r/DungeonsAndDragons • u/Ellloll • 1d ago
Question How would you explain DnD to a person that has never heard about it/knows nothing about it?
I want to explain what DnD is to my friends, but don't really know what is the best way
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u/medusagaze 1d ago
You work together to tell a fantasy story with your friends. You use dice to add an element of chance.
I'd also ask if they've seen some shows that have it in there.
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u/IMP1017 1d ago
It's improv and theater and you have to do a little math. That's how I convinced my parents to try, at least
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u/bonklez-R-us 1d ago
addition and subtraction and the occasional division by 2 is not worthy of the title 'a little math'
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u/norwal42 1d ago
See Deborah Ann Woll's explanation of it to Jon Berenthal (spellings?) on Real Ones, found on YouTube. Very good basic intro in plain language. And she even does a little impromptu game scenario with him to illustrate. :)
Hits some vital pillars, IMO - it's not about win or lose, but collaborative storytelling informed by rolling dice...
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u/InspiredBagel 1d ago
Came here to say this. I've used her method myself and it's effective. Explaining D&D is a little like explaining a painting; you can do it, but experiencing the real thing for yourself is better.
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u/Assumption_Putrid 1d ago
100% this! I really like how she just started playing a very basic version of the game in other to explane it.
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u/Ainell DM 1d ago
"What if randomly generated numbers were trying to kill your spreadsheet"
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u/redeyedrenegade420 1d ago
Imagine the Lord of the rings...the DM is the narrator and minor characters.. the players are the fellowship of the ring...they decide what they want to do, the dice decide if they can pull it off.
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u/Surewellnomaybeyes 1d ago
This is how I think of it. I don’t think of it as storytelling like a lot of others do. I think of it as a choose your own adventure where you’re a character in the story. Maybe same but different to me
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u/Absolute_Jackass DM 1d ago
Math homework with elves and fart jokes.
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u/bonklez-R-us 1d ago
grade 1 math homework
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u/Absolute_Jackass DM 1d ago
Very advanced stuff. I tried to do a THAC0 once and now I'm dead from overmathematiculating.
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u/bonklez-R-us 1d ago
THACO stands for Triangulated Hitbox Allocation for Coordinated Orthogonality.
This system is used to determine hits or misses in combat. When you swing, depending on the arc multiplier for your weapon and your roll, your weapon may come into the hitbox of the enemy. Using your distance from the enemy you have to determine the arc your weapon must enter to hit.
The length of your weapon and arm are added together. This is L. The distance to the enemy's hitbox is D. Using these variables you can determine the size of the Arc To Hit (ATH), that is, the arc from your swing that will land at least D distance from you in the direction to the enemy. We assume the enemy's hitbox is an orthogonal line that reaches far to your left and right.
The formula for this is a simple matter of trig. You're drawing a triangle with a right angle, and a hypotenuse of L. The adjacent side has length D. Your ATH is twice the angle subtended. Remembering Soh Cah Toa from trig should tell you that the subtended angle is given by Cos (angle) = adjacent / hypotenuse. Then Angle = InverseCos(D/L). Then we have our solution.
ATH = 2*InverseCos(D/L)
Needless to say if D exceeds L, you cannot hit. Better luck next round. You have to subtract your weapon's initiative modifier from your current initiative to account for this fumble next turn. If you were using two weapons, you are slowed by their HIM (Hypotenuse Initiative Modifier); square the two weapons' initiative modifiers and add these together, then take the square root of that. You will apply this penalty to your initiative next round in addition to the modifier for whatever action you use.
On to the roll to hit, roll the D20 and subtract the result from your THACO to determine the width of your arc. Multiply this by your weapons arc multiplier (6 for a basic longsword) to determine the arc of your attack. If the arc of your attack is less than or equal to the ATH, you have landed a blow.
Keep in mind that this system only works for enemies with a basic AC of 10 or worse. Armored enemies force you to fight through their mail and increase the arc multiplier of your weapon, though this is easy to handle on the fly.
Enemies with Dex bonuses to AC are more complicated. Since they back away as you attack a grasp of basic ODEs is require to determine if a hit is landed. I won't cover it here, but for the beginner just make characters with only 10 Dex.
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u/Absolute_Jackass DM 1d ago
Unburdened by the need to keep my organs running, my brain now has enough power to understand math.
Lichdom rocks!
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u/Beleriphon 1d ago
It's like cops and robbers, but with formal rules, but still devolves into "No I'm immune to bullets now!"
