You and your friends have talked about trying D&D for some time and you are ready to give it a go, could be because you are the brave one, or you are the one that everyone thinks will do the best, or you have the most free time. No matter the reason you are getting into it, you are about to embark on a journey of epic proportions, or so it seems. There are a million resources on the internet to look through — be it watch, listen or read — but where do you really start?
To start you will need to pick the game you are going to play. If your friends are set on D&D, just play D&D. While D&D is to role-playing as Band-Aids are to sterile strips, D&D is the most common RPG out there at this time. Run with it. Hopefully, you have watched some games being played, be it on YouTube, a friends house, or at your Friendly Local Game Store. You know you need some books, dice, maps and maybe some minis, or at least that is what you think.
You really only need a couple of books, depending on what your goals for this game are. Unlike other things in life, your end goal does not equate into what you need for your first game. If you have an idea bouncing around in your head that will make an epic game, you do not need to buy for that for your first game, you need just enough to get through.
So what is enough?
Some will tell you need the trinity of D&D, Players Hand Book (PHB), Dungeon Masters Guide (DMG) and Monster Manual, as well as a DM’s Screen. Others will tell you that will also need Xanathar’s Guide to Everything, Volo’s Guide to Monsters and Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes. There are a pile of books available to you available in both physical and digital format. Several of the books are informational only (PHB, DMG, and Monster Manual) others are story based scenarios for you to run (Hoard of the Dragon Queen, Storm King’s Thunder and Yawning Portal) and contain most of the rules specific to that story arc.
Players Handbook (PHB)
In truth, you can get most of the PHB on D&D Beyond (https://www.dndbeyond.com/) and your players can use this too. This eliminates one book. However, when I plan a game, I need the books to be present and not something I flip through on my computer or tablet. Having the ability to put easily visible sticky notes all through your book cannot be understated. I have older editions of D&D that are written in, have notes and look like they have seen a lot of use (they have). The PHB is only if you NEED it.
Dungeon Master’s Guide (DMG)
The DMG is a necessity. It has all the core rules that are not covered in the PHB and has sections for you to help balance the game when things go sideways. At 300+ pages it may seem like a monster (pun intended) book to read, but you should not try to read it cover to cover, but instead read the sections you need as you need them in your game planning. This also has the necessary sections for treasure hoards, loot on monsters as well as creating new spells, monsters, or magic items to give your games the perfect flair.
Fear not, you may not need to create new things for your game if you first run is to play a module adventure, it should all be done for you.
Monster Manual
The Monster Manual is one that you will use a lot. While every module has a section for the monsters, this will only include monsters that do not appear in the Monster Manual. The book does give you information on the description of each monster and the combat capabilities of each beast. When running through a campaign you will use this nearly every session, or have created notes from it. I’ve often wondered why we don’t call this the MM.
Dungeon Master’s Screen
Some players think that the screen is used to hide the DM’s dice rolls so the DM can freely kill characters. This is not the case, the inside of the screen has a ton of useful information that is sometimes hard to find in the books, or is really only needed on occasion and could be the difference between success and failure. It also creates a separate space for the DM to keep their books, notes, dice and cards for the adventure. As you are about to find out, DM’s need more paper to run the game than players need to play the game.
What about the others?
There are over two dozen titles available for D&D from Wizards of the Coast and many more supplemental items from other companies. While some are useful (Monster Cards, Magic Item Cards and Spell Cards) others are more niche products and you will know if they are needed for your group. The cards that are available save space, time, and confusion by having all the rules for that thing when they are needed without needing the same space as a book. The Spell cards allow for spell casters to have just their spells laid out in front of them.
Miniatures
While there is a massive surge in D&D minis from various companies, it is really a stylistic choice for you and your players if these are needed. The use of a physical map with minis and monsters is pretty awesome and helps to keep some players engaged, it is not required to play. You can make due with a good dry-erase surface (mat or board) or just a lot of paper.
No matter where you get your gear, you will need at least two books, and maybe a couple more. If you love the game and love creating/running games, you will expand your collection over the years. As a Game Master for several systems over the years (decades) I have hundreds of books and am constantly buying more to read and use. But to start, I started small, a few books and enough to get started.
If all else fails, stop at your Friendly Local Game Store for recommendations.