@@akale2620 Gary Gygax wanted to sell books. Arneson wanted it too. Nothing is wrong with that. Gygax had a period where he wanted to monetize nearly everything. It was in the late 80's and the beginning of the 90's. He learned the hard way that he was at the short end of the straw. And thus he was bought out of TSR. Later he admitted he was wrong. I stand by my claim.
fun fact; if you have Dollartrees in your area, they may sell a full set of dice for $1. Picked up a bunch of them along with those circle containers people use for board game storage (also $1 for a pack), and handed them to new players as a starter kit. Edit: certain Dollar trees not necessarily all
I will say, not every Dollar Tree carries the full sets of dice, mine in a small Midwest town just has sets of 4 jumbo foam D6s, but you will probably have better luck in a more populated area
A bit of a side note: the black and white dice are the best for legibility. All the fancy dice we all love kinda fail to be useful to some of our colorblind or sight impaired friends. Black on white or white on black with boring but clear numbering? Perfect. Also Cairn is awesome! Love that system.
As a librarian, we often do! Though try not to be too disappointed if a library does not, as game books are a bit expensive and have a bit of a reputation for “walking off.”
Probably, though you may want to ask. Many libraries have different donation policies. We’re lucky enough that even if we can’t take the book we can give it to our friends of the library bookstore.
I do enjoy some minimalist approaches, especially to GM/DM prep, as your players will always throw a wrench in your well laid plans. However, I find the rules "light" sometimes take away some fun mechanics of certain games systems that, when taken the time to properly understand, lead to much more dynamic outcomes.
Great video. I remember when we started back in the 80's with a single rule book and monster manual bought second hand at the local comic/game store and a stack of character sheets ran off the ditto machine at school.
You're not telling me anything I have not known since 1984. Thats when we made our own system. Been playing it ever since. All we needed to buy was the dice, paper, binder and pencils. All of which we got at discount shops. Over 30 years and never needed to buy a single RPG book or minis. And like you some times we RPed while just hanging out at the mall, pool, camping, crafting, watching TV or just talking on the phone in between topics. Some times not even needing rolls of dice at all.
Well... That'll work if they want to do a whole lot of reading as a group to figure out the rule set. But for the mooks who are getting into the game because of watching Critical Role/Dimension 20/(the tons of shows on Twitch) and have a handle on the basics, grabbing the free Basic Set and SRD from WotC are the cheapest way to get started.
I find DND actually becomes much more fun when you have the perfect set of house rules tailored for the type of experience your party wants to have. Like the DND rules are good but there are so many helpful tweaks that can make your table unique and fun
Gygax originally intended D&D to be a starting point for people to modify the crap out of and make their own games from. If you took his basic core ideas and expanded on them in your own way, hen you're living up to the Gygaxian ideal of gaming.
Just because it is a pet peeve of mine, the SRD is NOT a "how to play D&D" document. It is a reference for those of us making 3rd party products. The Basic Rules PDF (available for free from WotC) IS how to play the game and explains how to make characters, which the SRD does not cover at all.
100% right. The SRD is a great EXPANSION on the Basic Rules, once you've read and understood them. The SRD is missing a bunch of little things (besides how-to-play), like all flavor text and lore (no monster has their Lair Actions, for instance), feats, most subclasses, etc. But it's still an excellent resource for something completely free. Even better, you can freely reference D&D Beyond's web-based Basic Rules where they've left in all the missing lore and Actions and such on all the things found in the SRD and Basic Rules PDFs, so it gets a lot closer to having the full books than having those PDFs alone. The downside is you can't easily make a complete, personal digital backup of it or print it out like you can the PDF versions. (All the tools to save it as a large PDF don't grab the monsters.)
I think I just got that document, I looked for it on the WoTC site using Support, D&D, 'Rules, FAQs' and it had a basic rules link that directed me to DnD Beyond with a 180 paged PDF labeled as the "The Basic Rules for D&D 5th edition". If this is the wrong document any direction on what you are talking about would be great. Thank you.
@@alexjune6414 that should be it, it has a red D&D logo, and is mostly black & white, right? If so, it has the rules for making characters, which are not in the SRD.
@@jacobrodgers7743 Yeah, part 1 is creating a character. Inspiration, background, classes, etc. It has the red D&D logo, yes. Mainly black and white with red accents. And some light yellow and then some grey but to be expected for shading. I think this is the PDF. Thanks the clarification.
@@alexjune6414 Yup, that's the right one, the same one I printed out (though I did it only in black and white). (I recently stumbled across a version of the same PDF where someone had added a color cover and Player's Handbook-like background texture and added bookmarks. It looked pretty official but sadly it's not.)
1. Dice 2. Notebooks 3. More dice 4. Friends 5. Did I mention dice? 6. Pencils 7. Glow in the dark dice 8. A Table/space to play on/in 9. Therapy for dice addiction. 10. A RUclips or TV channel so others can laugh along with you.
Yeah, it's prety great too! Bobs picks were smart though, both are fast and modern and have a little name recognition, which would help with getting a group together.
@@Naren25 sure! Not instead, but too, lol. Honestly could have added a couple of others like Cepheus Engine and OpenQuest, just to round things out and expose folks to some new ideas. But his suggestions were great, no beef there!
Basic Fantasy is one of the coolest RPGs around, but FYI DCC isn't really based on B/X like Basic Fantasy. It's based on the D20 SRD that came out for 3rd Ed. so it's a lot more familiar to modern players. (Honestly even Basic Fantasy is only sort of B/X. It's still built on more modern core rules. If you want to really get down to B/X stuff you need to go for something like Old School Essentials.)
The first time I played what we called "dungeon" was just a friend and myself, he was narrating something and asked me "what do you do". We were 8 or 9 at the time. I had no idea there were real rules, dices and all that. I guess it stuck because now I'm almost 40 and still loves doing all this.
Great video. If you're starting there is no point in buying a novel series, you want to play this next weekend, not next quarter. Later you can keep on adding to it.
Thank you, Bob! Such a wonderful video, that I’m sure will help MANY people save a lot of money. It excites me to think that when a company tries to alienate its own customer base, that we can literally just say “No” AND not have to miss out on anything anyway!
Excellent advice, even for a long time player like me who has WAY more rule books than I can ever play or read. I have found I prefer DIY/just make it your own games like Index Card RPG far more than playing by the rules. I like rules, we need a skeleton, but the game play session and the dice should give us the meat.
@@BobWorldBuilder Of the current versions, my favourite is Deluxe Tunnels & Trolls, but others in the community really like 5.5e too. There's a new edition in the works from Rebellion too I believe
I once said to a coworker that I only used the PHB and never had a DMG or MM (this was 3.X time) and he said I wasn't playing "real" D&D. I upped the ante and stated I could play official D&D without any book or even rules and not a D&D video game. It would be on a tabletop and I could prove it to him the next day. He took the bet. At lunch the next day, I opened my lunchbox and pulled out Warduke, NorthLord, and a Hooked Horror that I've had since the 1980s and started playing with them. He shook his head and conceded defeat.
Really glad to hear someone else say the same thing about D&D that I've been saying: the rules are guidelines to be adapted to your game, not something that must be strictly followed. The best games are when the party gets to be imaginative, and the DM gets frustrated because your players drag a sofa into the dining room as a piece of cover only to toss it on top of the animated greasy Christmas turkey with the butcher's cleaver and light it on fire as a means of defeating it. Which worked. It was a fun session., I really wish we'd had enough time to go through the rest of it. Also, your Patreon list at the end didn't quite crawl the way you wanted it to. Kinda cut off and went upward.
I was scrolling through the comments for something like this so I didn't have to clog the comments with redundant comments. I recommend to people starting off to grab the Basic Set online and then check out the SRD. If they find D&D is for them, then they can pay for the full set of rules.
I ran a creative writing group and as one "creativity" exercise I had them all make up a fantasy character, just a race and name. I gave them a simple situation in a pub and brought out a d6. anything they wanted to do was 1-3 fail, 4-6 success. We played for an hour and everyone had a lot of fun. It really is the people you play with that makes the game fun, not the rules. A fun group of 4 players can make the most boring adventure one of the most fun experiences of your life.
