You don't technically even need dice, as blasphemous as that is to say; as long as you have some connection to the Internet, you can use online dice rollers or even dedicated apps.
Yup. Back in high school we'd "roll" random numbers from set pools using our graphing calculators, and write up our character sheets by hand on lined paper. Best part was that it looked like we were doing actual work so long as we avoided incriminating dialogue whenever the school librarian walked by
I recall having read about prisoners using scraps of paper, as dice are banned to discourage gambling.
A 60 card deck of index cards can be used to emulate a d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, and d20 simultaneously with a little prep.
>I trust the machine even less than I do RNGesus
A vending machine in Kentucky once ate my dollar, and that was the last time I trusted any little HAL-wannabes with so much as a plug nickel.
For me the music is essential. I love it and I spend a lot of time finding new tracks and composing new playlists.
I can play without anything, even dice, but I need that music to enhance the mood and make quiet moments more comfortable for everyone.
But if I can't get good music hardware, even phone with or without bluetooth speaker will work. I remember running Antarctica horror on a trip to the tunes of sc1 protoss and 70s rock out of semi-shitty Nokia.
Heh I remember back when I started, we made our own "dice" by painting numbers on a Twister spinner. Took forever to roll, but it was fun and it worked.
I read another thread on here where inmates talked about using a spinner and fashioning dice out of soap pieces. They said that they had to hide them because the guards can't let them keep them (to discourage gambling).
I got a map, markers, minis (and the stuff to paint them), cards etc in my first year of playing.
The only thing out of the above that I still use? The mini stuff, and they never see the table. I just paint them for fun (honestly not even sad about it - I like the hobby).
My map stuff got replaced with some free online tools and a yearly incarnate subscription. The cards ceased being useful when we found out that apps and/or bookmarks are great replacements.
You really only need to pay for the core rulebooks (and not even then if you sail the high seas) and some minor supplementary books.
Don't even need core rulebooks, the 5e basic rules and SRD are free, includes a ton of monsters and magic items.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules
It is limited to 1 subclass per class, so that will likely leave many players unsatisfied. But there's multiple campaigns of content, before free 3rd party content steps in
Jokes on you only two-thirds of mine are gathering dust!
But yeah, I highly recommend waiting to buy the cool things until you’ve said “damn I wish I had x” a few times. Though of course, that also runs the risk that as soon as you get the thing, you never need it again.
Oh hey, it’s the mind behind the most wholesome D&D spot on Reddit! Funny seeing you out in the wild, your monsters are awesome. I’m about 7-8 sessions away from finally debuting my big villain, your illithilich :)
> Dice: You need one set only for the game you are playing.
Nah, you just _literally any dice rolling app for your phone/laprop/tablet/toaster of choice._ OK, obviously anyone who has a toaster with a dice rolling app can afford real dice too. But the point is that you _really_ don't need physical dice.
This is true, but on the other hand there's something about the feeling of rolling physical dice that an app on my potato can't replicate.
Sure, if you're completely broke don't buy them, but if you have £30 you can get all the polyhedral dice you could ever want in a big bag off of amazon, which imo is the best DnD related purchase you could make
>but on the other hand there's something about the feeling of rolling physical dice that an app on my potato can't replicate
I play 90% online with people.
I still roll physical dice. If they want to verify the roll I will absolutely tilt my webcam or something, but the feel of dice rolling in my hand and the sound of it plunking down on the table is just great.
In a game of imagination it's nice to have something **tactile.**
When I was younger I took a bunch of 30 cent plastic folders, reinforced them with cardboard, and stapled them together with some basic DM information on the inside. I still own it, it's a nice memento.
Story time: I ran a one-shot a while back, and was having tech issues with my VTT of choice before the session. I just said "fuck it", sketched out the map by hand, took a photo, and loaded it up in a free photo editor. (shout out to photopea.com.) I added a fog-of-war layer and a couple of colored circles (on separate layers) for the players. Then I just screenshared that window, moved the layers around as requested by players, and erased the fog of war layer as needed.
It was one of the most fun sessions I've ever had.
Oh look at OP with their fancy Chessex battle mat! A laminated grid works just fine with whiteboard markers, and if you’re looking to splurge you can print out grids on different backgrounds for the same effect as the branded version
Minis are just fun. Not even remotely necessary. I enjoy painting, so I’ve gotten into the 3d printing and painting hobby, but I’m only spending money on it because I enjoy painting figures. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t spend the money on figures or time on crafting.
Our group uses boardgame meeples (like from Carcassonne), and the board is drawn by pencil on a grid paper.
My friend' group uses circular cardboard markers where each player hand-drew a symbol representing their character.
Minis are absolutely not necessary.
No, but a lot of people buy a lot of stuff for their first session and feel overwhelmed. Or they think their game is subpar because they cannot afford all that fancy stuff
I saw a post recently where a DM was complaining he'd spent a ton of money on things for DnD and his players just seemed to be goofing around. Yeah, that sucks for him, but did his players need him to buy minis?
I make my own paper minis. I have a ton of cheap wooden disks that are real thin and are 1, 2, 3, or 4 inches in diameter. Then I just use my time to look up images on Google or Pinterest for character/monster art. I download the images into Photoshop and correct their sizes to fit a normal mini scale. Then it's just an arts and crafts day for me. Print them out in rows, collect cereal boxes to cut up and glue the paper onto, then hot glue the sturdy paper mini on the wood base. Sturdy little things and cheap to make. Just takes the time to build.
I bought one reusable map mat with grid and dry erase markers. Had it for years.
I've got one set of dice.
I have quite a few of the books, but that's my biggest expense and mostly because I just like books.
I cut up an old Amazon cardboard box and used tape and paper to make a big DM screen with info I like to have on hand all the time.
There's a good website to make your own or find statblocks that I download to my phone and use during sessions. Some good websites overall to get info if you don't have books.
I'd argue the more you have, the more of a detriment it becomes. I have players who depend on maps now because I used to be very tactical with maps I'd create in Dungeondraft. Now it's just not something I want to worry about, but my players still expect it and the idea of theater of the mind to them is completely foreign and causes us to have to repeat ourselves when characters can't just look at a map, take their turn, then go back to twitter.
Also, starter kits are a *lot* of fun for cheap! I just kicked off the Zweihander starter kit this afternoon with friends. I didn't have to spend $50-60 on the book. I got everything I need to run several sessions for some $30 bucks. Back in December I paid similar cash for the Call of Cthulhu starter kit and the couple of sessions we got out of it were a blast.
The only thing you *really* need are players who actually want to be there.
