If you're learning how to play Dungeons and Dragons , you might be daunted by the chunky rulebooks and many-sided dice. But don't be dissuaded! D&D is well-worth learning to play, and it's far easier than you might think. This beginner's guide will tell you everything you need to know in 20 minutes, tops.
Wargamer's writers have played many thousands of hours of D&D, over nearly 20 years and three editions of the game. We know our stuff, basically - and because of that, we can break it down to just the essentials you need to learn how to play D&D.
We'll explain the very basics of the game in plain English, including the DnD classes and DnD races you'll choose from when creating your fantasy character. But you'll also learn what stuff you actually need to buy (and what you don't), how those dice work, how to play D&D online, and more.
How to play Dungeons and Dragons:
- What is Dungeons and Dragons?
- What you'll need to play D&D
- How to make a Dungeons and Dragons character
- How long does a D&D game take?
- Combat
- How to play D&D online
- Important D&D terms
What is Dungeons and Dragons?
Dungeons and Dragons is a fantasy tabletop roleplaying game that uses dice and improvised roleplay to tell a story. To play, you gather a few people - ideally four to six - to act as characters in the world, plus one Dungeon Master (DM). The DM is the chief storyteller who describes what happens on the adventure, narrating the details of the story and the consequences of the player's actions.
As Player Characters (PCs) travel through the world described by the DM, the players describe what they want their character to do (attack the skeleton with their sword, say, or pick the lock on that treasure chest), then roll dice to see if they're successful. Depending on how they fare, the DM explains what happens next, and the adventure unfolds - for as long as everyone wants it to!
That's it. That's D&D in a nutshell. All the RPG videogames made since Dungeons & Dragons first came out in 1974, from ancient text adventures to Skyrim, have built on the foundation laid by D&D.
What you'll need to play D&D
To start playing D&D, you'll need:
- Rulebooks - the three core books, or a starter set box.
- Players - four to six of them, plus a DM.
- Dice - at least one set of six (D4, D6, D8, D10, D12, and D20).
- Character sheets - one for each player character.
You'll find all of them easy to get hold of, and some of it's free! Let's explain them in a bit more detail.
Rulebooks
While the basics of D&D are simple, there are enough smaller rules to fill multiple hundred-page rulebooks. Thankfully, you won't be expected to remember every rule while playing, and it's common to remind yourself how a mechanic works mid-play by looking it up.
The basic D&D rules are available online for free. However, if you're ready to invest in the complete rules, we recommend that at least one person in your group has a copy of the following:
- Player's Handbook - Explains the core gameplay rules, including character classes and races.
- Dungeon Master's Guide - Additional rules and advice for the DM that's running the game.
- Monster Manual - A collection of stat blocks that the DM can use to build combat encounters.
Players
The ideal number of D&D players is four to six (plus one Dungeon Master). It's possible to play with two or three players, or even seven or more. However, larger groups will find combat takes longer and is too easy, while tiny groups may have the opposite problem.
If you don't have a group of willing friends to join your party, there are plenty of communities out there (in person and online) filled with people itching to play D&D. Local game stores often host games specifically designed for new players, and plenty of D&D social media groups include 'find a game' forums.
D&D dice
A D&D dice set includes a D4, D6, D8, D10, D12, D20. Each of these is named after the number of sides it has. If you don't have a physical DnD dice set, you can also find dice rollers and random number generators online.
D&D character sheets
All key information about the character you're playing is written on a character sheet. This includes their DnD stats and abilities, as well as any backstory you've come up with. Each character will need one, but don't worry - you can download and print the PDF for free.
For a no nonsense walkthrough on filling out your sheet, read our complete guide to DnD character sheets.
Maps and miniatures (optional)
Most of D&D is played out in the 'theater of the mind', which is a fancy term for your imagination. The Dungeon Master describes a scene, and the players act out how they respond to their environment. This is largely freeform, and you don't need to do much tracking.
However, the combat and exploration sides of D&D can get pretty fiddly. For these sections of the game, a Dungeon Master might want to use physical maps and miniatures to represent where the characters and enemies are standing.
How to make a Dungeons and Dragons character
The best way to make your first Dungeons and Dragons character is to use our step by step DnD character creator guide. But for now, here's an overview of the main ingredients that go into creating your adventurer.
Class
Your character's class is essentially their role in your fantasy world, as well as their calling. Your chosen class will determine most of what your character will be able to do - both in battle and out.
There are 12 core classes to choose from:
- Barbarian - Big, brawny, melee bruisers with rage issues.
