So You Want To Play (or run) D&D 5E…
Opinions on running and playing the game…
It seems everyone is getting into D&D 5E lately. Even Jeff Goldblum is into it. I have had a number of friends ask for my input about picking up the system as a player or DM. Maybe because I have been doing a ton of playtesting and exploration of other systems lately, or because I've been running RPGs on and off for 30 years now, I guess I have an "informed opinion".
There are a couple things about 5E that I have discovered are key to pick up right away, especially if you're familiar with previous editions, and it becomes a pretty straightforward system after that. I thought I'd share this here, hopefully some of it is useful... at the end of the day it all comes down to opinion. If you've been to any gaming Cons or visit RPG forums for any length of time you probably already know how vocal gamers can be about their opinions. Everyone has one, but clearly mine are the correct ones.
At any rate, here goes... first some thoughts for relatively new players:
Most RPGs are actually multiple "games", often operating in various forms and admixtures in the different groups that run them. D&D in particular has an overland travel game (depreciated in 5E from some of the previous editions), a "skill and roleplaying game" — the cliche would be selecting "parlay" on a dropdown menu on an old dungeon crawl game — and a tactical-ish wargame that once had its origins in Chainmail however many generations ago. They sometimes have an unclear relationship with one another, and navigating that also varies from group to group so far as I can tell. For instance, a 7th level College of Eloquence Bard could very well use their social proficiencies to solve many of the problems that most groups solve with BARBARIAN SMASH and Paladin *smite*. Some will consider bypass a combat encounter with a single Skill check a form of cheating, others will see it as a hidden cheat code and others as what the game is actually all about.
Whether or not that's a problem depends on what kind of "game(s)" you think D&D is. So long as the group you're playing with all buy in on that, you're well on your way.
Despite that, D&D is nevertheless at its heart a monster hunting game, and although looting dungeons and everything else you can get your grubby adventurer hands on might be "the old way to D&D", I'm fairly certain it's still the single intrinsic element in the pile. It's hard to look at how much of the books are dedicated to combat and pillage, monster stats and ways to accumulate power, and argue otherwise.
Moral quandaries can be an important part of the narrative, but at the end of the day, great axes are for cleaving heads. Of course, the system can be used to roleplay anything, but D&D is hardly the best system for everything.
It can hardly be repeated enough that there is literally a rule that says all the rules are guidelines. At the same time, you will probably quickly discover that there is an incentive not to let things slide in D&D more than some other RPGs, with mixed results. I'll get into that a little more later.
5E is balanced. Like, maybe too much so. Every class gets the same proficiency bonus as they progress, and that bonus applies to combat or non-combat abilities (that they're proficient in, obviously). All the classes progress the same speed, and a lot of effort is made to make their power more or less equivalent. The same philosophy applies to weapon and armor use — they are all either "simple" or "martial" (weapons) or "light/medium/heavy". In terms of a character's ability to use a standard item, that's all that matters. Despite all this, an embarrassing amount of conversation on forums seems to focus on which class "is OP" and which class is "nerfed". In a manner of speaking, they all are, or none of them are.
This simplicity is offset a bit with the subclasses each class opens up, (usually between 1st and 3rd level), but the fact is still that if you're playing a Barbarian, much of your combat experience will be using a bonus action to initiate rage, and then saying "I swing my battleaxe" until no one is standing.
The "action economy" is at the center of the tactics game and is probably the #1 thing I see confusing people on forums. Every round a character gets 1 Action, 1 Bonus Action, and 1 Reaction. (Any of which they can pass on if they like). Some monsters also get Legendary Actions and or Lair actions, which are in addition to the rest of their actions.
These aren't exchangeable or interchangeable.
This system works well but thanks in part to standard character sheets not emphasizing the importance of this distinction, players often won't write down which abilities are which. Huge time suck.
If possible, keep a list of your character's viable Actions, Bonus Actions and Reactions — with spell-casters I normally just note it beside the spell but it can be worthwhile to include spells a character casts a lot in their action economy list for quick reference.
As a note on this point, an "attack" and an "attack action" are not the same thing. When you take "the attack action", you get a number of attacks determined by your class / level — generally 1 or 2 for non fighters, it goes up to 4 for fighters. When you take the attack action you get that many attacks.
Similarly, a number of classes allow an additional attack using a bonus action — either through dual wielding, monk's martial arts, etc. That is always one attack. I've had a number of old school players get this mixed up because of previous dual wielding rules.
5E is optimized for play with minis or the equivalent online. Despite some designer’s claims. The size classes, movement rates, use of cover (which is huge in 5E since you can split movement, and use movement at any time during your round), auras, ongoing area effects and a lot of the other abilities only fully make sense when you're playing using markers that specifically denote where characters and opponents are, what they'd range is from each other, what the terrain is like, etc. Disengage, attacks of opportunity (which counts as a Reaction), etc. all work a lot better with spatial representation, too. Knowing if a target is 5' or 10' away can change your strategy immensely.
