Dungeons And Dragons

Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master's Guide: Roleplaying Game Core Rules, 4th Edition
$34.95
If your looking for rules, then this book isn't for you. In fact if you use published adventures it isn't even neccesary. However it does contain information on the defualt setting of D&D and if you want to make your own adventures its not neccesary, but definetely heplful.

All in all the book does what its supposed to do: guide DM's. It doesn't tell you what to do, it tells you what you can do.

dungeons and dragons role playing game starter set
$16.95
It has been over 25 years since I last played DnD, and when my teenager wanted to play, I was not ready to cough up the change for the whole big set in case it didn't work out. However, the small Starter Set was reasonably priced enough to get us moving and see if it was something we'd enjoy.

I am so glad we did this. The set's rules were easy to get into after a long absence, and it came with everything we needed to get rolling (no pun intended) including dice, some dungeon tiles, pre-made characters, character and monster tokens, and some starter adventures.

We are having a blast! There is enough in this set to take you through level 3 in character development, and the online resources at DnD Insider and the customer service game help (which I called to ask some game questions--they were fabulous!) are enough to have you playing for a long time before you need to purchase anything else.

Granted, some have commented that you can also buy the first 4e packaged adventure, Keep on the Shadowfell, and get most of this rule information that way. However, the starter kit has much more in it for someone seeking to write their own adventures and I think more general rule coverage. We also purchased Keep on the Shadowfell to continue our roleplaying fun and have been satisfied with it as well.

So far, this has been a fairly accessible learning process for my teenage players and easy for one old Dungeon Master to get back into things. I'm looking forward to getting this group through the first adventure so we can all get our own big manuals and level up a bit. But the Starter Set has been a cost-effective way to find out if it was going to be fun for us.

Dungeons and Dragons Core Rulebook Gift Set, 4th Edition
$104.95
I had no idea when I purchased this that it was an entire new gaming system that seems to be a jumping point for selling miniatures. I guess it's the Microsoftian way of trying to force players to upgrade (especially with discontinuing printings of 3.5), bouncing off the idea that you can make more money by having customers buy all new stuff than by putting out supplements for an "old" edition here and there. Perhaps they didn't plan on alienating their fanbase in the process. Tabletop gaming already has it rough enough.

Save your money and buy the 3.5 core books while they're still affordable. I won't be returning my 4e set simply because I'm considering it a resource for house rules and homebrews. Glad I didn't pay retail.

Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game Starter Set (D&D Introductory Game)
$16.99
I bought this Starter Set along with: Dungeons & Dragons Basic Game (2006) (Dungeons & Dragons Game). I bought this one because I learned that there are different versions of the game and the game has evolved quite a bit in the many years it's been around. The difference between this game and the other one is this game is a good intro to the latest D&D version 4, where as the other one came out in 2006 and includeds miniatures. I really like the Miniatures which are small figurines all painted up and seems like it would be cool to use them. But I also wanted an up to date version, and acording to a local Comic, Magic The Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons brick and morter store that also host these games. They said that most of the players that play there don't use the miniatures. So I wanted to try this game that did not have them so I could check out 2 versions of the game and decide what I like best. I also like the books that come with this set: 16 page Quick Start Rule Book, 64 page Dungeon Master Book from what I have read through they are both great to start with and to learn what each has to teach you would in my opinion give you a great foundation to learn to be a Dungeon Master and/or a Player. You also get 3 sheets of Dungeon tiles and 1 sheet of Tokens, all made of very thick glossy cardboard and very nicely illustrated. You also get 6 dice to get you started. The Tokens will take the place of the miniatures, and all dungeon tiles and token sheet are double sided. As a total newbie I think if I would have gotten just one game I would have been happy with this set. Because of it introducing you to D&D v4, and I am not sure about playing with or without miniatures at this point. I would recommend this game to newbies like me who know nothing about D&D because I am sure I will get a good foundation to start with. But I must add the Miniatures are really cool and you should really check them out too, I just love the Dragons!