- Bard - Charismatic, motivational performers who love to talk.
- Cleric - Warriors and healers devoted to their gods.
- Druid - Shape shifting adepts who wield natural magics.
- Fighter - Versatile front line combat and weapons experts.
- Monk - Magical martial artists skilled in unarmed combat.
- Paladin - Righteous divine warriors in martial and magical battle.
- Ranger - Expert hunters, wayfarers, and wilderness survivors.
- Rogue - Sneaky, light fingered thieves, assassins, and ne'er-do-wells.
- Sorcerer - Natural-born spellcasters able to twist magic to their will.
- Warlock - Spellcasters granted magic by pacts with powerful entities.
- Wizard - Classic mages whose spells come from training and books.
These 12 classes can be found in the Player's Handbook, but they aren't your only options. Another optional book adds the Artificer, and the D&DBeyond web platform features rules for popular third-party classes, such as the Blood Hunter. However, these extra classes are quite complex, so we'd recommend sticking to the core 12 until you've fully learned how to play D&D.
Race, a.k.a. Species
The second big choice to consider is your character's race (also known as species). This helps you flesh out what kind of person your character is, and it offers a few special abilities. Some species (especially ones printed in older rulebooks) even alter your core ability scores.
There are a huge number of races to choose from, but for your first character, we recommend choosing one of the basic options from the Player's Handbook:
- Aasimar - A celestial being who can temporarily sprout angelic wings.
- Dwarf - A stocky humanoid known for their endurance.
- Elf - A nimble, magical being (great for a spellcasting class!)
- Halfling - Small, lucky, and extremely happy-go-lucky.
- Human - They may sound boring, but they get lots of useful extra skills to make up for being Plain Janes.
- Dragonborn - A lizard-like humanoid that can spit fire, acid, lightning, or some other elemental hazard.
- Gnome - Tiny tinkerers who are best-known for their intelligence and crafting skills.
- Tiefling - Horned creatures with tails and colorful skin who are related to a demon or devil in some way.
- Orc - Tusked people with grey or greenish skin and impressive physical talents.
Ability scores
All D&D characters have six ability scores that influence gameplay:
- Strength - How strong your attacks are and how much you can carry
- Dexterity - How well you can fire a ranged weapon or dodge damage
- Constitution - How many hits you can take in a fight
- Intelligence - How knowledgeable you are
- Wisdom - 'Street smarts' that helps you understand people and places better
- Charisma - Covers all sorts of social skills
When creating a character, you'll assign different numbers to these scores, which gives you ability score modifiers. These are added to various dice rolls you make in the game.
Ability scores can be increased by other character options (like which of the DnD backgrounds you choose for them), and they change as you level up. They also affect how good you are at various skills in the game! For more info on those, read our full guide to DnD skills.
Equipment and spells
The final, vital part of creating your character is to choose your starting equipment and, for magic users, your starting spells. You can't go off on an adventure or battle any enemies without any gear to get the job done!
Depending on your chosen class, you'll get to choose between a few options of preset gear 'loadouts' appropriate to your role, or take a small budget of gold pieces and buy your own starting items from the book. For your first character, we strongly recommend you pick one of the recommended loadouts to make sure you're not missing anything important.
Magic wielding characters like Wizards, Sorcerers, and Warlocks will also need to choose which spells they already know at the game's outset (you'll learn more as you progress, of course).
How long does a D&D game take?
Dungeons and Dragons games are split into 'sessions'. Quick 'one shot' games are designed to play out over one or two sessions, while a traditional D&D campaign can span as many as you like; some go on for years or even decades.
You can make a D&D session as long or short as you like, but a typical session lasts between two and six hours. In our experience, three to four hours per session is the sweet spot - long enough to get through a meaningful chunk of story, but short enough to fit on a weekday evening and still get everyone home in time for bed.
When organizing a game of D&D, it's important to agree as a group how often you'll play. Will you meet once a week or once a month, for example? Scheduling will play a big role in how long games last.
Combat
We've already touched upon the basic structure of a D&D game: DM narrates scene, players suggest actions in response, and any conflict is resolved by rolling dice. While two key parts of D&D, exploration and roleplay, are well-explained by this summary, there's a third part that takes more explaining: combat.
When players encounter hostile creatures or characters, combat begins. First, everyone makes an Initiative roll to decide who acts in what order. The DM rolls Initiative for monsters and adds them to the turn order.
