adventure with a lot of good information.
It's the module that comes in the 5th edition starter pack. It also gives you short rules on playing the game, a set of dice and some pregenerated character sheets.
This is it https://www.amazon.ca/Dungeons-Characters-Character-Rulebook-Adventure/dp/0786965592/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?keywords=dungeons+and+dragons+starter+set&amp;qid=1567623376&amp;s=gateway&amp;sprefix=dungeons&amp;sr=8-1
You can also find it at most hobby shops and many book stores
For question two I would say no it isn't. Much of their game is abstracted out of the way of your view. Leveling, experience gain, Matt's behind the scenes work, and class and ability mechanics (spells, skills, feats, etc) . What you see is a very streamlined version. Also house ruled and somethings are forgotten.
I suggest more of looking over the OGL rules (free, contains enough for people to play) here. Then if you have enough friends and someone who wants to run the session pick up the starter box. If you don't go look for some Adventurers League where you can possibly find a game you can drop into and see if you like it.
Do you have a group you can play with? If not, you can play online with things like roll20 though it sort of is a last result. I have come to the judgement that D&D5 is the perfect start for Tabeltop RPGs and then after doing that, based on your likes and dislikes, you can move onto other systems.
https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Set-Roleplaying/dp/0786965592
I would get a group together and play through this. This is literally everything you need with an adventure that would probably take 4-6 sessions to get through. After that you could buy books if you are interested or move onto another system.
> getting started is so complicated and intimidating.
laughs in nerd
Nah bro, it's so easy to get into. 5th edition was streamlined to make it easy for new players. There's a Starter Set that literally teaches you everything and makes it super simple.
The hardest part of getting into it is finding a group to play with, but there's Adventures League nerd shops in every city if you're willing to google around. What I've found is that if you're willing to run a game it's easy to find a group, but if you just want to play in one it's difficult.
I agree with everyone here. If they are friends/friendly already then that makes things easier.
I would say that you want to remember that you're the adult in the situation. So you're going to have to be patient. They're teenagers who might get side-tracked or not having the same expectations that you do for the game. So all the normal advice of "talk with your players to resolve problems" goes doubly here, since you have that extra layer of being the "mature one" in a position of power for the group.
Make sure you schedule times. Find out when everyone wants to play and what times work for them. Average sessions are between 2-4 hours. I like 2 hours for weekly games. Try to be flexible, since ideally this is a fun event and not a second job. But it's important to be firm about things like "if you can't make it to the game, you have to let me know at least a couple hours in advance." You might have to figure out ride situations, which means potentially coordinating with other parents. You might have to explain what it is that you're inviting their child to do with you. Some people are touchy about their kids playing D&D for a variety of reasons.
As far as the game is concerned, the D&D starter set has a great intro adventure and is basically all you need to start playing. Give everything a read a couple times to really familiarize yourself with the rules and adventure. You might want to pick up the Player's Handbook (PHB), Monster Manual, and Dungeon Master's Guide (DMG), but I would hold off until you have at least a couple sessions played. You will likely need more dice. I recommend the Chessex Pound-o-Dice. I have a big bowl filled with dice on the table that people can use.
You can get pretty deep down the rabbit hole as far as other accessories go (figures, terrain, dice sets, extra books, DM screen, playmats, custom minis). I find it's best to just play with what you have and then pick up more things as you find them useful ("oh, I wish I had a dry erase mat for that combat, let me pick one up for the future").
As far as play goes, modern D&D is much more narrative. Player characters tend to be more hardy after a couple levels than in older editions. There's less emphasis on plundering dungeons for treasure and more emphasis on telling a combined story (that sometimes involves plundering dungeons). Characters are less likely to die and have a lot of resources at their disposal to succeed.
If you haven't already, I recommend checking out youtube to get an idea for how modern D&D looks when its played. Youtube channels like WebDM and Taking20 have lots of tips on running D&D. There are LOADS of live-play D&D games that you can watch. Something like Acquisitions Incorporated or Force Grey are worth a watch, if only to get an idea of the pacing of a typical D&D session.
Other than that, just have fun man! There's a million different ways to play D&D, and it's nice that you've got an opportunity to use this to connect with your daughter and her friends. You will encounter lots of individual problems as they come up, but that's normal. Being the DM is about being flexible and creative and solving problems. Thankfully there's a lot of resources out there these days for finding how other people handle their issues. A quick google search will provide all kinds of info :)
sorta related, but dnd starter set is on sale right now
https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Wizards-Team/dp/0786965592/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1542405830&sr=8-13&keywords=dnd
The dice are beautiful and fun.
Your biggest hurdle is going to be finding a DM. Everyone wants to be a player.
I would suggest picking up the Starter Set and taking a chance at DMing. You don't need to do voices, have elaborate set ups or be perfect. If you get a group of new players then it's a learning experience for everyone and that should help with any anxiety over not knowing what to do because everyone is new.
I'd be more than happy to help you get started. I even have an extra set of books (DM's Guide & Monster Manual) I'd be happy to lend you to get started.
'Tis never too late to begin!
r/lfg is also a wondrous resource for the errant knight in need of companions!
5e
Why do the core rule books' prices constantly fluctuate on Amazon? In particular, the Monster Manual seems to change daily, and sometimes drastically.
Looks like it's 50% off with prime shipping. Sold and shipped by amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Dungeon-Masters-Guide-Core-Rulebook/dp/0786965622
This information will be in the Dungeon Master's Guide when it's released.
For now
Edit: A list of buildings/constructions that I found on Pathfinder's Kingdom Building page: Academy, Alchemist, Arena, Bank, Bardic College, Barracks, Black Market, Brewery, Bridge, Bureau, Caster's Tower, Castle, Cathedral, Cistern, City Wall, Dance Hall, Dump, Everflowing Spring, Exotic Artisan, Foreign Quarter, Foundry, Garrison, Granary, Graveyard, Guildhall, Herbalist, Hospital, House, Inn, Jail, Library, Luxury Store, Magic Shop, Magical Academy, Magical Streetlamps, Mansion, Market, Menagerie, Military Academy, Mill, Mint, Moat, Monastery, Monument, Museum, Noble Villa, Observatory, Orphanage, Palace, Park, Paved Streets, Pier, Sewer System, Shop, Shrine, Smithy, Stable, Stockyard, Tannery, Tavern, Temple, Tenement, Theater, Town Hall, Trade Shop, University, Watchtower, Watergate, Waterfront, Taxation Edicts, Waterway
Edit 2: From the 3.5e DMG (Generating Towns pg137-139):
Populations:
If anyone can buy these:
http://www.amazon.in/Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Set-Roleplaying/dp/0786965592/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1452981513&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=dungeons+and+dragons
http://www.amazon.in/Players-Handbook-Core-Rulebook-Wizards/dp/0786965606/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1452981537&amp;sr=1-5&amp;keywords=dungeons+and+dragons+players+handbook
http://www.amazon.in/Dungeon-Masters-Guide-Core-Rulebook/dp/0786965622/ref=sr_1_10?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1452981556&amp;sr=1-10&amp;keywords=dungeons+and+dragons+dungeon+masters+guide
http://www.amazon.in/Monster-Manual-Core-Rulebook-Wizards/dp/0786965614/ref=sr_1_10?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1452981576&amp;sr=1-10&amp;keywords=dungeons+and+dragons+monster+manual
That would be amazing. They aren't on the wish list right now (they are asleep over there, so I haven't had a chance) but you can send them to:
Mundgod Public Library C/o Chief Representative Office No.7, Sampangiramaiah Garden, Srinivagalu Tank, Viveknagar Post, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560047 India Phone: 9816684664
The "Pin Code" is India's version of a zip code and it would the "560047"
The author of this article has clearly done no research on The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. The works of His Noodliness are well documented in A Letter from Saint Bobby Henderson to the Kansas State Board of Education. The miracles described in this sacred Epistle include influencing the results of radiometric dating, the increase of global warming, and the decline of piracy. We have pictorial documentation of the moment of creation, created by Bobby after receiving a vision of His Noodliness creating a mountain, some trees, and a midget. More can be found in The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster
Finally, there are millions of Pastafarians willing to become martyrs for His Noodliness, but we're just so darned likeable that no one has wanted to martyr us.
We Have one already.
This is so blasphemous to his Noodlyness.
It's almost like you've never read The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster..
I guess you haven't read the Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
Read the Gospel and the Loose Canon. Conversion ceremonies can be fun, and you can create your own. They should, of course, include pasta, pirate regalia, and grog.
Our holiday's include fridays, Holiday- a vague celebration around december- and ramendan, where we eat ramen in remembrance of all the college students who survive on it.
Keep the 8 I Really Rather You Didn'tsin mind, and have fun!
> I have heard that Marks Gospel comes from Peters Testimony, so Mark is technically an account from St. Peter.
