How I put together my first D&D party: where a beginner should start

I finally got around to trying Dungeons & Dragons — and realized I'd been putting it off for nothing. In D&D there are no pre-scripted actions: the players decide for themselves what their heroes do, and the story changes in response to those decisions. There are two roles at the table — the players and the Dungeon Master, who runs the adventure, plays the enemies, and decides when to roll the dice.

You don't need much for your first session: a short one-shot adventure, character sheets, and a set of dice — d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, and d20. The d20 is rolled most often — it's the one that decides whether an action succeeds. You can create a character from scratch or take a pre-made one: you pick a class (fighter, rogue, wizard, and others), a species, and a background, and then assign your six ability scores — Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma.

The basic rules are enough to get started: d20 checks against a Difficulty Class (DC), turn-based combat with initiative, and death saving throws when a hero drops to 0 hit points. You pick up the rest as you play — and that's completely normal.

The hardest part turned out to be finding a group. I invited a couple of friends who like fantasy and story-driven games, and we figured it out together. If you don't have anyone, look for people in themed Telegram chats and VKontakte communities. And if D&D clicks for you, it's worth trying Pathfinder, which offers more character customization, or the sci-fi Starfinder.

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