SO, YOU WANT TO PLAY DUNGEONS & DRAGONS

One does not simply play D&D. (There’s the obligatory Tolkien reference for you.) While the rules and gameplay can take a few sessions to get down, and there are certain necessary readings and supplies, it’s the formation of an actual group—including a few players and a Dungeon Master—that’s the real trick.

The Reading

There are a lot of official D&D sourcebooks out there (I have no less than 18, which might be excessive). They generally fall into three categories: rulebooks, campaign settings and adventures. To get started you’ll likely need:

• The Player’s Handbook

• The Dungeon Master’s Guide

• The Monster Manual

• An adventure book of your choice (or you can make your own “homebrew” adventure)

• Or a one-stop-shop with a D&D Starter Set from Wizards of the Coast

The Supplies

• At least a single set of seven dice of the following values: 4, 6, 8, 10 (x2), 12, 20

• A simple dice tray

• A miniature figure (mini) of your character

• Pencils, notepad and characters sheets, if you want to go old school

STEP STEP STEP

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• Or an online/virtual dice roller and character tracker like “D&D Beyond” or “Roll20”

The Group

If you don’t have at least three or four friends waiting around to start a D&D game, we recommend:

• Joining a local D&D Facebook group, like “Dungeons and Dragons Utah Gamers”

• Visiting a local shop that hosts regular, open-play D&D nights, like Legendarium Books in Salt Lake City

• Checking out the local library. Salt Lake County Library, for instance, has its own D&D Discord server (slcolibrary.org/dungeons-and-dragons)