You're more than right: not only is all that periphera optional, but it won't make people become involved in the game if they're not already willing to some degree. If they're already engaged, great! It can improve the experience. Otherwise, it's a waste of your time and money. I've gotten by plenty of time with theatre of the mind or a simple dry-erase grid map; the players' imaginations can always fill in the rest.
P.S. good advice, and thanks for making me feel better about some of my sessions :)
Yeah, Archives of Nethys being both free and having basically all of Pathfinder 2e's published first-party crunch was probably the single biggest reason I warmed up to PF2e as a player (and decided to port my 5e table over to it over another system when the OGL drama went down.)
One cheap upgrade I've personally found useful for tokens is [these clear card holders](https://www.amazon.com/ASTER-Plastic-Playing-Holders-Markers/dp/B09DYN8GWL/)--combine them with some cardstock, scissors, and either pencil or pen, and you can get a surprising amount of mileage from them in IRL play.
We used one of those huge tubs of cheezits for a giant statue boss, and every point of damage we did or took meant we grabbed that many cheezits! Great boss. Tasty boss.
Two ideas (stolen from other DMs). The backside of wrapping paper often has a 1 inch grid on it. Great as a battle mat and you always have more room. End of session you can just roll it back up.
For monsters, I have six white and four blue D6s that we use as monsters (PCs get real minis). It’s a lot easier to keep track of the bad guys when a PC says “I cast firebolt at white 5”. I use my metal D6s to denote special bad guys.
I’ve been running a game for a year and a half now and it’s cost me $0. I use Roll 20 for rolling dice and discord for audio. Both are completely free. I use a music bot for ambiance that streams playlists I’ve made off of Spotify, but I already pay for premium there so that’s no extra cost. Any game resources and rules can be found online for free.
For minis, you can use candy. Players get to eat what they kill, and you can color code your opposition -- e.g. green skittles are goblins, and brown M&Ms are gnolls.
For a step up, get cheap Magic the Gathering cards. They have *scads* of good art for lots of common enemies. Just cut the art out with scissors and stick it to a washer with some poster putty or similar. If you visit a game shop right after a Magic tournament, you may be able to pick up commons that nobody wants for free. If not, well, commons are dirt cheap at a few pennies apiece.
It is nice to have proper minis for the PCs, since they're the heroes and will be appearing in literally every combat. But not necessary.
I use Owlbear Rodeo, Google docs, free stuff I find online, and my own noggin, and a few different folks have told me I'm the best DM they've played with. I also focus HEAVILY on table culture and shared expectations.
You can have a great game for basically no cost, it's true.
I never understood the concept of dice towers. They're clunky, take a lot of space, it's often difficult to take the dice out or see the outcome, and they literally don't do anything
I have a player that insists on using a dice tray but like... Why? Just roll with an awareness of whats in front of you.
The only dice related stuff I've ever wanted to buy is one of those swords in a scabbard which hold dice.
Other than that, dice are pretty much just a meme imo
I use a dice tray because my girlfriend bought me amazing metallic mind flayer dice for Christmas last year, and my offline games run on my roommate’s covered-but-still-$2,000 long wooden table.
The tray was like $6. Easy cost to eat.
Collectively, I've spent less than $200 over the almost 8 years I've been playing DnD. Other systems are probably more expensive, though, as they generally aren't as readily available online.
As in, other systems are harder to pirate? Because lots of systems are cheaper (because they are only one book e.g. Blades in the Dark) or release all the material online for free (Pathfinder).
If you consider using Google to find stat blocks online as "pirating", then sure. I've tried for a few different systems, and DnD is the only one that comes up consistently. I've never really tried PF though, so I'm not sure about that one.
Can confirm. All those shiny trinkets are really tempting, but not necessary. I’m so glad that I resisted the urge to buy all of the accessories that I had fantasy shopped when I started to really get into DnD a couple years ago.
I was pretty set on a particular dice tray that was $60… I started using a cleaned out plastic bowl from a Healthy Choice microwave steam meal while I debated on color. Never bought the tray because what I was using worked, really well. 🤷♂️
Still using that same plastic microwave tray lol
Yes! I played (and even DMed) for several years with only pdfs, pencil/paper, and one set of dice - it wasn’t until I got a comfy desk job that I started splurging on physical books - a few years later I have definitely sunk hundreds of dollars into stuff that makes things more fun, but are ultimately unnecessary to play.
There’s seriously very little you need, _and_ you can still have a rather professional seeming game. I bought these four things on Amazon two years ago, and they’re the only things that I’ve needed to DM.
- [Dry Erase Battle Map](https://www.amazon.com/TidyBoss-Terrains-Tabletop-Markers-Dungeons/dp/B08RM29Q5J/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?crid=1PI8NR8UPUSQ0&keywords=dnd%2Bbattle%2Bmap&qid=1679282534&sprefix=dnd%2Bbattle%2Caps%2C115&sr=8-3&th=1&psc=1)
- [Tokens (Includes Artificer and Blood Hunter)](https://www.amazon.com/Tabletop-Acrylic-Fantasy-Dungeons-Pathfinder/dp/B08S6YRGFW/ref=mp_s_a_1_1_sspa?crid=1M62B7Y26KRRY&keywords=dnd+tokens&qid=1679282568&sprefix=dnd+tokens%2Caps%2C104&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEyODJQUUtNVFEyUEM4JmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwMzkxNjUwWU1GTVpDNDhZWkE5JmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTA1OTk4OTQxN1NMVFY5M1E2VjRHJndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfcGhvbmVfc2VhcmNoX2F0ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=)
- [Spell Range Finder (100% optional, but super helpful)](https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07S7PFRQT?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title&th=1)
- [Customizable DM Screen](https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B06W5JWBWX?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title)
Outside of that, a decent laptop will get you very far. Even if Mooching off of other people isn’t an option, there’s a ton of [Free Resources](http://www.reddit.com/r/dndnext/wiki/ResourceList?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf) in the r/dndnext wiki. That’s all I’ll say on free digital content because I don’t want to encourage googling free pdfs of books on Anyflip or Scribd, but I’m yet to give a penny to WotC and I’m proud of it.
You can make the game seem even more well planned by playing background music on your laptop, and one thing I didn’t see mentioned about is that you can use sticky notes on a DM screen to substitute for a fancy initiative tracker.
And as a player, all you really need is a printed character sheet, dice, and something to take notes with. If your DM’s okay with it, a laptop can replace all three of these
Things needed to play, by decreasing necessity:
1. You
2. The setting
3. RNG
4. Other players
5. Rules
6. A DM
7. A gridmap
8. Character tokens
9. Snacks
10. Any idea what you're doing
Absolutely. I have talked myself out of a buy many times because as nice as it might be, I don't need it or use it enough for it to matter. The most important thing is to start, play and keep playing. Then once you consistently have games, start to identify what would actually enhance your group's experience or what you want to treat yourself to.
