Now, I know Lak has posted about possibly doing D&D sessions via this site. Now, for those who have heard of D&D (Dungeons and Dragons), you might know that it is a role-playing game played using figures, graph paper, pencils, character sheets, and dice. I will tell you about the basic elements that you will have to know about the game to understand it. Since I have had various things about D&D taught to me, I will share them with those of you who may be interested. This will cover the basics of the races, classes, paths, leveling, and other elements of the game that you absolutely HAVE to know about to be able to understand it. Shall we begin?
Since the 4th edition of D&D is one of the more recent ones, we shall focus on only that. The game will be monitored by the Dungeon Master (DM for short), who is responsible for managing the difficulty of monster encounters, the layout of the adventures and dungeons, calculating numbers, controlling monsters and any NPCs, providing descriptions of things, keeping track of initiatives, and many other things. So yes, it takes a very patient and smart person to take on the various responsibilities of the DM. As a side note, should someone want to change it around, they can select a new person to be the DM, but only if the selected person can take on the extra duties.
Each player gets to make their own original characters using a variety of classes and other elements. Here are the playable races for D&D editions as far up as the updated Player's Handbook (4th edition):
Elf
Male:
https://2img.net/h/i683.photobucket.com/albums/vv194/darkwerepyre/M_Elf5.pngFemale:
https://2img.net/h/i683.photobucket.com/albums/vv194/darkwerepyre/F_Elf1.pngHalf-Elf
Male:
https://2img.net/h/i683.photobucket.com/albums/vv194/darkwerepyre/M_Halfelf2.pngFemale:
https://2img.net/h/i683.photobucket.com/albums/vv194/darkwerepyre/F_Halfelf1.pngHuman (of course)
Male:
https://2img.net/h/i683.photobucket.com/albums/vv194/darkwerepyre/M_Human2.pngFemale:
https://2img.net/h/i683.photobucket.com/albums/vv194/darkwerepyre/Class_HumanWizard.pngDwarf
Male:
https://2img.net/h/i683.photobucket.com/albums/vv194/darkwerepyre/M_Dwarf7.pngFemale:
https://2img.net/h/i683.photobucket.com/albums/vv194/darkwerepyre/F_Dwarf1.pngEladrin
Male:
https://2img.net/h/i683.photobucket.com/albums/vv194/darkwerepyre/M_Eladrin2.pngFemale:
https://2img.net/h/i683.photobucket.com/albums/vv194/darkwerepyre/F_Eladrin4.pngDragonborn
Male:
https://2img.net/h/i683.photobucket.com/albums/vv194/darkwerepyre/M_Dragonborn5.pngFemale:
https://2img.net/h/i683.photobucket.com/albums/vv194/darkwerepyre/Class_DragonbornRogue.pngTiefling
Male:
https://2img.net/h/i683.photobucket.com/albums/vv194/darkwerepyre/M_Tiefling1.pngFemale:
https://2img.net/h/i683.photobucket.com/albums/vv194/darkwerepyre/ClassPortWarlock.pngHalfling
Male:
https://2img.net/h/i683.photobucket.com/albums/vv194/darkwerepyre/M_Halfling4.pngFemale:
https://2img.net/h/i683.photobucket.com/albums/vv194/darkwerepyre/F_Halfling1.pngDeva
Pic:
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/excerpt_ph2_2.jpgHalf Orc
Pic:
http://www.toplessrobot.com/PHB35_PG25_WEB.jpgGnome
Pic:
https://2img.net/h/i683.photobucket.com/albums/vv194/darkwerepyre/RacePortGnome.pngGoliath:
Pic:
http://files.meetup.com/278834/male_goliath.jpgLongtooth and Razorclaw Shifters
Razorclaw:
https://2img.net/h/i683.photobucket.com/albums/vv194/darkwerepyre/RacePortShifter_Razorclaw.pngLongtooth:
https://2img.net/h/i683.photobucket.com/albums/vv194/darkwerepyre/RacePortShifter_Longtooth.pngAnd there are some playable monster races as well:
Bladeling
Pic:
https://2img.net/h/i683.photobucket.com/albums/vv194/darkwerepyre/bladeling2.jpgGnoll
Pic:
https://2img.net/h/i683.photobucket.com/albums/vv194/darkwerepyre/gnoll_med.jpgBugbear
Pic:
https://2img.net/h/i683.photobucket.com/albums/vv194/darkwerepyre/RacePortBugbear.pngKobold
Pic:
https://2img.net/h/i683.photobucket.com/albums/vv194/darkwerepyre/RacePortKobold.pngOrc
Pic:
https://2img.net/h/i683.photobucket.com/albums/vv194/darkwerepyre/RacePortOrc.pngDrow
Pic:
https://2img.net/h/i683.photobucket.com/albums/vv194/darkwerepyre/RacePortDrow.pngDoppleganger
Pic:
https://2img.net/h/i683.photobucket.com/albums/vv194/darkwerepyre/RacePortDoppelganger.pngGenasi
Pic:
https://2img.net/h/i683.photobucket.com/albums/vv194/darkwerepyre/ClassPortSwordmage.pngGithyanki
Pic:
https://2img.net/h/i683.photobucket.com/albums/vv194/darkwerepyre/RacePortGithyanki.pngGithzerai
Pic:
https://2img.net/h/i683.photobucket.com/albums/vv194/darkwerepyre/RacePortGithzerai.pngMinotaur
Pic:
https://2img.net/h/i683.photobucket.com/albums/vv194/darkwerepyre/RacePortMinotaur.pngGoblin
Pic:
https://2img.net/h/i683.photobucket.com/albums/vv194/darkwerepyre/RacePortGoblin.pngHobgoblin
