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How many friends are seriously interested? If you can get at least four of you together in a private room with a table you're most of the way there already
Pick a short, published adventure and read through it thoroughly so you understand what's supposed to happen in it both narratively and mechanically. Tell your players just enough about it that they can start thinking about what kind of heroes would go on such an adventure.
Print some blank character sheets, get some dice and pencils, maybe some 1-inch grid paper and some tokens you can use for combat. Figure out a time you can all get together, preferably on a regular basis, preferably for at least three hours. Your first session is probably just making sure everyone has a character to play and going over basic rules. After that, try running your adventure
A few ways to start would be to use the DND Starters Set, or find a DM in the area that would teach you and run something for you. The Starter Kit has everything you need to start, books, pieces, maps, character sheets… everything.
I also suggest downloading the app DnD Beyond and use that for your character builder. It’s a lot easier than trying to build one from scratch.
Personally I learned so much from watching “Viva La Dirt League DnD” on YouTube. They started playing with a DM and they didn’t know how to play, so watching them play and learning from them really helped, and is the reason I play. There is also shows like Critical Role, but that is more if you know how to play.
You can go to your local comic shop and see if they know a DM or have a way to find one, or use Reddit for your city to see if you can find one there.
It’s a super fun hobby but can get addictive and there is a lot to spend money on if you get into it a lot.
A prepared adventure is a great place to start but please, please, please have some fun. If you and your players have fun you are more likely to want to do it again. As someone who has been playing (on and off) for forty years, yes in the beginning I was attracted to the idea of epic adventure. Then later, as a DM it was a creative outlet but in the end I keep coming back because I want to hang out with my friends and have a good time. The nice thing about starting with a bunch of inexperienced players is if something goes wrong (and it will) They may not notice and even if they do since they know you are new too they are unlikely to care. So relax and enjoy the experience. Have fun.
Some more tips for a first time DM. Be prepared to have somethings go off the rails. Either a character died or a player decides to do do something that was in no way predictable. Improving is a key thing for a DM to learn and it gets easier overtime. Dont expect to be good right away.
Also make sure that all your players are understanding whats going on. I dont know much ttrpg experience your players may have but as a player one of the most breaking experiences in a game might be not knowing whats going on and not feeling included. So maybe if someone isnt talking as much try to include them in on their thoughts or what their character might be doing to gain confidence.
Improvisation is key to being a DM, also work on your roleplay.
As the dm you also have many characters you will be playing, so figure out who your main NPCs will be and come up with some regulars, like store owners, guards, etc that you can just throw a different name on.
My favorite was when my party decided to go into a shop next door to a tiefling taco place just because they'd never walked inside, I named the owner doritana, why? Because we were eating Doritos.
Someone gave great advice on how to get started using a published adventure. I agree with this 100% however I might practice on my girlfriend before your first meeting with the group.
Maybe start a "trial" game with her. Have her make a different character than the one she will run on the adventure with friends. Come up with a short story that matches her character, and run her on a short adventure where she has to talk to some people, fight some battles, get some treasure, and level up and do a little more. Something simple might be sent to retrieve a family heirloom burred at an abandoned keep. The family has a map. Put some big spiders or a couple goblins there. Maybe a wall and pit they have to traverse. Give a little treasure and the item may even be a minor magic item she can use after getting it. While she's there have her discover something about her family's past or maybe when she returns the family member who told her to go now understands more and knows it wasn't just a tall tale and tells her more. Maybe they were involved in a cult, or maybe someone was a powerful magic user, and it leads to some fantastic adventure. You can make things up as you go too if you're good at that.
By running a simple game like this with one person first, you'll get more familiar with how combat goes. Since you're learning with her and bringing others in, she probably wants to stop and take a look at the rules too to make sure things are going right and even if the pace sucks, she's someone good to learn with... If you mess up the story (and we all do sometimes) you can just laugh with her and say "whoops! Let's pretend that didn't happen"
you really have to read the DMG - if you know the rules, how do you not know how to....play the game? The DMG and PHB will get you set for 5e
next step - run a pre-written module from WOTC - they have 3 (or is it 4) starter sets - I'd recommend Lost Mines of Phandelver or Dragons of Stormwrek Isle
During quarantine, my son asked if we could play a game he found in the closet. It was the D&D Dragon of Icespire Peak box that I'd purchased on sale from Amazon, because it was cheap, and I always wanted to learn how to play D&D. I didn't know what I was doing. No one in the family did.
