Starting Guide (4th edition)

What is dungeons and dragons? (D&D)

Dungeons and dragons is a tabletop roleplaying game, which means that
its essentially guided fictional storytelling. Think make believe
but with rules.

 There are 2 main roles that people partaking in the game can assume:
the player characters (PCs) or the dungeon master.
The job of the dungeon master is run the game and to create an
interesting adventure and world for the players to explore. This
adventure is usually comprised of multiple quests or tasks to reach a
goal. These adventures are typically finished in one game session. When
the DM wants to connect multiple adventures to a higher story, its
called a campaign.
The DM in our game will be:
The Players in our game will be:

How do you play?

Outside of combat, the success or failures of anyones actions are
decided by rolling a d20 (20 sided die). These rolls are called checks.
The process for determining success is as follows:
1. Roll d20
2. Add relevant modifiers
3. Compare against the number you were trying to get (DC).
If you get higher than or equal to the DC its a success, but if lower
than the DC your action was a failure.
Depending on the action, certain modifiers can be added to the dice
rolls to either better or worsen your odds of success. These modifiers
can either be your ability scores or your skills. This will be
explained further in the character sheet section.
Combat is a little more complex. It goes in a process like this:
1. All creatures involved roll for initiative (roll d20); this decides
who attacks first and in what order.
2. U8u