I used to be a hard core "theater of the mind only" style RPer myself, so this took some getting used to, but the tactical elements really come alive with minis or digital maps. Of course, it can be done theater of the mind, but a number of classes abilities will fall into the background. Plus, once you get into it, miniatures can be a fun (if expensive and or time consuming) side hobby. Digital tokens also work, if you're playing online, minus some of that tactile goodness.
Speaking of playing online, I've been playing and or running several sessions a week for over a year now thanks to Covid. Everyone has a preferred method, mine utilizes my 3 monitor setup: the main 44" 4K TV is for Discord, Google Meets, or Skype, the 19" is for Roll20 — digital map / “virtual tabletop” — and the 16" is for character sheets or my script/running notes if I'm DMing. If I'm DMing I also keep a tablet nearby for quick note references.
Roll20 has a ton of macros you can use or program, and there are a lot of handy bots you can access on Discord, but honestly, I mostly prefer to keep things as close to how I game in person — paper or pdf sheets, dice rolled manually or entered in Roll20 or Discord. D&D Beyond is a great option, especially for beginners, but you have to essentially re-buy digital versions of each of the books if you want to use the content, so I haven't gotten very far into using it.
Another point of personal preference: a lot of online D&D groups seem to prefer to use audio only online for Discord or whatever their F2F solution is, but I find many of the downsides of playing online are reduced by being able to actually see the person you’re talking to. When I’m running, I always prefer video to be on. Body language and movements aside, it can help provide cues for when it’s your turn to talk, and maybe even more critically, when I’ve played audio-only games with people I don’t know, I find their disembodied voices very difficult to place.
One niche benefit of 5E's popularity is that you can Google almost any rule question that arises in a session, and find considerable commentary on the subject. However, it's important to balance that against keeping things moving.
If you're really familiar with the older editions as I was when starting to use 5E, aside from the action economy, the one thing that threw me off is how much a lot of iconic spells have been changed. So my last advice is that even if you think you know how haste or etc. works, it's probably best to check the description rather than trusting your memory.
Finally, if there is any corner of your mind that still thinks D&D is a game you can win, or that the DM is your opponent, avail yourselves of it now. Some RPGs run more like writer's rooms than others, but what is rewarding about participating in a group story rarely changes. As every writer knows, a story where your character is happy and everything goes smoothly almost never makes for an interesting story. (My Dinner With Andre isn't an exception here). You aren't your character.
Inter-party conflict is another contentious topic. Many groups "outlaw" it because a lot of players can't get past this boundary between player and character. But frankly, that's part of the fun of the game. Inter-party conflict can work so long as everyone has bought in on the narrative. Your character can be an absolute monster if you like, that doesn’t mean you (the player) should be a dick about it.
Some other tips where it comes to running 5E campaigns:
Campaigns run best when they get an established core concept.
I like to have a concept agreed on to get started. Sometimes it'll hold for the whole campaign, sometimes it's just the initial context the characters (or some of them) know one another in. Having an established group in session 1 meet a pc they don't know, like an outsider who breaks the status quo, is one of any number of ways to make that work.
A couple recent setups I can think of were "you're all prisoners in the same prison", "your parents were in a failed revolution together, now that history is coming back around again and it's in the hands of their children", which was a previous campaign's PCs mostly with the same players. Sometimes even just the title given to the campaign can become its reoccurring theme ("All Across The Multiverse" is a fairly laid back, epic campaign I’ve co-run for a couple years now. You can probably guess what one of the main themes has been — Forrest Gumping through the planes and through time, from being pawns in epic scale conflicts to players in them, pretty Planescape inspired.) The conversation involved in how they know each other and what they know about one another can also get roleplaying moving forward. Meta-discussions aren't all bad.
Whether the DM just says "this is the concept" or it's part of session 0 discussion (either can work), I've found having that established can cut down on the sort of directionless vibe early/ low level campaigns can have, and helps establish some common expectations.
Every campaign concept will help you determine how much and what sort of magic to include in the world, what classes and/or races to "allow", and many other things as well. If you're running a post Cataclysm campaign in Dragonlance, there aren't going to be any Clerics in the party... and so on.
I have a rule of thumb when I DM: "mo' power, mo' problems". Within reasonable limits, all power that is attained comes with its own problems. Heavy is the head that wears the crown. Don't be too afraid to to get your players into The Shit by putting them at the "right" place at the "right" time. Seems too good to be true... it generally is.
Put another way: finding an abandoned wagon with a chest full of gold coins in it should be the beginning of the story, not the end.
Whose money is it? Why is it there? Will they come looking down the line? Will the local thieves guild get wind of the freelancers who just discovered a king's ransom? (Was it actually a king’s ransom?)
Merits, mentors, factions, contacts and societies. Many of the newer 5E books (e.g. Tasha's) have started to include consideration of these factors that have been in World of Darkness forever, such as organizations, factions, mentors, and the like, but they still don't give many systems or means for new DMs to incorporate them. Similarly, DM involvement with patrons (for warlocks) is the difference between a mediocre class at best and one of the most interesting in the game. But it can be nearly as important within the context of the game otherwise — factions the are made of individuals with conflicting motives can add a substantial amount of flavor even if they aren't the narrative focus of the campaign. Get them involved in the world and its machinations.