When it's your turn, you can perform one action and one bonus action, and you can move up to your character's maximum speed (for example, 30 feet). Basic combat actions, spells, and class-specific abilities will tell you whether they cost an action or a bonus action. Additionally, you can perform one reaction per round if the right conditions are met (such as with opportunity attacks).
Attacks against enemies usually require you to roll a d20 and add the relevant modifiers. To hit, the result must be higher than your target's armor class. Some spells instead ask the target to roll a saving throw, which is still a d20 roll, but with the relevant saving throw modifier added instead.
When everyone has taken a turn in combat, the round is over, and the first person in the Initiative order takes their next turn. Combat ends when the threat has been neutralized. This might be when all enemies (or players) are dead, unconscious, or running away to safety.
How to play D&D online
If you want to play D&D online, the rules and gameplay remain the same. The only difference is the tools you'll use to get the game going.
Since you're not sitting around a physical table, your group will need something to represent the maps and miniatures you'd usually use to play. Virtual tabletops are applications that simulate the feeling of sitting at a tabletop.
The easiest option for your early D&D games is to host everything via D&DBeyond, Wizards' own online setup. It's in-built maps tool is functional, easy to use, and linked directly to your D&DBeyond character sheets, so there's relatively few steps involved in getting your players set up and loaded into the game. All that's missing is voice chat - so we recommend you set up a Discord server to let you speak freely with each other while you play.
If you want to branch out, however, there's a range of other virtual tabletops out there (our guide lists some of the best options). One is more popular than the rest, however - Roll20. This is a free, browser-based application that features everything you might need to play D&D and many other tabletop RPGs besides.
Roll20 lets you buy digital books, find online groups to play with, upload maps and tokens, fill out character sheets, and even roll dice. It can also do things a physical tabletop can't, such as play music or add animations to your games.
Important D&D terms
Learning how to play Dungeons and Dragons involves picking up all sorts of new jargon. We've bolded a bunch of important terms throughout this guide, but there are plenty more we've not covered yet.
Here's a condensed D&D glossary of additional terms you need to know:
- Alignment - Your character's DnD alignment represents how good or evil they are, as well as how chaotic or lawful they are.
- Armor class - This number represents how hard it is to hit your character with an attack. Your Dexterity ability score and the armor you're wearing can modify it.
- Creatures - A creature is defined as any distinct living entity in the world. Player characters (PCs); non player characters (NPCs) and monsters are all creatures, and any ability, effect, or spell that affects 'creatures' will affect them.
- Creature Types - Many (but not all) creatures in D&D have a defined creature type, like Plant, Giant, or Undead. They don't have any rules effect on their own - but they change how the creature is affected by all kinds of other things, like incoming damage and spell effects.
- Heroic Inspiration - A one off bonus ability that lets you re-roll a single D20 roll or a hit die roll. The DM may grant you one use of Heroic Inspiration for great roleplay or a major narrative achievement, which you can then save until you need it.
- Hit points - The maximum amount of damage a character can take before they risk dying. These can be restored by resting or using healing spells and potions.
- Initiative - The order in which characters take turn in combat. Every character has an initiative bonus, which they add to a d20 roll to calculate their Initiative.
- Levels - Every player's character has a level from one to 20 that decides how powerful they are. Characters gain new abilities and grow stronger with each DnD level up.
- Monsters - General term for all creatures - humanoid or not - that are, or are assumed to be, hostile to the player characters.
- NPCs - Non-Player Characters that are typically controlled by the DM (though not always). NPCs tend to be friendly characters - any hostile creature is referred to as a monster.
- Objects - Distinct things in the world that are not creatures of any kind, i.e. are not living things.
- PCs - Player Characters that are controlled by the players around your table!
- Proficiency bonus - A modifier that's added to certain dice rolls (for example, +2 or +3). This number is decided by a character's level.
- Saving throw - Characters make saving throws when they are trying to avoid a negative effect, such as a spell or attack.
- Stat blocks - All the key information about a monster that a DM needs to control them in combat. It includes things like hit points, armor class, and special attacks.
- Subclasses - Once a character reaches level three, they can be customized further by choosing one of these subtypes, which offers unique extra rules.
That's it for our ultimate beginner's guide on the basics of Dungeons and Dragons! If you need any other pointers, want specific advice for your first game, or just want to share your wild D&D ideas with fellow nerds, come join the free Wargamer Discord community and chat with us about it all! We absolutely love welcoming new D&Ders to the hobby.
The game is always growing, too, with new books of settings, adventures, characters, and more are coming out all the time - read our complete DnD release schedule for everything new on the horizon.