What is Dungeons and Dragons?

It’s a form of make-believe with rules. Basically there’s a guy who narrates the story and makes things up as he goes along called the Dungeon Master. There are players who each have characters that they have created by rolling dice to determine stats and creating their own backstories. The Dungeon Mater sets the scene for the adventure and asks the characters what they want to do. If they fight monsters, then they’ll roll dice to determine if they hit, how much damage they’ve done etc. The game never really has an ending, it just goes on and on until the players either die, or they get bored and quit.

It’s an enormous amount of fun. It’s basically collaborative storytelling, with a system of rules for working out combats and the outcomes of uncertain events. Players have one character, and narrate their actions and speech. There is also a DM (Dungeon Master) who controls every other character and creature the Players meet, and understands the setting the story is taking place in. Dungeons and Dragons is the quintessential example of a role-playing game, but there are many others. Mostly they differ in their Settings (D&D is Heroic, Tolkenesque Fantasy), Rule Systems, and some in the way they change the Player/DM dynamic.

@gorillapaws

Damn. You got there first =]

@Hobbes that’s ok, your answer was better. I haven’t played since middle-school, and I was never very serious about it, so you would be the better person to ask.

Others might disagree, but for a really simplified answer think of WOW but played on a board with real people.

@SuppRatings – Well, that’s especially true of 4th Edition, but that’s the “game” part of it. The “role-playing” part is what makes it different from WoW, because you’re actually pretending to be your character, and you have much more flexibility and narrative control than can be programed into a video game.

@Hobbes, Yah, that makes sense 100%.

It was the original fantasy RPG, or so it’s said, and dates back to the mid-seventies, when it became enormously popular on college campuses and among slightly older young people. I knew quite a few people who were totally into it and one who had a funeral party when his long-time character was killed. There’s a lot of information in this article.

Hobbes has described the game play fairly well, but no one said what you need to play. The most important things may very well be the Players Handbook, and a set of dice.

The dice are of seven different kinds, each with a different number of sides. Ex: d4 has 4 sides. The dice types used are: d4; d6; d8; d10; d12; a ten sided die where the numbers are in the 10s values; and the die you use the most of all of them, a d20. They are often sold together as a set, but I have always loved finding individual dice that suit my taste.

The player guide helps you choose a character’s race, class and defining characteristics.

Two other books that are pretty much a necessity, are the Dungeon Masters Guide, and a Monster manual. The DM guide is obviously a guide to assist the Dungeon Master in making the game fun. A monster manual has a large variety of npcs (Non-Player Characters) for your adventurers to encounter, whether they be friend or foe (mostly foe). You can usually find places online to view the books for free, but having one with you at the table is way more useful.

You’ll also require something to represent the characters. They have figurines for this, but anything will work. I have often used chap-stick that looks like a mini Mountain Dew can as mine. A good cheap resource to show all the enemies is some half marbles.

Lastly is a play mat. You can create one of your own, or buy one, but it is basically a large rectangular surface that has a grid covering it. If you make it yourself, the squares on the grid are about 1 inch wide and tall. A big piece of paper that you can roll up for later works well.

Remember, the books are just guidelines, you can mold it into whatever you want.
The game is TONS of fun, and you’ll have many times where you’ll laugh till it hurts.
(Or bleeds in some unfortunate cases) One last thing, you should have at least a few people to play, one as the DM, and 4ish-8ish as the party of adventurers.

Sorry that was so long, wish you luck in having fun with it if you want to try it out!