Contacts are often veiled devices for the DM to give the players inside information. This kind of metagaming works really well as an expository device if you remember two things: Every narrator is unreliable, and every NPC wants something.
Failing Forward. 5E isn't explicitly a "fail forward" system, but you will quickly find as a DM that "failing" checks with "nothing happens" becomes tedious for everyone involved very quickly. This is especially true when exploring a large building or dungeon — one group might spend hours checking traps and searching each room, another might ask if their intention is to search the building and narrate up until the point that something happens.
I tend to adopt the mentality I use in my Chronicle of Darkness campaigns here — not only are there varying degrees of success, but it's also possible to "succeed" without accomplishing your objective. This is highly situational. On a DC 18 check if the player rolls a 5, a 16, or 20 I'll try to give different amounts of information. I try to keep in mind the character's pov, but that certainly plays more of a role in some campaigns than others.
As a rule of thumb "yes, but" works better than "yes, and" in an RPG, but both are often better than a "no" full stop. Sometimes a failed roll can mean they succeeded but with complications that might make them wish it hadn't. Keep the story moving.
This brings up one of the biggest underdiscussed elements of RPGs — does the system or the story come first, and what's their relationship to one another? Using the same rule set you will have very different results depending on which mentality you use, and yet most DMs don't even consider the question. Are the rules something you fall back on when determining outcome? Are you more interested in interesting outcomes, or in following the rules to the letter?
When introducing new characters, are you more concerned with how they work into the story that is unfolding, or do you drop them in like a respawn in a video game? Do the statistical details "he hit for 4 points of damage" come before "he slashes at you, you fall back into a defensive crouch and manage to turn aside most of the blow"? Is it a problem that according to RAW (“rules as written”), flying creatures don’t have a wingspan? Etc
There is no right answer here, aside from the fact that campaigns that put the rules in the place of priority will run more like games with story-like trappings, and those that put story on the pedestal will run more like elaborate choose your own adventures. Make sure it matches the type of campaign you're trying to run.
Character progression. This is part of a larger topic, which is pacing. I'm a big fan of story based level progression ("milestones") because I often prefer more story-like campaigns, and it allows the DM to control the pacing, but if you're running a more game-like dungeon crawl, XP will motivate players to behave in a way that might be more suitable to the format.
This is more a matter of personal preference, but I find I often get much more as a player out of campaigns where you start as an already established character (5th level, with a background designed to match) rather than beginning with a novice and trying to construct an interesting origin out of what happens in the 1st act of the campaign. But this is less recommended for beginning players, and even if you're starting at novice level, that doesn't mean their character need be "generic elven fighter". This may be because I've been playing RPGs for 30 years and the allure of generic characters where everything you really need to know about them is their race and class is pretty low for me.
Another form of pacing exists in the DMs control of time, both in the game world and out of it. As the DM you control whether every action is occurring as if in slow motion against a stop watch (as in combat where each round is 6 seconds), or minute to minute, or you might narrate a week long overland journey in a paragraph. The ways you navigate and manage time might be one of the largest influences DMs have, and it's often taken for granted. Get a sense for where the pace is lagging, and for where it’s alright to spend a little time. This in my experience is easier in person, where body language is easier to read, but it is a part of online gaming as well.
Background hooks. I get sad when I see so many people calling Backgrounds extraneous in D&D groups, because it tells me that they aren't making use of one of the best hooks that exist in the game for the DM. It also shows that DMs aren't reading their players Backgrounds and actively incorporating it into the story that unfolds. It's a real wasted opportunity, IMO. (Unless you're running a pure dungeon crawl, in which case it probably is extraneous).
If it helps, consider including character goals, with or without reinforcement from the system. Just knowing what your character is drawn towards and away from can be useful, but it can also become part of the requirement for leveling up in a Milestones campaign. However, if you're going to connect character aspirations and level progression, make sure they're goals your players can attain.
Connected backgrounds and motivations. Another missed opportunity is when characters don't share any connections through their history or their motivations. "5 people who randomly met in a pub" can work for some things, but it's telling if every campaign has that at its heart, even when you're trying to run something with more of an emphasis on character.
Finally, and maybe most importantly, there are a variety of ways to mod 5E rules to be more "gritty", but at its heart D&D will always be in an uneasy balance between believability of the game world, game mechanics, and the fickleness of the dice. Looked at from a distance, D&D is a bizarre hodgepodge that gobbles up pop cultural and mythic ideas alike. I think part of the reason we "play D&D" is to participate in the 5th dimensional fan fic that has an over 40 year history at this point. The setting(s) are the main reason to choose it over the many other systems out there. At a certain point you either opt to play D&D for the sake of playing D&D, or there are probably better systems for your desired style of play.
In my opinion, it's best for when you specifically want to Play D&D. If you don't know what I mean, definitively check out the countless other options out there — Chronicles of Darkness, Cypher Systems and Invisible Sun, Pathfinder and 13th Age, Burning Wheel... eventually our own Fallen Cycle... There's a ton of good stuff out there, and that's not even scratching the surface.
On that note, I’ve got some prep to do…