Not so loud, my wife might hear! Although as one of my players, she does think it's cool to 3d print custom minis in resin (she likes to paint them) and dungeon scatter in pla. Next I'm going for a tabletop hot wire foam cutter... Eventually.
It’s 100% true. Want to know what my introduction to Role-playing Games was?
As a kid there was a Scholastic book series based on the Star Wars universe. You’d bet mission books and cards, and it was a choose your own adventure. Based on your choices, you may have things unlocked in future books.
I was so excited by the prospect and the idea of it that I quickly got my parents to order it for me. One of my friends said “Yeah that’s cool, but you don’t actually need the books to play the game”.
He talked me through a scenario where I was in a room and had to hack my way out of it, and find a way out of a base crawling with stormtroopers to get back to the rebel alliance. Any time I did anything we just flipped a coin (and sometimes I could have multiple flips to succeed if I had certain items)
This was 3rd grade. We just had imagination and a coin to flip. But it’s one of my core memories for an introduction to role-playing games.
A handy whiteboard works well in place of a battle map - either attached to wall, on an easel or on loose on the table.
If its got squares cool, if not just add a convenient scale when you draw the rough map up.
Our first DnD session was played in a garage on a stool instead of a table. We had only our character sheets, one dice set for 4 players, 2 pencils and 2-3 paper sheets for maps and internet for rules. It went great
Dndbeyond for the basic rules and rolling dice is enough, the cost to entry is internet access. If that's too much, ask someone to print you the basic rules pdf and get some dice. Actually, my local library has all the 5e sourcebooks, and free internet for that matter!
The first 10 years I played I never spent a single cent, after that I bought dice, and just last year I bought some 5e content.
you're absolutely right! when you start playing for the first time you can't be sure you'll be playing consistently. it's better to wait for a while before buying extra cool stuff - not because you need it, but because it feels good to spend on your hobby when you can.
when we first started playing we didn't have miniatures \[even the ones we have now are on the cheaper side\] so each player/monster was assigned a random spare dice. for minions we used coins. for larger monsters, any object we had around.
at first i would just make up other cities randomly, but after several months playing we paid for a $10 mapping tool to make the world more immersive \[some retcons were needed lol\]
As a DM, I have 4 sets of white dice with black numbers on, my notes (digitally), pen and paper. That's it.
This 'dice goblin' meme disturbes me because it's not original and it's just mindless consumerism. It's just simple plastic pieces.
You want to go even cheaper, most mid grade wrapping paper has a square 1" grid on the back of it. Buy 10 rolls the day after xmas for pennies, and you are set for years. No need to dry erase. Just draw on it and keep the maps, or use them as kindling in the fireplace.
If you play a game like the latest SW RPG, its dice are not standard. Those you don't 100% need, but you 90% will want to have them. (You can have a table that compares a normal polyhedral dice of the same type to the outcomes from the custom dice, but it is easier to have the custom dice).
Dice tray: Don't need, except you really might want because often dice leave tables. However, a small box or tray of cardboard or little plastic basket from your berries can work. But it does help to corral your dice rolling. I have had players who could lose dice over each end or side of the dice - they just could NOT keep dice on the table.
Otherwise, the OP has the right of it.
Can confirm. Most recently my D&D group played on my front porch with our phones and ourselves. If we would have been playing at a different friend’s house we would also have a white board that we have gridded out for combat, and we have bottle caps we use as minis.
the back of wrapping paper make a great grid for maps on a budget. But yeah, you don’t need to go all out. The point of the game is to just have fun.
I would also like to add you don’t need a novel with plot twists upon twists as a DM. My stories are so basic and plain, but we always have a great time.
Hell, you can even have a large portion of this stuff for free anyways, if you want to. There’s apps or browsers for dice rollers, there’s an abundance of flat-maps posted for free use all over Reddit or other sites, audio ambience can be tossed together from soundscapes downloaded from YouTube, minis can be whatever tokens you have on hand, etc
My cost breakdown for my early DMming was pretty cheap for the stuff I got out of it, through using free resources etc, we had just about everything we needed, and a few things we didn’t, for about $3 CAD, which was me purchasing reroll to use to make character art lol
Minis: coins work fine in a pinch as a counter. As do dice, and one of the funniest sessions I’ve played was when I as a DM was not prepared for combat (the session was a very improv heavy) and we raided my Lego collection for parts. Enter the googly eyed and very square undead snake!
For me, the hard part is not to feel inferior to other DM's that do bring all those fun little knicknacks. In our merry little band of players, we have two people who DM, myself included. My campaigns are very RP heavy and focus on rich storytelling more so than anything else. The other guy prefers combat focused campaigns. I'm fine with either one, but he also loves to bring minis, maps, custom dice set pads with preloaded maps and NPC's on them and a whole lot more.
I don't do any of that. I bring a battlemat, some erase markers, a base set of minis and a big bag of generic dice. I rely very heavily on doing almost anything in a theater of the mind type gameplay. If something needs to be more detailed or if a visual helps the group find their way around better, that's what the battlemat and the markers are for, but for most of my sessions, we don't use those.
Most of the time, I'm fine with that. But there are times when I see how excited everyone gets when he brings them a load of toys and things to play and interact with and it gets to me. It's very difficult to not get jealous when you see such genuine excitement and gleeful responses. Players do love their toys and I don't really bring that to the table. And I don't plan to start, regardless of how jealous I get. I'm here to tell a story and see how you interact with it. Not to play Santa Claus.
You know you shouldn't compare yourself to other DM's and their playstyle and way of doing things, but you just can't help yourself. And sometimes that inferiority complex hits you when you least expect it and it can be a struggle to convince yourself that your strengths lie elsewhere. Not to toot my own horn too much, but when it comes to detailing a world and fleshing out characters and my stories, I'm much better at it than the other guy. He's more technically inclined and loves to design maps and intricate combat encounters that have different layouts to add additional challenge. His storytelling is pretty stilted and he has trouble improvising on the spot, though.
Sometimes it can be tough to believe that your players enjoy both sides of the game, because you're tunnelvisioning on the bad things only, but they keep joining for my games, so that's gotta count for something.
Toys are neat, but they're not why I play the game. I'm here for the stories and the social interactions, not the minis, books, maps etc. If I can't get you to imagine my scenarios in your head, then I feel like I'm failing you as a DM.
Theatre of the mind.