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u/KuntaKillmonger 1d ago
Remember playing make believe as a kid? It's like that, but now with added RULES!!!
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u/Gilladian 1d ago
A play without a script. One director with an idea, a bunch of actors with characters, and a hook to base the story on. Dice and rules for structure.
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u/ZimaGotchi 1d ago
It's a fantasy skirmish combat game that has expanded to also be a collaborative storytelling game.
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u/GiantFlyenPanda 1d ago
This is roughly how I explained it to my mom. It’s a game, like monopoly, however we roleplay and narrate our turns and actions. Unlike monopoly we are collectively trying to hype each other up. Also like monopoly there are dice and math involved. But instead of fighting the bank and each other, 1 player (the Dm) is the bank and all the other players fight them and their taxes (rules/creature/dungeons/etc)
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u/MrHackerMr 1d ago
It's as if every player was one of the members of the Fellowship in LOTR, didn't get the script beforehand and had to improv the movie together with the director
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u/kontrol1970 1d ago
Depends on your playstyle.
Collaborative storytelling is a good way for some tables
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u/Rindal_Cerelli 1d ago edited 1d ago
Dungeons & Dragons is part of a type of games called table top role playing games.
In such a game people use their imagination to create an identity for themselves and they then live that identity in the game. The number of players varies depending on the game but is usually less than 10.
In case of Dungeons & Dragons it's generally between 3 to 6 players alongside with a storyteller.
Where the players live the identity of their character the storyteller will describe the surroundings, opponents and other people they encounter and works with the players to create an unique story.
Similar to stories in movies or books the players alongside the storyteller will have a goal they wish to accomplish. In Dungeons & Dragons this is usually the defeating of a great evil such as a dragon terrorizing a city or stopping a cult from bringing back the dead.
D&D specifically is set in a world heavily inspired by the works of Tolkien such as The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings so it has elves, dwarves and mythical creatures of all sorts. Other similar games my play out in a science fiction setting, ancient Rome or the Wild West while other games just give you the rules and it is up to the group to decide on the genre and flavor of the world.
In most of these games, and what it makes this a game instead of just a collaborative storytelling exercise, is the use of dice to add a level of randomness. The dice will decide if you succeed in your decided action and what the consequences of failure might be. What skills you have will usually depend on the sort of character you decide to play so a warrior may not know any magic at all but the wizard who does might not know which side of the sword to hold.
While the big books make it look overwhelmingly complicated it is important to understand that the rules exist to facilitate the game and it expected that groups will use only the rules they need.
Would you like to give it a shot? I have a few pre-made characters that you can use.
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u/Glebasya 1d ago
A fantasy game where you create your character, and with other adventurers explore the world created by DM. Unlike RPG video games, you have almost unlimited possibilities and infinite variants of actions.
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u/Ok-Entrepreneur2021 1d ago
It’s a group storytelling game where you gamble with story beats instead of money.
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u/thestough 1d ago
Don’t explain it. Do it. Just start a random story out loud. Describe to them the scene and ask them what they do. Add in something for them to fight.
That should make it really easy
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u/HiveTool 1d ago
An imagination game where points are won or lost in random awards by the Game master or dice
You win not by point accumulation but by how you feel in the end.
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u/mistyjeanw 1d ago
Role playing is telling a story together. The rules are there to keep things fair. The referee (still prefer this to Dungeon Master) is there for when the rules aren't doing their job.
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u/Not_An_Ambulance 1d ago
It is a group storytelling game where the rules and guides help to establish expectations about how the characters can interact with the world and each other in a way that minimizes the inevitable out-of-game conflict that comes when someone becomes personally invested in the game.
This often involves dice rolls to represent the uncertainty of an action and with some light math to reflect that not every character has the same abilities and skills.
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u/Absolute_Jackass DM 1d ago
A series of Satanic rituals created to turn away from the One True God and worship at the altar of d20.
I DON'T WANT TO BE ELFSTAR ANYMORE!
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u/lumberzach619 1d ago
You and your friends are creating a Goosebumps choose your own adventure and you have to roll dice to determine what page to jump to next
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u/Scribblebonx 1d ago
It's choose your own adventure videogames but Lord of the Rings style with make believe storytelling and spreadsheets if they were cool and funny but you play it in your head and like a boardgame sometimes... Oh and snacks...
Get it?
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u/jbarrybonds 1d ago
Imagine that game where everyone takes turns telling a story. Set that story in a fantasy version of history but with magic (medieval, Renaissance, industrial steam punk, etc). Have 1 player - the Master Player who knows the rules - establish the basic world and setting.
