What's this D&D Stuff anyway?

Dungeons and Dragons (or D&D or DnD) is a fun, fascinating fantasy roleplaying game, set in the world of your imagination. It's a game of shared story-telling where you and your friends explore a world of heroes, villains and mythic creatures, battle monsters, explore dungeons and finding treasure.


How do you play?


One person, called the Dungeon Master (DM for short) puts together an adventure. They create a place for the characters to explore, and fill it with monsters and NPC's (Non-Player Characters) for the "party" (the group of adventurers) to interact with.


The rest of the folks in the group each create their own character, called a Player Character or PC. This can be anything from a dwarf or an elf to a shifter (werewolf) or deva (angelic being). The PC's "class" or job, might be a bold fighter, a devout cleric or paladin, a cunning rogue, a sorcerer or wizard or any of a number of other character classes.


Once these are in place, you get together, sit down and explore the DM's adventure, creating an ongoing story in the fantasy world.


So is it sort of like World of Warcraft or Final Fantasy?


Actually, Dungeons and Dragons is one of the games (perhaps THE game) that inspired both of those. Unlike those games, which are usually played online, D&D is generally played in person. (Though it is possible to play over the internet.) More important, because Dungeons and Dragons is played with real live people, you aren't limited by what the programmers decided to let you do, or what things they made clickable. If you want to swing from a chandelier and plow into your enemy, or pick up a rock and throw it or climb a wall to the roof you can attempt to do that.


Even better, D&D doesn't have what MMORPG (multiply massive online roleplaying game) folks term "the grind." In a computer-generated game there are only so many quests that you can go on. So you usually end up running several characters through the same old been-there-done-that quest that all your other characters did already. Or you want to buy things so you "farm" monsters or crafts to level, over and over and over again. Yawn! With Dungeons and Dragons, every quest can be new and different, only limited by the minds and desires of the group.

What do I need to play D&D?


First you need some friends. The optimum number of people is three to six players and a Dungeon Master but I've seen people make it work with just one player and a DM, and with as many as ten players.


Next you need the rulebooks. At the bare minimum you'll want the Player's Handbook, which holds the rules for creating your characters and for combat, the Dungeon Master's Guide, which teaches the DM how to run the game, from creating combat scenarios to dispensing treasure to tweaking adventures toward the goals and desires of your players. Last, you'll want the Monster Manual, which has the statistics for the various creatures that you and your players are facing. Note that only the Dungeon Master needs all three of these. The rest of you only need the Player's Handbook, and you and your group can share. (Yes, I just inadvertently promoted you to Dungeon Master, since you're the one who's reading this.) You can pick up these books individually or if you don't have any of them, you can get these three core rulebooks as a group. For the DM I also HIGHLY recommend the Dungeon Master's Guide 2/a>

Dungeon Master's Guide 2, which expands the basic information, with brilliant essays on helping the characters to create backgrounds, advanced storytelling, skill challenges and more.


Next you need dice. The game uses several different shapes of "polyhedral" (geometric solid shapes) dice, which are abbreviated as "d" plus the number of sides. All together a set of dice contains a a four, six, eight, ten and twenty-sided die. One set is enough to play the game, however most gamers find that the game is speeded up if everyone has their own set.


A game mat of 1" squares is also very useful, especially in 4e (Fourth Edition, the latest version of the rule set) where combat is very much based in the PC's exact location. I use the Chessex Mat. Some groups use their laptops to track this, or graph paper. If you're using a game mat, you definitely want a set of wet erase or dry erase markers. (Check your game mat, since some work only with one or the other.)


Believe it or not, miniatures are NOT needed. I use Scrabble squares wrapped in clear tape, and write the character or monster's name on them with dry-erase markers. Paper tokens are good as well. Miniatures are useful however, and some folks take pride in having minis depicting each monster the party will encounter. Goodie for them. I'm fine taking the cheap route.


How long does a game take?


