There are so many Dungeons and Dragons products out there, but are they necessary? What do you need at the bare minimum, and how much do they cost?

This post is a follow up to my previous post, which is here. If you’re looking to get into playing D&D, read that one first!

Now that you’ve found a group, you need the actual pieces that the game is played with. If you’ve opted to learn to play with the D&D starter set you’ll be mostly okay up until you want to branch out and play other campaigns, but you’ll have a copy of the basic rules and a set of dice that you can use in other adventures. The characters you use can also be brought into other settings outside of the story that comes with the starter kit, if you’ve grown attached to them.

Character sheet with dice

The first thing you’re going to need is a character sheet, and a character. Character creation is an undertaking deserving of its own article, but fortunately there are a bunch of pre-made characters on the official D&D website. There are also downloadable blank character sheets for when you’re ready to make your own (you’ll need the Player’s Handbook to make your own characters).

The next thing you’ll need is a bunch of dice. The standard “d20 set” (d20 means “20-sided dice”; in the D&D books this shorthand is everywhere) comes with one of each of d4, d6, d8, d12, and d20; with two d10. There are tons of websites that sell d20 sets, in tons of different colours, so doing a quick google search will bring up tons of fun and unique designs for you to use. If you’re on a budget, you can also check to see if your local gaming store sells individual dice, which typically cost 1$ each or less. You can get away with only buying one d10, so at most you’re spending $6-$7 per set.

A basic tool but quite important

Once you have a character and some dice, you’re going to need the D&D “core” books, as these have the rules for the game, they show you how to build characters, how strong the monsters are, what a Dungeon Master (DM) does, etc. The only one you need if you’re playing is the Player’s Handbook. The Player’s Handbook has the main things you’d expect, like how to build a character and level it up, but it also has small interesting details like the kinds of skills your character can learn when they aren’t adventuring.

If you’re going to be a DM, you’ll need two more books: the Dungeon Master’s guide, and the Monster Manual. These books have all the rules for crafting an adventure and playing the monsters that your adventurers will face. If you’re starting out playing D&D though, I don’t recommend starting as a DM.

While there are lots of different products for D&D, it isn’t the most expensive game in the world if you know what to get. Dice are relatively cheap, the character sheets are free to download and print off, and the Player’s Handbook often goes on sale on Amazon or other stores. There are also lots of websites that have information if you’re confused as you play.

Happy adventuring!