How to play Dungeons & Dragons (5e)?

Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) is a role-playing game in which you and some friends each play a character. It is set in a fantasy world in which heroes, magic and dragons exist. All you need to play is some imagination, a special set of dice and a filled in character sheet.

Back and forth

One person in your group takes on the role of the Dungeon Master (DM). The DM will verbally paint you a picture of where you are. (Describing a scene)

“You stand in front of the entrance to a cave. You see bursts of flames deeper inside and hear a growl that shakes the ground beneath your feet.”.

Knowing this, you can ask for something specific you want to know about the situation or you can say what you want to do. Maybe you want to discuss with your teammates if they what to sneak carefully inside or away, or maybe you play a character that is all about action and you run into the cave with your weapon drawn. Whatever you decide to do as a group: The DM will set the scene, you can choose how to act and the DM will tell you what happens because of your actions.

Actions and consequences

Some of your actions can either go good or bad. You might try to climb a slippery wall or try to convince the merchant to give you a discount. When that is the case the DM will ask you to roll an Ability Check. You roll the 20-sided die and try to roll above the number the DM has set for the current challenge. Because your character might be inadequate or very skilled in a certain task you might subtract or add a certain number to that roll which you can find on your character sheet. The DM will then detail in what way you succeed or fail in your endeavour and what happens because of that.

Ready to rumble

When negotiations with some thugs go sideways or when you are caught trying to steal from a dragons you might get into a fight. Combat in D&D is initiated when either you or the enemy decides to attack. At this point everyone involved rolls their die to see who goes first. When the DM tells you it is your turn to act you have several things you can do:

– You can move around on the battlefield.

– You can take an Action. This is usually an attack or magic spell, but it can also be something like helping an ally, running extra far or hiding.

– You can take a Bonus Action. This is an additional, smaller Action, taking less time. This could be something simple like closing a door, pulling a lever or picking up a weapon. Your character could also know some special Bonus Actions based of their Class, like a specific spell or attack.

All of these activities can be performed in the same turn and in any order you want. Combat can end when either of the parties has died, fled or surrendered and the fighting stops.

Ready for adventure?

Dungeons&Dragons is a game that uses a fair few rules to create a balanced, magical world. It is a world, filled with epic adventures, in which anything that you can think of can happen and that you and your friends can make solely your own by role-playing and improvising. You can play it with friends or strangers, in person or online via video-chat, even while living in a van like I do (D&D in a van).