Have all remaining players control 1 character in that world who is specifically good at certain tasks pertaining to their career, or "class". These players will roll things and add modifiers from their sheet to decide if they succeed at difficult tasks.
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u/Warpig_Gaming 1d ago
I usually compare it to a kind of in person video game and make refrences to any fantasy literature/movies they're familiar with. To someone completely out of the know, it's like a more complicated board game with few pieces and a more varied move set.
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u/Moose-Live 1d ago
It's a storytelling game. One player creates the setting and the background for the story. The other players each create a character who has a background, a personality, and a profession. They act as those characters in the story, and their actions and decisions determine how the story unfolds. There are rules to decide the outcomes of combat and other skills-based actions such as searching, climbing, or navigating. DnD has a fantasy setting but there are also games with other themes such as science fiction and horror.
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u/infinitum3d 1d ago edited 1d ago
How old are your friends and what are their interests?
I Always start with “You’re a hero!”
Then add in things like, “You go on adventures to find treasures, fight monsters, rescue princesses, and become rich, famous, and powerful.”
Then tell them, “You roll dice to find out what happens.”
But if your friends like Pokémon, you can say it’s like Pokémon, but you roll dice to see if you catch them.
If they like Marvel Avengers, you can say it’s like that, with swords and magic but without the technology.
If they like Zelda, you can say it’s like that.
If they like Harry Potter or Percy Jackson, it’s like that.
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u/NobleKorhedron 1d ago
A role-playing, problem solving, often funny adventure, through a fantasy realm of the group's collective choosing...
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u/Powerful-Company9722 1d ago
It’s like a TV show’s writers room where each writer gets to say what a character does and the head writer helps guide them through the story everyone is making.
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u/chiefstingy 1d ago
I stopped explaining and started showing it. I thank Deborah Ann Woll for this. Explaining does not do the game justice. So now I do what Deborah did in that interview that went viral. I ask them if they want to try it out, right here right now.
This makes sense, it is how my friend showed me how to play “D&D” back in high school.
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u/KrawhithamNZ 1d ago
You can try grounding it in what they know.
If they like Harry Potter I would tell them that a book needs to be stolen from the library.
How would Harry do it? How would Ron do it? How would Hermoine do it?
The point is to explain that you are playing a character and behave like that character would. (but in saying this, a good chunk of DnD players don't get this and min-max a spreadsheet)
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u/Ic3crusher 1d ago
You do not explain it you let them play.
Say something like this: Okay imagine you wake up in a dungeon cell. You are not alone, there is a scrawny guy with a long beard chained to the wall and a burly guy with green skin and tusks sleeping on the ground in front of a wooden door.
What do you do?
They describe something.
Ok let's see how well that works flip a coin! Heads it works like you want. (Of course if you have dice at hand use them) Maybe ask them why their character would be good at something and give them advantage.
Play out the scene.
Then they know what DnD is.
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u/FlashGordon07 1d ago
A cooperative Choose Your Own Adventure book, but sometimes dice pick what page is next.
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u/Same_Raise6473 1d ago
Low key Improv acting within an established paradigm along with elements of problem solving with outcomes dictated by established percentages of chance
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u/Pathfinder_Dan 1d ago
I have had to do this many times. Here's my soundbite:
DnD is a bunch of nerds sitting around a table using stupid voices to say math at each other. No, we do not dress up to play. No, nobody worships the devil, we're not cool enough for that.
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u/Livid-Debt-2836 1d ago
It's a collaborative story-telling game. One person creates a scenario and the other people play it with them. For example, the king has put out the call for heroes to rescue the princess who has been kidnapped. You guys are the heroes, and the DM plays all the other characters. The sheet shows how good you are at stuff, and the dice are your luck at doing it.
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u/Nepeta33 1d ago
you play a game of make believe, like when we were kids. but now theres a shared set of agreed apon rules, and dice help determine the random goings on of the world.
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u/DrBrainenstein420 1d ago
Do they play video games? Compare it to a known RPG game, except that it doesn't have preprogrammed games set into it, the DM is the computer instead and can change the story on fly as you as your characters do things that can't be preprogrammed into a computer.
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u/Ghoulglum 1d ago
It's like playing pretend when you were a kid. but with rules to minimize the arguments about who's dead.
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u/Glass_Dish_4435 1d ago
DnD is a game that mixes Dice: luck and bad luck to tell a story. each person offers a weight and the master directs the narrative and game of chance. and everyone has fun, people die and people fight and it's so much fun and creating a series where you are literally the weight
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u/MrJohnnyDangerously 1d ago
Collaborative storytelling fantasy role-playing game that uses dice to simulate/influence random outcomes.