I have heard that the Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster was dictated to Bobby Henderson directly from the spirit of Edward Teach, in communion with the Messianic Manicotti, and so is technically an account from Blackbeard Himself.
You probably think this is ridiculous (and I agree) -- but keep in mind we know Edward Teach/Blackbeard and Bobby Henderson are/were real people. We have no such assurance with Peter or Mark.
For the machete a Cold Steel kukri is an excellent option.
Field strip the MREs: here's how.
Get the Chinese military shovel instead, it's really awesome. Here's one link to buy it.
Would advise a Camelbak or other mini-backpack style hydration bladder, much better for mobility.
For the rope: get milspec 550 paracord.
Gorilla brand duct tape is advised.
For the multitool either SOG or Leatherman are excellent choices. A couple of good picks from each: SOG PowerAssist and PowerLock as well as the Leatherman MUT and the Charge TTi.
Check out 4Sevens for excellent quality flashlights - really these guys are among the best in the flashlight market.
For the gun I would advise a Ruger 10/22 with a folding stock for compactness. Add some 32 round interlocking magazines and a box or two of ammo (.22LR is cheap, they come in boxes of 500 or so).
I would also recommend a Red Cross multifunction solar/crank radio.
The SAS Survival Handbook and of course the Zombie Survival Guide would make good additions.
Here's the link for the book.
http://www.amazon.com/Zombie-Survival-Guide-Complete-Protection/dp/1400049628
Come on, we all know the only zombie survival guide is this one. http://www.amazon.com/The-Zombie-Survival-Guide-Protection/dp/1400049628
Pure worldbuilding and minimal narrative describes pretty well Expedition and Barlowe's Inferno by Wayne Douglas Barlowe.
Granted, these are books where the framing story (a person exploring the setting in question) is there to provide context for Barlowe's paintings, but you can do pretty much the same thing with words as he does with illustrations- take an explorer, an archaeologist, a historian, or some other sort of researcher, and follow them as they acquire knowledge about the setting. The story will thus focus on their discoveries, rendering exposition and story one and the same.
The SCP Foundation's various exploration logs are the best examples of this that I can name at present, as the characters involved in the framing story are generally anonymous redshirts whose only significance is the strange phenomena they encounter. As far as novels go, I also see the general formula in Jeff Fahy's Fragment.
Another example of an approach that works is the SCP-Foundation. There are traditional narratives on the site, but the main attraction for most of the Foundation's existence has been the collection of fictional documents describing various paranormal phenomena.
A fictional document or fictional documentary strikes me as a perfect method of doing what you seek. You can have an in-universe history book, an in-universe encyclopedia, some other sort of reference work like the Zombie Survival Guide, etc. You could call some of these "stories" by some definition of the word, I guess, but the bottom line is the format and content are quite different from what you typically see in things described as stories.
In that case, I think everyone who wants to write a zombie flick should have Max Brooks' The Zombie Survival Guide as mandatory reading to ensure continuity regarding the capabilities of zombies in future movies. Love that book - it makes me question what the writers were thinking whenever I see a zombie doing something out of the ordinary.
As a man who once read the [Zombie susrvival guide] (http://www.amazon.com/The-Zombie-Survival-Guide-Protection/dp/1400049628) I must say that a prison in rural Canada would be best. Walls, not many zombies and a lot of guns.
Also: [Zombie-killing girls] (http://www.google.se/imgres?imgurl=http://www.gogoanime.com/images/highschool-of-the-dead.jpg&amp;imgrefurl=http://www.gogoanime.com/category/highschool-of-the-dead&amp;h=415&amp;w=300&amp;sz=44&amp;tbnid=C8ZWLbyrh1tnGM:&amp;tbnh=86&amp;tbnw=62&amp;prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhighschool%2Bof%2Bthe%2Bdead%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&amp;zoom=1&amp;q=highschool+of+the+dead&amp;docid=ot0XrGinSneWoM&amp;sa=X&amp;ei=80uVT-KKFumk4gSikuXQDw&amp;ved=0CEwQ9QEwAg&amp;dur=4314)
The best way to survive a national disaster is to imagine how you would survive a zombie apocolypse. Stock up on food and water, get tourches with batteries (or better yet, wind ups), block all entrances and wait for help. Depending on the level of outbreak and how much society has broken down, you could be waiting for days, if not weeks for the government to step in.
Your costco idea works in theory except that malls and shops are generally hard to defend. Multiple entrances, concreate stairs, lots of windows. Not to mention you will have to stop every Tom, Dick and Harry from trying to raid the store.
Check out the zombie survival guide. Its ment to be a parody but theres a lot of info that works in any situation.
This remind me of this. My husband was reading this book when we first met. He's educated me a lot in the zombie survival technique.
5th edition is the most streamlined version. [DnD Starter Set](Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set https://www.amazon.com/dp/0786965592/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_TosKzbBFDAP6E) is about $16. It's plenty to get you going and to find out if you like it enough to save up for more books.
So you can use the minis in D&D for sure. I actually traded for all of them for this exact reason.
The game itself, however, doesn't really help ease you into D&D proper at all.
That being said you don't even need minis to play 5th edition.
I would recomend grabbing the starter set. It comes with pregen characters, basic rules and an excellent intro adventure.
I don't know about 4e, but 5e books are not available for free as pdfs. The Basic Rules, however, are. As are some short adventurs, such as the Death House part of Curse of Strahd.
If you are completely new to the game and you are not only running a One-Shot, I highly recommend playing the Starter Set adventure, as it eases new DMs (and players) into the game. You can always include your own stuff if you want to give it a personal touch.
Then play some fifth edition dnd! Easy enough to pick up, all you need is 15 usd and 3 or 4 friends! Hell, I can be a stand in friend if you need the numbers, as long as time is OK. The starter set can be found at many stores or [HERE] (https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Set-Roleplaying/dp/0786965592) and if you want, grab a dice set for yourself, as it's generally acknowledged that the starter set dice are cursed. There's many different colors
It's actually really easy to play and learn how to. I picked it up in a week. After that it becomes super rewarding if you get it going, and my first campaign just recently celebrated the one year anniversary. (generally the person that runs it spends more time/souls/energy/money/etc on it but gets to claim ownership of it)
https://www.amazon.ca/Dungeons-Characters-Character-Rulebook-Adventure/dp/0786965592/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=dnd+starter+set&amp;qid=1556666781&amp;s=books&amp;sr=1-1
Gonna do you a favor and drop this link here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-YZvLUXcR8&amp;list=PLlUk42GiU2guNzWBzxn7hs8MaV7ELLCP_
While I encourage you to watch all of those videos, the first 4 should be sufficient to help get you going.
You mentioned running an official adventure. I'd highly recommend checking out the adventure The Lost Mine of Phandelver. It's part of the Starter Set for new players and new DMs. It costs about $13 on Amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Wizards-Team/dp/0786965592/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2P8S6ENFX9PT6&amp;keywords=dnd+5e+starter+set&amp;qid=1555389927&amp;s=gateway&amp;sprefix=dnd+5e+starter%2Caps%2C158&amp;sr=8-1
As far as tips/advice: You are going to make some mistakes; Its ok. We all do. Don't over-prepare but rather be willing to adapt when players do things you don't expect - which I promise you will happen. Most importantly, have fun!
$50? Ouch.
I guess it's not too surprising since 4e is out of print.
Your best bet would be to go for the 5e starter set - it's the current edition that will be actively supported with new content and it's only $12 on Amazon
Unfortunately no, there is no way to play the game solo. I've heard there are a ton of ways to play with strangers online but I haven't tried any.
What drew me in was I started watching/listening to Critical Role season 2. It's a podcast with a bunch of video game voice actors playing. It's a far more roleplaying version of the game than what I play but it's still great for teaching new players the ropes.
If you want to just dive in, basic versions of the rules can be found here for free or if you want to see what a proper adventure looks like without buying the $50 book, the starter set is a phenomnal introduction that takes about 30 hours to play through and gets you to level 5 (max is 20). Check some of those and if you're still interested, find a meetup near you. You won't regret it.
Welcome! It sounds like you have enough friends to start your own group. The Starter Set is highly recommended for new players- it comes with pregenerated characters, an abbreviated rulebook, dice, and an adventure to run. If you want more after that, you can dive in to the full rule books. The Player's Handbook is the most useful, and the Monster Manual and DM's Guide are helpful for the DM.
You can take turns being the DM for short campaigns or one-shots, or you can run a longer campaign if you (or one of your friends) is interested in running the game long-term. You can make up your own story or you can run a pre-made adventure (there are some published by WOTC, and there are also some available online- DM's Guild is a good online resource).
Don't stress out too much about knowing every rule- in the end, you're telling a story with your friends. If you don't know the rule, make up something that seems reasonable and look it up later.
> And how strict are they when it comes to role playing your characters?
