Whether you’ve been a Dungeon Master (DM) before and want to fine-tune your skills or want to get ready and take the plunge, this is the book for you. It gives you the basics on running a great game, info for more advanced dungeon mastering, guidelines for creating adventures, and tips for building a campaign. It shows you how to: Handle all the expressions of DMing: moderator, narrator, a cast of thousands (the nonplayer characters or NPCs), player, social director, and creator Use published adventures and existing campaign worlds or create adventures and campaign worlds of your own Conjure up exciting combat encounters Handle the three types of encounters: challenge, roleplaying, and combat Create your own adventure: The Dungeon Adventure, The Wilderness Adventure. The Event-Based adventure (including how to use flowcharts and timelines), The Randomly Generated Adventure, and the High-Level adventure Create memorable master villains, with nine archetypes ranging from agent provocateur to zealot To get you off to a fast start, Dungeon Master For Dummies includes: A sample dungeon for practice Ten ready-to-use encounters and ten challenging traps A list of simple adventure premises Mapping tips, including common scales, symbols, and conventions, complete with tables Authors Bill Slavicsek and Richard Baker wrote the hugely popular Dungeons and Dragons For Dummies. Bill has been a game designer since 1986 and leads the D&D creative team at Wizards of the Coast. Richard is a game developer and the author of the fantasy bestseller Condemnation. They give you the scoop on: Using a DM binder to keep records such as an adventure log, PCs’ character sheets, NPC logs/character sheets, treasure logs, and more Knowing player styles (role players and power games) and common subgroups: hack’n’slasher, wargamer, thinker, impulsive adventurer, explorer, character actor, and watcher Recognizing your style: action movie director, storyteller, worldbuilder, puzzlemaker, or connector Using miniatures, maps, and other game aids Using 21st century technology, such as a Web site or blog, to enhance your game The book includes a sample adventure, The Necromancer’s Apprentice, that’s the perfect way to foray into DMing. It includes everything you need for a great adventure—except your players. What are you waiting for? There are chambers to be explored, dragons to be slain, maidens to be rescued, gangs of gnoll warriors to be annihilated, worgs to be wiped out, treasures to be discovered, worlds to be conquered....
Explore the fantasy world of D&D and delve into dungeons, slay monsters, and gain treasure! If you've been thinking of playing D&D or you've played before and you want to get up to speed on the all-new 4th Edition, this is the book for you. Here's what you need to know to join the fantasy fun. D&D terminology — understand what ability check, modifier, saving throw, AC, gp, hp, and XP mean Roll the dice — add modifiers and see if you rolled the d20 high enough to beat the challenge Minding your manners — know D&D etiquette so you'll be welcome in any adventure Character building — select your character's race and class, and choose the best powers, skills, feats, and gear Roleplaying — give your character a background and personality quirks Combat — use combat rules, a battle grid, and miniatures to play out furious battles Open the book and find: Everything a new player needs to get started playing D&D Details on four fantasy races and four iconic classes Explanations of every number and statistic on the character sheet The best magic items and equipment for characters of all classes Advice on roleplaying and teamwork A ready-to-use adventure to get you started as a Dungeon Master A ready-to-use battle grid with character and monster markers
Caught in traffic. Trapped in a cubicle. Stuck in a rut. Tangled up in red tape. In the real world, sometimes you feel powerless—but not in Dungeons & Dragons (D & D). In this fantasy-adventure, you have all kinds of special powers. You can slay the evil dragon, overcome the orc or the ogre, haunt the werewolf, and triumph over sinister trolls. You venture into strange realms, encounter strange creatures, and use magical powers. Your character grows and develops with every adventure. With this guide, you can learn the ins and outs of D & D and start playing right away. Dungeons & Dragons For Dummies gives beginners the basics of the complex game and helps experienced players fine-tune their roleplaying. It guides you through: Creating your character (a powerful fighter, a sneaky rogue, a crafty sorcerer, or a charismatic cleric), and character advancement The races: humans, dwarves, elves, and halflings The types of character actions: attack rolls, skill check, and ability checks The 6 abilities: strength, dexterity, constitution, intelligence, wisdom, charisma Feat requirements and types Playing the game, including moving in combat, attacking with a weapon (melee attacks or ranged attacks), and damage and dying Picking skills, armor, weapons, and gear Choosing spells if your character is a sorcerer or domains for a cleric Building encounter or combat strategies and using advanced tactics Maximizing your character’s power with the acquisition of the right magic items: armor, weapons, potion, scroll, ring, wand, staff, rod, plus wondrous items D & D game etiquette Becoming a Dungeon Master There’s even a sample play session that walks you through typical play, gets you comfortable using the battle grid and character markers, lets you test player characters against each other and against monsters, and shows you how to add story elements to create an adventure. Produced in partnership with Wizards of the Coast, written by D & D game designers, and complete with a battle grid, a sample dungeon map, and a glossary, this guide arms you with the knowledge to create and equip a character and empowers you to enter the captivating, fascinating world of D & D.