Although sometimes you might find a group or a game store that will offer a one-shot adventure, most groups play what is called a "campaign". This is an ongoing story featuring the Player Characters as protagonists, and can go on for weeks or months or even years. Most campaigns are broken into sessions of several hours each week or so. I've found that the minimum comfortable session is about four hours long.


How old do you need to be?


Old enough to read the rulebooks helps. I once was actually paid to run a game for homeschoolers (talk about a dream job) where the youngest was ten. However I know of folks who play with children as young as four. As far as the maximum age, there isn't one.


Is D&D only for geeks?


Well, personally, I take the word "geek" as a compliment. You do need to be intelligent and imaginative. Being able to read helps majorly! You don't need a pocket protector or to know how to use a slide rule and nobody will care how you dress one way or the other.


I've been told I'll never get laid if I play D&D. OR Is it a game for girls too?


Ack, I hate that question. First of all, I'm a girl. Well, a woman now. I started playing when I was sixteen, now I'm fourty-seven. As a kid, I was the child who wanted to play with the Tonka trucks, and the plastic animals, while my kindergarten suggested I should limit myself to "playing house" with a fake kitchen and ironing board and Barbie dolls.


Back when I started gaming, somehow the game seemed marketed to teenage to college age boys. As a girl gamer, I was at once an anomaly and every teenage kid's wet dream. Fortunately the world has grown up and I'm no longer seen as either weird or the date-target for every pubescent creep on the block. D&D is now being targeted toward female gamers, as is pretty obvious from the rulebook's choice of alternating she/he examples.


But D&D was NEVER meant to be a game just for males. It also wasn't meant to be a game only for teenagers. All you need to play Dungeons and Dragons is a mind and an imagination. Thank goodness that's not limited by the player's sex.


As for the "getting laid" question, one could ask that of any hobby a person might take on, from flower arranging to football. You limit yourself only by how much time you spend on your favorite hobby and on your potential for being social and making friends.


Me, I'm a married woman, and I'm also the DM for a group that includes my husband. The funny thing is that the two of us met while I was taking a hiatus from D&D and we never even really discussed gaming until we'd been together for four years and I wanted to go back. Turns out he was a closet gamer himself.


Is D&D Satanic? Make you commit suicide?


The other silliest questions. Short answer: NO Dungeons and Dragons is not a Satanic game. I know plenty of devout Christians who game, and as of yet, God hasn't struck them dead, deaf or blind nor thrown any lightning bolts in their direction because of it. The rumor started probably in part because the D&D world has "gods" defined for some of the clerics (a class that is in most part based on healers and the clergy of the real world). If you want, you can have your party worship the "one true God" whatever you see that as. If you so desire, D&D can relate your Christian values, or any mindset that suits you personally. Like your own mind, it's amorphous and powerful.


From there, a few kids committed suicide or something, and since one of their hobbies was playing D&D that got mentioned as a supposed cause. Lets face it, the tabloids and newspapers want to sensationalize everything. Their job is to sell newspapers.


The honest fact is that though I doubt anyone's run the statistics, there are just as many kids (or more) who commit suicide who knit, play football or participate in dog shows or the 4H.


Lets just get over it, folks.


Is D&D good for children?


This is where I can unequivocally say yes. As I mentioned, I had an actual job playing D&D with homeschool kids. The parents/teachers wanted the children to do something social, and give the parents some time off. One of the kids suggested D&D and somehow my name got mentioned and I got hired.


In the short (because I had to move out of state) year or so that I gamed with them, the children got interested in reading (because they wanted to read the rulebooks) and their vocabulary improved. Their math skills soared because they wanted to understand things like probabilities, bell curves and what a +1 sword would do to their likelihood of hitting a monster.


Even better, they started developing some awesome social skills. Because as a party they had to work together for their survival. Suddenly the kid who had been the major antagonist of the others was encouraging them and suggesting the means to help their characters survive. A pair of bickering brothers now became a team, with the older child helping his little brother to get through encounters.


