Dungeons & Dragons: An oversight
DnD, or Dungeons and Dragons, is a story telling game where the world is your imagination ;). The art of playing the game is finding a way to skillfully mix your ability to :
roleplay - act out a part and play a person with a history, motive, and personality either similiar to your own or completely different. Speaking is part of acting and it's important the character is more than just hack and slash. Speaking/roleplaying is probably the hardest part in dnd. Most people can play the character in battle only, because these decisions are sooo similiar to video games..not many people pretend and make up imaginary sentences and grammar and ideas on the fly. That takes skillz.
stats - knowing your role in the party of adventurers is important. Its fun to customize a character and there are a ton of complicated rules/stats to know. Strength, charisma, dexterity, etc. everything is important. Classes, races, equipment...sooo much to choose from and you can only have fun. A good way to know how to play dnd is to know what stats are the best for what role and what kind of character will win the game!
luck - half the game is luck, pure and simple. you attack, theres a chance you'll hit and a chance to critical. Anyone can do this, even newbies (newbies probably have the best luck anyway ;) ). All the skills in the game going from balance checks to knowledge checks to attacking and jumping...they all require a bit of luck to decide on success or failure. Don't sell yourself short just because your not good at video games.
patience - the key factor! games go on for hours and it only gets juicier the more you stay...but hours??! I can't even sit still for dnd for 2 hours without pulling out a book or playing gameboy. Yes, not all dnd players are freaks. We know what too long means. There will be some boring parts ( the story and plot, its important though!) and the fun parts (battle!!!!) and the solo runs ( where the dungeon master focuses on a solo adventure of you) and puzzles (also fun :) ).
imagination - the DM can tell you what everything looks like, but only you REALLY know what it looks like. The world, the characters, everything is your imagination. Hell, you may imagine a red dragon to look like the chinese dragon while everyone else looks at the red dragon as the mediviel dragons in the age of camelot.
Its easy to play, but takes a long time. relax, and enjoy!
roleplay - act out a part and play a person with a history, motive, and personality either similiar to your own or completely different. Speaking is part of acting and it's important the character is more than just hack and slash. Speaking/roleplaying is probably the hardest part in dnd. Most people can play the character in battle only, because these decisions are sooo similiar to video games..not many people pretend and make up imaginary sentences and grammar and ideas on the fly. That takes skillz.
stats - knowing your role in the party of adventurers is important. Its fun to customize a character and there are a ton of complicated rules/stats to know. Strength, charisma, dexterity, etc. everything is important. Classes, races, equipment...sooo much to choose from and you can only have fun. A good way to know how to play dnd is to know what stats are the best for what role and what kind of character will win the game!
luck - half the game is luck, pure and simple. you attack, theres a chance you'll hit and a chance to critical. Anyone can do this, even newbies (newbies probably have the best luck anyway ;) ). All the skills in the game going from balance checks to knowledge checks to attacking and jumping...they all require a bit of luck to decide on success or failure. Don't sell yourself short just because your not good at video games.
patience - the key factor! games go on for hours and it only gets juicier the more you stay...but hours??! I can't even sit still for dnd for 2 hours without pulling out a book or playing gameboy. Yes, not all dnd players are freaks. We know what too long means. There will be some boring parts ( the story and plot, its important though!) and the fun parts (battle!!!!) and the solo runs ( where the dungeon master focuses on a solo adventure of you) and puzzles (also fun :) ).
imagination - the DM can tell you what everything looks like, but only you REALLY know what it looks like. The world, the characters, everything is your imagination. Hell, you may imagine a red dragon to look like the chinese dragon while everyone else looks at the red dragon as the mediviel dragons in the age of camelot.
Its easy to play, but takes a long time. relax, and enjoy!