Your first game of D&D, minute by minute

Most people's hesitation about a first game isn't about the rules. It's about not knowing what the room is like. So this is the room.

Before the session

You're asked what sort of game you want, how much fighting, how much talking, whether you want something light or something serious, and anything you'd rather not have in the story. That conversation is the session zero, and it's where a table agrees what it's doing before anyone rolls a die. A character is either made with you there or handed to you ready to play.

The first twenty minutes

Introductions, a check that everyone can hear each other, and the Dungeon Master describing where you are. Then somebody asks a question in character and the game has started, usually before anyone notices it has. Our games run on Foundry VTT with voice in Discord, so the map and your character sheet are on screen and the dice roll themselves.

The middle

Three or four hours of describing what your character does and finding out what happens. You'll roll dice when the outcome is uncertain. Somebody at the table will know the rules well and will tell you which die to pick up. You'll get something wrong, and nothing will happen as a result, because the person running the game corrects it in one sentence and the story keeps moving.

Four things new players worry about, in order

• "I don't know the rules." You need to know one thing: roll a twenty-sided die and add a number the sheet tells you. That's the whole game. Everything else is learned by playing.
• "I'll be bad at voices." Most players never do a voice. Saying "I try to talk him out of it" is playing correctly.
• "I'll hold everyone up." Experienced players like having somebody new at the table. Explaining the game is half the fun of knowing it.
• "I'll have to buy books." You don't. Everything needed is in the virtual tabletop, and the FAQ covers exactly what you do and don't need.

What you need

A computer with a microphone, a quiet enough room, Discord, and three or four hours where you're not also doing something else. No books, no dice, no prior reading.

If it went well, you keep the seat and the story continues next week. If it didn't, you say so and you're not charged for a campaign you decided against. The nights currently open are on the campaigns page.