They learned to negotiate with the NPC merchant selling wares, became gallants who rescued small children and all in all became cooperative. It was fun and exhilarating and fabulous to watch.

Trifling Treasures: Ordinary objects to make treasure extraordinary

We search the goblins' purses, pockets,and backpacks. What do we find?" "Well, the biggest one-you figure he’s the leader-has one gold and six silvers. The rest have three silvers each."

Take a moment to empty your own pockets. What have you got in there? Some money, the stub from a ticket to The Crow, a tattered receipt from the last module you bought, some lint, and, oh, wow! Your missing d10. Strange that a monster as slovenly as a goblin would have such clean pockets!

Filling NPCs' pockets with a few worthless oddments makes the monsters seem more real, and their treasure hoards less mundane. Take a generic bugbear. Maybe he's got eight coppers, 14 silvers, and two gold. So what? But add a daisy with two petals left (she loves him...she loves him not...); Wow, poor guy, unlucky at love, unlucky at war. Suddenly you have a monster with personality.

Trifling treasures are not meant to advance the plot or give clues to the PCs. Far from it! Use them as red herrings to drive players crazy. What lock does that minotaur's key open? Who's the "Gargolina" that the ogre's note mentions? Of course, some objects can be used as jumping-off points for new adventures. But by not using them that way all the time, the DM gives his players a view of a larger, more realistic campaign universe, where not everything directly affects or is affected by the PCs.

I've used the following system in my own campaign for two years. My players love it. Their PCs' pockets and backpacks are filled with weird things. These treasures provide plenty of role-playing:  "Cookies!? I scarf them down before the halfling can grab them." "Gorg, that ribbon really is your color!"

Once in a while these items even come in handy. Some can be used as spell components, but how about the party's evil nemesis slipping on a strategically placed sliver of soap? Imagine the thief PC, confronted by a guard patrol, using that wig and perfume to disguise himself as one of the queen's ladies in waiting. Sell the party a leaky boat, but allow them to be saved from sinking (and drowning) by a wad of bubble gum.

The tables are designed with simplicity in mind. Roll 1d20, 1d6, and 1d10 and consult the table. You can throw in as many "useless" items from the charts as you like, but one or two items for each monster and a maximum of ten items for a communal hoard should be enough. Though intended for fantasy role-playing games (RPGs), a little work can convert the following tables for modern systems. Just throw in a disposable lighter, a pocket protector, or a can of hairspray.

The DM is encouraged to add to the tables, especially .Cryptic notes. Entries from which shouldn't appear more than once. Using 1d6 and 1d10 rather than 1d100 makes this easier by allowing the DM to expand the tables in blocks of 10.

Now let's check those goblin's pockets again: "The first one has three silvers and some empty nut shells. The second has three slimy silvers and a leaky half-full vial labeled "sword oil" It makes your fingers greasy. You pull a piece of cloth from the third one’s pocket. Looks like a hankie...and, it’s been used."

(PLEASE NOTE: The list items are showing up with little flowers instead of being numbered 1-10 as they should be. I'm looking into how to fix this. Anyway, each of the items should be numbered 1-10 on its individual list.)

Table I
1d20 Roll
1-6     Food, Table II
7-10     Plants & Animals, Table III
11-13     Ornaments, Etc., Table IV
14-19     Miscellany, Table V
20     Cryptic Notes, Table VI

Table II: Food
1d6 roll     1d10 roll

l-2

1. A shriveled apple
2. A handful of dried beans
3. A small wicker strainer filled with tea leaves (50% chance used)
4. A small sack of dried fruit
5. Empty nut shells
6. A cookie with a bite taken out
7. Cookie crumbs and a dead beetle
8. A sticky wad of sweet smelling pink goo (hard to scrape from fingers, hair or clothing. If chewed, bubbles can be blown, but 10% chance of contracting disease)
9. A head of garlic
10. A piece of (sticky) hard candy

