Learning D&D the old school way?
 

I'm an avid gamer and I've recently become interested in learning to play D&D like they used to. You know, with a group of people, pens and paper, and a dungeon master to boot. Could some of you point me to a good site that I can use to read up on rules and what not? Also, is there a good way to find a group of players in a certain area? I don't know anyone who plays it, but I'd like to start.

Thanks in advance.

I came across this site before, and it seemed to be pretty good, hope it has what your looking for.

http://www.planetadnd.com/

how is that the "old school way".... D&D is meant to be played with groups of people, pens and paper... ;)

Where do you live? Unless you live in a really small town, there is bound to be one or two gaming shops in the area. A gaming shop is comprised of TWO elements.

ONE: The SHOP.. from which you buy the games.
TWO: Tables. Why tables? How else are you going to see your character sheets/cards/minatures?

In Gaming shops, there are scheduled games all the time, and if not, you can usually bring some friends in and play one there. Its a place for us RPGers to hang out in a friendly environment, and play the game we know and love.... without having to worry about the strange looks or a place to play.

You should check out and see if there are any there.

Well, you could always try www.wizards.com since they bought out TSR awhile back. As far as meeting the people to play with try and find an RPG store in your area and check it out. They normally have boards where you can post notices regarding player/DM matchups.

Also, not that I advocate piracy or anything, but you can find most of the core rule books on p2p services so you can start learning the rule.

Best of luck, Fallen. I don't know of any other way to play, so I've never looked for help on how to play that way (thought there is a fair to middlin' bit of advice on how to do it in the DMG and PH).

As for where to go and how to find people, I've always been lousy at that too. The last time I had a campaign running, it was me DMing and 3 other guys, sitting around my pong table in the garage, puffin' smokes & drinking homebrews (which you won't be doing at a gaming store.) I have gone to a gaming store and managed to find a pick up game once, but, since I didn't know anyone all that well, I didn't have much fun.

Ask folks. You'd be surprised how many have played, and, of those the split seems to be 60% think that it was fun in highschool, but they've grown up, and 40% are still playing or looking to play.

Indeed, if madness is in the NoVa area, I'm up for being a player, and I have a friend or two who might be into it as well.

Thanks for the help guys. I know nothing about D&D except from the computer games I've played.

I live in Southern Utah. It's pretty hard to find people like that around here (at least those that would admit to it publicly ;)). I think there is a comic shop that might have games going. I remember going to it a few years back to check out some comics. There was about 5 or so people sitting at a table. In retrospect, I bet they were playing D&D.

they have books that outline the rules/and how to go about gaming.


On a side note:what games made you want to play d&d?

Neverwinter/Baldur's gate/Icewind dale??

Neverwinter Nights and Baldur's Gate. :thumbsup:

ahh.. this reminds me of the time when i lived across the street from 'the dungeon' a d&d club. it got busted by cops on several occasions. they thought they were peddling illegal substancs. werent the cops suprsed to find a bunch of nerds sitting around throwing dice?

oh, and if you want to find all the D&D stuff u ever need, go to the mall, and go to waldenbooks. (their all over the place in big cities if your mall doesnt have one) they have sections for everything from self-help to japanese-style manga books to D&D to more...'adult' reading material. and if you need dice, just buy the starter kit (its a thin orange box. says starter kit.)it comes with alot of the rules you need to know, and a set of dice. oh.. and im glad to find that more and more people are starting to play D&D now. i thought it was beginning to b a dieing breed for a while ^_^

I knew nothing about DnD, and I just dived in and bought the Players Handbook, asked around, got a group of friends intrested in playing and we started a Newbie DnD group (With a Experienced DM however) and I've been playing ever since.

Man I'm old already and I'm only 21 :(

The old D&D was sweet, before AD&D. the newest rules though , what are they on, 3rd edition? just took a lot of the fun outta it for me. As "nerdy" as everyone thinks it is, there are a lot of non-nerds that enjoy. its an awesome social game, and almost nobody who's willing to try it doesn't like it. Though most are afraid to admit it, there are more people playing it than youd imagine. Go to a game shop and ask around. dont be embarrased, nobody at a game or rpg shop has any right to make fun of you... everyones prolly a geek there :)

Anyway, good luck and have fun. i reccommend starting on the older 2nd edition rules and modules. you could problably find the games, and resources used for very cheap. this way if ya DONT like it, you havn't had to sell your house to afford it, since all the various books and modules and dice can get expensive after a while.

