How To Play Dungeons and Dragons

Choose your character. You might, for example, choose to be a fighter, rogue, wizard, or cleric. The Player’s Handbook describes the rules and options for playing characters.

Keep track of statistics related to your character and the game with a pencil and paper.

Accept an adventure assignment from the Dungeon Master, like protecting a town from goblins, saving a damsel, slaying a dragon, or looting a wizard’s tower. The Dungeon Master finds statistics for the monsters that Player Characters encounter in the Monster Manual. Adventures are described in the Dungeon Master’s Guide.

Roll a twenty-sided die to determine the outcome when you face an action that has a possibility of failure. The Dungeon Master will set the target number that your roll is measured against. If you roll a smaller number, your action fails. Other dice determine other results, such as how much damage your weapon or spells cause and the damage to you if you get hit.

Continue playing until your campaign is over, and then begin a new one. Collect experience to raise your character to higher levels with every adventure, and hope your character doesn’t die in the process.