3-4

1. A dried-out hunk of cheese
2. A heel of stale bread
3. A piece of soggy bread
4. A handful of nuts
5. A hunk of meat or bread crawling with maggots or weevils (DM's choice)
6. An oiled cloth packet containing a chunk of smoked fish
7. A sausage with a bite out
8. Peel from an orange, banana, or other fruit
9. A tin labeled .chocolate covered rot grubs. (contents are dead and harmless)
10. An awful-smelling hunk of blue-green-gray fuzz (somewhere in the center of the mold is a hunk of cheese)

5-6     

1.  A tiny packet of folded parchment (contains salt or pepper)
2. 1d6 rosehips (useful for tea or itching powder)
3. 1d6 berries (75% chance 1d4 are smashed)
4. A small wooden bowl with scraps of pork rind and beans stuck to the bottom
5. A small vial (50% labeled "The Feudal Gourmet's Red Dragon  Sauce," filled with a red liquid (as hot as it sounds)
6. A small, stoppered clay jar labeled .honey. (half full, honeycomb
7. included)
8. A bag of dried split peas
9. 1d6 potion-vials filled with liquid (each contains a different type of cordial or liquor, value 1d3 sp each)
10. 1d10 small, translucent red items, of a rubbery texture, shaped like adventurers (mages, rogues, priests, fighters), cherry-flavored

Table III: Plants & Animals
1d6 roll     1d10 roll
   
1-3

1. A handful of fur
2. A bruised and faded flower
3. A dead spider
4. A bit of dry moss (tinder--helpful if it's been raining and the party's
5. tinder is wet)
6. A dead grasshopper
7. A daisy with two petals left
8. A carefully folded parchment packet containing a very pretty, dead butterfly
9. 1d8 feathers
10. A handful of burrs stuck to a colorful bit of thread

4-6

1. 1d8 flies without wings
2. 1d6 dead fireflies (20% chance still glowing for 1d4 rounds)
3. 1d8 tiny pinecones
4. A snake.s shed skin (5% chance intact)
5. A square of cloth wrapped around a bit of dung
6. A cloth packet containing 1d4 packets of tea leaves
7. A handful of bark and leaves
8. The hind foot of a rabbit (50% dyed a vivid color)
9. A dead frog
10. 1d3 live mice in a small metal cage

Table IV: Ornaments, etc.
1d6 roll     1d10 roll

1-3

1. A brass tin, the lid polished to mirror shine, filled with colored powder and a tiny brush
2. A vial of dark liquid (50% labeled "Vorgadern.s Gray-Away," hair dye)
3. A string of tiny glass beads (breaks and scatters when examined)
4. A vial of transparent, foul smelling yellow liquid (cheap perfume.50% labeled "Eau de Troll")
5. A tiny brush and a tin of soft (mustache) wax
6. A broken silver ring with a smashed stone (value 1sp)
7. A bone button with colored thread in the holes
8. A single earring, clay beads strung on copper wire (no value)
9. A handkerchief, clean
10. A handkerchief, monogrammed

4-6

1. A handkerchief, used
2. A black half-face mask
3. A bracelet of tiny brass bells strung on a brass wrist or ankle chain (value 1sp)
4. A lace garter adorned with satin rosebuds
5. A rolled-up pair of filthy, damp, socks
6. A pair of super-thin silk stockings (75% full of runs and holes)
7. A small, rectangular tin containing a stick of black kohl
8. A codpiece of embroidered, but filthy velvet
9. A wig (DM's choice of hairstyle and color)
10. A strip of cloth an armspan long, 3" wide

Table V: Miscellany
1d6 roll     1d10 roll

1

1. 1d6 small painted wooden blocks
2. A pair of six-sided bone dice
3. Six oddly shaped bone dice
4. A needle and thread
5. Two fish hooks with a 5' coil of string
6. Flint and steel
7. A brightly painted gourd with a stick attached
8. A corkscrew
9. A tiny vial (10% labeled .Fairy Dust.) filled with glitter (mica and colored sand)
10. A tiny sliver of soap