I've been a dungeon master for an in person group going on 2 years (same group) and been a DM for near 8 years all together. It's about setting expectations. We don't do voices or any of that. Our first game we played (for nearly a year) nobody was in character. This game, everyone wanted to step up and try more RP, it's working well.
> But how welcoming are they to new dnd players?
It's VERY accepting of new players. /r/dnd is VERY open to new players as well.
I suggest you pick up the starter set which guides you and the players through your first adventures.
Many people write their own adventures, which is not what I recommend for a new player. There are MANY pre-written campaigns / modules out there for you some of which take years to play through. I read that if you played through all of the official books, it would take something like 12 years or something crazy.
Edit: a link to the getting started guide on /r/dnd:
https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/wiki/getting_started
Is this the one?
Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set: Fantasy Roleplaying Game Starter Set
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/aw/d/0786965592/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1484791895&amp;sr=8-1&amp;pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&amp;keywords=dnd+starter+set&amp;dpPl=1&amp;dpID=51Ykm93n8ML&amp;ref=plSrch
Personally I'd go with the Dungeons and Dragons 5e starter set. It's cheap, comes with dice and is actually a highly rated adventure.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0786965592/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1473084696&amp;sr=8-1&amp;pi=SY200_QL40&amp;keywords=d%26d+starter+set&amp;dpPl=1&amp;dpID=51Ykm93n8ML&amp;ref=plSrch
The 5E Starter Set is currently $14.20 on Amazon. Premade adventures are a god send for new DMs just because it lays out everything for you. There is very little prep work besides reading the actual adventure. The adventure included with the starter set is quite good and offers at least a few sessions of play.
Instruct your players to download and read through the Basic Rules as well as the Pregen Characters, both free on the D&D website. Besides getting familiar with the mechanics of play, Basic Rules also provide guidelines for character generation. If they don't have time they can take one of the pregens and if they choose to, they can use the Basic Rules to create their own characters.
Links:
I bought the Lost Mines of Phandelver as a new GM with all new players. The book spells it out for you on how to DM. You might also want to check out Matthew Mercer's Critical Roll . He even did a special with Vin Diesel ! Also check out Matthew Colville on youtube.
It should be noted that the starter set, which is an excellent introduction, is on sale today.
Also, the D&D 5e Starter Set is only $8. right now!
I recommend 5th edition starter set, hands down. It has (IMO) the best starter set adventure of any of the previous starter/basic sets.
Here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0786965592/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1427161703&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=d%26d+starter+set+5th+edition
I'm amazed the comments section isn't full immediately...
So! One of the best places to start with D&D if you're coming at it with little to no experience is YouTube. If you've been watching shows like Acquisitions Incorporated, Critical Role, or Force Grey: Giant Hunters, you might already have some idea of what to expect. There are a plethora of other YouTube personalities that are very education and encouragement-driven.
If you're just looking for the best things to buy or download to get started, for D&D specifically, the 5th edition Starter Set is terrific. It's only $20 in-store and provides you with multiple levels of play along with prebuilt characters and a decent-length adventure:
https://amzn.com/0786965592
The official D&D site also has great free material to take your game further without spending any money:
http://dnd.wizards.com/products/tabletop-games/trpg-resources
Also, I would recommend starting with pre-written adventures until you get a feel for how to run a game and populate worlds with interesting people. A great site for cheap premade adventures is the DMs Guild (formerly D&D Classics).
http://www.dmsguild.com/
Quick note: assuming you can wrangle a group of friends into playing, if you're the one putting in the most work at the outset you'll almost certainly be the de facto Dungeon Master. Just be ready for players to not put in the effort as much.
Welp, Wizards of the Coast has put the core rulebook of the latest edition online for free, so you can read over that to get a handle on the rules.
Other than that, the 5th edition starter set is pretty cheap on Amazon -- that will give you everything you need to start playing with some friends at a table.
And the free(!) online service https://roll20.net is a virtual tabletop where you can play over the internet with folks from anywhere!
For finding folks to play, either talk 3-5 friends into playing, or search /r/lfg or roll20's built-in game finder.
And that's everything you need! :D
If you don't like the physical book prices at MSRP then pick them up on amazon. Much cheaper that way, take a look.
http://www.amazon.com/Players-Handbook-Dungeons-Dragons-Wizards/dp/0786965606/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1406277974&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=players+handbook+5&amp;dpPl=1
If you want it cheaper:
http://www.amazon.com/Players-Handbook-Dungeons-Dragons-Wizards/dp/0786965606/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1406278204&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=player%27s+handbook+5th+edition&amp;dpPl=1
I would highly recommend buying the 5th edition starter kit. Being the newest D&D edition available, you'll find a lot of official support for it. Wizards of the Coast is even releasing a Ipad/Android app sometimes soon.
The starter kit comes with a pretty sweet adventure, all the basic rules you need (except the character creation section which is free online), pre-made characters, a blank character sheet you could photocopy or download form-fillable and printable pdfs from wotc website, and even a set of dice.
relevent links:
5th Edition Basic set on Amazon
This page has free pdfs of character sheets, basic rules and some supplements for available adventures. Def worth checking it all out!
WotC Resources Page
This product is $10 on amazon and is literally designed for your exact purpose.
https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Wizards-Team/dp/0786965592/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1499001509&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=d%26d+starter+set it's dirt cheap.
Amazon is the cheapest, but if you have a local brick and mortar store, go and look there. Though here's some amazon links.
Starter set.
Cheap but good dice.
tl;dr: Get the Starter Set, get the Player's Handbook, get some Dice and go wild. Don't worry about asking for advice on here as well.
There's actually a Getting Started Guide in the Sidebar of this Subreddit; it's a very nice comprehensive list of what to do.
For home games, I would heavily encourage you to get the 5e Starter Set which comes with a Quickstart Rundown of the Rules, Pregenerated Characters, Dice and a really great Adventure. It really is a perfect start.
As for "Adventurer's League", that is the Official D&D 5e game-style; it uses specific adventures and a certain set of rules that is consistent between stores and events so you can theoretically take a character from one Store/Event and play it at another place without problems. It follows a couple of specific rules, and is mainly a way for people to play that don't have a consitent home group to play with. It's fun, and if the Store does have an AL table for Children specifically, that is great; without much knowledge of the rules yet, AL may be overwhelming though.
If you are serious about starting, get the Starter Set, an extra Set of Dice (usually called a "Polyset"), and maybe the Player's Handbook, this will last for the first couple of Months I'd wager. Getting the Player's Handbook is great for when your Boys want to make their own Characters instead of using the Pregenerated ones, as it has all the standard Race and Class options, equipment for characters, and all the other things you need for playing.
The other books, like the Dungeon Master's Guide and Monster Manual are nice to have, but not a necessity. The DMG goes into a lot of detail on how to make your own worlds and adventures and lists a lot of magic items; good to have, but not a necessity I'd say.
The MM has the stastics and information on Monsters; a lot of those can be looked up via the 5e System Reference Document or the Roll20 Compendium. More monsters are always nice to have, but again, not necesarry for when you're starting out.
There's other books as well - Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide, Volo's Guide to Monsters, Xanathar's Guide to Everything, Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes..., but all those are Supplement Books that offer Information on Campaign/World Settings, have new Monsters or more Player Options in terms of Races and Classes, but they are also entirely optional and a little more "advanced" content, so to speak, so I wouldn't pick them up right away.
Historically, yes, that has been the case. The core rulebooks will currently set you back $150 unless you get them on sale (they're basically always on sale on Amazon).
BUT
You have cheaper options:
The Starter Set is roughly $20. It comes with a pre-written adventure, simplified rules, dice, and 5 pre-made characters that you can play from levels 1 to 4 with just the stuff in the box.
If you're not ready to spend money, Wizards of Coast published the "Basic Rules" for free. It's everything you need to play except dice (and you can get a free mobile app for that) and people. It doesn't have all of the content of the core rulebooks, but it has the most iconic monsters and character options, and you could still play for years using just what's in the basic rules.
http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/basicrules
Like I said: It has literally never been easier to play.
starter kit
This starter set is a fantastic place to begin.
I think the starter set would be good. I'm a very new player/DM and it gave me an adventure to run with my friends, who also had no experience playing. It was a lot of fun.
As for the math, it's really not terrible difficult, mainly just simple addition and subtraction, which would be great for the kids IMHO.
I plan on getting my two year old into D&D ASAP personally. It's something that both her mom and I enjoy so it's something she can be involved in, and the math part, as I stated before, is pretty simple. Just have them add the modifiers and you tell them the outcome, there is no need for them to remember everything.