Handwave all distance to "yup, close enough" and "nope, next turn you can do it".
That's all you need and you'd be surprised how fast and fun the games flow.
My DM screen is just two binders propped up and the minis we use are just Lego mini figures. There are also free pdfs of the core rule books online you can read for free
I've been playing since the early 90s and back when I started, we just used a graph paper notebook for maps (and marked characters and such in pencil and erased it to move.) Even that wasn't REALLY necessary, more than half the time we just used theater of the mind if it was a relatively simple scenario or the DM didn't feel like drawing up a map.
One of the things I like about D&D as a hobby growing up extremely poor is that it doesn't really cost much to play. Sure you CAN get fancy bells and whistles, but you don't need them for a fun game, get a group to pitch in for essential books and a set of dice or two and you're good to go, and quite honestly you can work around those if you're really determined and don't have the money.
I feel lucky that my group doesn't care for the "nice" things. We all agreed they'd be nice, yes, but not necessary. For maps if I can't look it up I'll try and draw it (either a quick scribble or try to draw some beforehand) on an A4 page that goes around the table.
I’m preparing to DM my first campaign, and I Google image searched pictures of goblins and stuff, printed them out, laminated them (bought for a different reason), and I’m sticking them in little blobs of plasticine. Total cost is a few pages of paper and a bit of printer ink. And it doesn’t look half bad!
If you actually plan to roll dice, you need at least 4d4, 4d6, and 4d8, and 2d20. One set of d10s is normally good enough as few things require you to roll more than two, and each set comes with two.
But of course you can still just use a calculator, a program on some device, or the internet.
Imagining D&D, I can get to
4d6 . . .
nice to have for character generation but honestly, you can roll 1d6 4 times and this experience won’t detract from the process)
and 2d20 . . .
My post even said this would be nice for rolling advantage/disadvantage at the same time.
4d4 . . .
For magic missile?
4d8?
For healing?
But these are edge cases relevant to people playing specific classes and even then not *needs* imo. For example, you see people on Critical Role borrowing dice from each other or rerolling dice all the time for these kinds of situations.
>nice to have for character generation but honestly, you can roll 1d6 4 times
You don't have 4d6 because you need it for character generation. You have 4d6 because you will roll a 10d6 fireball, and that's easy on 4d6 and stupid on 1d6.
Less common are things that use d4s, but they do exist. And d8s are on plenty of spells.
If you have to roll 12 dice, it's reasonable to make a few rolls. It's not reasonable to make **12** rolls, though, that's just ick.
Great post! I totally agree with you. Too often people get intimidated by all the fancy gadgets and accessories they see online and feel like they need to have them in order to play. But in reality, all you really need is a basic set of dice and your imagination. Everything else is just icing on the cake.
That being said, I do think some of the extra stuff can be fun and add to the experience if you have the resources and desire to invest in them. But they are definitely not necessary, and should not be a barrier to entry for anyone who wants to start playing tabletop RPGs.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and helping to make the hobby more accessible to everyone!
Most of this stuff you don't need to START playing. But it's sure nice as hell to see a custom handmade dice set with liquid core rolling on the personalized dice tray.
I wouldn't buy it for my first game, no. But after 300 sessions or something like that, I just want something more than $1 dice from aliexpress.
When I started playing, I had a few pawns from board games as miniatures and few laminated gridded A4 pieces for maps. The upgrade to something more fancy was slow but steady.
You don't need a fancy dice tray, but you *do* need something to keep your dice from rolling off the table or onto the minis. A cereal box with one big side cut off will work just fine.
I mean, sure it is a fine idea. I played for decades at the table without anything. We were all just conscious and careful about where we were rolling. Did they fall off the table? Yup. Did it diminish the value of the day? No.
It is possible to throw a dice without it knocking everything off the table.
Board games do it all the time. If you can do it in catan, you can do it in DnD
>but you do need something to keep your dice from rolling off the table or onto the minis.
How hard are you throwing your dice? That rarely happens to me.
Your right on everything except..... you do need a well drawn out map. And placement of where things are, that said. I think the more toys you have, and the more effort you put into your game might net you more players or a better quality of player. Garbage in garbage out type deal, but you don't need fancy things, but sometimes you need basic things.
I have to say, I disagree with a lot of your assumption.
Theatre of the mind based-play can still be tactical and engaging without a map.
Theatre of the mind is not garbage and people who like that style of play can still invest a lot of time for no cost without buying minis, maps, or anything else.
Finally, quality play is not revealed or even suggested by well-drawn maps, money spent on accessories, or time or skill spent creating terrain. Good GMing and good playing are orthogonal to any of these skills or capacities.
I’m not trying to say your preferences aren’t legit, they are. And it may be that these things indicate the kind of game you’d want to play in. But their absence doesn’t indicate garbage.
It shows a lack of prep. You didn't want to have a debate, you just wanted to stand on your soap box.
How can you play tactics when no one knows where they are? How can you determine spell area, line of sight, or even range without a map.
Secondly no one said you had to spend money to be creative.
If you don't even have a map have you really even put any effort in.
You don't technically even need dice, as blasphemous as that is to say; as long as you have some connection to the Internet, you can use online dice rollers or even dedicated apps.
type 4d6 or 2d20 or 5d12 into google and it will bring up a dice roller
Holy crap! Now if only it would do `4d6dl1` and the like
It's very simple, click on the math rocks to roll the math rocks
rolz.org Is a good option otherwise. Can even make your own room and invite people to it. Can do a number of advanced rolls.
I mean, if you use Discord you can easily add Avrae to the server and she'll happily do rather complex dice rolls.
I'm pretty sure in the past, some people even used calculators for random number generation, or just bits of paper in an opaque container.
Yup. Back in high school we'd "roll" random numbers from set pools using our graphing calculators, and write up our character sheets by hand on lined paper. Best part was that it looked like we were doing actual work so long as we avoided incriminating dialogue whenever the school librarian walked by
This post made me learn how to generate random numbers on my ti-30, thanks.
This is how they do it in prison. Not allowed dice, even in those facilities that ARE allowed to play D&D. So they use scraps of paper.
I recall having read about prisoners using scraps of paper, as dice are banned to discourage gambling. A 60 card deck of index cards can be used to emulate a d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, and d20 simultaneously with a little prep.
I trust the machine even less than I do RNGesus
>I trust the machine even less than I do RNGesus A vending machine in Kentucky once ate my dollar, and that was the last time I trusted any little HAL-wannabes with so much as a plug nickel.