100% awesome video, I too have been citing for years that you don't _need_ the D&D books to actually play D&D, just some dice and an imagination. Fun resources you provided too!
Bob, I have not touched an rpg in over 35 years….you have reignited my interest in going back….You do a great job of explaining things for every level of player, which shows your superior grasp of the subject matter. Thanks for all you do and I hope you continue to have many years of success…Have a blessed day!
The original DND pamphlets said that they were more guidelines than rules, arg, and that once you get the idea of it all it is time for you to make up your own stuff.
Personally I just think most of the "juice" from ttrpgs actually exists outside of their systems in stuff like this. Like yeah system can help navigate that but I dunno, when my favorite ttrpg session was using Prole it's really hard to believe in needing big rule sets. Maybe just playing pretend as adults is good actually?
D&D, without dice and rules, is what we used to call "The Campfire Story". Someone starts the adventure and every takes their turn contributing to the story in a clockwise rotation.
Basic rule of thumb for D&D is based on 50% of success. IE: 11 or better on a d20 is success. Add modifiers for variability like strong guy gets +1 or +2 for relevant rolls. Ect.
This is why I miss 2E. Newer editions have added a lot of cool abilities/feats/classes/etc..., but at the expense of simplicity. I find people spend way more time looking up rules and trying to remember to use their abilities than playing the game. Obviously 5E is very popular and has grown the hobby by leaps and bounds, but not everything has been an upgrade. I'm going to give some of the striped down games you recommended and see if they have that old school feel. Thanks.
Wasn't 2E the king of charts and matrices? Like worse than Mark Millers versions Traveller? It's been a long time but I remember 2E being more complicated than 3E.
Essentials Kit is low key (I hate to admit) really good core D&D, essentially 5e B/X level 1-6. you could legitimately play the rest of your life with just this free download.
I've been saying this over and over since the OGL fiasco. Hasbro owns the D&D IP, but the hobby belongs to the community and always has. This is part of why WoTC/Hasbro have been twisting themselves in knots trying to find ways to force app-game-style monetization into the game, because deep down they know they don't actually have the control of the brand they want to project. And if we the player base realize oh, wait, we don't actually have to give them money to continue enjoying our hobby, there's not much they can do about it. It's a game of the imagination and it's YOUR game, so pick whatever rules you want - 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th still exist if you want them to - homebrew your own rules like I did when I was nine - if you're already happy playing 5th edition, you can keep playing Fifth Edition until you're 90 without giving them another cent. You don't have to pay them to have your friends around with some dice, paper and words. Just play, live, love the hobby. No one can take that from you.
So true! I was introduced to D&D only 3 years ago, and have been DMing for two of those years. To date, the ONLY money of mine that has ever gone to Wizards was when I bought “Wilds Beyond the Witchlight” as a gift for my friend. Besides that, WotC hasn’t gotten a single other red penny from me, and I’ve had nothing to inhibit me from playing or DMing the game.
The problems with that attitude are: a) It kills game stores that can't live on dice sales alone. b) If no one buys the books it becomes hard to get new players into the game and the hobby greys and dies with its players. I'm old enough to remember the 3.5e and 4e collapse and how the entire industry shrank. No 3PP. Fewer accessories and luxury dice makers. The healthier D&D is the healthier the entire industry is.
Right. everyone always want to be negative ALL the time. Like bro we get it, corporations = evil. There's also some cool people working there who actually care about D&D, and hey sometimes the stuff they put out isn't good, but a lot of it is. As someone half a century in with a busy schedule, it's nice to grab the supplements. Plus I like running a "current era" 5E game because when things like BG3 happen, I can roll those events/NPCs right into my table top game. I also like to buy 3rd party stuff to sprinkle in now and again to keep my players guessing. @@DavidJWGibson
@@DavidJWGibson that's why you spend your money where it can support a healthier hobby ecosystem - I spend mine backing projects like Shadowdark and indie miniatures designers on myminifactory. There's an argument to be had that without the big name of the DnD brand the whole hobby would die away, but I don't see a reason not to support broadening the influence of alternatives like Pathfinder, Shadowdark, OSR games etc, and drawing new people into those as a way to broaden the concept of the TTRPG hobby itself in the public mind. Influencers like critical role showing off games that aren't just DnD in their streams are going a long way there. To be clear I'm not suggesting boycotting the brand out of spite. But I don't think people should feel obligated to keep buying the new DnD content if it isn't what they want or it's taking the hobby in directions harmful to the community.
Glad you're sharing this! I'm currently working through my own entirely free/slimmed down/rebalanced rewrite of 5e complete with an alternative set of content (subclasses etc) with the intent that the hobby is much more accessible than it currently is. Imagination is free! :P
I always really appreciate how Bob offers other game options that are easy to get into and still scratch that d&d itch. Supporting small creators/companies is rad.
Smart! I saw a comment on my post yesterday from a group who started a couple years ago, using randomly-picked slips of paper with numbers written on them. Lots of options out there.
I've heard that incarcerated people make dice out by compacting toilet paper into cubes and marking the sides with a pencil.. pilfering a dice from your monopoly set seems easier, though.
Oooh, yes! I forgot about these, but they do work - don't have to be numbers, either (so you can randomise any set of outcomes you like), and you can either get a cheap draw-string bag to draw them out of or... the other thing I've seen used are those plastic rubbish-bin pencil holders, for some reason. That's going in the notebook right now.
I don't even know what I'm doing here. I haven't played D&D since middle school when the pyramids at Giza were being constructed and I swore off D&D campaigning ever after. But these videos are so warm, so positive, so helpful, that my resistances are failing. Just like in RL!
You are correct. You don’t need the books. We once played D&D on a hiking camping trip, no dice, no paper, no pencils. We had our characters somewhat memorized. This was before cell phones too. I believe Gary Gygax said you don’t need his rules to play
Makes a promise to stop using air quotes and then immediately holds up the number 2-literally the fingers used to make air quotes. Cheeky, Bob, very cheeky.
I've been thinking of doing this: Use only a d6 die, take the familiar d&d abilities, and let the players assign +2 to one, +1 to one, and -1 to one. On the die 1 (or less) is very bad, 2-3 are bad, 4-5 good, and 6 (or more) is very good. Everybody has 6 hitpoints, and monsters always deal just 1 hitpoint of damage, which the monsters don't roll for, but the player rolls constitution to soak it. The rest of their development would come from magic items they find during the adventure. Haven't tried it yet though.
You forgot one free downloadable way to play actual 5E D&D, which is looking up the "Basic D&D Rules" and you'll get directed to a wotc site that has the rules condensed down from what the SRD is. It has 4 classes, 4 ancestries and a handful of classic monsters but all the rules to play. It's also less than 200 pages. I love that you show some of the GG small adventures, Fey Sisters Fate is one of my fave one shots.
@@nickm9102 I’m not sure what you’re arguing here. That WalMart can’t sell below the market value? That all stores have to match WalMart’s prices? That because WalMart has set the price at that, WotC has to keep PHB prices the same as they were a decade ago?
@@DavidJWGibson I'm arguing that while what you said is factual, I am not convinced that Hasbro/WotC's reason is cost alone. They are a big enough company that their purchased runs are more than competitive especially since their biggest competition is less than 1/10th their market size.
@@nickm9102 There’s still a bottom cost for a hardcover 300-page full colour book. And while D&D is selling more than Pathfinder (which currently sells its hardcover 2.5e for $60) it’s still a niche industry compared to NYT Bestsellers.
