this post was submitted on 18 Dec 2023
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HI all! Looking for a starter set to play with family. Any suggestion? (lemm.ee)
submitted 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) by Engywuck@lemm.ee to c/dnd@lemmy.world
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Hi all!

We're a family of three, my wife, my son (11M) and me. We would like to start playing "real" D&D, after trying a very simplified version we bought a couple years ago.

I've been playing "real" D&D with my friends many years ago, but only as a player, never as the DM. What I'm looking for is a set comprising a Player's Handbook, a DM Handbook and Rules (?). I'm not really sure sure what else I would need to start... I'd be the DM and the player, at least at the beginning...

Can anyone point me towards a good starter pack, with the minimum needed books? Also, any additional suggestion would be welcome.

Thanks a lot in advance!

EDIT: Thanks to everybody! These have been very useful suggestions. I think we may start with the "Starter Set" (cheap, slightly more advanced than the one we're using right now) and if the family enjoy it we may explore the "core rule set" afterwards. Hope my son may appreciate this kind of games, as a healtier alternative to phone/pc video games :-)

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[–] Strit@lemmy.linuxuserspace.show 2 points 10 months ago (2 children)

I wouldn't call the Paper for maps and the figurines required. They are a great visual aid, but for people just starting out as a DM it's overkill.

The main reason to play D&D, for me, is to use your imagination. So as long as you describe the environment and what happens, most should get by with just a players handbook, dungeon masters guide (for special items and such), dice, sheets and pencils. The screen is also a good tool, especially for some quick information on states. But it is not required to run a small campaign.

[–] LemmySoloHer@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago

Yeah that's fair. I figured since the kid is 11 years old that the figures and paper really help them visualize obstacles and enemy positions, etc. And my anecdotal experience with making it much easier when I was a DM to keep track of where everyone was, the graph squares making it easy to show how far they could move per turn in battle, if there was anything blocking ranged attack paths, if certain spells could reach their target, etc.

I'm no career campaigner though so I don't know how hard and fast these things go when calculating if they can get close enough to a target to attack during their turn and all that. Would things like movement speed not matter so much in this instance and it would play more like a Choose Your Own Adventure book kind of thing? That does sound way easier. If keeping track of positions and stuff in combat is still fairly strict though I'd totally need paper and figs to remember the specifics.

[–] Engywuck@lemm.ee 2 points 10 months ago

The main reason to play D&D, for me, is to use your imagination.

I agree on this on so many levels... Especially for my son, which unfortunately is starting to be more and more attracted by phone/console games.