Now, if you're asking which edition to go for, 5e is probably the easiest for new players to understand (also it's the most recent edition, with the DM Guide having come out online only 3 days ago).
http://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Set-Roleplaying/dp/0786965592/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1418417769&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=starter+set+dnd
That's the link to buy the starter set on Amazon. It's very fairly priced. Give it a try, I'm sure you and your kids will love it. If not, it'll give you somewhat of a base to build your own world that your kids will love. :)
I'll toss my vote for the D&D 5th edition starter set as well.
http://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Set-Roleplaying/dp/0786965592/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1419434231&amp;sr=8-4&amp;keywords=5th+edition+dungeons+and+dragons
It's a fantastic starting point, and it's a smoother game than Pathfinder, or the ilk. It's also a game people actually know of any play, so you are not going to have any problems finding people who can help you find more stuff in the future.
/u/Vagabond_Sam is right overall, but I'd argue you could go slightly more "barest essential" with the Starter Set, which I think might suit you best right now:
http://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Set-Roleplaying/dp/0786965592/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1421892837&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=D%26D+starter
Granted if you love the game as much as I'm sure you will once you start getting into it then there's a good chance you'll buy the Player's Handbook, Monster Manual, and Dungeon Master's Guide after this anyway which repeats a lot of the same information (minus the adventure). This just gives you a cheap entry-point.
Players hand book has the rules, they are also in the system reference guide (think thats the name of it) which is free, online, provided by WotC. If he's not played before you can get LMoP for 15 bucks which has a subset of the players hand book, all the important rules, and a premade campaign. thats enough to get you started and would let you then run a home brew when the reach level 5 and finish the campagin (LMoP is balanced for 4 players 1 DM, so you would need to change the encounters to make them easier if you only have 2 players)
> Do I need to read the whole thing
No.
If you want to learn DnD the fun way then watch the following:
Matt Colville Running the Game
Critical Role: Season 2 (I say season 2 because whilst season 1 is good, and you should totally watch it, by season 2 they are experienced players and the set-up is so much smoother)
I'd recommend looking at the SRD (Systems Reference Document - catchy name!!) its a condensed rules and its completely free online, it cuts it down to absolutely the bare minimum you need to know to get a game running.
And finally, if you are willing to invest 15 bucks (or your regional equivalent) then pick up the Starter Set which is a great little book which properly introduces you and your players to DnD. It ASSUMES you've never played before and as the adventure guide progresses it gradually lets go of your hand and lets you DM the normal way - it was the first campaign I ran and it was a great introduction.
If you can, the Starter Set can be picked up pretty cheap now-a-days (it wasn't expensive to begin with).
Here and here.
Wizards provides the basic rule set for free here.
Beyond that, buying the PHB, DMG, MM, and any other campaign book or supplement is the only option. Wizards doesn't release PDF versions of their books for purchase.
You can also check the side-bar for info, and ask questions here anytime.
Download the free basic rules from Wizards. Read it. Order Lost Mines of Phandelver, the 5e starter set. It's cheap and comes with everything you need to start playing, including dice and pre-generated character sheets. It also serves as a walkthrough to the game for both the DM and the players. You won't need the core books until after you finish LMoP, so you can save some cash and see if you guys enjoy the game before you commit.
People are downvoting you because all of this is spelled out on the sidebar, which has a ton of other resources that will help you.
There are also more supplementary books that were released later (Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide, Volo's Guide to Monsters) and campaign books, but I wouldn't consider them part of the core set of D&D books. I would recommend you go 5th edition starter set --> If everyone's excited and interested in continuing to play, then look into the core books (Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, Monster Manual) --> If you want more options, resources, or a full campaign to play through, look into some of the other published books.
The Stater Set would be a good place to start:
https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Set-Roleplaying/dp/0786965592/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1482952987&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=D%26D+Starter+Set
Go, buy this now: 5e Starter Set. It has everything your group will need.
You can probably get a copy quicker at your local gaming store.
Come back here with any questions!
5th Edition is super user friendly. I'd suggest picking up the Players Handbook as well as The Starter Set, which is a great module for your first adventure and has everything a DM needs to learn the ropes and run the module.
To answer your second question: If you have a group of friend and none of you have ever played any tabletop roleplaying game then I recommend getting the starter set. The starter set has an introduction adventure for 5-6 people, one of which is the Dungeon Master and the rest are characters. The set also contains pre-made characters, a set of dice, and a short rules book. (To answer your first question you'll need a 7 dice set of polyhedral dice. The prices range based on how fancy they are, but they all work the same.)
If you have a friend that has played an RPG before then ask them to run one or to join their group. Ask them if it's okay to borrow dice and stuff for the session to see if you like it or not.
If none of your friends are interested then look for a group online and let them know you're a beginner. I occasionally see people offering to teach beginners.
To answer your last question, I tried to make an informative imgur album a while ago but I dunno how useful it is. http://imgur.com/a/bqOI9
Try the starter's set if it's your first time, it's got the basic classes as well as a 3-4 session adventure that will take you up to Level 5 ish.
Note: If it's your first time you don't want to dive in at higher levels that mean you have more abilities/spells to manage on your first go through. Start at level 1 and work up from there.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Boxed-Game/dp/0786965592/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1453819787&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=d+and+d+starter+set
Call Me By Your Name for queer book club and Lies of Locke Lamora.
Also, if you like GRRM's style of fantasy, Scott Lynch's Gentleman Bastard series would probably be a good bet to try. The first two books are already out (Lies of Locke Lamora and Red Seas Under Red Skies)and the third is due out this October, with another 4 books still planned after that.
The only "fatherhood" book I could stand: Be Prepared
The only "baby" book I could stand: (and they have a good Toddler one from the same series)
Baby 411: Clear Answers & Smart Advice For Your Baby's First Year
We just picked up Baby Bargains by Denise and Alan Fields. It seems really helpful - lots of product guides, reviews, and suggestions for first time parents. Again, we just picked it up today so take this for what it's worth, but I'm happy we did and already feel like we've gotten our money's worth.
Edit to add I've heard good things about Experimenting with Babies and Be Prepared, but I haven't looked closely at either one.
Don't worry it's super easy. When they hand you the baby make sure it's head is in the crook of your elbow and then just cradle the bottom. You'll get the hang of it real quick. Ditch all those parenting books, this is what you need.
I rather liked this one:
http://www.amazon.com/Be-Prepared-Practical-Handbook-Dads/dp/0743251547/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1324586538&amp;sr=8-2
It's not a kid, it's a baby, and there is a big difference.
The baby is not manipulating them, the baby has only basic needs, at 2 years old they may have some preferences but they don't even realize they can do things to influence others and get what they want. Even a tantrum is usually just having big emotions and no where to go with them.
I'd like to hope that it will be different when it's his own kid, else I'd suggest he starts seeing a therapist now do deal with the trauma of having a newborn at home and a wife that's "on the babies side".
There is a book my husband got that might help? Linky to Amazon
You want this book: https://www.amazon.com/Be-Prepared-Gary-Greenberg/dp/0743251547
My husband and I have both read it at the recommendation of his sister and her husband. It's practical information presented in an entertaining way.
http://www.amazon.com/Be-Prepared-Practical-Handbook-Dads/dp/0743251547/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1344482516&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=be+prepared
This one. End topic. This is the best book out of the many I read, and it was by far the best.
Oh, and congrats!!
I agree that hospital parenting classes are the best way to go. But you can also find some books on Amazon or videos on Youtube just by searching things like "new dad tips" or something. Here's a few links; I'm not sure how many are targeted to single dads, though. You may find a lot of references to "your partner" in the books, but there still is some truth to that -- you're not romantic partners, but you still need to be parenting partners.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0743251547?keywords=new%20fathers%20book&amp;qid=1452471002&amp;ref_=sr_1_3&amp;sr=8-3
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0789212137?keywords=new%20fathers%20book&amp;qid=1452471002&amp;ref_=sr_1_4&amp;sr=8-4
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0316159956?keywords=new%20fathers%20book&amp;qid=1452471002&amp;ref_=sr_1_7&amp;sr=8-7
http://www.amazon.com/The-New-Father-Guide-Series-ebook/dp/B00VPPYEWY/ref=dp_kinw_strp_1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSfPqgtdmAo
I recommend this book over and over. Reading it was one of the best things I did to settle my nerves and get that peek behind the curtain. I have done many, MANY of the suggestions they outline, and they have never let me down!
I bought my husband Be Prepared, but I'm actually less experienced than him, so I love it too!
Yeah, some of the other subreddits have links to parenting resources, although at a quick glance I did not see anything specifically related to baby proofing, so my bad on that.
I thought the book Be Prepared, A Practical Handbook for New Dads was pretty useful, and it has a good amount of helpful information about what to do before and after the baby arrives through the first year. It's easy to read, with some good humor. Hope that helps.
Im gonna assume its from this book
https://www.amazon.com/Safe-Baby-Handling-Tips-David/dp/0762424915
I saw this online ages ago, then bought the book for my sister when got pregnant (both, of them Safe Baby Handling tips and Safe Baby Pregnancy tips). Who says piracy doesn't sell?
I'd recommend you read A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. It's a pretty good survey of natural science and very accessible to the layman. I think I've read it twice and each time come away with that "everything in the universe is awesome" feeling. It's probably my favorite non-fiction overall.