Pic:
https://2img.net/h/i683.photobucket.com/albums/vv194/darkwerepyre/RacePortHobgoblin.pngShader-Kai
Pic:
https://2img.net/h/i683.photobucket.com/albums/vv194/darkwerepyre/RacePortShadar-kai.pngWarforged
Pic:
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/eberron/ebb_20040217_Warforged.jpgThere are a number of classes you can pick, here is the list of classes from all editions, including the updated 4th edition:
Paladin
Wizard
Fighter
Rogue
Warlock
Cleric
Ranger
Warlord
Ranger
Avenger
Barbarian
Druid
Sorcerer
Bard
Invoker
Warden
Shaman
Artificer
There are also a number of deities your characters can worship, and they grant special unique powers to those who choose Divine Classes, like a Cleric. We will not get into the Forgotten Realms, as even I don't know much about it, plus it adds more deities to the list, which are too many for me to list here, so I'll put down the basic ones for the 4th edition and their alignment:
Bahamut- Lawful Good
Corellon- Unaligned
Avandra- Good
Erathis- Unaligned
Ioun- Unaligned
The Raven Queen- Unaligned
Sehanine- Unaligned
Kord- Unaligned
Melora- Unaligned
Moradin- Lawful Good
Pelor- Good
Evil and Chaotic Evil deities are to avoided at ALL times, but you can ask your DM if they will allow it. But, being a worshipper of an evil deity makes you a villain. Here they are:
Asmodeus- Evil
Bane- Evil
Gruumsh- Chaotic Evil
Lolth- Chaotic Evil
Tiamat- Evil
Torog- Evil
Vecna- Evil
Zehir- Evil
There are SIX (that's right, six) basic stats, or ability scores, for each character:
Strength is your character's physical power, important for those who fight in melee based combat.
Constitution is your char's health and vitality, the more Con. you have, the more health your char has.
Dexterity is your char's hand-eye coordination, agility, reflexes, and balance.
Intelligence is how well your char learns new things and negotiates with others.
Wisdom is your char's common sense, empathy, and self discipline. It's often useful for detecting danger or notice details other people don't notice.
Charisma is your char's force of personality, persuasiveness, and leadership.
You can generate Ability Scores by rolling the dice, or by using the basic array: 16,14,13,12,11,10. When you enter combat, everyone rolls initiative to determine who goes first, the highest number goes first and so on...
Each race speaks it's own language, though for certain ones you can pick another language of your choice, here they are:
Common is spoken by humans, halflings, and tieflings
Deep Speech is spoken by Mind Flayers, Githyanki, and Kuo-toas.
Draconic is spoken by dragonborn, dragons, and kobolds.
Dwarven is spoken by dwarves and azers.
Elven is spoken by elfs, eladrin, and fomorians.
Giant is spoken by Giants, orcs, and ogres
Goblin is spoken by goblins, hobgoblins, and bugbears
Primordial is spoken by Efreets, archons, and elementals
Supernal is spoken by angels, devils, and gods
Abyssal is spoken by Gnolls, demons, and sahuagin.
There are three tiers to achieve as you play and level up:
Your char always starts in the herioc tier, and it goes up from there.
Paragon tier is the next level up, for chars who are from levels 11-20, you choose a special class that is an advancement of the class you start with.
Epic Tier is the final tier, your character is of legndary/demigod proportions, all who stand against you shall perish in the flames of the Nine Hells! You have a chance at immortality, depending on the last and final class advancement you choose.
For each class, there is a Paragon Path, where you are given several choices to advance your class, each one comes with unique abilities and powers.
There are also a number of special abilites called Feats that you can pick, the number you can pick is based on your level. Some feats can increase your abilities, grant you special powers, or buff them. Feats also vary depending on your tier.
Multiclass Feats allow you to play as two classes, for example, if you were a cleric who wanted a taste of warlock magic, or a fighter who dips a toe into wizardry.
Ah, weapons, can't live without 'em:
Halberd, rapiers, quarterstaff, longbow, glaive, the list can go on for miles!
Magic items have certain properties a regular item does not, like the power to phase through walls and enemies, or burn with fire with a single word. They are more powerful, but are harder to obtain.
There are several skills that each character has, but each one is better at one thing than another. Here are a few examples of skills:
Acrobatics
Thievery
Streetwise
Arcana
Heal
Perception
Nature
Dungeoneering
Stealth
Religion
History
Bluff
Athletics
Diplomacy
etc.
Those are the basics of the game, any questions are welcomed, and I will get into the deeper elements of the game in the next lesson.