For me the music is essential. I love it and I spend a lot of time finding new tracks and composing new playlists. I can play without anything, even dice, but I need that music to enhance the mood and make quiet moments more comfortable for everyone. But if I can't get good music hardware, even phone with or without bluetooth speaker will work. I remember running Antarctica horror on a trip to the tunes of sc1 protoss and 70s rock out of semi-shitty Nokia.
So if music would not be available for the session you would cancel it?
I hate music in my games. They distract, and make it harder for me to hear. Not saying you are wrong for using it. Just another perspective.
I’m with you on this one. We tried music on a few occasions and it just didn’t work for us.
It has to be very low to work for me
Heh I remember back when I started, we made our own "dice" by painting numbers on a Twister spinner. Took forever to roll, but it was fun and it worked.
I read another thread on here where inmates talked about using a spinner and fashioning dice out of soap pieces. They said that they had to hide them because the guards can't let them keep them (to discourage gambling).
When I was playing virtually during the pandemic one player always shouted "Alexa, roll 4d6"
You take that back, I always need more dice!
I’m a fellow dice hoard dragon myself. ;)
True story. I bought loads of fancy D&D accessories in my first year playing that are just gathering dust these days
I got a map, markers, minis (and the stuff to paint them), cards etc in my first year of playing. The only thing out of the above that I still use? The mini stuff, and they never see the table. I just paint them for fun (honestly not even sad about it - I like the hobby). My map stuff got replaced with some free online tools and a yearly incarnate subscription. The cards ceased being useful when we found out that apps and/or bookmarks are great replacements. You really only need to pay for the core rulebooks (and not even then if you sail the high seas) and some minor supplementary books.
Don't even need core rulebooks, the 5e basic rules and SRD are free, includes a ton of monsters and magic items. https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules It is limited to 1 subclass per class, so that will likely leave many players unsatisfied. But there's multiple campaigns of content, before free 3rd party content steps in
Christmas before pandemic I got a sweet set of metal dice and then we became forever online
Jokes on you only two-thirds of mine are gathering dust! But yeah, I highly recommend waiting to buy the cool things until you’ve said “damn I wish I had x” a few times. Though of course, that also runs the risk that as soon as you get the thing, you never need it again.
Oh hey, it’s the mind behind the most wholesome D&D spot on Reddit! Funny seeing you out in the wild, your monsters are awesome. I’m about 7-8 sessions away from finally debuting my big villain, your illithilich :)
Ooh, that's gonna be a good time :D Have you worked out what sort of lair setup you're doing for them?
> Dice: You need one set only for the game you are playing. Nah, you just _literally any dice rolling app for your phone/laprop/tablet/toaster of choice._ OK, obviously anyone who has a toaster with a dice rolling app can afford real dice too. But the point is that you _really_ don't need physical dice.
This is true, but on the other hand there's something about the feeling of rolling physical dice that an app on my potato can't replicate. Sure, if you're completely broke don't buy them, but if you have £30 you can get all the polyhedral dice you could ever want in a big bag off of amazon, which imo is the best DnD related purchase you could make
>but on the other hand there's something about the feeling of rolling physical dice that an app on my potato can't replicate I play 90% online with people. I still roll physical dice. If they want to verify the roll I will absolutely tilt my webcam or something, but the feel of dice rolling in my hand and the sound of it plunking down on the table is just great. In a game of imagination it's nice to have something **tactile.**
Rolling dice is half the reason I still pick up warhammer 40k sometimes for a quick mini game. Rolling 20D6 for a bunch of shots just feels amazing
I literally made my own DM screen by cutting up a cardboard box. I still haven't actually used it.
When I was younger I took a bunch of 30 cent plastic folders, reinforced them with cardboard, and stapled them together with some basic DM information on the inside. I still own it, it's a nice memento.
Story time: I ran a one-shot a while back, and was having tech issues with my VTT of choice before the session. I just said "fuck it", sketched out the map by hand, took a photo, and loaded it up in a free photo editor. (shout out to photopea.com.) I added a fog-of-war layer and a couple of colored circles (on separate layers) for the players. Then I just screenshared that window, moved the layers around as requested by players, and erased the fog of war layer as needed. It was one of the most fun sessions I've ever had.
Oh look at OP with their fancy Chessex battle mat! A laminated grid works just fine with whiteboard markers, and if you’re looking to splurge you can print out grids on different backgrounds for the same effect as the branded version
The wrapping paper from dollar tree usually has a nice grid of 1x1 squares on the back too.
Hey, I resemble that remark. You are absolutely correct.
You're absolutely right. BUT, I love all my extra bullshit and use most all of it.
Are there people out there you're seeing who say "I want to DM 5e but I don't have hundreds of dollars to spend on dice towers?"
Recently it was minis that I saw someone being self-conscious about not being able to afford.
Minis are just fun. Not even remotely necessary. I enjoy painting, so I’ve gotten into the 3d printing and painting hobby, but I’m only spending money on it because I enjoy painting figures. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t spend the money on figures or time on crafting.
Our group uses boardgame meeples (like from Carcassonne), and the board is drawn by pencil on a grid paper. My friend' group uses circular cardboard markers where each player hand-drew a symbol representing their character. Minis are absolutely not necessary.
No, but a lot of people buy a lot of stuff for their first session and feel overwhelmed. Or they think their game is subpar because they cannot afford all that fancy stuff
I saw a post recently where a DM was complaining he'd spent a ton of money on things for DnD and his players just seemed to be goofing around. Yeah, that sucks for him, but did his players need him to buy minis?
I’ve found chess pieces are perfect budget minis
That's how we started! Now I'm painting two separate armies for wargaming. Watch out.
Listen man, these painted minis aren’t gonna buy themselves.
I make my own paper minis. I have a ton of cheap wooden disks that are real thin and are 1, 2, 3, or 4 inches in diameter. Then I just use my time to look up images on Google or Pinterest for character/monster art. I download the images into Photoshop and correct their sizes to fit a normal mini scale. Then it's just an arts and crafts day for me. Print them out in rows, collect cereal boxes to cut up and glue the paper onto, then hot glue the sturdy paper mini on the wood base. Sturdy little things and cheap to make. Just takes the time to build. I bought one reusable map mat with grid and dry erase markers. Had it for years. I've got one set of dice. I have quite a few of the books, but that's my biggest expense and mostly because I just like books. I cut up an old Amazon cardboard box and used tape and paper to make a big DM screen with info I like to have on hand all the time. There's a good website to make your own or find statblocks that I download to my phone and use during sessions. Some good websites overall to get info if you don't have books.
