Are you interested in games? Figures? Spending way too much money on dice? Using your imagination? Bloodshed? Simple math? Making out with random creatures? K̶i̶d̶n̶a̶p̶p̶i̶n̶g̶  – I mean- “Forcefully adopting” goblins? Join D&D! It’s a chaotic mix of these miserable factors and stupid people sitting around screaming that they want to make out with a dragon!
If you want to play D&D, the first thing you need to do is make a character. First you’ll pick what race and class you want. Do you want to be an ax murderer elf? Or a magician dwarf? Or if you want to be boring, you could be a human soldier. Or pretty much anything else your twisted little mind can think of.
In D&D, you have to roll a die to do… pretty much anything. Including making your character. There are different kinds of dice as well. There are D4s that kind of look like pyramids. D6s are the “standard” dice. D8s look like diamonds. Then there are D10s and Percentile dice. These 2 are identical except for the numbers. The D10 is the one with single digits. The percentile is the one with double digits. The D12 is the one that has a kind of turtle shell pattern when you look down on it. Then the D20 is the one with small, triangular faces. This will be the dice you’ll roll the most. But first you’ll have to finish making your character.
To figure out your character’s stats, you’ll roll 4D6 and add together the 3 highest numbers. Repeat this process until you have all of your stats figured out. If you’re struggling with any part of this, you may want to consider using the website D&D Beyond. It’s a super helpful tool for any D&D player, no matter your skill level. Once you figure out your stats, you get to start thinking about skills. Skills are, simply put, how you use your stats. To figure out how to put in your stats, you’ll first need to pick a background. Your background is just your backstory. It’s what you did before adventuring. You could’ve been a criminal, living on the streets, scamming just so you could get by. Or maybe an acolyte for some kind of religious group. Maybe you were a soldier in some huge war. You can be whatever you want, and I think that’s part of the game’s charm. Depending on your background, you’ll have different “proficiencies”. Proficiencies are skills that your character is particularly good at. You get a 2+whatever your modifier for the stat that you use to perform this skill is. You can figure out modifiers by using the chart pictured above.
If you look at your class’ page in the handbook, you may notice that there is a section about beginning loot. You can add that stuff to your inventory pretty quickly. It’s a really simple process.
Now all that’s left to do is write your backstory, make a physical description of your character, and name them. I can’t really write a guide for how to do that because it’s all just your creativity.
Now you’re ready to play! You just need friends. Or strangers, I don’t judge. You could even join the D&D club at our high school! We meet in Mrs. Roger’s room every Friday after school (unless it’s a half day, or we don’t have school, or otherwise stated in the google classroom). It’s a super welcoming group, no matter if you’ve been playing D&D for years, if this is your first time, or anywhere in between. Have fun!