Best general science book: A Short History of Nearly Everything, by Bill Bryson.
While it does have its inaccuracies, check out A Short History of Nearly Everything. You'll walk away with a list a mile long of more awesome things you want to read about.
It's more of a general all-about-science book, but Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything. It was years ago that I read it but it has some really interesting sections about geology and biology if I recall correctly.
To know why what you are saying doesn't make sense you need to read a very large amount of physcis books, may i suggest starting at Bill Bryson's a short history of nearly everything then moving on to Stephen Hawking's a short history of time
Even though it's not exclusively about geology, A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson is a fantastic read.
Although it covers everything from the Big Bang to early humans, about 7 of it's 30 chapters are on geologic topics such as paleontology, tectonics, asteroid impacts, ice ages, etc. as well as the history of the development of those fields. It's one of those rare books that is very readable and informative without being too dumbed down.
Bill Brysons "A Short History of Nearly Everything" is a good place to start.
http://www.amazon.com/A-Short-History-Nearly-Everything/dp/076790818X
A Short History of Nearly Everything, A People's History of the United States, Freakonomics, The Botany of Desire, Sun Magazine
If she is interested in science than Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything would be great for a summer read.
There are lots! Try Brian Greene's Fabric of the Cosmos series on Amazon. Both Netflix and Amazon have a huge amount of NOVA documentaries which are usually pretty good.
The movie Particle Fever (Netflix) is a great intro to the work of the LHC at CERN
Look up the BBC Christmas Lectures - there are lots of them. Every xmas famous scientists present a layman overview of a topic to kids at the famous Royal Institution. I grew up watching these and still love them today.
Prof Brian Cox is probably the UKs most recognizable face for bringing physics to the public these days. Europe's version of NDT. He's always a joy to watch and you'll be able to find many talks by him, and programs starring him, just by searching his name on Youtube.
For the history of science, you can't get more fun than Bill Bryson's book, A Short History of Nearly Everything. It's wildly entertaining.
Just a word of warning on the layman style documentaries and pop sci books... their very nature makes them have to avoid the math, which is where all of this stuff comes from in the first place. As a result the concepts they share often seem fantastical and speculative and can lead non-scientists to wonder about the veracity of science these days. It's important to remember these things all have a much less dramatic and exciting foundation usually in partial differential equations and other such complex math. If you want to get into that side of things, Leonard Suskind's free online lectures at The Theoretical Minimum are great.
This is also a good read: A Short History of Nearly Everything.
Check out A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. It's a good start and a humorous read as well.
Read "Ready Player One" ? This is how it starts i bet. I wonder what the future brings. VR-goggles and haptic gloves. Haptic-tech is only in the beginner phase yet, but it will come. Then it's all integrated in some huge corp.
http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Player-One-A-Novel/dp/0307887448
"Ready Player One" is book about a kid world like that.
http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Player-One-A-Novel/dp/0307887448/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1395719764&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=ready+player+one
Can't blame facebook for trying to make the first go at a Metaverse or Oasis. There is like a 90% chance they either ruin the company or drive it straight into irrelevance, but I might be okay with the risk to reward ratio. Especially since other companies are coming out with VR stuff to compete (hopefully).
to anyone really interested in VR and the future you really must read "Ready Player One" - http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Player-One-A-Novel/dp/0307887448
Good hacker/IT/short stories:
Just recently finished "Ready Player One". A really fantastic novel chock full of awesome 80's pop culture references. Definitely an enjoyable read for anyone who loves video games, John Hughes movies, or awesome hair bands. The audio book is also narrated by Will Wheaton which is pretty great.
Just to start the thread of Ready Player One love.
I realize there is a ton of fantastic sci-fi out there, but this book has stuck with me more than any other book in my collection.
https://www.amazon.com/Ready-Player-One-Ernest-Cline/dp/0307887448
I heard about Ready Player One recently, and it sounds very interesting. It's general theme is dystopian reality with a MMO utopia. I was thinking of getting it to read while traveling for the holidays, but my library doesn't have it :(.
I second the Neal Stephenson suggestion, and I've got to add Ernest Cline's Ready Player One. It's as much a sendup to "nerd culture" as it is an exploration of trans-humanist themes, but it's written with much attention to detail. I couldn't put it down.
Ready Player One. It's about a virtual reality game in the future and a contest that takes place when the inventor of the game passes away. It has a lot of 1980s pop culture trivia.
Edit: here's a link to it on Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0307887448?pc_redir=1413280970&amp;robot_redir=1
I think this is the same one
First off, i have to say that your username is great. Check this one out:
https://www.amazon.com/Guide-People-Nothing-About-Firearms/dp/149280990X/ref=pd_sim_14_2?_encoding=UTF8&amp;pd_rd_i=149280990X&amp;pd_rd_r=DHN4267DBSAW2YVS5ARK&amp;pd_rd_w=5vIDW&amp;pd_rd_wg=cqdIE&amp;psc=1&amp;refRID=DHN4267DBSAW2YVS5ARK
Also i got this DVD at walmart several years ago that explains in depth the history of guns. For most people it's a total bore to watch. But very historical and factual:
https://www.amazon.com/Guns-Evolution-Firearms-Kevin-Hershberger/dp/B00A2XQU54
Added Bonus:
https://www.amazon.com/How-Talk-Your-About-Safety/dp/045149492X/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1522540718&amp;sr=8-4&amp;keywords=gun+safety+book&amp;dpID=512slp93A4L&amp;preST=_SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&amp;dpSrc=srch
Book
How to Talk to Your Cat About Gun Safety: And Abstinence, Drugs, Satanism, and Other Dangers That Threaten Their Nine Lives https://www.amazon.com/dp/045149492X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_e4Y9BbN82NJWT
https://www.amazon.com/How-Talk-Your-About-Safety/dp/045149492X
This book will change your life, and all nine of your cat's lives.
It's full of advice on how to talk to your cat about gun safety, the threat of homosexuality, how to identify immigrants, and more!
Just be sure to sit him down and have a serious talk before getting him his own gun. It's not something to be taken lightly.
I am very tempted to buy this book.
huehuehue
Seriously, I apologize.
6
The author put out a great book, too.
I love this one.
Sorry that I ask, but after seeing tons of these posts recently, is it this book that pictures are from?
I swore the answer to your question ( similar) was in this book. What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions https://www.amazon.com/dp/0544272994/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_7kyQCbFH0EVZ6
Sorry i don't remember the answer though. Try a library for that book, libraries are free.
I just read the chapter on this in "What If?" (http://www.amazon.com/What-If-Scientific-Hypothetical-Questions/dp/0544272994/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1425600998&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=what+if)
Turns out, you don't want to treat elements like Pokemon. Good luck!
Yes, Diamond Age is such a great spiritual successor to Snow Crash. Where Snow Crash has that frantic pace and hyper compressed events, Diamond Age takes its time and describes every molecule of the beauty in the book's events. These two works are such great testaments to Stephenson's skill because it's obvious he worked really hard to make them describe similar themes, but also compliment each other.
Have you seen the new covers? I like them, they do a good job of presenting them as companion pieces.
Snow Crash
Diamond Age
Transmetropolitan by Warren Ellis (okay, okay, that's 11 books total. But worth every penny)
Or for text book, Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
Edits: fixed link.
For fiction, you MUST read Daemon and Freedom(TM)
I also enjoyed Snowcrash and Cryptonomicon, though in my opinion the latter was a little bit of a difficult read. Worth it though.
For sheer 'play in the virtual world' stuff, you MUST read Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. You'll blaze through that, so follow it up with Stephenson's The Diamond Age
Good YA dystopic future stuff:
The Windup Girl
Station Eleven
Finally, get into Neuromancer, by William Gibson. It's a fantastic--some would say genre-defining--cyberpunk novel.
Then go devour everything Stephenson and Gibson put out there. That should get you through at least the first half of the summer. Happy reading!
Believe it or not there are quite a few good sci-fi books exploring these ideas already. Here is an incomplete list you may want to check out:
Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash
Since searching wikipedia turned up the Timeline of Non-Sexual Social Nudity(TIL) I'm just going to guess you're you're looking for a more techie true to life rendition of the hacker archetype based on the amazon synopsis.
Based on that I'd recommend:
Cryptonomicon
just.go.read.it.right.now.
It may take a little effort to get into, damn thing is a tomb, but give it a chance. You will not be disappoint.
--------------
Stealing the Network Series
How to Own a Box
How to Own a Continent
How to Own an Identity
How to Own a Shadow
comments
These are told in a chapter/viewpoint style, each chapter is usually written by a different knowledgeable, and sometimes security famous, security dude. Out of those I've only read How to Own an Identity so far, but it was pretty good and and my guess is that the rest hold up to that standard, so dive in. They are a series from what I understand so reading them in order is probably a good idea, but not completely necessary.