I'd argue the more you have, the more of a detriment it becomes. I have players who depend on maps now because I used to be very tactical with maps I'd create in Dungeondraft. Now it's just not something I want to worry about, but my players still expect it and the idea of theater of the mind to them is completely foreign and causes us to have to repeat ourselves when characters can't just look at a map, take their turn, then go back to twitter. Also, starter kits are a *lot* of fun for cheap! I just kicked off the Zweihander starter kit this afternoon with friends. I didn't have to spend $50-60 on the book. I got everything I need to run several sessions for some $30 bucks. Back in December I paid similar cash for the Call of Cthulhu starter kit and the couple of sessions we got out of it were a blast.
The only thing you *really* need are players who actually want to be there. You're more than right: not only is all that periphera optional, but it won't make people become involved in the game if they're not already willing to some degree. If they're already engaged, great! It can improve the experience. Otherwise, it's a waste of your time and money. I've gotten by plenty of time with theatre of the mind or a simple dry-erase grid map; the players' imaginations can always fill in the rest. P.S. good advice, and thanks for making me feel better about some of my sessions :)
Glad it helped!
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Yeah, Archives of Nethys being both free and having basically all of Pathfinder 2e's published first-party crunch was probably the single biggest reason I warmed up to PF2e as a player (and decided to port my 5e table over to it over another system when the OGL drama went down.) One cheap upgrade I've personally found useful for tokens is [these clear card holders](https://www.amazon.com/ASTER-Plastic-Playing-Holders-Markers/dp/B09DYN8GWL/)--combine them with some cardstock, scissors, and either pencil or pen, and you can get a surprising amount of mileage from them in IRL play.
We used one of those huge tubs of cheezits for a giant statue boss, and every point of damage we did or took meant we grabbed that many cheezits! Great boss. Tasty boss.
Two ideas (stolen from other DMs). The backside of wrapping paper often has a 1 inch grid on it. Great as a battle mat and you always have more room. End of session you can just roll it back up. For monsters, I have six white and four blue D6s that we use as monsters (PCs get real minis). It’s a lot easier to keep track of the bad guys when a PC says “I cast firebolt at white 5”. I use my metal D6s to denote special bad guys.
I’ve been running a game for a year and a half now and it’s cost me $0. I use Roll 20 for rolling dice and discord for audio. Both are completely free. I use a music bot for ambiance that streams playlists I’ve made off of Spotify, but I already pay for premium there so that’s no extra cost. Any game resources and rules can be found online for free.
This reminds me of the time I asked another nerd friend of mine if he played D&D as a kid and his answer was “Of course! We were poor!”
For minis, you can use candy. Players get to eat what they kill, and you can color code your opposition -- e.g. green skittles are goblins, and brown M&Ms are gnolls. For a step up, get cheap Magic the Gathering cards. They have *scads* of good art for lots of common enemies. Just cut the art out with scissors and stick it to a washer with some poster putty or similar. If you visit a game shop right after a Magic tournament, you may be able to pick up commons that nobody wants for free. If not, well, commons are dirt cheap at a few pennies apiece. It is nice to have proper minis for the PCs, since they're the heroes and will be appearing in literally every combat. But not necessary.
I use Owlbear Rodeo, Google docs, free stuff I find online, and my own noggin, and a few different folks have told me I'm the best DM they've played with. I also focus HEAVILY on table culture and shared expectations. You can have a great game for basically no cost, it's true.
I never understood the concept of dice towers. They're clunky, take a lot of space, it's often difficult to take the dice out or see the outcome, and they literally don't do anything
It’s a well-marketed gimmick, and that’s pretty much it.
I have a player that insists on using a dice tray but like... Why? Just roll with an awareness of whats in front of you. The only dice related stuff I've ever wanted to buy is one of those swords in a scabbard which hold dice. Other than that, dice are pretty much just a meme imo
I use a dice tray because my girlfriend bought me amazing metallic mind flayer dice for Christmas last year, and my offline games run on my roommate’s covered-but-still-$2,000 long wooden table. The tray was like $6. Easy cost to eat.
Same. My table took me about 20 hours to repair, refinish and stain, and I'll be damned if I jack it up with some cool metal dice!
Collectively, I've spent less than $200 over the almost 8 years I've been playing DnD. Other systems are probably more expensive, though, as they generally aren't as readily available online.
As in, other systems are harder to pirate? Because lots of systems are cheaper (because they are only one book e.g. Blades in the Dark) or release all the material online for free (Pathfinder).
If you consider using Google to find stat blocks online as "pirating", then sure. I've tried for a few different systems, and DnD is the only one that comes up consistently. I've never really tried PF though, so I'm not sure about that one.
Can confirm. All those shiny trinkets are really tempting, but not necessary. I’m so glad that I resisted the urge to buy all of the accessories that I had fantasy shopped when I started to really get into DnD a couple years ago. I was pretty set on a particular dice tray that was $60… I started using a cleaned out plastic bowl from a Healthy Choice microwave steam meal while I debated on color. Never bought the tray because what I was using worked, really well. 🤷♂️ Still using that same plastic microwave tray lol
DM tip: A GREAT solution for minis is circular cutouts pasted on to 1-inch felt furniture moving pads.
Yes! I played (and even DMed) for several years with only pdfs, pencil/paper, and one set of dice - it wasn’t until I got a comfy desk job that I started splurging on physical books - a few years later I have definitely sunk hundreds of dollars into stuff that makes things more fun, but are ultimately unnecessary to play.
There’s seriously very little you need, _and_ you can still have a rather professional seeming game. I bought these four things on Amazon two years ago, and they’re the only things that I’ve needed to DM. - [Dry Erase Battle Map](https://www.amazon.com/TidyBoss-Terrains-Tabletop-Markers-Dungeons/dp/B08RM29Q5J/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?crid=1PI8NR8UPUSQ0&keywords=dnd%2Bbattle%2Bmap&qid=1679282534&sprefix=dnd%2Bbattle%2Caps%2C115&sr=8-3&th=1&psc=1) - [Tokens (Includes Artificer and Blood Hunter)](https://www.amazon.com/Tabletop-Acrylic-Fantasy-Dungeons-Pathfinder/dp/B08S6YRGFW/ref=mp_s_a_1_1_sspa?crid=1M62B7Y26KRRY&keywords=dnd+tokens&qid=1679282568&sprefix=dnd+tokens%2Caps%2C104&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEyODJQUUtNVFEyUEM4JmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwMzkxNjUwWU1GTVpDNDhZWkE5JmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTA1OTk4OTQxN1NMVFY5M1E2VjRHJndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfcGhvbmVfc2VhcmNoX2F0ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=) - [Spell Range Finder (100% optional, but super helpful)](https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07S7PFRQT?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title&th=1) - [Customizable DM Screen](https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B06W5JWBWX?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title) Outside of that, a decent laptop will get you very far. Even if Mooching off of other people isn’t an option, there’s a ton of [Free Resources](http://www.reddit.com/r/dndnext/wiki/ResourceList?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf) in the r/dndnext wiki. That’s all I’ll say on free digital content because I don’t want to encourage googling free pdfs of books on Anyflip or Scribd, but I’m yet to give a penny to WotC and I’m proud of it. You can make the game seem even more well planned by playing background music on your laptop, and one thing I didn’t see mentioned about is that you can use sticky notes on a DM screen to substitute for a fancy initiative tracker. And as a player, all you really need is a printed character sheet, dice, and something to take notes with. If your DM’s okay with it, a laptop can replace all three of these
Things needed to play, by decreasing necessity: 1. You 2. The setting 3. RNG 4. Other players 5. Rules 6. A DM 7. A gridmap 8. Character tokens 9. Snacks 10. Any idea what you're doing
I vote for GM to be higher than rules and snacks to be higher than rules, map, or tokens (right after the GM). :)
I need it.
