Gaming and Nerdery: Rolling your first Dungeons and Dragons Character

There are a few different ways to make your first Dungeons and Dragons character that you have to choose from. The first, of course, would be with a pencil and paper. You could also use a character builder, like the one available from Wizards of the Coast or the freeware character builder "Redblade." The last option, is, of course, to have your DM roll you a character based on your loose specifications.

My favorite option for the first character would be with a pencil and paper, doing all the math and marking it down in appropriate places. This accomplishes multiple things here: you get to better learn the mechanics of the game, you get a better feel for who your character is, and you get a better feel of the game as a whole. However, this method does take more time, and if you don't have someone to explain the different elements of your character sheet, and your abilities, and what's the difference between a blast and a burst... Well, it can be confusing.

Using a character builder can be fun, and it can let you play around with different builds to see what happens. It's not as true to the game, I don't believe, but then, I am one of the types who believes in re-rolls only by DM rule. Using a character builder is quite fast when you put it side by side with rolling by hand, and you get a really nice character sheet with the abilities listed and everything, makes all of it so much easier to keep up with. If you've rolled one by hand and want to try it with a character builder, go for it. If you don't feel like writing everything down, use the builder but, and I can't stress this enough, pay attention to what numbers change what stats, what skills modify how many abilities you have, and the like.

If you're entirely helpless with rolling a character by hand, and just can't get the character builder to work for you, then you can go to your DM and ask for a hand. Everyone rolls a first character; S/He will be more than happy to help you, and explain everything along the way. If you want, and the DM agrees to, your Dungeon Master can make your character, then explain everything afterwards.

Any of these three methods will work, though I definitely suggest the first one, if it's not too overwhelming. Happy roleplaying!

Gaming AND Nerdery: On Getting a Good Dungeons and Dragons Group.

I couldn't decide whether Dungeons and Dragons should go under Gaming or Nerdery... so it gets both.

I've moved quite a bit for someone who isn't from an active-military family. This makes things quite hard when trying to find a steady D&D group. There are websites like Meetup that can help with this, and it's a great help, especially when trying to find a group in an area you're brand new to. I moved out of North Carolina a couple years ago and my friends up here were my brother's friends; Not at all the type to enjoy the classic tabletop RPG. So I've been looking, and had something going for awhile, but due to life happening, had to back out of that group. In all the time spent looking for new groups, I have found a few things that help wonderfully. First, if you're new in an area, go to your local gaming supply store, or comic shop. Let the person behind the counter (or at a table, if they have gaming tables) know that you're new to the area, and ask if he knew anyone looking for players. This almost always helps, and is a good way to make friends in a new area. Another option is, as I said a moment ago, Meetup. Just search for a group for your area.

Something else I've found from playing D&D is that when you're starting a new campaign, create your characters all at once, together. This can solve many a problem. You wont end up with a group full of Strikers with nobody to heal or defend them (unless, of course, that's the point of what you're doing). You will then not be surprised when some characters make a move like trying to defenestrate the shopkeep for no reason than to do so. It will also develop a sense of having known each character for sometime and gives a richer D&D experience.

One last note: if there's a known "last session" that you're having, where it's the end of the group, or whatever: dress as your characters for that session. Speak and act in character as well. Especially if you don't normally do that. It'll create a great memory for everyone and is one hell of a lot of fun!