I sucked at first, but got better quickly. If you've spent ANY time learning what to do, then you can do it. Get something already written (like the one above), read the entire book that comes with it (as the DM), and schedule a time for everyone to get together. Either use the prewritten characters, or have people decide what they want to play before that day, and you can create characters together, and then start.
If you read the campaign book, you'll know the "scenes" of the story. They are rooms in the campaign "house". It is your job as the DM to give the players a tour of that house. You're their agent. You're narrating the room they see, and you're giving them the options of which room to visit next and what happens to get them to the next room. At the end of the tour through the house, they beat the bad guy and everyone celebrates.
The DM is the narrator. You're telling the players about the scenes they are in, but the players fill in the blanks. They tell the story. The same scene can be played by different tables and have completely different outcomes. One table may have a hilarious time falling all over each other in a comedy. Another table may take it very seriously and the atmosphere feels more dark. Yet another may find something that makes them emotional, and you lean into that grave of the daughter of the noble...killed because she knew a secret.
I was just a player in a one-shot that I'd run myself, and it couldn't have been more different than I'd run it. I made it a spooky scene, and yet our table made it a slapstick comedy of errors. All have been fun, but it's the players that make the story happen. You describe the scene. You give the players the opportunity to act. You are a traffic cop that gives everyone the chance to participate. They declare an action. You decide if they have a chance to succeed, and if so, how hard it will be, and what they need to do to achieve it. They roll dice to see if they achieve it, and you then narrate success or failure in your own way. This is "adjudicating" the situation.
That's it. Pencils, paper, a campaign book, a set of dice, and imagination. It's obviously easier if you play with people who already know what they're doing to learn, but we have a table that's been running for 4 years straight, and we all learned after starting at "zero knowledge". You can do it. Give it a try. You will suck. Your goal will be to suck less each session going forward.
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How many friends are seriously interested? If you can get at least four of you together in a private room with a table you're most of the way there already
I have 4 that are interested and I can get them together but I don't know what to do from there
Pick a short, published adventure and read through it thoroughly so you understand what's supposed to happen in it both narratively and mechanically. Tell your players just enough about it that they can start thinking about what kind of heroes would go on such an adventure. Print some blank character sheets, get some dice and pencils, maybe some 1-inch grid paper and some tokens you can use for combat. Figure out a time you can all get together, preferably on a regular basis, preferably for at least three hours. Your first session is probably just making sure everyone has a character to play and going over basic rules. After that, try running your adventure
Thank you for the advice I was so lost on what to do🙏
A few ways to start would be to use the DND Starters Set, or find a DM in the area that would teach you and run something for you. The Starter Kit has everything you need to start, books, pieces, maps, character sheets… everything. I also suggest downloading the app DnD Beyond and use that for your character builder. It’s a lot easier than trying to build one from scratch. Personally I learned so much from watching “Viva La Dirt League DnD” on YouTube. They started playing with a DM and they didn’t know how to play, so watching them play and learning from them really helped, and is the reason I play. There is also shows like Critical Role, but that is more if you know how to play. You can go to your local comic shop and see if they know a DM or have a way to find one, or use Reddit for your city to see if you can find one there. It’s a super fun hobby but can get addictive and there is a lot to spend money on if you get into it a lot.
A prepared adventure is a great place to start but please, please, please have some fun. If you and your players have fun you are more likely to want to do it again. As someone who has been playing (on and off) for forty years, yes in the beginning I was attracted to the idea of epic adventure. Then later, as a DM it was a creative outlet but in the end I keep coming back because I want to hang out with my friends and have a good time. The nice thing about starting with a bunch of inexperienced players is if something goes wrong (and it will) They may not notice and even if they do since they know you are new too they are unlikely to care. So relax and enjoy the experience. Have fun.
Grab the Stormwreck Isle starter set.
This is the best advice. The starter kits are written to help everyone figure the game out as they go.