I agree about needing more simple modules that can be plugged in anywhere (though DotMM and things like Candlekeep do have those possibilities going for them). But to expand on that - adventures with better scaling tips, or even just a good set of scaling rules. It's a pity that some material is presented for levels x-z, and a newer GM will find themselves telling their players, "Sorry, you have to make new characters, this adventure path is for 1-8 and you've already beat Strahd so you're too high level!" I often find most DMGs or equivalents spend time discussing things at length that could be pared down, and often they launch right into cosmologies and worldbuilding when they could spend more time just helping a GM understand their duties and whatnot. I LOVED that the section of the Dragon Age AGE system that was for GMs spent time discussing how to handle the duties, players, and how to adjust the setting in that regard (though I don't feel I understand encounter levels well still, so they had a big flaw too). I'd like for there to be a REASON you want the DMG or GMG or whatever it is for a system because it HELPS you better refine your game. Not just "build your own world", but "How to better scale encounters and modules" and "here are some simple concepts you can drop in any campaign, like a basic fight against bandits or a search through a wizard tower" that just helps a GM understand how a decent encounter is built before they go forth and try. And again, rules on how to better scale things up so they can better sell modules as fitting for ANY campaign level. As it is... if I had to bring only 2 of the 3 "core" D&D books with me to build a session, the DMG would lose out every time. If I could bring 3 books of all of D&D books (5e as example), the DMG wouldn't enter the top choices - I'd rather bring the other two core and an adventure path, or Tasha's, or something like van Richten's Guide. DMG can continue to be optional, especially for GMs not at their first rodeo, but it really needs something to make it feel worthwhile to pick up. And I just find myself either not finding useful info in them, or the info is written in such a way that I don't see it as such which is pretty much the same as it not being there at all. Main reason I have one is I got the Core bundle on sale and figured having some physical books around would better entice a local group into playing (and understanding that it is far better for players as their starting game vs. 3/3.5e or PF1e, despite that being my jam for years).
This is a fantastic video for a complete beginner or someone who has been away from the RPG hobby for years. I had not played D&D since the early 90’s and found my way back into the hobby in 2017. I was amazed how much the game had changed since TSR owned D&D. Luckily I did a little research on my own before buying anything and located the free basic rules then bought the starter set. I was out less than 30 bucks and had enough material to play a lifetime of D&D. Again…fantastic video!
As a long-time player playing most of the D&D editions that have been released, when 5e came out I got the boxed set, but that is when I decided I wasn't going to purchase the core books. Not because I did not like the rules, or I found the books to expensive, it's that I had accrued decades of varying rule-sets in my memory and thought it was best to make use of what I already knew. I was also DMing for large groups of students who were new to the game, some with learning difficulties, others who spoke English for the first time. This is when I started to develop my own homebrew rules that I still use today: 3 classes, 3 abilities ranging from +1 - +3. Now, I only have three books when I play, my own 80pg booklet (BeaR-PiGS) supported by Moldvay's Basic & Expert books. Modules have been of great importance only because I want my players to experience the classics. Playing old modules is like reading that old book again, or watching Star Wars for the 100th time. So in short, all you really need is a d20.
I play in and run sandboxes. We all use books, but not as rules but as suggestions. Originally started with the original 3 book boxes set....imagination and creativity were most important.
Just last week, WotC actually put out a completely free introductory level 1 adventure called Peril in Pinebrook and the pre-generated character sheets are actually fantastic, they even hid ability scores and just kept the important stuff! Plus, it was written by Shawn Merwin, the designer of Descent into Avernus and director of Ghostfire Gaming (who publishes adventures from other DnD RUclipsrs)
I really miss Dungeon magazine from when I played 2nd edition. Each issue had several short adventures made to be plugged into existing campaigns. Does anyone know if something like that exists today for 5e?
Those mags were a treasure of ideas. It wouldn't take much effort to convert to whatever game your playing, especially a DND edition.... although I haven't looked at 4th or 5th much.
💯 Rule Zero is Dungeon Master fiat aka DM rulings over rules - the DM is always right "The secret we should never let the gamemasters know is that they don't need any rules." ~Gary Gygax, co-creator of D&D "It is the spirit of the game, not the letter of the rules which is important." ~Gary Gygax, co-creator of D&D
Another overlooked reason why I'd suggest avoiding 6th edition's virtual tabletop, is because it has the age old problem of 'terms & conditions' or as they've been renamed to 'eula & nda' in modern times, that the rules often are changed without your knowledge nor consent. Becoming gaslighting fuel when you go back to double check the verbage of your abilities and find them written differently than when you initially copied them down, and this applies to both players and DMs because all the official content is server side controlled. Never heard of Dungeon Crawl Classics, I'll have to look that up next time I visit the book store, thanks for the recommendation.
Thanks, Bob, this was very refreshing. I've actually never gone beyond the original rules + Greyhawk, Blackmoor, and a couple other supplements. The guys I played with back in the 70s and I made a bunch of changes to how things worked (especially magic), and that's been my ruleset ever since. I have a couple of the more current books (bought for me as gifts), but apart from the Monster Manual from AD&D, I've basically never used them.
I keep forgetting that Cairn is free; in fact I keep forgetting that Cairn exists, because it does such a good job of being '5E lite' that my brain files it away under the same category. But yeah; that's a really good one. Anything a group playing 5E for the first time is likely to do, Cairn can probably do, too, and you'll spend less time looking up rules. Actually I love all of these ideas; I have a notebook full of 'ways to start a TTRPG game for free', and now I can point people to this video as well / instead, depending on context. 👍Super awesome!
Wow i don't have a single unique experience. My first contact with D&D was through an animated series on RUclips from a channel in my country. I had no clue if they had made up the rules, but convinced my friends we should play that game and made up everything on the spot mimicking Skyrim and Dragon Age. Some of the best sessions i had to this day, our dwarf engineer had a capybara companion with a cannon mounted on its back. Eventually i found the D&D rules online and decided that was enough improvising but boy did I had fun.
I ran a dnd game in the back of a class with no books, no dice, no paper or pen. I had the players guess a number for a random outcome. It was a great hour that amazed onlookers lol dice ARE iconic, though
I would also highly suggest keeping an eye out for DnD books (old and 5e) at yard sales and thrift shops. I was able to get a used player handbook so i could have spells since i play casters for under 20$ i also make binders for each character I play and use online resources to make spellcards and if i am playing either a class in a book I dont own or a homebrew - i put all that class information in a doc, print them out and put them in the corresponding character. I invest more in 3rd party oneshots and short adventure. I also put my money directly into creators hands by supporting ppl on paetron.
As usual, another excellent video! I was so happy to hear you mention the free Basic Rules Set and SRD as legitimate resources. I always tell people who ask to use the free resources first and then, if it floats your boat, invest in the books you want.
For DCC: If you don't want to get special dice, you can use regular polyhedral dice. D3: Roll a D6 and subtract 3 if it's above 3. D5: Roll a D20 and subtract the nearest multiple of 5 that is lower than (not equal to) the number. D7: Roll a D8 and re-roll if it's an 8. D14: Roll a D8 and re-roll if it's an 8. Roll another D8 and if it is even, add 7 to your first roll. D16: Roll a D8. Roll another D8 and if it is even, add 8 to your first roll. D30: [Step 1] Roll a D6, multiply the number by 5. [Step 2] Roll a D5 (using a D20; see above) and add it to the result after step 1. [Step 3] Subtract 5 from the result after step 2. I haven't actually played DCC so I don't know if it is very practical to replace the dice rolls in this way. I only know what the 'weird dice' are from a quick google. Having the right dice is always better, and the D30 method is awkward so if that's a common roll it's probably no good. And it relies on having a group of people that are all happy to play with these slightly awkward and complicated alternatives.
another option, Basic Fantasy RPG has all its stuff for free in PDF and the print versions is sold at cost for very low prices. Also the newest edition uses the ORC license.
Great video. I also get a kick out of the fact that your patreon supporters list was a text box that got vertically scrolled up, but totally was midsized, so it cut off in the Ks. A mistake, sure, but a hysterical and totally relatable one.