_____
And then for flair (these are more scifi/cyberpunk-ish; so if that's not your thing avoid):
Snowcrash
comments
The main character's name is Hiro Protagonist. No seriously. He's a ninja, he's a hacker, he lives in a U-Store-it container, and he delivers pizza for the Mob in a post-collapse USA, can you really not read this book now?
--------------
The Diamond Age
comments
All about the practical social implications of nanotechnolgy told through the eyes of a young girl, her father, and an assortment of disposable associates.
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The Sprawl Trilogy
Neuromancer
Count Zero
Mona Lisa Overdrive
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I've only read Neuromancer and Mona Lisa Overdrive, which were both great, so I'm guessing Count Zero is probably good too.
Similar to Snowcrash in the lone gun hacker sense, except with more drugs a little bit more of a scattered tone.
And if all else fails there's always the DEF CON reading list.
ninja edits because I suck at markdown
I started to read more when I was trying to unplug. TV/Netflix/phones can really pull you out of reality, make your brain weak as you begin to lose control of your thoughts. Just try not watching TV/youtube for 3 days...why is it so hard? Are we addicted to screens or are we just lazy. Research neuroplasticity, and how you can make your brain work for you (any how you fall into additive traps when you lose control of your attention). A lot of people on here are recommending meditation, I can't stress how important this is.
Start by reading someting that interests you...check out r/suggestmeabook if you need some help. Also, I can recommend some great books:
Best of luck.
I really liked Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson...
Here you go.
I'm gonna stretch the rules and include some comics on this list:
I just finished reading the Gentleman Bastards series, by Scott Lynch:
After reading The Stormlight Archive, and Mistborn, a friend recommended me the Gentleman Bastards saga and I loved it. I'd say I liked it more than mistborn, and equally than The Stormlight Archive. Scott Lynch is also a great author.
I enjoyed reading the Gentleman Bastards saga. The characters are complex, the fantasy lore is rich, not Brandon Sanderson-rich, but rich. The history is great. But I must say that I think Scott Lynch is very descriptive, I found difficult to get through because so much detail was offered.
PS. Maybe we all could share our goodreads.com profiles. Seeing that we have similar tastes, we could see what others are reading.
I'll post links so you can get an idea of what they're about. Apologies, I'm a bit tired, otherwise I would give you a rough synopsis myself
If you're looking for some good fantasy books I'd highly recommend the following:
1.) The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss - http://www.amazon.com/Name-Wind-Kingkiller-Chronicle/dp/0756404746
2.) Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence - http://www.amazon.com/Prince-Thorns-Broken-Empire-Lawrence/dp/1937007685
3.) Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson - http://www.amazon.com/Gardens-Moon-Malazan-Book-Fallen/dp/0765348780/ref=pd_sim_14_12?ie=UTF8&amp;dpID=51pDraZRUIL&amp;dpSrc=sims&amp;preST=_AC_UL160_SR99%2C160_&amp;refRID=1H0ZZ7MYMYZGKGQMEKTW
This next one has some fantasy elements, however, it's hard to pigeonhole into an exact genre (low fantasy adventure?), nonetheless, it's one of the better books that I've read recently.
4.) The Lies of Locke Lamora (Gentleman Bastards) by Scott Lynch
http://www.amazon.com/Lies-Locke-Lamora-Gentleman-Bastards/dp/055358894X/ref=pd_sim_14_5?ie=UTF8&amp;dpID=51tpIK8K%2BtL&amp;dpSrc=sims&amp;preST=_AC_UL160_SR98%2C160_&amp;refRID=1H0ZZ7MYMYZGKGQMEKTW
5.) The Way of Shadows: The Night Angel Trilogy: Book 1 by Brent Weeks -
http://www.amazon.com/Way-Shadows-Night-Angel-Trilogy/dp/0316033677/ref=pd_sim_14_4?ie=UTF8&amp;dpID=51tPZPp5dsL&amp;dpSrc=sims&amp;preST=_AC_UL160_SR93%2C160_&amp;refRID=1WERAT21ARWMVZN12V2P
(All books mentioned are the 1st novel of a larger series. If you're already aware and/or read these already than disregard, trying to pass along some great books for anyone who might come across my post)
Some of my favs:
The King Killer Chronicles
Gentlemen Bastard Series
The Dark Tower
Riyria Revelations
The Ender Quartet
Ummmm I know I'm leaving some out, but those are some of my favorite series off the top of my head.
Edit: Stupid formatting on mobile.
Interestingly, The Bro Code was written by a character played by a gay person
Rubber Duck Necktie - How I Met Your Mother Barney's Ducky Tie https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008PSV4OA/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_4tVKub0AYK588
The Bro Code https://www.amazon.com/dp/143911000X/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_KuVKub1CQWBVP
Boondock Saints Veritas Aequitas Cross Glass https://www.amazon.com/dp/B006Y07AQW/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_zvVKub0C2WCTR
Boondock Saints 2 Playing Cards https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004A2GEY0/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_5vVKub01WDCYV
PROGRAMMER ~Sign~ parking street code hacker geek gift https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001BZA4MC/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_KzVKub0B05MKF
https://www.amazon.com/Eats-Shoots-Leaves-Tolerance-Punctuation/dp/1592402038
Relevant.
This comment is wonderful, because it shows the importance of situational awareness. While the example below is in relation to commas in a list, it still points out the importance of seeing it through to make your proper point.
Eats, shoots, and leaves.
The panda has a meal, fires it’s pistol then splits.
Eats shoots and leaves.
The panda eats bamboo and plants.
This shows how important this comment is. You need to always take a good look!
(Taken from the wonderful book Eats, Shoots & Leaves: A Zero Tolerance Approach yo Punctuation.
For more info: https://www.amazon.com/Eats-Shoots-Leaves-Tolerance-Punctuation/dp/1592402038
When it's used as part of or in place of a name, capitalize. Otherwise, don't.
"and the king was sad" is correct, because "the king" is not a noun, but "and King John was sad" would be correct because "king" here is the title as part and parcel of the name.
In your blurb above, the capitalization on queen is incorrect.
This book is one I always have nearby somewhere when I'm writing. Definitely worth a few bucks. Grammatical errors will put a lot of people off - even if you make the same grammatical errors consistently through your MS.
I'm pretty obsessed with proper grammar and punctuation, and I love semicolons (even though Kurt Vonnegut would reject me for it). I would give you a long explanation since I love talking, being a teacher and all, but the Oatmeal's comic is much more concise and amusing than I could ever hope to be.
As a grammar nerd, I'd recommend the classics when it comes to grammar and usage: Eats, Shoots & Leaves and The Elements of Style.
There's a whole cheeky book based on this joke.
Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation https://www.amazon.com/dp/1592402038/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_4rwRzbR2Y15QR
Yes, it's [this one] (https://www.amazon.com/Baby-Owners-Manual-Instructions-Trouble-Shooting/dp/1594745978)! It's meant to be humorous, but it has a lot of very practical info written in the store or an instruction manual. It's been quite helpful for us, as I too had zero experience with babies before my own arrived. ☺️👍
You should start learning how to be a Dad. First step is not calling Mom a bitch.
https://www.amazon.com/Baby-Owners-Manual-Instructions-Trouble-Shooting/dp/1594745978/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1469722044&amp;sr=1-3&amp;keywords=new+dad+gifts
Grats!
We're in our 17th week, so I'm right there with you. I picked up all 3 of these from a local used book store, and I like to read at the same pace as the pregnancy is going because these first 2 are broken up by month.
For you, there's The Expectant Father: Facts, Tips, and Advice for Dads-to-Be. Good book from the father's perspective. Covers the often overlooked male emotional issues that you may go through.
For both of you, there's the Mayo Clinic Guide to a Healthy Pregnancy. Covers a lot of medical and physical issues she'll be going through. Almost like a school textbook, but a good one.
And if you're into geeky and funny, there's The Baby Owner's Manual: Operating Instructions, Trouble-Shooting Tips, and Advice on First-Year Maintenance. There is some good tips here, but it is humor first and informational second.
Which stupid? Stupid enough to need those instructions or stupid enough to think they're real?
That looks to be from this book which is actually both really funny in some places and really useful in others. Somebody gave it to us when our first was born.
http://www.amazon.com/Baby-Owners-Manual-Instructions-Trouble-Shooting/dp/1594745978
This, the Baby Owners Manual, was probably the most useful and appealing to me. It is presented like an actual manual but the instructions were very easy to understand, had great pictures to accompany the descriptions and appealed to my witty side.
I read this before my son was born and I learnt how to how him, swaddle him and kept it close by for reference most of the time.
I passed it on to a friend when they were expecting and I recommend it a lot.