Explore the fantasy world of D&D and delve into dungeons, slay monsters, and gain treasure! If you've been thinking of playing D&D or you've played before and you want to get up to speed on the all-new 4th Edition, this is the book for you. Here's what you need to know to join the fantasy fun. D&D terminology — understand what ability check, modifier, saving throw, AC, gp, hp, and XP mean Roll the dice — add modifiers and see if you rolled the d20 high enough to beat the challenge Minding your manners — know D&D etiquette so you'll be welcome in any adventure Character building — select your character's race and class, and choose the best powers, skills, feats, and gear Roleplaying — give your character a background and personality quirks Combat — use combat rules, a battle grid, and miniatures to play out furious battles Open the book and find: Everything a new player needs to get started playing D&D Details on four fantasy races and four iconic classes Explanations of every number and statistic on the character sheet The best magic items and equipment for characters of all classes Advice on roleplaying and teamwork A ready-to-use adventure to get you started as a Dungeon Master A ready-to-use battle grid with character and monster markers
It is a time of magic and monsters, a time when only a few scattered points of light glow with stubborn determination amid a rising tide of shadows. It is a time when only the bravest heroes dare tread the wild of the unknown… About a century ago, the collapse of Nerath, the last empire of the world, ushered in a dark age that continues to this day, the peace and prosperity of the past seemingly lost forever. However, even those fabled days weren’t without a few blemishes. One of these was Emperor Magroth the First, a tyrant and a conqueror; cruel, ambitious, filled with delusions of grandeur and dreams of destiny, and more than a bit insane. During Magroth’s reign, rumors of necromancy and demon worship were rampant, but the truth was far worse. Thanks to deals he made, pacts he agreed to, and rituals he performed, death was not the end Emperor Magroth. Instead, a piece of him was drawn into the Shadowfell where he became the ruler of a domain of dead. From this vantage, the old king prepared for his return—and the new empire he would forge from the ruins of old. Now Magroth has made a new deal with Orcus, the Demon Prince of Undeath, that frees him from his eternal prison for a year and a day. In that time, Magroth must re-establish his ancient kingdom while also accomplishing a series of terrible tasks for Orcus. To this end, Magroth’s plans intersect with two other threats that are rising in the world. Where these threats meet, the world shudders. And it falls to our heroes to keep the fragile lights of civilization burning for another day
This is not your standard "How to" book. This goes beyond the "How to" stage as the author shares his experience with playing so that you have a deeper and richer play experience. In order to do this the book is divided into four sections that give advice that goes beyond the rules found it the Players Handbooks and Dungeons Master's Guides. * Useful of years to come. The best thing about this book is that it is not designed for any one edition of the game. So this is just as useful for someone playing with some old AD&D books or the much awaited fifth edition, D&D Next. This means that this book will be useful for many, many years to come. * Gets you ready to play. The first section is all about getting ready to play a game and includes a list of all the supplies you will need. The author also gives you a run down about the different editions of Dungeons and Dragons. Also in this section is advice on how to find other players to join or form a gaming group to play with. * Advice on being player. Section two is a companion to the character creation process found in the Players Handbooks. This sections talks about the roles that characters play within the adventuring party. Moral outlooks of the characters and their reasoning for being adventures. Also the standard gear that any hero is going to need on a quest. * Advice on being a Dungeon Master. The third part of the book is advice on crafting adventures and being the Dungeon Master that is in charge of the game. From crafting the plot of the adventure to playing the villain, and even how to pace out the rewards you give to the plays, this section is rich in advice. * DIY Projects. Lastly the book has a few projects that will help players save some cash by showing them how to make props. These projects use a mixture of different skill sets such as sewing, cutting, and even faking paper aging. All in all, this is the prefect book for someone that wants to go beyond and really learn how to play a great game of Dungeons and Dragons. Click "Buy Now" to Get "How to Play Dungeons & Dragons Now!
This definitive book on Dungeons & Dragons, one of the original ultimate nerd subcultures, traces its origins on the battlefields of ancient Europe through the hysteria that linked it to satanic rituals and teen suicides, and to its apotheosis as father of the modern video game industry.
Dungeons, Dragons, and Digital Denizens is a collection of scholarly essays that seeks to represent the far-reaching scope and implications of digital role-playing games as both cultural and academic artifacts. As a genre, digital role playing games have undergone constant and radical revision, pushing not only multiple boundaries of game development, but also the playing strategies and experiences of players. Divided into three distinct sections, this premiere volume captures the distinctiveness of different game types, the forms of play they engender and their social and cultural implications. Contributors examine a range of games, from classics like Final Fantasy to blockbusters like World of Warcraft to obscure genre bending titles like Lux Pain. Working from a broad range of disciplines such as ecocritism, rhetoric, performance, gender, and communication, these essays yield insights that enrich the field of game studies and further illuminate the cultural, psychological and philosophical implications of a society that increasingly produces, plays and discourses about role playing games.