This is the content I am here for! I tend to be RAW DM who will also go RAI where needed but I say if everyone is having fun, you're playing D&D properly. Change the rules, make up rules do what you want and have fun. This takes me back to the late 70's and early 80's when I started playing - we barely knew what we were doing. Our first adventures followed this general formula- show up at the dungeon door and start kicking in doors, killing monsters, taking their treasure and moving to the next door. The dungeons were stocked with a variety of monsters that had no rhyme or reason. One room would have a dozen kobolds, the next room some Orcs, the next room a Medusa, the next room some ghouls and so on. It made no sense, but we had a good time. I now run the D&D club at the middle school I teach at. My middle school is a title 1 school with an 85% low socioeconomic rate. Almost none of the 25-30 kids have rule books or can afford them. We use the free rules and D&D Beyond. Through donations I was able to get about 17 Players Handbooks that I check out to kids. At the beginning of each school year I buy bulk cheap dice on Amazon and give each kid 1-2 sets of dice. We have a great time. Seeing the kids experience the wonder and excitement of D&D for the first time takes me back to when I first started playing. Though the game has changed tremendously I don't think the experience has changed a whole lot. The kids are slinging dice, killing monsters, solving problems, smiling, laughing and arguing - just like I did back in the day "old days". When I drop a new monsters the kids have never seen and see their faces light up in wonderment and surprise takes me back in time. I am thinking of switching to a simpler system next year and was seriously considering "Basic Fantasy RPG" for simplicity and the fact that it's dirt cheap.
This is great! I really appreciate all that you've taught me. The most important lesson being: have fun. So I know we all know and love Basic Fantasy RPG, but that game actually inspired the creator of Olde Swords Reign to take the game he developed in a similar direction. Olde Swords Reign is neat because it isn't actually OSR, although it definitely simplifies things. It's actually more in the lane of a simplified 5e style RPG. The community is cool too.
Gotta shout out Basic Fantasy RPG. A remix of B/X d&d with EVERY pdf avaliable official and FREE online, and the print books are even sold super cheap at cost.
There are a lot TTRPG books available for free. Basic Fantasy, White Box and Mausritter is one I recommend for gritty play. And if you like PbtA genre there's Ironsworn, Elegy and the SRD for Dungeon World. Some of them are solo but can be used in group sessions with a GM.
Also forgot there are decades old editions of DND and other games that can be gotten for nothing or almost nothing. The old Dungeon and Dragon magazines were a treasure trove of ideas for mechanics and game ideas.
Well bob that might be one of the best D&D videos I have ever watched :) I'm a fan of a book called Barebones It's hardcover digest size, fairly complete. But it is just one of several. White box is small and digest sized as well. A good game of D&D doesn't need to be about making Hasbro shareholders happy.
I recently immersed myself in the year zero engine reference document after borrowing a mutant year zero book of a friend. I didn't want to ruin the book by bringing it to work but printing the pdf and taking notes right on the document is no problem
Thank you for this. Arg... Throughout the past few years worth of people losing it on WOTC/Hasbro I've been saying, along with other old school gamers, that the books and the rules are irrelevant. Back in my day, we were told the new version (2E) was it, the end, no more books needed. Well, we learned quick. Since the mid 90's I've been running a campaign and as DM I've used material from every version of D&D, while running technically, 2E rules. To paraphrase Gygax: just make it up.
Though the battle mat and token use for TTRPG can get a bit much, right now Ollie's and other bargain closeout type stores have the D&D Campaign Cases (Terrain and Creature) for 2.99 plus tax. I got them can they are quality product but NOT for the retail price. The interlocking grid lined Grey/Green tiles I plan to use for when you want to speed up a Dungeon crawl and only expose the map a section at a time, thus can be drawn on ahead of time and then lay out a tile section as uncovered. I tested that the tiles are both dry erase and wet erase compatible. And the Creature token chips are nice a weighty and I can nothing for the included colorform reusable stickers but if it your jam bonus.
This is actually how almost everyone played back in the 80s. The desire for what once was is the reason for the Old School Revival, which nearly all of the recommended games in this video derive from. Go old school.
If anyone knows which publication he said this in remind me. But Gygax said he’d know people were playing his game right when he could walk by their table and not understand their game [because they had home brew rules].
Thanks for saying what needed to be said about this topic. The game is about the fun the players are having, not about collecting a bunch of books. If you like collecting books, that's fine, but that isn't playing the game.
That last point is so true. My group typically goes through prewritten modules at a fast pace, and even then, it still took us several months to finish Curse of Strahd. At that pace, there’s just no way we can keep up with WotC’s releases, which are seemingly becoming worse and worse by the year. I don’t run 5e anymore, but if I did, I would certainly be homebrewing and slotting prewritten mini-adventures into my campaigns.
I think the point of the fast module releases isn't so people can keep up. It's so that people have a choice. So if you don't want the whimsical feywild romp with hags and Oz companions you have a heist or surviving in a frozen tundra.
@@DavidJWGibsonYep, you're probably right on that one. I'd just like to see more options for folks like me! You would think WotC could churn those out even quicker and maybe even make more of a profit on them, but I'm no marketing expert.
The worst is you can't even find them used for cheap. I've pretty much given up and only look for simplified and cheaper versions by independent publishers.
Bob, with your hilariously broken spell from your first campaign, you'll appreciate this... In my first campaign, our DM completely botched the rules for spellcasting because he had only ever run Gamma World and there aren't really spellcasting rules in that system. He decided that our damage for our spells was whatever we rolled, multiplied by our INT modifier... _multiplied by our Arcana bonus..._ So by the time we were level 17, our spellcasters were doing upwards of *_thousands_* of HP in damage. We also had this weird idea that a round took one minute, so we never cast any spells that had concentration for one minute because they didn't make any sense.
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I think Gary Gygax and Dave Armeson would like this video. They just wanted players to have fun.
That's high praise! Thank you
@@BobWorldBuilder You're welcome. ^^
@@akale2620 Gary Gygax wanted to sell books. Arneson wanted it too. Nothing is wrong with that.
Gygax had a period where he wanted to monetize nearly everything. It was in the late 80's and the beginning of the 90's. He learned the hard way that he was at the short end of the straw. And thus he was bought out of TSR.
Later he admitted he was wrong. I stand by my claim.
@@nanorider426 As you should! Bravo!
I ran a one shot with some new players in a hot tub with only a big foam D20.
Haha that sounds nuts
fun fact; if you have Dollartrees in your area, they may sell a full set of dice for $1. Picked up a bunch of them along with those circle containers people use for board game storage (also $1 for a pack), and handed them to new players as a starter kit.
Edit: certain Dollar trees not necessarily all
I didn't know that. Nice!
I was gonna mention that too, preem mention!
That's some good commenting right there
No way!! Well, imma run out and grab a pile of stocking-stuffers for my TTRPG buds. Who doesn’t love fresh dice?! Thanks!
I will say, not every Dollar Tree carries the full sets of dice, mine in a small Midwest town just has sets of 4 jumbo foam D6s, but you will probably have better luck in a more populated area
A bit of a side note: the black and white dice are the best for legibility. All the fancy dice we all love kinda fail to be useful to some of our colorblind or sight impaired friends. Black on white or white on black with boring but clear numbering? Perfect.
Also Cairn is awesome! Love that system.
Always coming in with the design knowledge!
Absolutely, while those white and black dice may seem simple, that visibility and clarity is a beauty all in its own.
You can get the entire Pathfinder rules, not just core, on Archives of Nethys.
Gotta plug Pathbuilder as well-comprehensive character creation system, and free as well!
People should check their local library as well, they often have copies of D&D.
Great tip!
As a librarian, we often do! Though try not to be too disappointed if a library does not, as game books are a bit expensive and have a bit of a reputation for “walking off.”
Thanks for the tip. I just put some books on reserve ❤
@@arlibrarian is this something the libraries would be happy to receive as donations?
Probably, though you may want to ask. Many libraries have different donation policies. We’re lucky enough that even if we can’t take the book we can give it to our friends of the library bookstore.
I do enjoy some minimalist approaches, especially to GM/DM prep, as your players will always throw a wrench in your well laid plans. However, I find the rules "light" sometimes take away some fun mechanics of certain games systems that, when taken the time to properly understand, lead to much more dynamic outcomes.