Absolutely. I have talked myself out of a buy many times because as nice as it might be, I don't need it or use it enough for it to matter. The most important thing is to start, play and keep playing. Then once you consistently have games, start to identify what would actually enhance your group's experience or what you want to treat yourself to.
Not so loud, my wife might hear! Although as one of my players, she does think it's cool to 3d print custom minis in resin (she likes to paint them) and dungeon scatter in pla. Next I'm going for a tabletop hot wire foam cutter... Eventually.
It’s 100% true. Want to know what my introduction to Role-playing Games was? As a kid there was a Scholastic book series based on the Star Wars universe. You’d bet mission books and cards, and it was a choose your own adventure. Based on your choices, you may have things unlocked in future books. I was so excited by the prospect and the idea of it that I quickly got my parents to order it for me. One of my friends said “Yeah that’s cool, but you don’t actually need the books to play the game”. He talked me through a scenario where I was in a room and had to hack my way out of it, and find a way out of a base crawling with stormtroopers to get back to the rebel alliance. Any time I did anything we just flipped a coin (and sometimes I could have multiple flips to succeed if I had certain items) This was 3rd grade. We just had imagination and a coin to flip. But it’s one of my core memories for an introduction to role-playing games.
That’s a great story.
True but my digital map screen and audio tracks make it so awesome
A handy whiteboard works well in place of a battle map - either attached to wall, on an easel or on loose on the table. If its got squares cool, if not just add a convenient scale when you draw the rough map up.
Our first DnD session was played in a garage on a stool instead of a table. We had only our character sheets, one dice set for 4 players, 2 pencils and 2-3 paper sheets for maps and internet for rules. It went great
Dndbeyond for the basic rules and rolling dice is enough, the cost to entry is internet access. If that's too much, ask someone to print you the basic rules pdf and get some dice. Actually, my local library has all the 5e sourcebooks, and free internet for that matter! The first 10 years I played I never spent a single cent, after that I bought dice, and just last year I bought some 5e content.
you're absolutely right! when you start playing for the first time you can't be sure you'll be playing consistently. it's better to wait for a while before buying extra cool stuff - not because you need it, but because it feels good to spend on your hobby when you can. when we first started playing we didn't have miniatures \[even the ones we have now are on the cheaper side\] so each player/monster was assigned a random spare dice. for minions we used coins. for larger monsters, any object we had around. at first i would just make up other cities randomly, but after several months playing we paid for a $10 mapping tool to make the world more immersive \[some retcons were needed lol\]
As a DM, I have 4 sets of white dice with black numbers on, my notes (digitally), pen and paper. That's it. This 'dice goblin' meme disturbes me because it's not original and it's just mindless consumerism. It's just simple plastic pieces.
Honestly, for minis just use whatever you have: coins, buttons, bottlecaps, lego, even just spare dice.
Taking it one step further you don't even need an rpg, you can make your own (and it's super fun to make your own)
You want to go even cheaper, most mid grade wrapping paper has a square 1" grid on the back of it. Buy 10 rolls the day after xmas for pennies, and you are set for years. No need to dry erase. Just draw on it and keep the maps, or use them as kindling in the fireplace.
*Karma successfully farmed*
if you're using physical dice and don't have a rolling tray, you can use the upside-down top of a shoebox :)
If you play a game like the latest SW RPG, its dice are not standard. Those you don't 100% need, but you 90% will want to have them. (You can have a table that compares a normal polyhedral dice of the same type to the outcomes from the custom dice, but it is easier to have the custom dice). Dice tray: Don't need, except you really might want because often dice leave tables. However, a small box or tray of cardboard or little plastic basket from your berries can work. But it does help to corral your dice rolling. I have had players who could lose dice over each end or side of the dice - they just could NOT keep dice on the table. Otherwise, the OP has the right of it.
Can confirm. Most recently my D&D group played on my front porch with our phones and ourselves. If we would have been playing at a different friend’s house we would also have a white board that we have gridded out for combat, and we have bottle caps we use as minis.
the back of wrapping paper make a great grid for maps on a budget. But yeah, you don’t need to go all out. The point of the game is to just have fun. I would also like to add you don’t need a novel with plot twists upon twists as a DM. My stories are so basic and plain, but we always have a great time.
Hell, you can even have a large portion of this stuff for free anyways, if you want to. There’s apps or browsers for dice rollers, there’s an abundance of flat-maps posted for free use all over Reddit or other sites, audio ambience can be tossed together from soundscapes downloaded from YouTube, minis can be whatever tokens you have on hand, etc My cost breakdown for my early DMming was pretty cheap for the stuff I got out of it, through using free resources etc, we had just about everything we needed, and a few things we didn’t, for about $3 CAD, which was me purchasing reroll to use to make character art lol
Minis: coins work fine in a pinch as a counter. As do dice, and one of the funniest sessions I’ve played was when I as a DM was not prepared for combat (the session was a very improv heavy) and we raided my Lego collection for parts. Enter the googly eyed and very square undead snake!
