I Cast Magic Missile (A DnD Blog): Gameplay

(Toast's Note: This blog is part of my blog series, I Cast Magic Missile, and I'd suggest reading the first two parts before you proceed. ^-^ )

So you've decided to step into a gaming session of DnD for the first time, and have absolutely no idea what's going on - all you've ever heard about is dice rolling and a lot of paper. Well, my good friend, jumping in to the DnD adventuring experience is relatively easy (and even more so if your DM is committed), so relax and have fun!

The first thing adventurers need to know is who they are: this is what the entirety of the rest of their gameplay style should be centered around. Are you the cunning rogue that beguiles enemies and taunts your friends? Are you the silent wizard, whose fiery rage explodes when his allies are touched? Or are you the guts-and-glory warrior, who charges into everything head-on? These are all entirely up to you when you create your character. Pick a class that seems like it would be fun to play, but also fits the group you're adventuring with (ask your DM what is and isn't good at the time), and record basic details such as eye, hair, and skin color, race, and gender so that your Dungeon Master knows how to describe you when other characters encounter you.

After you've determined all this, you can move on to the statistics of your character - how s/he actually gets about when the dice hit the table. If you take a look here, you'll find the sheets many Dungeon Masters prefer to use when crunching data. It might seem like there are an overwhelmingly large number of stats to record, but if you know how your DM forms the numbers, then it should be completable without much trouble. Next blog, I'll follow up this basic character overview with descriptions of the information found on the character sheets such as skills, abilities (which are entirely different than skills - yes, I know it's odd), feats, and the most basic overview of spells.

(Blogging Week 2: Complete)

Have fun, good gaming, and remember - don't feed the trolls.
-Toast