My husband really liked the baby owners manual. It's funny, succinct but also lots of practical advice
The Baby Owner's Manual: Operating Instructions, Trouble-Shooting Tips, and Advice on First-Year Maintenance (Owner's and Instruction Manual) https://www.amazon.com/dp/1594745978/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_.BuADbY4NEDGW
Small gift,
The Baby Owner's Manual: Operating Instructions, Trouble-Shooting Tips, and Advice on First-Year Maintenance (Owner's and Instruction Manual) https://www.amazon.com/dp/1594745978/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_05qnDbJA78KJJ
A cool gift could be his own diaper bag even. Maybe something nice leather with a monogram. Just my two cents, but having a second diaper bag for my card would be nice and easy rather than having to switch back and forth between cars.
Or something that can keep him busy while baby is sleeping and you are napping.
Oh and the Baby Owner's Manual was really good, he liked that one.
I received this with my first kid.
https://www.amazon.com/Baby-Owners-Manual-Instructions-Trouble-Shooting/dp/1594745978
If he's super into being a new dad maybe get this book. But maybe something really cool and personal that isn't necessarily baby related.
If all else fails a BJ is the best present a guy could receive.
I got the "baby manual" Funny stuff, but contains lots of useful information
Depends on if you want super serious or not. One that somebody gave me when we found out we were expecting our daughter was this:
The Baby Owner's Manual: Operating Instructions, Trouble-Shooting Tips, and Advice on First-Year Maintenance https://www.amazon.com/dp/1594745978/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_rPM5yb1KDKPRF
My husband is in software so my mom gave him this book: http://www.amazon.com/The-Baby-Owners-Manual-Trouble-Shooting/dp/1594745978
My friend with whom I used to go to happy hour weekly bought me this book: http://www.amazon.com/Moms-Who-Drink-Swear-Loving/dp/045141814X
There is a book called the The Baby Owner's Manual: Operating Instructions, Trouble-Shooting Tips, and Advice on First-Year Maintenance . In it I learned about sleep patterns of babies and we used their method on both of our kids. Basically what you do is during the day you only let them take very short naps. Like 1-1.5 hours at a time. Basically just annoy them a little bit to get them to open up their eyes... Try and entertain them. Maybe change a diaper... offer a boob/bottle... etc.
What this does is make them naturally realize that they get bothered during the day and will make them more tired at night since they didn't get a full 5+ hour stretch. As you slowly push their sleep a little bit each day in about 1-2 weeks they will be getting their longest nap at night when you want them to. I say nap because let's be real here... damn babies don't sleep like we do.
It also helps to make a grid and track their nap times so you get a better understanding about how long each one is. From this you will quickly realize where you have to wake them up to make it adjust.
The Baby Owners Manual: Operating Instructions, Trouble-Shooting Tips, and Advice on First-Year Maintenance
Yes!
The New Dad's Survival Guide
The Baby Owner's Manual
Dad's Playbook
These are all a bit lighter reading, and mind you I do not regret buying them at all. Really useful information in all of them.
There is one glaring omission from the books list!
Ready Player One is the best cyberpunk book I've read since Neuromancer.
Not only does it have a great plot, great characters, and excellent virtual worlds, but it is as much a love letter to the 1980s as it is a cyberpunk novel. Definitely check it out!
[Ready Player One] (http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Player-One-Ernest-Cline-ebook/dp/B004J4WKUQ) by Ernest Cline. One of the most talked about books on r/booksuggestions and a fantastic read. Really easy reading, well written and bucket loads of fun.
Oh if you like dystopian, then check out Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. Awesome fantasy - Patrick Rothfuss The Name of the Wind. And a really cool non-fiction survival story is The Tiger by John Vaillant, about a man-eating tiger terrorizing a village in Russia.
Totally check out the library, most these days do inter-library loans within counties or regions, so if they don't have any of the above, you can request them for free. Enjoy!
Just finished Orwell's 1984 about a month ago and I'm close to finishing Ready Player One. Both have been really great. As far as spiritual reading, I'm always reading something by St. Josemaría and am currently reading Chesterton's St Francis.
I absolutely loved this book. It is set in the Amazon and is jam packed with action and adventure. Amazonia
Also, I just finished this book last night. One of the best books I've read in a while!
Ready Player One
I love books, reading is one of my favorite hobbies and it's much easier now since I recently bought a Kindle Fire :p
My favorite book series is The Dark Tower series by Stephen King because it does traveling between different dimensions pretty well, and when I finished the series it gave me so many feels :(, feels that still stay with me today. Plus Roland is one of my favorite characters ever. My friends got into the Game of Thrones books, while I got into The Dark Tower series, they called me a loser because I 'wasnt reading what other people where' but the series is so worth it.
I've really been wanting to read Ready Player One I've heard great things about it.
Also I hope you have been enjoying The Hunger Games, I read them all in a one month span last summer!
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline.
Red Country by Joe Abercrombie.
Links below!
The most complicated part is character creation. Once you get past that (which you can do by enlisting your fellows' help or by using a pregen character from the Wizards of the Coast website) it should be pretty easy. You'll need a set of polyhedral dice, though you may be able to borrow one for your first night.
As for what you're "letting [your]self in for," you're entering a diverse and storied hobby scene, full of every sort of person imaginable. In this hobby, you will use and abuse the framework of rules to tell some of the most epic, ridiculous, and memorable stories you've ever experienced. People will shed tears over a character's death and find themselves slapping the table in a fit of laughter in same session.
The rules are complex, yes, but you don't need to think of them as the ropes which tie your hands; they are, rather, the bars of the jungle gym up which you and your party are climbing.
Basic Rules
https://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/basicrules
Character Sheet PDFs and Pregenerated Characters
https://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/character_sheets?bcsi-ac-8cba37c1e31f6013=2579E82000000208Q46wKPzTWMlR46x5F0RWgVg2T7UBAAAACAIAAItABwAAjScAAAAAACcCAAA=
ForgedAnvil Character Creation Tool - I highly recommend this tool in conjunction with a Player's Handbook.
http://www.enworld.org/forum/rpgdownloads.php?do=download&amp;downloadid=1234;bcsi-ac-8cba37c1e31f6013=2579E820000002082fK730btoVId+ZXswTE5SWQIHdIBAAAACAIAAMxCBwAAjScAAAAAACcCAAA=
Amazon Dice Selection - Don't spend too much on dice just yet. That will come with time.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_0_7?url=search-alias%3Dtoys-and-games&amp;field-keywords=polyhedral+dice&amp;sprefix=polyhedral+dice%2Caps%2C191
Player's Handbook
http://www.amazon.com/Players-Handbook-Dungeons-Dragons-Wizards/dp/0786965606/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_3?ie=UTF8&amp;refRID=1WNJ37QGGRB03E3842VJ
I hope you have a good game night. Let us know how it went! If you want to ask anything D&D-related, this is a great place to do it.
So I've never played Dungeons and Dragons, though I am familiar with online RPGs at least. I want to start playing and I'm going to come on the 1st. Is there anything I can read or do to be ready?
https://www.amazon.com/Players-Handbook-Dungeons-Dragons-Wizards/dp/0786965606/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1479830585&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=dungeons+and+dragons+5e+new+player
Would that be something to get me started?
I just ran my first session as a new DM with LMoP last week! I'll jot down my experience running a group of 4 beginners. (so take my advice with a grain of salt as a beginner that has not finished the campaign)
---
First, read through the books in the Starter Set! (If you can afford the Player's Handbook, that is a good idea as well.) I highly recommend going through the rulebook (or Basic Rules) then at least skimming through the entire LMoP module. You don't have to memorize everything but as a DM it is important to have the idea of the setting in your head.
For combat, you have to decide if you are going to run "Theater of the Mind" or battlemat+miniatures for combat. Theater of the Mind is more flexible and requires less preparation but battlemats give great visuals at a cost of preparation and supply.
Then you have to decide if you think your players would want to make their own characters or not. For my beginner group, I decided that they would be a lot more invested/excited if they could identify with their own creation so I chose to not use the pre-generated character sheets. Once you are comfortable with the rules of D&D enough, set a date to meet with your group.
Since we had to make characters, I held a Session 0 to introduce the basic concept of what to expect in committing to D&D as well as character creation. I highly suggest making characters together a separate day before Session 1 because it usually takes a decent amount of time for the first time (3ish hours for me).
My Session 0 looked like this:
After everyone was done, I let them take home the character sheet and work on character appearance, personality, and background story.
The week after, we had Session 1. Make sure you actually read through the LMoP module in depth, at least up to Part 1-2 beforehand. I also decided to take some elements of this supplement Part 0 for LMoP to use as a tutorial for my players. Then, begin your adventure! My party took a lot longer than I expected and only got to the entrance of the Cragmaw Hideout after 3 hours.
Good luck to your campaign, I'm looking forward to my second session!