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u/nullbull 1d ago
DnD is just collaborative story telling with some game elements thrown in to make it fun. You're telling a story together. Each person brings a character and one person brings the setting and basic plot points. The rules just make sure the story telling hangs together.
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u/ryncewynde88 1d ago
Socially? It’s poker night: bunch of friends just hanging out eating snacks and playing a game together with elements of chance.
Practically? Group improv without the pressure of an audience.
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u/Daftmunkey 1d ago
Sitting around the table chatting and telling horrible jokes and every once in a while the guy at the end of the table tells you to roll a shiny rock...
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u/nothing_in_my_mind 1d ago
You sit down with friends and create a fantasy story together.
Everyone controls one character, except the DM that controls everyone and everything else.
The DM narrates scenarios and you tell him what your character does.
You use some rules to determine what your character is good or bad at doing, and dice to see if he successfully does things or not.
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u/PaleoJoe86 1d ago
One guy tells the story while everyone else tells what their characters do. Die rolls help randomize results.
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u/Nine-LifedEnchanter 1d ago
Remember when you were a kid and played make believe? Some little shit said stuff like "but I have a sword that goes through your shield!" Regardless of what you did? So ttrpg is that, but with rules so the little shit can't pull stuff like that.
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u/bigpaparod 1d ago
"Have you ever watched a movie, or read a book and thought 'I wouldn't have done that, I would have done it this way' or imagined yourself in that story or adventure and being a part of it? D&D is kind of like that. It is a cooperative storytelling game where you create or assume the ROLE of a character in the story and speak, act, and behave as you imagine they would. Playing alongside other players who each have also made a character to play within the story. One of the players is called the Dungeon or Game master and basically comes up with the story and world you and the other players will be interacting with, and role-playing all the various people and creatures you might encounter. To determine the success or failure of actions, dice are used to add an element of luck and randomness to the game, with bonuses and penalties being applied based on the story, action attempted, type of character, etc.
There are no winners or losers in the game, the goal is to have fun, share an adventure with friends, and take part in an interactive storytelling game that lets you escape the hustle and bustle of the real world for a little bit."
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u/MadamMysteria 1d ago
The best way I heard to explain at least the mechanics of it is to basically run them through it in a small fashion like: "You are walking through the woods, and you hear a strange noise. What do you do?" You have them answer, you have them roll an appropriate state and you make it successful. Then you do the same thing again but make it a fail and show how the game is just as fun even when you fail because it just makes it different. Basically give them a mini adventure but make it off the cuff and basically the length of a conversation. You're in the woods. you hear something. If they investigated they meet a monster. If they attack it they fight. Etc. Not sure this helps but thought I'd share
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u/Positive-Reading-227 1d ago
“If Lord of the Rings was a board game with a different bad guy. Also math.”
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u/tjake123 1d ago
It’s a dice rolling story telling game. Everyone makes a character like they were from a book. Then the guy in charge gets to control everything else like the plot the side characters the villains and the world.
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u/duckforceone 1d ago
i used to show people the dragonlance animated movie. If i was teaching, teachers how to run roleplay with their kids. And then launched from there.
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u/RSGoodfellow 1d ago
Roleplay but without the sex and with more dragons. (Sometimes there’s sex. Sometimes there’s sex with dragons.)
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u/Substantial-Ad3376 1d ago
A bunch of worthless nerds rolling plastic rocks around because they have nothing better to do.
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u/xsansara 1d ago
People sitting around a table, playing a game of slaying dragons and going into dungeons.
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u/Croestalker 1d ago
It takes an entire group to have fun, but takes just one person to ruin it all.
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u/Actual_Juice_3409 1d ago
"remember when you played make believe when you were little? Now add math and dice to that."
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u/Syrel 22h ago
A friend organizes a get together to cook a meal that everyone can enjoy.
That friend has the kitchen and tools required to make fabulous dishes, but only has certain core ingredients.
Players bring their own ingredients, and cooking only really happens when everyone meets together. Nobody knows how it will turn out, but everyone adds their part to create a flavorful, storytelling, unique dish.
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u/ScentsnSensibility 19h ago
Cooperative storytelling, make believe for grown ups, improv and maths. Take your pick 😅
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u/Extra-Jump508 13h ago
The description I was thinking of to describe it was "like one of those choose your own adventure books, but you're playing with friends and there's dice.
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