Create heroic characters for the world’s greatest roleplaying game. The Player’s Handbook is the essential reference for every Dungeons & Dragons roleplayer. It contains rules for character creation and advancement, backgrounds and skills, exploration and combat, equipment, spells, and much more. Use this book to create characters from among the most iconic D&D races and classes. Publisher’s Weekly #1 Best Seller in Hardcover Nonfiction Wall Street Journal #1 Best Seller in Hardcover Nonfiction • In Dungeons & Dragons, you and your friends coauthor your own legend. Guided by a Dungeon Master, you create characters and play their roles in a story, rolling dice and navigating maps as you unfold a tale as limitless as your imagination. • The Player’s Handbook is the first of three D&D core rulebooks, along with the Monster Manual and the Dungeon Master’s Guide. The Player’s Handbook is the cornerstone. It’s the foundational text of D&D’s fifth edition—for beginners and for veterans alike. • The Player’s Handbook walks you through how to create a Dungeons & Dragons character—the role you’ll play in the D&D world. • Dungeons & Dragons is the world’s greatest roleplaying game. Created in 1974, D&D transformed gaming culture by blending traditional fantasy with miniatures and wargaming.
Follow the crew from Hawkins, Indiana, as they discover the legendary monsters and epic adventures of the Dungeons & Dragons tabletop role-playing game together. Long before the dreaded Demogorgon took one of them to the Upside Down, watch Mike, Lucas, and Will bond with Dustin for the first time over the game that would define their childhood. See the party come together as a team through communal stories and perilous quests to learn important lessons about friendship and find the courage to stand up to the bullies that challenge their everyday. Written by comics and RPG all-stars Jim Zub (Rick and Morty vs. D&D, Conan: Serpent War, Dungeons & Dragons: Infernal Tides) and Jody Houser (Critical Role: Vox Machina, Stranger Things, Star Wars), with vorpal-sharp line art from rising talent Diego Galindo (Power Rangers, Kino) and eye-popping colors from MsassyK (Isola) that strike as true as a Magic Missile. Dive into this love letter to a game that has defined role-playing through the lens of your current favorite icons of eighties nostalgia.
This is not your standard "How to" book. This goes beyond the "How to" stage as the author shares his experience with playing so that you have a deeper and richer play experience. In order to do this the book is divided into four sections that give advice that goes beyond the rules found it the Players Handbooks and Dungeons Master's Guides. Useful of years to come. The best thing about this book is that it is not designed for any one edition of the game. So this is just as useful for someone playing with some old AD&D books or the much awaited fifth edition, D&D Next. This means that this book will be useful for many, many years to come. Gets you ready to play. The first section is all about getting ready to play a game and includes a list of all the supplies you will need. The author also gives you a run down about the different editions of Dungeons and Dragons. Also in this section is advice on how to find other players to join or form a gaming group to play with. Advice on being player. Section two is a companion to the character creation process found in the Players Handbooks. This sections talks about the roles that characters play within the adventuring party. Moral outlooks of the characters and their reasoning for being adventures. Also the standard gear that any hero is going to need on a quest. Advice on being a Dungeon Master. The third part of the book is advice on crafting adventures and being the Dungeon Master that is in charge of the game. From crafting the plot of the adventure to playing the villain, and even how to pace out the rewards you give to the plays, this section is rich in advice. DIY Projects. Lastly the book has a few projects that will help players save some cash by showing them how to make props. These projects use a mixture of different skill sets such as sewing, cutting, and even faking paper aging.All in all, this is the prefect book for someone that wants to go beyond and really learn how to play a great game of Dungeons and Dragons.
A Dungeons & Dragons children’s book that captures the wonder and whimsy that made you fall in love with the game. “An adorable book for geeks big and little.”—Felicia Day, author of New York Times bestseller You’re Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) A is for Adventure. Our journey has begun. B is for Book, the source of all the fun! Start your little gamer on an adventure to last a lifetime with this alphabetical children’s book and introduction to the greatest roleplaying game of all time, Dungeons & Dragons. Written in the rhyming style of classic children’s books and filled with adorable owlbears and darling beholders, it’s the perfect book to share the joy of Dungeons & Dragons with a new generation as they learn the alphabet—a precursor to every new path in reading. • Perfect birthday gift or holiday gift for gamers of all ages; great thank you gift for Dungeon Masters • Must-have for all gaming parents; a great baby shower gift! • Part of a series with The 123s of D&D, a children’s counting book and companion to The ABCs of D&D.