Yeah everybody / every group has their own line for too light vs too crunchy
Great video. I remember when we started back in the 80's with a single rule book and monster manual bought second hand at the local comic/game store and a stack of character sheets ran off the ditto machine at school.
You're not telling me anything I have not known since 1984. Thats when we made our own system. Been playing it ever since. All we needed to buy was the dice, paper, binder and pencils. All of which we got at discount shops. Over 30 years and never needed to buy a single RPG book or minis. And like you some times we RPed while just hanging out at the mall, pool, camping, crafting, watching TV or just talking on the phone in between topics. Some times not even needing rolls of dice at all.
I miss the Dungeon / Dragon magazines that I still reference often.
If you happen to live in Australia, I have a set of 88 of them for sale 🤩
Some RPGs have their rules 100% online for free. Play some of those, folks.
Exactly!
Hint hint Basic Fantasy
Well... That'll work if they want to do a whole lot of reading as a group to figure out the rule set. But for the mooks who are getting into the game because of watching Critical Role/Dimension 20/(the tons of shows on Twitch) and have a handle on the basics, grabbing the free Basic Set and SRD from WotC are the cheapest way to get started.
I find DND actually becomes much more fun when you have the perfect set of house rules tailored for the type of experience your party wants to have. Like the DND rules are good but there are so many helpful tweaks that can make your table unique and fun
Gygax originally intended D&D to be a starting point for people to modify the crap out of and make their own games from. If you took his basic core ideas and expanded on them in your own way, hen you're living up to the Gygaxian ideal of gaming.
Just because it is a pet peeve of mine, the SRD is NOT a "how to play D&D" document. It is a reference for those of us making 3rd party products.
The Basic Rules PDF (available for free from WotC) IS how to play the game and explains how to make characters, which the SRD does not cover at all.
100% right. The SRD is a great EXPANSION on the Basic Rules, once you've read and understood them. The SRD is missing a bunch of little things (besides how-to-play), like all flavor text and lore (no monster has their Lair Actions, for instance), feats, most subclasses, etc. But it's still an excellent resource for something completely free.
Even better, you can freely reference D&D Beyond's web-based Basic Rules where they've left in all the missing lore and Actions and such on all the things found in the SRD and Basic Rules PDFs, so it gets a lot closer to having the full books than having those PDFs alone. The downside is you can't easily make a complete, personal digital backup of it or print it out like you can the PDF versions. (All the tools to save it as a large PDF don't grab the monsters.)
I think I just got that document, I looked for it on the WoTC site using Support, D&D, 'Rules, FAQs' and it had a basic rules link that directed me to DnD Beyond with a 180 paged PDF labeled as the "The Basic Rules for D&D 5th edition". If this is the wrong document any direction on what you are talking about would be great. Thank you.
@@alexjune6414 that should be it, it has a red D&D logo, and is mostly black & white, right?
If so, it has the rules for making characters, which are not in the SRD.
@@jacobrodgers7743 Yeah, part 1 is creating a character. Inspiration, background, classes, etc. It has the red D&D logo, yes. Mainly black and white with red accents. And some light yellow and then some grey but to be expected for shading. I think this is the PDF. Thanks the clarification.
@@alexjune6414 Yup, that's the right one, the same one I printed out (though I did it only in black and white).
(I recently stumbled across a version of the same PDF where someone had added a color cover and Player's Handbook-like background texture and added bookmarks. It looked pretty official but sadly it's not.)
1. Dice
2. Notebooks
3. More dice
4. Friends
5. Did I mention dice?
6. Pencils
7. Glow in the dark dice
8. A Table/space to play on/in
9. Therapy for dice addiction.
10. A RUclips or TV channel so others can laugh along with you.
Pizza
11. Dice, again
Just going to say, forgot snacks and drinks
Thank you for pointing out how short adventures are waaaay better than 250 pages modules
You should also mention Basic Fantasy... it's based more directly on earlier editions (but DCC is too) and all its books and adventures are 100% free.
Yeah, it's prety great too!
Bobs picks were smart though, both are fast and modern and have a little name recognition, which would help with getting a group together.
@@Naren25 sure! Not instead, but too, lol. Honestly could have added a couple of others like Cepheus Engine and OpenQuest, just to round things out and expose folks to some new ideas. But his suggestions were great, no beef there!
Basic Fantasy is one of the coolest RPGs around, but FYI DCC isn't really based on B/X like Basic Fantasy. It's based on the D20 SRD that came out for 3rd Ed. so it's a lot more familiar to modern players.
(Honestly even Basic Fantasy is only sort of B/X. It's still built on more modern core rules. If you want to really get down to B/X stuff you need to go for something like Old School Essentials.)
The first time I played what we called "dungeon" was just a friend and myself, he was narrating something and asked me "what do you do".
We were 8 or 9 at the time. I had no idea there were real rules, dices and all that.
I guess it stuck because now I'm almost 40 and still loves doing all this.
Great video. If you're starting there is no point in buying a novel series, you want to play this next weekend, not next quarter. Later you can keep on adding to it.
Thank you, Bob! Such a wonderful video, that I’m sure will help MANY people save a lot of money. It excites me to think that when a company tries to alienate its own customer base, that we can literally just say “No” AND not have to miss out on anything anyway!
My pleasure!
Me with every physical 5e book known to man (prior to the ogl scandal): “I don’t neeeeeeed them.”
Excellent advice, even for a long time player like me who has WAY more rule books than I can ever play or read. I have found I prefer DIY/just make it your own games like Index Card RPG far more than playing by the rules. I like rules, we need a skeleton, but the game play session and the dice should give us the meat.
Damage multiplied by level? We're in TUNNELS & TROLLS territory!
Maybe I should look into that haha
@@BobWorldBuilder Of the current versions, my favourite is Deluxe Tunnels & Trolls, but others in the community really like 5.5e too. There's a new edition in the works from Rebellion too I believe
Over the years I have fallen more and more in love with blank pieces of paper as character sheets.
I once said to a coworker that I only used the PHB and never had a DMG or MM (this was 3.X time) and he said I wasn't playing "real" D&D. I upped the ante and stated I could play official D&D without any book or even rules and not a D&D video game. It would be on a tabletop and I could prove it to him the next day. He took the bet. At lunch the next day, I opened my lunchbox and pulled out Warduke, NorthLord, and a Hooked Horror that I've had since the 1980s and started playing with them. He shook his head and conceded defeat.
Really glad to hear someone else say the same thing about D&D that I've been saying: the rules are guidelines to be adapted to your game, not something that must be strictly followed. The best games are when the party gets to be imaginative, and the DM gets frustrated because your players drag a sofa into the dining room as a piece of cover only to toss it on top of the animated greasy Christmas turkey with the butcher's cleaver and light it on fire as a means of defeating it. Which worked. It was a fun session., I really wish we'd had enough time to go through the rest of it.
Also, your Patreon list at the end didn't quite crawl the way you wanted it to. Kinda cut off and went upward.
That sounds wild!
And yeah I noticed the scroll this morning after it went live, so too late to fix unfortunately
@@BobWorldBuilder I think RUclips lets you replace videos? Not sure how that would affect payout or anything
I ran 5e basically from launch with just the PHB and the SRD for years. I agree that the SRD is really all you need.
I was scrolling through the comments for something like this so I didn't have to clog the comments with redundant comments.
I recommend to people starting off to grab the Basic Set online and then check out the SRD. If they find D&D is for them, then they can pay for the full set of rules.
I ran a creative writing group and as one "creativity" exercise I had them all make up a fantasy character, just a race and name.
I gave them a simple situation in a pub and brought out a d6. anything they wanted to do was 1-3 fail, 4-6 success.
We played for an hour and everyone had a lot of fun.
It really is the people you play with that makes the game fun, not the rules.
A fun group of 4 players can make the most boring adventure one of the most fun experiences of your life.
100% awesome video, I too have been citing for years that you don't _need_ the D&D books to actually play D&D, just some dice and an imagination. Fun resources you provided too!