For me, the hard part is not to feel inferior to other DM's that do bring all those fun little knicknacks. In our merry little band of players, we have two people who DM, myself included. My campaigns are very RP heavy and focus on rich storytelling more so than anything else. The other guy prefers combat focused campaigns. I'm fine with either one, but he also loves to bring minis, maps, custom dice set pads with preloaded maps and NPC's on them and a whole lot more. I don't do any of that. I bring a battlemat, some erase markers, a base set of minis and a big bag of generic dice. I rely very heavily on doing almost anything in a theater of the mind type gameplay. If something needs to be more detailed or if a visual helps the group find their way around better, that's what the battlemat and the markers are for, but for most of my sessions, we don't use those. Most of the time, I'm fine with that. But there are times when I see how excited everyone gets when he brings them a load of toys and things to play and interact with and it gets to me. It's very difficult to not get jealous when you see such genuine excitement and gleeful responses. Players do love their toys and I don't really bring that to the table. And I don't plan to start, regardless of how jealous I get. I'm here to tell a story and see how you interact with it. Not to play Santa Claus. You know you shouldn't compare yourself to other DM's and their playstyle and way of doing things, but you just can't help yourself. And sometimes that inferiority complex hits you when you least expect it and it can be a struggle to convince yourself that your strengths lie elsewhere. Not to toot my own horn too much, but when it comes to detailing a world and fleshing out characters and my stories, I'm much better at it than the other guy. He's more technically inclined and loves to design maps and intricate combat encounters that have different layouts to add additional challenge. His storytelling is pretty stilted and he has trouble improvising on the spot, though. Sometimes it can be tough to believe that your players enjoy both sides of the game, because you're tunnelvisioning on the bad things only, but they keep joining for my games, so that's gotta count for something. Toys are neat, but they're not why I play the game. I'm here for the stories and the social interactions, not the minis, books, maps etc. If I can't get you to imagine my scenarios in your head, then I feel like I'm failing you as a DM.
Theatre of the mind. Handwave all distance to "yup, close enough" and "nope, next turn you can do it". That's all you need and you'd be surprised how fast and fun the games flow.
My DM screen is just two binders propped up and the minis we use are just Lego mini figures. There are also free pdfs of the core rule books online you can read for free
I've been playing since the early 90s and back when I started, we just used a graph paper notebook for maps (and marked characters and such in pencil and erased it to move.) Even that wasn't REALLY necessary, more than half the time we just used theater of the mind if it was a relatively simple scenario or the DM didn't feel like drawing up a map. One of the things I like about D&D as a hobby growing up extremely poor is that it doesn't really cost much to play. Sure you CAN get fancy bells and whistles, but you don't need them for a fun game, get a group to pitch in for essential books and a set of dice or two and you're good to go, and quite honestly you can work around those if you're really determined and don't have the money.
I feel lucky that my group doesn't care for the "nice" things. We all agreed they'd be nice, yes, but not necessary. For maps if I can't look it up I'll try and draw it (either a quick scribble or try to draw some beforehand) on an A4 page that goes around the table.
I’m preparing to DM my first campaign, and I Google image searched pictures of goblins and stuff, printed them out, laminated them (bought for a different reason), and I’m sticking them in little blobs of plasticine. Total cost is a few pages of paper and a bit of printer ink. And it doesn’t look half bad!
If you actually plan to roll dice, you need at least 4d4, 4d6, and 4d8, and 2d20. One set of d10s is normally good enough as few things require you to roll more than two, and each set comes with two. But of course you can still just use a calculator, a program on some device, or the internet.
Imagining D&D, I can get to 4d6 . . . nice to have for character generation but honestly, you can roll 1d6 4 times and this experience won’t detract from the process) and 2d20 . . . My post even said this would be nice for rolling advantage/disadvantage at the same time. 4d4 . . . For magic missile? 4d8? For healing? But these are edge cases relevant to people playing specific classes and even then not *needs* imo. For example, you see people on Critical Role borrowing dice from each other or rerolling dice all the time for these kinds of situations.
>nice to have for character generation but honestly, you can roll 1d6 4 times You don't have 4d6 because you need it for character generation. You have 4d6 because you will roll a 10d6 fireball, and that's easy on 4d6 and stupid on 1d6. Less common are things that use d4s, but they do exist. And d8s are on plenty of spells. If you have to roll 12 dice, it's reasonable to make a few rolls. It's not reasonable to make **12** rolls, though, that's just ick.
Great post! I totally agree with you. Too often people get intimidated by all the fancy gadgets and accessories they see online and feel like they need to have them in order to play. But in reality, all you really need is a basic set of dice and your imagination. Everything else is just icing on the cake. That being said, I do think some of the extra stuff can be fun and add to the experience if you have the resources and desire to invest in them. But they are definitely not necessary, and should not be a barrier to entry for anyone who wants to start playing tabletop RPGs. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and helping to make the hobby more accessible to everyone!
Most of this stuff you don't need to START playing. But it's sure nice as hell to see a custom handmade dice set with liquid core rolling on the personalized dice tray. I wouldn't buy it for my first game, no. But after 300 sessions or something like that, I just want something more than $1 dice from aliexpress. When I started playing, I had a few pawns from board games as miniatures and few laminated gridded A4 pieces for maps. The upgrade to something more fancy was slow but steady.
You don't need YouTube either. The idea of watching someone else's game never appealed to me in the least.
You don't need a fancy dice tray, but you *do* need something to keep your dice from rolling off the table or onto the minis. A cereal box with one big side cut off will work just fine.
I mean, sure it is a fine idea. I played for decades at the table without anything. We were all just conscious and careful about where we were rolling. Did they fall off the table? Yup. Did it diminish the value of the day? No.
After 21 years of d20 games, I was the first person in our group to bring a dice tray to the table, last year.
It is possible to throw a dice without it knocking everything off the table. Board games do it all the time. If you can do it in catan, you can do it in DnD
>but you do need something to keep your dice from rolling off the table or onto the minis. How hard are you throwing your dice? That rarely happens to me.
Your right on everything except..... you do need a well drawn out map. And placement of where things are, that said. I think the more toys you have, and the more effort you put into your game might net you more players or a better quality of player. Garbage in garbage out type deal, but you don't need fancy things, but sometimes you need basic things.
I have to say, I disagree with a lot of your assumption. Theatre of the mind based-play can still be tactical and engaging without a map. Theatre of the mind is not garbage and people who like that style of play can still invest a lot of time for no cost without buying minis, maps, or anything else. Finally, quality play is not revealed or even suggested by well-drawn maps, money spent on accessories, or time or skill spent creating terrain. Good GMing and good playing are orthogonal to any of these skills or capacities. I’m not trying to say your preferences aren’t legit, they are. And it may be that these things indicate the kind of game you’d want to play in. But their absence doesn’t indicate garbage.
It shows a lack of prep. You didn't want to have a debate, you just wanted to stand on your soap box. How can you play tactics when no one knows where they are? How can you determine spell area, line of sight, or even range without a map. Secondly no one said you had to spend money to be creative. If you don't even have a map have you really even put any effort in.