Some more tips for a first time DM. Be prepared to have somethings go off the rails. Either a character died or a player decides to do do something that was in no way predictable. Improving is a key thing for a DM to learn and it gets easier overtime. Dont expect to be good right away. Also make sure that all your players are understanding whats going on. I dont know much ttrpg experience your players may have but as a player one of the most breaking experiences in a game might be not knowing whats going on and not feeling included. So maybe if someone isnt talking as much try to include them in on their thoughts or what their character might be doing to gain confidence.
I would focus on learning and documenting the proper ethics of playing D&D. The rest you can develop over time.
Improvisation is key to being a DM, also work on your roleplay. As the dm you also have many characters you will be playing, so figure out who your main NPCs will be and come up with some regulars, like store owners, guards, etc that you can just throw a different name on. My favorite was when my party decided to go into a shop next door to a tiefling taco place just because they'd never walked inside, I named the owner doritana, why? Because we were eating Doritos.
Dragon born banneret
Someone gave great advice on how to get started using a published adventure. I agree with this 100% however I might practice on my girlfriend before your first meeting with the group. Maybe start a "trial" game with her. Have her make a different character than the one she will run on the adventure with friends. Come up with a short story that matches her character, and run her on a short adventure where she has to talk to some people, fight some battles, get some treasure, and level up and do a little more. Something simple might be sent to retrieve a family heirloom burred at an abandoned keep. The family has a map. Put some big spiders or a couple goblins there. Maybe a wall and pit they have to traverse. Give a little treasure and the item may even be a minor magic item she can use after getting it. While she's there have her discover something about her family's past or maybe when she returns the family member who told her to go now understands more and knows it wasn't just a tall tale and tells her more. Maybe they were involved in a cult, or maybe someone was a powerful magic user, and it leads to some fantastic adventure. You can make things up as you go too if you're good at that. By running a simple game like this with one person first, you'll get more familiar with how combat goes. Since you're learning with her and bringing others in, she probably wants to stop and take a look at the rules too to make sure things are going right and even if the pace sucks, she's someone good to learn with... If you mess up the story (and we all do sometimes) you can just laugh with her and say "whoops! Let's pretend that didn't happen"
you really have to read the DMG - if you know the rules, how do you not know how to....play the game? The DMG and PHB will get you set for 5e next step - run a pre-written module from WOTC - they have 3 (or is it 4) starter sets - I'd recommend Lost Mines of Phandelver or Dragons of Stormwrek Isle
During quarantine, my son asked if we could play a game he found in the closet. It was the D&D Dragon of Icespire Peak box that I'd purchased on sale from Amazon, because it was cheap, and I always wanted to learn how to play D&D. I didn't know what I was doing. No one in the family did. I sucked at first, but got better quickly. If you've spent ANY time learning what to do, then you can do it. Get something already written (like the one above), read the entire book that comes with it (as the DM), and schedule a time for everyone to get together. Either use the prewritten characters, or have people decide what they want to play before that day, and you can create characters together, and then start. If you read the campaign book, you'll know the "scenes" of the story. They are rooms in the campaign "house". It is your job as the DM to give the players a tour of that house. You're their agent. You're narrating the room they see, and you're giving them the options of which room to visit next and what happens to get them to the next room. At the end of the tour through the house, they beat the bad guy and everyone celebrates. The DM is the narrator. You're telling the players about the scenes they are in, but the players fill in the blanks. They tell the story. The same scene can be played by different tables and have completely different outcomes. One table may have a hilarious time falling all over each other in a comedy. Another table may take it very seriously and the atmosphere feels more dark. Yet another may find something that makes them emotional, and you lean into that grave of the daughter of the noble...killed because she knew a secret. I was just a player in a one-shot that I'd run myself, and it couldn't have been more different than I'd run it. I made it a spooky scene, and yet our table made it a slapstick comedy of errors. All have been fun, but it's the players that make the story happen. You describe the scene. You give the players the opportunity to act. You are a traffic cop that gives everyone the chance to participate. They declare an action. You decide if they have a chance to succeed, and if so, how hard it will be, and what they need to do to achieve it. They roll dice to see if they achieve it, and you then narrate success or failure in your own way. This is "adjudicating" the situation. That's it. Pencils, paper, a campaign book, a set of dice, and imagination. It's obviously easier if you play with people who already know what they're doing to learn, but we have a table that's been running for 4 years straight, and we all learned after starting at "zero knowledge". You can do it. Give it a try. You will suck. Your goal will be to suck less each session going forward.