Bob, I have not touched an rpg in over 35 years….you have reignited my interest in going back….You do a great job of explaining things for every level of player, which shows your superior grasp of the subject matter. Thanks for all you do and I hope you continue to have many years of success…Have a blessed day!
The original DND pamphlets said that they were more guidelines than rules, arg, and that once you get the idea of it all it is time for you to make up your own stuff.
Personally I just think most of the "juice" from ttrpgs actually exists outside of their systems in stuff like this. Like yeah system can help navigate that but I dunno, when my favorite ttrpg session was using Prole it's really hard to believe in needing big rule sets. Maybe just playing pretend as adults is good actually?
D&D, without dice and rules, is what we used to call "The Campfire Story". Someone starts the adventure and every takes their turn contributing to the story in a clockwise rotation.
Basic rule of thumb for D&D is based on 50% of success. IE: 11 or better on a d20 is success. Add modifiers for variability like strong guy gets +1 or +2 for relevant rolls. Ect.
Paid 10 bucks for my 5e players handbook. It was coming apart otherwise good condition. Bought some glue and whalla!
That's a bargain!
This is why I miss 2E. Newer editions have added a lot of cool abilities/feats/classes/etc..., but at the expense of simplicity. I find people spend way more time looking up rules and trying to remember to use their abilities than playing the game. Obviously 5E is very popular and has grown the hobby by leaps and bounds, but not everything has been an upgrade. I'm going to give some of the striped down games you recommended and see if they have that old school feel. Thanks.
Wasn't 2E the king of charts and matrices? Like worse than Mark Millers versions Traveller? It's been a long time but I remember 2E being more complicated than 3E.
I usually find that helping my players & using tools like D&D beyond helps a LOT w/ the flow of the game.
And letting my players help eachother ofc.
Essentials Kit is low key (I hate to admit) really good core D&D, essentially 5e B/X level 1-6. you could legitimately play the rest of your life with just this free download.
All of that started with 2e. It was just optional... until it really wasn't.
I still can't explain to someone how THAC0 works
I've been saying this over and over since the OGL fiasco. Hasbro owns the D&D IP, but the hobby belongs to the community and always has. This is part of why WoTC/Hasbro have been twisting themselves in knots trying to find ways to force app-game-style monetization into the game, because deep down they know they don't actually have the control of the brand they want to project.
And if we the player base realize oh, wait, we don't actually have to give them money to continue enjoying our hobby, there's not much they can do about it.
It's a game of the imagination and it's YOUR game, so pick whatever rules you want - 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th still exist if you want them to - homebrew your own rules like I did when I was nine - if you're already happy playing 5th edition, you can keep playing Fifth Edition until you're 90 without giving them another cent. You don't have to pay them to have your friends around with some dice, paper and words. Just play, live, love the hobby. No one can take that from you.
So true! I was introduced to D&D only 3 years ago, and have been DMing for two of those years. To date, the ONLY money of mine that has ever gone to Wizards was when I bought “Wilds Beyond the Witchlight” as a gift for my friend. Besides that, WotC hasn’t gotten a single other red penny from me, and I’ve had nothing to inhibit me from playing or DMing the game.
The problems with that attitude are:
a) It kills game stores that can't live on dice sales alone.
b) If no one buys the books it becomes hard to get new players into the game and the hobby greys and dies with its players.
I'm old enough to remember the 3.5e and 4e collapse and how the entire industry shrank. No 3PP. Fewer accessories and luxury dice makers.
The healthier D&D is the healthier the entire industry is.
Right. everyone always want to be negative ALL the time. Like bro we get it, corporations = evil. There's also some cool people working there who actually care about D&D, and hey sometimes the stuff they put out isn't good, but a lot of it is. As someone half a century in with a busy schedule, it's nice to grab the supplements. Plus I like running a "current era" 5E game because when things like BG3 happen, I can roll those events/NPCs right into my table top game. I also like to buy 3rd party stuff to sprinkle in now and again to keep my players guessing. @@DavidJWGibson
screw Wizbro and they are literally cutting out the hobby stores as we speak
@@DavidJWGibson that's why you spend your money where it can support a healthier hobby ecosystem - I spend mine backing projects like Shadowdark and indie miniatures designers on myminifactory.
There's an argument to be had that without the big name of the DnD brand the whole hobby would die away, but I don't see a reason not to support broadening the influence of alternatives like Pathfinder, Shadowdark, OSR games etc, and drawing new people into those as a way to broaden the concept of the TTRPG hobby itself in the public mind. Influencers like critical role showing off games that aren't just DnD in their streams are going a long way there.
To be clear I'm not suggesting boycotting the brand out of spite. But I don't think people should feel obligated to keep buying the new DnD content if it isn't what they want or it's taking the hobby in directions harmful to the community.
Well said. I concur.
1:27 when you came out from behind the tree, I got strong Monty Python vibes. Kinda made my day.
Glad you're sharing this! I'm currently working through my own entirely free/slimmed down/rebalanced rewrite of 5e complete with an alternative set of content (subclasses etc) with the intent that the hobby is much more accessible than it currently is.
Imagination is free! :P
That's awesome!
This is the sequel to Playing the Game! Thanks Bob
I always really appreciate how Bob offers other game options that are easy to get into and still scratch that d&d itch.
Supporting small creators/companies is rad.
I can go one better... My original boxed set (Holmes edition) used cut-out numbers chits. You could easily just make those.
Smart! I saw a comment on my post yesterday from a group who started a couple years ago, using randomly-picked slips of paper with numbers written on them. Lots of options out there.
I've heard that incarcerated people make dice out by compacting toilet paper into cubes and marking the sides with a pencil.. pilfering a dice from your monopoly set seems easier, though.
Oooh, yes! I forgot about these, but they do work - don't have to be numbers, either (so you can randomise any set of outcomes you like), and you can either get a cheap draw-string bag to draw them out of or... the other thing I've seen used are those plastic rubbish-bin pencil holders, for some reason. That's going in the notebook right now.
@@BobWorldBuilder ... pennies with numbers applied with paint markers are a good option ...
I don't even know what I'm doing here. I haven't played D&D since middle school when the pyramids at Giza were being constructed and I swore off D&D campaigning ever after. But these videos are so warm, so positive, so helpful, that my resistances are failing. Just like in RL!
You are correct. You don’t need the books.
We once played D&D on a hiking camping trip, no dice, no paper, no pencils. We had our characters somewhat memorized. This was before cell phones too.
I believe Gary Gygax said you don’t need his rules to play
Makes a promise to stop using air quotes and then immediately holds up the number 2-literally the fingers used to make air quotes. Cheeky, Bob, very cheeky.
Thank you Bob for recommending DCC!
My pleasure!
I've been thinking of doing this: Use only a d6 die, take the familiar d&d abilities, and let the players assign +2 to one, +1 to one, and -1 to one. On the die 1 (or less) is very bad, 2-3 are bad, 4-5 good, and 6 (or more) is very good. Everybody has 6 hitpoints, and monsters always deal just 1 hitpoint of damage, which the monsters don't roll for, but the player rolls constitution to soak it. The rest of their development would come from magic items they find during the adventure. Haven't tried it yet though.
You may want to check out Dungeon World or EZD6, both of those games essentially do those things (in different ways)
Yeah that sounds similar to EZD6 and Cairn, but I'm not too familiar with the former
@@BobWorldBuilder EZD6 is great! Definitely worth a look.
You forgot one free downloadable way to play actual 5E D&D, which is looking up the "Basic D&D Rules" and you'll get directed to a wotc site that has the rules condensed down from what the SRD is. It has 4 classes, 4 ancestries and a handful of classic monsters but all the rules to play. It's also less than 200 pages. I love that you show some of the GG small adventures, Fey Sisters Fate is one of my fave one shots.
WHEN DID THE BOOK PRICES GO UP!? THAT'S F*CKING RIDICULOUS
When the cost of paper, printing, and shipping went up. Paizo is also increasing the prices of its books.
@@DavidJWGibsonYou say that but I call BS since I am finding the PHB at Walmart for $35.00. This was as recent as yesterday.
