New Forays

My most recent exploration of the tabletop gaming universe is an age-old but timeless classic: Dungeons and Dragons (5th edition). I was always hesitant to dive in because I had heard about how complicated it was, and I thought that D&D was only for a select few eccentric enthusiasts who had nothing but time and Mountain Dew on their hands. This may not be an inaccurate statement, but I have found D&D to be quite enjoyable for any casual gamer or fan of the fantasy genre. If you have a competent person explain it to you, it should be relatively easy to understand. I did not have a relatively competent person explain it to me; instead I obtained the Starter Set and read the rules, feeling myself sink further and further into a rabbit hole of minutiae and insane detail, until, emerging on the other side, I reflected that perhaps it was not so intimidating after all. Yes, the weight of a hammer is listed (3 lbs for anyone who cares) and the price of a loaf of bread is detailed (2 copper pieces), but this does not mean that you must count every scrap of food and weigh every piece of equipment. You certainly can, if you wish, but you must not feel like you are bound to do anything. Wizards of the Coast (WOTC) seems particularly vehement that you make the game your own, discard what you do not like, and focus on what you do. I personally enjoy the level of detail that D&D permits, but there is no obligation. There are many different ways to play, as rather extensive research has shown me - for instance, you have a choice between theater of the mind (TOTM) or maps and minis (M&M) and of course it helps that they all have handy little acronyms. Or a combination of the two. Do you want your adventure to take place solely in your collective imagination, a picture painted in your brain by the deft strokes of your DM's brush? Or would you prefer to see your heroes represented in three-dimensional splendor upon a grid or battlefield of your choosing? I have found that a compromise between these two is the most efficient and satisfying. There is absolutely no point or good reason, as far as I am concerned, to move minis around a table with each action that you as the role-player take. No-one's tabletop can possibly support the diversity of setting, terrain, building, and scope that an average D&D adventure requires, and in this case I would much prefer to skip the hassle of sliding a mini around a table constantly, and just keep all the action in my head, where there are no real life images to distort my idea of what it all looks like. But then, conceding to the M&M argument, I use a simple grid map (30mm squares) and miniatures whenever combat takes place. This is because Actions really only have any bearing during combat, in which a character's turn is comprised of 6 seconds (according to the book) and every movement is important and must be calculated accordingly. Thus, to keep track of the character's location in relation to each other and the enemies, to determine line of sight, range, etc., it is almost mandatory to have some sort of visual representation, or else each player will envision a different scene in his head. Or the DM could take an hour to explain: "The wraith is exactly thirteen and a half feet from the ogre, who is standing 4 feet from the north wall and 6 feet from the west wall..." I think this balance between TOTM and M&M works out very satisfactorily. Then there is the level of minutia that you wish to delve into (i.e., weighing a character's equipment and checking his/her carrying capacity), and the choice of an emphasis on roleplaying and character interactions, or action and adventure. The two are of course no mutually exclusive, but every game will focus on one more than the other.

In summary, I would recommend D&D to anyone who has been sitting on the fence. The Starter Set is very affordable, at a $20 list price. It's a pretty harmless way of dipping your toe in, and comes with everything you need to get started. Alternatively, you could just jump right in armed with a couple dice cobbled together from different games, or even just a dice app on your phone, and some PDFs printed from the official D&D website. Yes, that's right, you can everything you need for free. The basic rules are there, all you need to do is start playing. And here are a few links to websites that I found to be very helpful when starting:

Dungeons and Dragons website
DM's Guild - contains a phenomenal selection of adventures, supplements, reference sheets, and homebrew content created for fans by fans.
Orc Pub 2.0 - this site has a good character builder, among other things
D&D5e Wiki
D&D Wiki - tons of homebrew stuff as well as official rules