21 is far from old,I'm 19 and I consider myself young :p



Maybe I will be old when im 40 =D

Do like i did back in jr high: Find a game and sit in. Go to a local game or comic store and see if they have a bulletin board.

21 is nothing, I'm 35
And I've been playing for 25 years.

Try going to certain conventions, gaming or comic stores too,
they have some of the older references.

And the older modules are cool too, because many of the newer player haven't gone through them.

Who remembers...
Keep on the Borderlands....or
Queen of the Demonweb Pits...or
White Plume Mountain.:)

Heheh I knew a guy who was the luckiest bastard in the entire world. Rolled a natural twenty against Lolloth the spider queen, took her head off with one shot of his Vorpal sword, talk about a anit-climatic event. . . ahhh the old modules

Shit, rogue did you go to GenCon? I'll be going next year for sure. Shit, perhaps we can have a TFP Get-Together in Indy next year, and then meet at GenCon for the rest of us RPGers.

Look around... I'd also suggest going with second edition... and feel free to throw out any rules you think are too confusing or diminish the gameplay. For example, we never really played with "encumberance" rules, we just determined what was reasonable to carry. Obviously, someone's not going to be able to carry 5 polearms, 4 swords, a battle axe or two, and 200 pounds of gold. But do you really need specific rules covering the traveling speed depending on the weight? Very rarely is it an issue. Sorry, went off on a tangent. If you don't mind using second edition, you could probably find the "core rules" cd somewhere for a reasonable price. This has pretty much everything you need, especially if you're on a budget. I personally prefer to have the actual books, but the cd is handy to have, as well.

Ha, I still have all those old ones. I was in Jrhigh and worked in the library. I laminated all my modules. Still in mint. ahh the old days.

I like to play.. the wife she likes to play much more than I do...

we used to play regularly with a group from work.. we'd take over a conference room and play from midday until the wee hours of the morning... did that for about 10 months. :) was fun.

Ahh fond memories of Death and Destruction.
I sure do miss that character.
Those were great adventures. Of the premade selections I would have to go with the Dragonlance series though, still have the original Dragon modules all complete.

As far as finding people to play with they can be anywhere.
If there are no gaming shops then hang out in the bookstore and when you see someone near the roleplaying section maul them.
j/k
The last person I met that played DnD was in the line at Subway on campus. I cant even remember how that conversation went or how it led to DnD :D

We all need our friendly gaming/hobby stores. Apprently they're hard to find where I'm at..

have ONE in my city.
luckily,people game there that arent THAT irritating.

a couple are good friends that i game with there.

Queen of the Demon WebPits may be the greatest module ever. I know its the best one I ever played or DMed.

and when I DM, no one, and I mean no one, ever defeats Lolth without earning it, regardless of how many natural 20s they roll.

Ah, I think he means "old school" as in "not completely acted out." Search online for ogre-battle.large.mpeg and you'll see what I mean. I don't blame him for wanting to play the "old school" way.

Here's an actual link to that movie: http://raditts.com/phyles/ogre-battle.large.mpeg

BTW, how do you embed a movie into a post like when it was done in the Titty Board?

Well the book to buy right off the bat is DnD players guide. Sets you back a painful $30 but hey thats less than most comp games. Soon after you will find yourself buying the DMG, and perhaps the monstrous manual. If you can't find them anywhere else, you can always get them on amazon.

As an alternative might I suggest something by White-Wolf. Vampire is great, And mage is a personal favorite. They will also be one book buys rather than being 3 books, though still something like $30 and will represent a deeper dive into role playing. (though they have nothing to do with Icewind dale ect. at all)

For finding other gamers, go to a comic book store, a gaming store, or a university. Or just rope your friends into it. Most Universities have a club devoted to it.

oh and you might want to poke around here:
http://www.indie-rpgs.com/
Its quite different from what your looking for, but may help shed light on what you find.

well call my a liar... d&d 3.5 is only $20
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg.../-/0786928867/

"Old school" (wierd to hear it called that) is the only way to go. It is so much more fun than the computer version, at least to anyone with an imagination and minimal social skills, that it blows the computer game versions away. Sure, the visual aspect of the computer game is great, but the interactivity of a whole group of real people producing the story in real time is much more interesting.

Find a game shop. Look for their message board (every good shop I've ever been in has a message board and usually a calendar of events) and ask the people working there. They're usually happy to answer questions. After all, if you get into the hobby, it's one more person they can sell books, miniatures, dice, etc to =)

Good luck!