@@nickm9102 I’m not sure what you’re arguing here. That WalMart can’t sell below the market value? That all stores have to match WalMart’s prices?
That because WalMart has set the price at that, WotC has to keep PHB prices the same as they were a decade ago?
@@DavidJWGibson I'm arguing that while what you said is factual, I am not convinced that Hasbro/WotC's reason is cost alone. They are a big enough company that their purchased runs are more than competitive especially since their biggest competition is less than 1/10th their market size.
@@nickm9102 There’s still a bottom cost for a hardcover 300-page full colour book. And while D&D is selling more than Pathfinder (which currently sells its hardcover 2.5e for $60) it’s still a niche industry compared to NYT Bestsellers.
Preaching this for 20 years! Thank you, Bob.
I agree about needing more simple modules that can be plugged in anywhere (though DotMM and things like Candlekeep do have those possibilities going for them). But to expand on that - adventures with better scaling tips, or even just a good set of scaling rules. It's a pity that some material is presented for levels x-z, and a newer GM will find themselves telling their players, "Sorry, you have to make new characters, this adventure path is for 1-8 and you've already beat Strahd so you're too high level!" I often find most DMGs or equivalents spend time discussing things at length that could be pared down, and often they launch right into cosmologies and worldbuilding when they could spend more time just helping a GM understand their duties and whatnot. I LOVED that the section of the Dragon Age AGE system that was for GMs spent time discussing how to handle the duties, players, and how to adjust the setting in that regard (though I don't feel I understand encounter levels well still, so they had a big flaw too). I'd like for there to be a REASON you want the DMG or GMG or whatever it is for a system because it HELPS you better refine your game. Not just "build your own world", but "How to better scale encounters and modules" and "here are some simple concepts you can drop in any campaign, like a basic fight against bandits or a search through a wizard tower" that just helps a GM understand how a decent encounter is built before they go forth and try. And again, rules on how to better scale things up so they can better sell modules as fitting for ANY campaign level.
As it is... if I had to bring only 2 of the 3 "core" D&D books with me to build a session, the DMG would lose out every time. If I could bring 3 books of all of D&D books (5e as example), the DMG wouldn't enter the top choices - I'd rather bring the other two core and an adventure path, or Tasha's, or something like van Richten's Guide. DMG can continue to be optional, especially for GMs not at their first rodeo, but it really needs something to make it feel worthwhile to pick up. And I just find myself either not finding useful info in them, or the info is written in such a way that I don't see it as such which is pretty much the same as it not being there at all. Main reason I have one is I got the Core bundle on sale and figured having some physical books around would better entice a local group into playing (and understanding that it is far better for players as their starting game vs. 3/3.5e or PF1e, despite that being my jam for years).
Look buddy I need all the books! If my wife sees this blasphemy I'm suing.
This is a fantastic video for a complete beginner or someone who has been away from the RPG hobby for years. I had not played D&D since the early 90’s and found my way back into the hobby in 2017. I was amazed how much the game had changed since TSR owned D&D. Luckily I did a little research on my own before buying anything and located the free basic rules then bought the starter set. I was out less than 30 bucks and had enough material to play a lifetime of D&D. Again…fantastic video!
Great vid, Bob!
Thanks!
As a long-time player playing most of the D&D editions that have been released, when 5e came out I got the boxed set, but that is when I decided I wasn't going to purchase the core books.
Not because I did not like the rules, or I found the books to expensive, it's that I had accrued decades of varying rule-sets in my memory and thought it was best to make use of what I already knew.
I was also DMing for large groups of students who were new to the game, some with learning difficulties, others who spoke English for the first time.
This is when I started to develop my own homebrew rules that I still use today: 3 classes, 3 abilities ranging from +1 - +3.
Now, I only have three books when I play, my own 80pg booklet (BeaR-PiGS) supported by Moldvay's Basic & Expert books.
Modules have been of great importance only because I want my players to experience the classics.
Playing old modules is like reading that old book again, or watching Star Wars for the 100th time.
So in short, all you really need is a d20.
I play in and run sandboxes. We all use books, but not as rules but as suggestions. Originally started with the original 3 book boxes set....imagination and creativity were most important.
Just last week, WotC actually put out a completely free introductory level 1 adventure called Peril in Pinebrook and the pre-generated character sheets are actually fantastic, they even hid ability scores and just kept the important stuff!
Plus, it was written by Shawn Merwin, the designer of Descent into Avernus and director of Ghostfire Gaming (who publishes adventures from other DnD RUclipsrs)
Yep haha xD I think it came out the day I recorded this. I have a video coming about it soon! It's a pretty solid module!
@@BobWorldBuilder Agreed! And I’d love to hear your thoughts on the pre-generated character sheets that are missing ability scores
I really miss Dungeon magazine from when I played 2nd edition. Each issue had several short adventures made to be plugged into existing campaigns. Does anyone know if something like that exists today for 5e?
Those mags were a treasure of ideas. It wouldn't take much effort to convert to whatever game your playing, especially a DND edition.... although I haven't looked at 4th or 5th much.
LOVE that port map!!!
💯
Rule Zero is Dungeon Master fiat aka DM rulings over rules - the DM is always right
"The secret we should never let the gamemasters know is that they don't need any rules." ~Gary Gygax, co-creator of D&D
"It is the spirit of the game, not the letter of the rules which is important." ~Gary Gygax, co-creator of D&D
Another overlooked reason why I'd suggest avoiding 6th edition's virtual tabletop, is because it has the age old problem of 'terms & conditions' or as they've been renamed to 'eula & nda' in modern times, that the rules often are changed without your knowledge nor consent. Becoming gaslighting fuel when you go back to double check the verbage of your abilities and find them written differently than when you initially copied them down, and this applies to both players and DMs because all the official content is server side controlled.
Never heard of Dungeon Crawl Classics, I'll have to look that up next time I visit the book store, thanks for the recommendation.
Dc and really anything from Goodman Games is wacky fun.
I think there's benefits to all different forms of TTRPGs and you own it to yourself to try a bunch of different ones and maybe make your own.
I felt it was coming. My DCC senses were tingling
Thanks, Bob, this was very refreshing.
I've actually never gone beyond the original rules + Greyhawk, Blackmoor, and a couple other supplements. The guys I played with back in the 70s and I made a bunch of changes to how things worked (especially magic), and that's been my ruleset ever since. I have a couple of the more current books (bought for me as gifts), but apart from the Monster Manual from AD&D, I've basically never used them.
If you like the AD&D MM you should try 3.5 e. For us it was the same game but smoother.
The thing I like most about this video are the cassette tapes on your shelf. 😊
I keep forgetting that Cairn is free; in fact I keep forgetting that Cairn exists, because it does such a good job of being '5E lite' that my brain files it away under the same category. But yeah; that's a really good one. Anything a group playing 5E for the first time is likely to do, Cairn can probably do, too, and you'll spend less time looking up rules.
Actually I love all of these ideas; I have a notebook full of 'ways to start a TTRPG game for free', and now I can point people to this video as well / instead, depending on context. 👍Super awesome!
Wow i don't have a single unique experience. My first contact with D&D was through an animated series on RUclips from a channel in my country. I had no clue if they had made up the rules, but convinced my friends we should play that game and made up everything on the spot mimicking Skyrim and Dragon Age. Some of the best sessions i had to this day, our dwarf engineer had a capybara companion with a cannon mounted on its back. Eventually i found the D&D rules online and decided that was enough improvising but boy did I had fun.
I ran a dnd game in the back of a class with no books, no dice, no paper or pen. I had the players guess a number for a random outcome. It was a great hour that amazed onlookers lol
dice ARE iconic, though
I would also highly suggest keeping an eye out for DnD books (old and 5e) at yard sales and thrift shops. I was able to get a used player handbook so i could have spells since i play casters for under 20$ i also make binders for each character I play and use online resources to make spellcards and if i am playing either a class in a book I dont own or a homebrew - i put all that class information in a doc, print them out and put them in the corresponding character. I invest more in 3rd party oneshots and short adventure. I also put my money directly into creators hands by supporting ppl on paetron.
