AcidOctopus

COYS COYS COYS COYS COYS

Tentacles that burst forward and slapped the shit out of enemies?

Grant us eyes, grant us eyes...

What are you doing, step-pickle?

The sad part is that there's a not insignificant number of people out there who would honestly rather embrace the human instrumentality project and never look back.

I used to wear women's skinny jeans as a teenager because they were skinnier and easier to find than men's at the time.

The men's stuff was more of a slim-fit, rather than an actual skinny fit. The shallow pockets sucked, but otherwise they looked much better.

I wouldn't say I have an actual phobia, but I completely understand people with trypophobia. It makes me very uncomfortable and I find it pretty revolting.

Check out Lost Mine of Phandelver: https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/lmop

It's a one-shot campaign, pretty much ready to go, to the point that I think it's even got pre-rolled characters included.

Very little set-up required beyond the DM familiarising themself with the campaign itself, and the players reviewing their chosen character and brushing up on the core rules of the game so that they know how to actually play.

Beyond that, pretty much everything else is already taken care of, so far as I know (I've never played it, but I know it's a firm favourite for beginners for these very reasons).

And as for DM experience, someone who is willing to put in the work kinda just has to bite the bullet and go for it. It's a skill like anything else, and you only get better through practice. Start with pre-written campaigns to help keep the amount of prep required and wildly unexpected events that require lots of improv on the DM's part to a minimum. Branch out from there into more homebrew stuff when you're feeling ready.

Above all though, just give it a shot and see what happens. There will always be reasons not to play, but if you've got a group who are willing to give it a go then you've already overcome the biggest hurdle by far.

Being DM is a big responsibility, and being able to do it well is a real talent, but it's one of those things that you can absolutely improve on with practice.

Players have to take some responsibility too, by getting a grip on the core rules and mechanics, dedicating time to fleshing out their characters, and committing to the role itself. They can't rely on the DM for absolutely everything.

There are some one-shot campaigns out there which I hear are designed for beginners which would be a good place to start. In fact I'm pretty sure if you make a DnD Beyond account, you get the basic rules and a beginner campaign for free, so that would be a good resource for you.

Also, if you haven't seen it, go check out Critical Role, starting with campaign 1. Matt Mercer is an outstanding DM and will give you a great demonstration of how to run a campaign.

I'm actually the opposite.

Wanted to play DnD for years but never really had the opportunity as I didn't have enough friends who also wanted to play so we could get a campaign going.

We've got a group together last year and now manage to play about once per month.

I think I'd have still been interested in BG3 even if I didn't have a DnD group, but I'm definitely more interested in BG3 now than I would have been because of my DnD group.

I have a very, very limited understanding of the subject, so take this with a lethal dose of salt, but I'm under the impression that the US healthcare system is an absolute minefield, and not everyone has equal access to it, even via insurance, in the ways you might otherwise typically expect.

Yeah that's fair. For the most part we're sticking to 5e, and the consensus is always to check the rules first when we're unsure about something and to try and implement it as intended, so we're not losing any of what I'd consider to be core rules, like the way movement, actions and bonus actions work during combat, or spell slots and class-specific rules etc.

It's more of our approach to more niche elements, such as the food and water needs relevant to each creature's size as specified in the DM's Handbook - no one has the inclination to track our food supply and consumption to the pound per character, so we instead stock up on provisions to last X number of days, and track our usage by the day. It's just a bit quicker and easier to manage that way, and we can still implement the same effects in the event we run out of food.

This. Our entire campaign is home-brewed using the 5e ruleset, but the application of those rules is selective when it needs to be.

For the most part, we're following them, but if there's a rule that results in a level of attention to detail that we simply don't care to implement, or would have less fun trying to religiously adhere too, we just scrap it in favour of something a bit more light-touch and call it a house rule.

Rules provide a great framework to base your game on, but the ultimate aim is to create an enjoyable experience and have fun, so bend them and break them when and where you need to for the benefit of all involved.