2

1. A whetstone
2. 1d6 pretty pebbles (no value)
3. A brass key (fits no known lock)
4. A playing card --ace of stones
5. Three 1" red-painted wooden discs
6. A reed whistle
7. A miniature lead figure of an adventurer (25% each fighter, mage, priest, rogue)
8. A broken glass vial (PC must pass a Dexterity check or take 1 hp damage)
9. A small rectangle of copper with a line of raised numbers punched into it, engraved on the copper is "Waterdhavian Express: Don't leave the keep without it."
10. A prayerbook (deity of DM.s choice)

3

1. A bit of partially started crochet with a crochet hook and a piece of  yarn
2. A small loop of string with a knot tied in it
3. A snapped bowstring
4. A red stocking containing a piece of coal
5. A box of white talc, labeled "Vorgadern's Famous Medicated Foot-Powder."
6. A small length of copper wire (long enough to act as impromptu handcuffs)
7. A half-burnt stick of incense
8. 1d8 clay marbles in a leather bag
9. A dart
10. A drinking horn (still smells of ale)

4

1. A leaky, half-full vial of sword oil
2. 1d6 crudely carved wooden chess pieces
3. A lock of hair tied with a ribbon
4. A small rag doll resembling a bear
5. A piece of chalk
6. 1d3 nails
7. A handful of sand
8. A scrap of leather
9. A broken quill pen
10. A pipe and a small pouch of pipeweed

5

1. 1d4 candle stubs, providing 2 rounds of light each
2. A handful of lint
3. A bloodstained bandage
4. A wooden token "Good for 1 free drink in The Bowels of the Earth"
5. A gilded copper piece (actual value 1 cp)
6. An arrowhead attached to a broken shaft
7. Toenail clippings
8. A small tin containing a horrid-smelling white paste (50% labeled "Vorgadern's Super-Strength Skunk-Oil Healer"
9. A roll of string (1d4. long)
10. A miniature portrait of a very attractive member of the same race, but opposite sex of the bearer

6

1. A broken tortoise shell comb
2. A citronella candle
3. A stick of sealing wax
4. A piece of vellum with a square grid drawn on it
5. A 10' length of string with knots at 1" intervals
6. A small wicker basket
7. A pair of spectacles with broken lenses
8. A pig.s bladder bearing the painted message "Joyous Day of Birth"
9. A small leather collar with a brass medallion hanging from it, with "Vicious" engraved thereon
10. A twisted metal fork

Table VI: Cryptic notes
Notes can be written on nearly any surface (burned into leather, scratched on rock) but most often appear on vellum or parchment. They can be in any condition (neatly folded, torn and crumpled, bloodstained, soggy, etc.).
1d6 roll     1d10 roll

1-3

1. "Take the first wight after the well."
2. A half-written letter to a lady
3. "Triia Redbunting, Number Four, Street of the Swords, Waterdeep"
4. A colored chalk drawing of a red dragon
5. "Meet me under the bridge at midnight."
6. "Floor show & Dinner at Dareena's"
7. An appointment calendar
8. "Gargolina is looking for you."
9. A religious pamphlet (75% of a PC.s rival or enemy faith)
10. "Flour, eggs, a barrel of pickled fish, ten yards Widow Othry's cloth, pink or yellow, a new yoke for the mule..."(a shopping list)

4-6

1. A smeared note "Ungodly treasure!" is the only legible part
2. A pamphlet detailing local gossip
3. "I'd try the yellow powder."
4. The note contains 1d4 rather stupid puns or jokes, which the DM should detail
5. "Three steps right. Three steps forward. Spin around. Five steps forward, bending low. Jump back." (dance instructions, but could be mistaken for treasure directions)
6. A recipe for "Chocolate Covered Rot Grubs in Port"
7. A "Last Will and Testament."
8. The NPC's family tree
9. "The object in question is at the miller's."
10. Song lyrics (15% referring to a quest the PCs had been on previously)

This article originally appeared in Dragon Magazine # 207.  Used with permission.