As usual, another excellent video! I was so happy to hear you mention the free Basic Rules Set and SRD as legitimate resources. I always tell people who ask to use the free resources first and then, if it floats your boat, invest in the books you want.
For DCC: If you don't want to get special dice, you can use regular polyhedral dice.
D3: Roll a D6 and subtract 3 if it's above 3.
D5: Roll a D20 and subtract the nearest multiple of 5 that is lower than (not equal to) the number.
D7: Roll a D8 and re-roll if it's an 8.
D14: Roll a D8 and re-roll if it's an 8. Roll another D8 and if it is even, add 7 to your first roll.
D16: Roll a D8. Roll another D8 and if it is even, add 8 to your first roll.
D30: [Step 1] Roll a D6, multiply the number by 5. [Step 2] Roll a D5 (using a D20; see above) and add it to the result after step 1. [Step 3] Subtract 5 from the result after step 2.
I haven't actually played DCC so I don't know if it is very practical to replace the dice rolls in this way. I only know what the 'weird dice' are from a quick google. Having the right dice is always better, and the D30 method is awkward so if that's a common roll it's probably no good. And it relies on having a group of people that are all happy to play with these slightly awkward and complicated alternatives.
another option, Basic Fantasy RPG has all its stuff for free in PDF and the print versions is sold at cost for very low prices. Also the newest edition uses the ORC license.
Great video. I also get a kick out of the fact that your patreon supporters list was a text box that got vertically scrolled up, but totally was midsized, so it cut off in the Ks. A mistake, sure, but a hysterical and totally relatable one.
This is the content I am here for! I tend to be RAW DM who will also go RAI where needed but I say if everyone is having fun, you're playing D&D properly. Change the rules, make up rules do what you want and have fun.
This takes me back to the late 70's and early 80's when I started playing - we barely knew what we were doing. Our first adventures followed this general formula- show up at the dungeon door and start kicking in doors, killing monsters, taking their treasure and moving to the next door. The dungeons were stocked with a variety of monsters that had no rhyme or reason. One room would have a dozen kobolds, the next room some
Orcs, the next room a Medusa, the next room some ghouls and so on. It made no sense, but we had a good time.
I now run the D&D club at the middle school I teach at. My middle school is a title 1 school with an 85% low socioeconomic rate. Almost none of the 25-30 kids have rule books or can afford them. We use the free rules and D&D Beyond. Through donations I was able to get about 17 Players Handbooks that I check out to kids. At the beginning of each school year I buy bulk cheap dice on Amazon and give each kid 1-2 sets of dice.
We have a great time. Seeing the kids experience the wonder and excitement of D&D for the first time takes me back to when I first started playing. Though the game has changed tremendously I don't think the experience has changed a whole lot. The kids are slinging dice, killing monsters, solving problems, smiling, laughing and arguing - just like I did back in the day "old days". When I drop a new monsters the kids have never seen and see their faces light up in wonderment and surprise takes me back in time.
I am thinking of switching to a simpler system next year and was seriously considering "Basic Fantasy RPG" for simplicity and the fact that it's dirt cheap.
I refuse to touch "D & Done"
You should do a video on Shadowdark!
This is great! I really appreciate all that you've taught me. The most important lesson being: have fun. So I know we all know and love Basic Fantasy RPG, but that game actually inspired the creator of Olde Swords Reign to take the game he developed in a similar direction. Olde Swords Reign is neat because it isn't actually OSR, although it definitely simplifies things. It's actually more in the lane of a simplified 5e style RPG. The community is cool too.
Gotta shout out Basic Fantasy RPG. A remix of B/X d&d with EVERY pdf avaliable official and FREE online, and the print books are even sold super cheap at cost.
I looking into getting the Mouseritter boxset... but oh my goodness! It's so hard to get!
There are a lot TTRPG books available for free. Basic Fantasy, White Box and Mausritter is one I recommend for gritty play. And if you like PbtA genre there's Ironsworn, Elegy and the SRD for Dungeon World. Some of them are solo but can be used in group sessions with a GM.
Thanks Bob
You're welcome!
Also forgot there are decades old editions of DND and other games that can be gotten for nothing or almost nothing. The old Dungeon and Dragon magazines were a treasure trove of ideas for mechanics and game ideas.
Well bob that might be one of the best D&D videos I have ever watched :) I'm a fan of a book called Barebones It's hardcover digest size, fairly complete. But it is just one of several. White box is small and digest sized as well. A good game of D&D doesn't need to be about making Hasbro shareholders happy.
If the mountain will not come to Bob then Bob will build one.
Man for a minute there I thought you were repping the Sacred Heart and I got all excited. Oh well.
I recently immersed myself in the year zero engine reference document after borrowing a mutant year zero book of a friend. I didn't want to ruin the book by bringing it to work but printing the pdf and taking notes right on the document is no problem
Thank you for this. Arg... Throughout the past few years worth of people losing it on WOTC/Hasbro I've been saying, along with other old school gamers, that the books and the rules are irrelevant. Back in my day, we were told the new version (2E) was it, the end, no more books needed. Well, we learned quick. Since the mid 90's I've been running a campaign and as DM I've used material from every version of D&D, while running technically, 2E rules. To paraphrase Gygax: just make it up.
Though the battle mat and token use for TTRPG can get a bit much, right now Ollie's and other bargain closeout type stores have the D&D Campaign Cases (Terrain and Creature) for 2.99 plus tax. I got them can they are quality product but NOT for the retail price. The interlocking grid lined Grey/Green tiles I plan to use for when you want to speed up a Dungeon crawl and only expose the map a section at a time, thus can be drawn on ahead of time and then lay out a tile section as uncovered. I tested that the tiles are both dry erase and wet erase compatible. And the Creature token chips are nice a weighty and I can nothing for the included colorform reusable stickers but if it your jam bonus.
This opening was really fun! And great overall video! Nice work!
This is actually how almost everyone played back in the 80s. The desire for what once was is the reason for the Old School Revival, which nearly all of the recommended games in this video derive from. Go old school.
I've been loving Shadowdark this year. I can't recommend it enough
If anyone knows which publication he said this in remind me. But Gygax said he’d know people were playing his game right when he could walk by their table and not understand their game [because they had home brew rules].
Thanks for saying what needed to be said about this topic. The game is about the fun the players are having, not about collecting a bunch of books. If you like collecting books, that's fine, but that isn't playing the game.
That last point is so true. My group typically goes through prewritten modules at a fast pace, and even then, it still took us several months to finish Curse of Strahd. At that pace, there’s just no way we can keep up with WotC’s releases, which are seemingly becoming worse and worse by the year. I don’t run 5e anymore, but if I did, I would certainly be homebrewing and slotting prewritten mini-adventures into my campaigns.
I think the point of the fast module releases isn't so people can keep up. It's so that people have a choice. So if you don't want the whimsical feywild romp with hags and Oz companions you have a heist or surviving in a frozen tundra.
What do you run?
@@DavidJWGibsonYep, you're probably right on that one. I'd just like to see more options for folks like me! You would think WotC could churn those out even quicker and maybe even make more of a profit on them, but I'm no marketing expert.
@@coil8906 Lancer (homebrew campaign spun off from a few prewritten modules). Though I do regularly play in a 5e homebrew campaign.
The worst is you can't even find them used for cheap. I've pretty much given up and only look for simplified and cheaper versions by independent publishers.
Bob, with your hilariously broken spell from your first campaign, you'll appreciate this... In my first campaign, our DM completely botched the rules for spellcasting because he had only ever run Gamma World and there aren't really spellcasting rules in that system. He decided that our damage for our spells was whatever we rolled, multiplied by our INT modifier... _multiplied by our Arcana bonus..._ So by the time we were level 17, our spellcasters were doing upwards of *_thousands_* of HP in damage.
We also had this weird idea that a round took one minute, so we never cast any spells that had concentration for one minute because they didn't make any sense.
Shadowdark is what adv d&d shd have been!
For a while we played on the floor, great memories