---
Some recommended guides I used:
---
Supplies I personally prepared (BUT ARE OPTIONAL):
Try this listing. Seems to be WotC official https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Monster-Rulebook-Roleplaying/dp/0786965614/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1543456583&sr=8-5&keywords=dungeons+and+dragons+5th+edition+books
I borrowed a manual... This here
I believe there is plenty stuff online on just the character design side that woks as well.
This.
Or maybe instead of the DMG, buy a mat/whiteboard and some pathfinder pawns or something for minis. Up to you really. You could always do theater of the mind, but having minis is so fun!
Edit: Found these for a quick comparison of the prices
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0786965606/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_ikjsybH67VV0Y PHB £27.41
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0786965614/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_GljsybN0V9304 MM £27.29
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0786965622/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_VpjsybZWA65JC DMG £38.99
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0015IQO2O/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_cojsybDFPYPQR Mat £21.99
Looks like the DMG is the most expensive bit.
By Starter Kit, I'm guessing you mean this? If so, it's going to have an adventure along with the rules and whatnot, as well as pregenerated characters for you to pick from. The adventure, Lost Mine of Phandelver, also has lots of advice for whomever's GMing the game. It is, after all, a starter set for them as well :)
For a more complete game, you'll need to drop some doss on the holy trinity - Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide and Monster Manual. All in, around $100 new, a bit less used. The PHB is going to outline most of what you need to run the game - character creation (all the options for races and classes and spells and whatnot), the rules for task resolution and combat, equipment, spells, and a lot of miscellaneous bits and bobs. The Monster Manual has a bunch of monsters in it, without which it'd be pretty boring to roam the world. The DMG is sort of a catch-all of everything else - magic items, extra/alternate rules, and a lot of generally helpful advice about things like what to do when the players go off the beaten path and designing worlds and campaigns. While it's helpful, I'd say it's the least crucial of the three to actually playing the game.
There's also a bunch of adventures and campaigns, published by both Wizards of the Coast and third party publishers. You might check some of those at as a good starting point for your adventures. While it's probably not as fun as making everything up yourselves, it'll be handy to play for awhile with the safety net of "here's what comes next" laid out in print.
You might check out Geek & Sundary's Critical Role, which is actual D&D being played by actual overly attractive people in a manner which is both fun and informative. Matthew Colville's channel has a lot of really great advice for people just starting out, especially related to running the game.
Hopefully that answered some of your questions. If you have anything specific, toss it out and I'll see if I can answer it.
I agree with /u/Ryngard on checking out 5e, but that's up to you as a DM. The curve on "ease-of-learning" is noticeably different, so for beginners playing tabletop games, it is a great gateway. You could always look around for the information you need while the 5e handbook ships, but definitely get it, it's perfect for beginners. There are tons of 5e resources online (not just the pdfs that are not allowed on this subreddit; which I am not recommending here), that can help you with how to make a character, spells, stories, etc; made by other players.
As a DM, regardless of version, I'd make it clear on a few things:
EDIT: Also, the player's handbook for 5e (with Prime, huzzah!) is half-off at the moment: http://www.amazon.com/Players-Handbook-Dungeons-Dragons-Wizards/dp/0786965606/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1452288239&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=dnd+5e
The 5th Edition Book is $42, while the one I'm looking at is $20. (I only need PHB) So economically, this is better.
As well as I'm thoroughly used to 3.5e and Pathfinder, and am working on a custom ruleset of my own that I may or may not ever complete. Since my custom ruleset is mostly similar to 3.5e, it's resources are much more helpful, though I should sometime run a 4e and 5e campaign to see why they exist. But I'm not likely ever going to buy their books unless I really like the editions.
https://dnd.wizards.com/products/tabletop/players-basic-rules
That will give you equipment, and all the rules stuff. For race and class, the only legit way is for them to buy the Player's Handbook.
Players Handbook in the UK is £20.39($30.49 in U.S. currency). All three core books are £70.77($105.67 in U.S. currency) from Amazon UK.
In the USA, You can get all three core books for $71.30($91.79 with SCAG) on jet.com right now with the current "10TODAY" coupon code.
The shopping cart is still accepting the "20NOW" coupon code so if they honor it the price is $63.38 for the three Core books($81.58 with SCAG).
PHB: https://jet.com/product/Dungeons-and-Dragons-Players-Handbook/589ee7cacf484f88bdde8c25f213bbff
DMG: https://jet.com/product/Dungeon-Masters-Guide/f00d719ead7341a1a4c14b5d44a49ffc
MM: https://jet.com/product/Monster-Manual/ef0844a9760844948116d6c36cef9ece
SCAG: https://jet.com/product/Sword-Coast-Adventurers-Guide-Hardcover/7893d0b86d9148b3824fdc904b9fbdcd
Check out the getting started guide.
You need to buy a Player's Handbook. The store you will be playing at probably sells them. If you still have time before your game, go and buy the book. Read through the rules and get acquainted with everything. If you aren't able to get a book before you play, check out the basic rules.
Getting him a good copy of the Player's Handbook would be great, maybe with the Dungeon Master's Guide to go along with it. They're both on sale on Amazon right now.
If you you decide to buy anything the order should be thus:
&nbsp;
Check out a local game store to see if they host any games or get online and play through Roll20 or another platform like that.
Precisely. All the game does is add some formal boundaries to that framework, based on the roll of dice. This is to prevent people from saying things like "I kill everyone in the room." Sure, you can try that, but you have to succeed at dice rolls to beat certain numbers for every single person in that room--all who are going to get multiple tries to do the same, where you can only really go at one person at a time.
Go ahead and pick up the Players Handbook (non-affiliate link) and give it a read!
When in doubt, go to Google or YouTube or some place and search "What to know for a new D&D player" or something like that. The Internet is a beautiful place.
TL;DR: Learn the rules, play a character who you want to play as, and remember that it's just a game.
Let's break it down:
Get your feet wet for (almost) FREE
Basic rules online or to download. Like a mini Player's Handbook but with fewer classes and races.
A character sheet. Or another character sheet.
(not free) A set of dice, pencil, paper.
Ohh, that was fun, I want more!
Player's Handbook
More dice
A miniature of your character
Totally optional for a player:
The Dungeon Master's Guide has a few more options for characters, but is mostly insight into building adventures and campaigns. The Monster Manual is great if you want to learn about what you will face. But don't buy them yet. Go play, have fun, make friends.
And if you win the lottery, buy a Geek Chic table to play on.
The Player's Handbook. This is the handbook for players. It's focused on basic rules and character creation.
Basic concepts: Ability scores, ability modifiers, proficiencies, skills, attacks, hit points, armor class, actions, bonus actions, reactions, movements. Look up and learn these terms. Understand where they come from and what they are used for.
To start learning before you get your P.H.B., the Basic rules (some, not all rules) are located here:
http://5e.d20srd.org/
No I do not. Is this what you are talking about? https://www.amazon.com/Players-Handbook-Dungeons-Dragons-Wizards/dp/0786965606/
If you're a player then I would suggest getting the Player's Handbook https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0786965606/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1486601128&amp;sr=8-1&amp;pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&amp;keywords=5e+players+handbook
And maybe the Sword Coast Adventurer Guide if you're playing in The Forgotten Realms setting.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0786965800/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1486601212&amp;sr=8-1&amp;pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&amp;keywords=sword+coast+adventurer%27s+guide&amp;dpPl=1&amp;dpID=51yV7jtt62L&amp;ref=plSrch
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/aw/d/0786965606/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1494379664&amp;sr=8-1&amp;pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&amp;keywords=player%27s+handbook+5th+edition&amp;dpPl=1&amp;dpID=510Cy8v8H3L&amp;ref=plSrch for any Canadians out there.
Sorry, but it's the price you pay by using a pirated copy of the PHB.
This is the only 'app' you really need:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0786965606?keywords=players%20handbook%205th%20edition&amp;qid=1451935332&amp;ref_=sr_1_1&amp;sr=8-1
Unless you play as a fighter/cleric/rogue/wizard, then the rules are free as a printable pdf.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/1588461254/ref=tmm_other_meta_binding_used_olp_sr?ie=UTF8&amp;condition=used&amp;qid=1451590153&amp;sr=8-1
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0786965606/ref=tmm_hrd_used_olp_sr?ie=UTF8&amp;condition=used&amp;qid=1451590031&amp;sr=8-1
For those who don't want to click; used Everquest RPG PHB for $6.50 and $3.99 shipping. Used D&D 5th Edition PHB is $18.50 with $3.99 shipping.
I don't know where /u/downthegoldenstream got the idea D&D was free, nor his claims of $200 dollars to play.
But don't worry, /u/downthegoldenstream, I get it, bro. You don't want to play with me. It's cool. Happy New Years, bro. Peace out.
It seems like the books have been at this reduced price most of the time they’ve been on Amazon. It only occasionally goes back to MSRP according to this
As an example: PHB on D&D Beyond is $29.97. Prices on Amazon range from $23-30.
The digital product is consistently more expensive or the same price, not lower.