It is finally the night, the years of listening or wanting to engage in Dungeons and Dragons have finally poked its ugly goblin head out. If you see one goblin, just know there are many more around.
Everyone is around the table and the game is precariously waiting to be played, but wait, you have just realized you (and your adventuring party) have never played before! Do not panic*, for I will lead this blog post down a winding and bright path that will surely have you prepared for your first big game.
The great fun that is Dungeons and Dragons comes in many different sizes, and finding out how much prep time is needed for your game usually will be in correlation with how much myth and fantasy you want to pack into this journey. Some campaigns can have it packed to the brim with lore and magic that can be very overwhelming for those who are brand new to playing, at least in the beginning. Even with that on the back of the potion table burner, you definitely do not want to be on that opposite spectrum and show up with nothing for your players.
So in this situation, what would be the best game for your players?
Dungeon Master Checklist
Below are some of my favorite go-to’s when I am planning or want to freshen up the actual game. While the game can be played in pretty much any way possible (when including homebrew rules), these tips/items in particular are the base rules and objects I use for Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition.
The Essential Manuals and Cards Companion
The Master’s Guide goes over the main rules that, a DM, should follow. While playing the game can basically be whatever you want, I would reccomend sitting down and doing a once over and really getting a layout of the rules. Getting this out of the way now will make it so that the game actually comes with a set of rules. Now, how do players learn DND?
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I personally really enjoy the Player’s Handbook, not only does it help go over the lore and history of the creatures of the land, but it can help create your first character! It can seriously be captivating to make different types of characters, and being on top of the rules and backgrounds that come with these characters can help shape who they are and how they turn out. If numbers and making the toughest stat block is your thing, you might be wondering, how do I make strong DND characters? The book can tell you how by finding what main stat your class uses, and assigning numbers you rolled accordingly.
- D&D Player’s Handbook (Dungeons & Dragons Core Rulebook)
- D&D Monster Manual (Dungeons & Dragons Core Rulebook)
If you have some extra cash burning in your dice-bag-converted wallet, I would also recommend getting item cards for your players. The best thing about these is the tracking system, when starting out giving too much of anything can really overwhelm not only you but also your players. Instead, make the first game a little smaller, keep it to a few item cards for each player, and have them keep track of their items.
Of course, you might be thinking, “Knights Digest, what type of item cards do they have?”, well let me tell you.
- Dungeons & Dragons Spellbook Cards: Magic Items (D&D Accessory)
- Dungeons and Dragons Spellbook Cards Bundle (8 Items): Cleric, Druid, Bard, Martial Powers & Races, Paladin, Ranger, Arcane, and Xanathar’s Guide to Everything Decks (945 Total Cards)
Now, what are Dungeons and Dragons cards? These decks (Which I have found in the past on Amazon in the image above), come in specific collections. My personal favorite is the Magic Item Cards, which clearly show all the information you would need in regard to that item. Giving these tools to your players will help make it feel more like a “game” in the beginning, having them throw down cards when they want to use an item (while also being able to quickly be able to say what that item does) is an amazing feeling when starting out.
The other main decks that I use and have run into are the spell cards for specific classes. When first collecting, I would buy them as needed for the character that I was playing. Now that I have more it is nice to be able to pass them off on players who are also wanting gameplay to go by faster, instead of just sitting there fumbling. Wondering what specific arcane components are needed is no longer a problem, plus I feel like I can also look over my other spells at the same time.
Actually, for a long time when starting out, I would have what I called a “wizard’s spellbook” separated by level. It was in a binder (bought at Walmart) filled with baseball collection sleeves (also bought at Walmart) with my Dungeons and Dragons spell cards stuffed into the pockets.
Sonic Landscapes, Luminous Skies (Lights and Music)
“I’ve often called the lighting for the stage the “music for the eye”, because it has the same way of making an atmosphere, making a landscape, changing fluidly from one place to another without seeming effort.”
The way you introduce a setting or scene to your players also feels important. When I introduce them, I want them to feel that they are in that tavern, sitting at that bonfire, fighting that herd of goblins! Sadly with Covid and the goblin shortage, the best I can do in the meantime is to try and recreate that with lights and atmosphere music. My music playlists are loaded with files that are created and edited in GarageBand, and then used during my games!
Introduction of lighting to your games (even if it’s just the lights turned low with dollar store battery-powered candles lit around you) can be a game-changer to your small group. Instead of staring around at a group of people who rarely see the sun, dimming those lights slightly creates the fantasy atmosphere you have been dreaming of!
Simple sounds like a bonfire, or tavern noises can all easily be found on YouTube. If looking for music for that horror-themed one-shot, I can guarantee that a moaning dungeon ASMR is out there for you. Switching on to the topic of lights, it is the same rules Keep it small and keep it simple in the beginning, the players want a story, not a light show.
Closing Remarks
At the end of the day, what makes Dungeons and Dragons so amazing is the fact that you can go all in and spend thousands of dollars on all the fancy lights, the best audio systems, and all the exclusive accessories that the coast releases. But what started my goblin hole of DND experience was just a group of college friends herded around a kitchen island going through our first dungeon on a piece of paper.
Hey Adventurers, if you like content like this, consider checking out some of our other articles here!
*I am so heroic.
Resources:
- A Group of Six Men, including a Self Portrait (?) | Art UK. (n.d.). https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/a-group-of-six-men-including-a-self-portrait-10148
Why were Renaissance artists obsessed with death? (n.d.). Art & Object. https://www.artandobject.com/articles/memento-mori-renaissance-art
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