What Is D&D?

In plain English. No homework. You already know how.

Dungeons & Dragons is a game you play with friends around a table, using dice to tell a story together. One person (the Dungeon Master, or DM) describes the world. Everyone else plays one character inside it. There is no board. There is no screen. There is just a story you all make up, and a set of funny-shaped dice to decide the close calls.

That is the whole secret. Everything else is flavor.

Rather watch than read?

We transcribed a short scene from a real game — DM, two players, three goblins, one very unlucky beehive. Every concept on this page shows up in context, with a plain-English recap at the bottom. Skip ahead to the scene →

The Basic Loop

The DM describes a situation. You round a bend on a forest road. Three wagons lie overturned. Four figures in blood-streaked leathers pick through the wreckage. They haven't seen you yet.
You say what your character tries to do. "I draw my bow and aim at the one on the left." Or: "I whisper to the others — can we sneak around?" Or: "I step out and ask, politely, what they're doing."
You roll dice to see if it works. For the obvious stuff — walking across a room, opening an unlocked door — you don't roll anything. For the uncertain stuff — shooting an arrow, sneaking past a guard, charming a skeptical innkeeper — you roll, and the dice decide.

The DM describes what happens next based on your roll. Then you go again. That loop, repeated for three or four hours, is Dungeons & Dragons.

The Dice

A full set has seven dice. They each have a different number of sides. Everyone calls them by their side count — the "d" stands for "die."

d4 d6 d8 d10 d12 d20 d100

Most of them decide damage — how badly an arrow hits, how hard a spell lands. But the d20 is the star. It's the one you roll when you're trying to do something and you don't know whether it'll work. Attack rolls, skill checks, saving throws — almost everything interesting hinges on rolling a d20 and hoping for high.

Try It — Click To Roll
Click the die to roll. Hope for high.

Your Character

A character is who you're pretending to be. Yours will have:

Some Species To Choose From

Some Classes To Choose From

There are more of each. Twelve classes, about a dozen species. If something else pulls at you, tell the DM — they'll sort it.

A Turn In Combat

When things get tense — a fight, a chase, a deal gone wrong — play slows down into turns. On your turn you generally get three things:

Move. Walk up to 30 feet. Climb, crouch, dash if you want to cover more ground.
Take an action. Attack, cast a spell, shove someone, help an ally, try something weird.
Maybe a bonus action. Some classes get a second, smaller thing — an off-hand swing, a quick spell, a cunning maneuver.

Then the next person goes. The DM handles the monsters. Repeat until somebody's on the ground.

The Six Numbers

Every character has six numbers on their sheet that describe what they're built for. You don't have to memorize them. You just need to know roughly what each one is, because when the DM says "roll me a Dexterity check," you want to know whether your character is good at that or not.

Higher is better. 10 is average (a normal farmer), 15 is excellent (a trained professional), 8 is "actively bad at this" — what players call a "dump stat," and that's fine. Nobody is good at everything; the fun is in the gaps.

Don't memorize these. Just glance at them so you know roughly what your character is built for.

When the DM calls for a check — "roll me a Wisdom saving throw" — you roll a d20 and add the little number next to that score on your sheet. Higher is better. That's the whole mechanic. You don't have to work out the math; it's already written down for you.

One mental shortcut: Strength / Dexterity / Constitution are your body; Intelligence / Wisdom / Charisma are your mind. Most characters are good at one or two, average at a couple, and bad at the rest. That's the point — it's what makes them a character instead of an action figure.

What You Actually Need

Nothing you don't already have.

The DM will bring the dice, the character sheets, the rules, the maps, and probably the minis. You just show up.

Common Questions

Do I have to act? Like, act-act?

No. Talk like yourself if you want — "my guy tries to pick the lock" is completely legal. If the mood strikes and you want to put on a voice, do it. The more people who lean in, the better the night. But nobody is going to hand you a monologue.

Do I have to memorize rules?

No. The DM carries the rulebook. You carry a pencil. When a rule comes up, the DM tells you what to roll. After a session or two you'll know your own character well enough that you won't need to ask. That's all.

I'm bad at math.

You're not. It's single-digit addition, and half the time the number you need is already written on your character sheet. If you miss it, someone at the table will catch it. Nobody cares.

How long is a session?

Three to four hours, usually, with a break somewhere in the middle. Long enough to get into it. Short enough to be home in time for whatever you were planning.

Can I drink?

Only one answer. Yes. We're Oscars regulars — the table will pour its own rules.

What if I do something the DM didn't plan for?

That's the best part. The DM is not writing a script — they're running a world. If you try something clever, the DM will make a ruling, give you a dice roll, and the story goes somewhere new. The game works because of the surprises, not despite them.

What if my character dies?

They might. Usually they don't — the DM is on your side more than it looks. If it happens, there are ways back, and in the meantime a good death is a gift. You get to make a new character, bring them in, and your legacy stays in the story.

Start Dreaming

You don't need to pick anything yet. You don't need to know the rules. But a week or two from now, the DM (probably the friend who sent you this link) is going to ask you who you want to be.

So start daydreaming. You can circle nothing. Just notice what pulls at you.

Then tell the DM. That's all the homework there is.

Chapter III — Your Character →