Fresh Meat Incoming!

After looking into it on boardgamegeek, I'm liking the look of it more and more, and it may be my first D&D game I buy. I'm gonna check out some of the other versions before I make a set in stone decision

>Finally someone validated my opinion

Why even make the thread if that's all you wanted, you faggot? The guy you dismissed was trying to help you pick a system that is better for learning to RP and he was being much nicer about it than most would be around here (see: me). You seem like the exact kind of pedantic faggot that would love D&D though BECAUSE it's popular. So enjoy, dipshit.

If I go into a store asking about one thing and someone runs in saying "no, no. This is what you want!" and proceeds to steer me away from what I have questions for, I'm going to be annoyed. I'm asking about D&D because it's the table top RPG I want to start with, I just want to know if this is an okay version to start with. It's a game enough people play that even in the community I live in, I know who plays it and I won't need to worry about being the GM because I don't like being in charge. My thread pertains to D&D, and that is what I would like responses to be about

The boardgames are not really good for roleplaying, but they're great board games and a good way to get a feel for some of the rules of D&D.

If you want to start roleplaying, I'd advise you to find other people at your FLGS or similar and make/join a group. If you want to play D&D, 5th edition is probably the best for a new player. There are free rules available for D&D 5th edition online (full basic rules as well as a System Reference Document that contains all of the rules minus the fluff parts).

So it's a good way for me to get ready to actually join a group without needing them to look after me and my character like some kind of toddler?

OP, I don't like D&D much but disregard this poster.

If what you want to play is killing monsters, looting them, leveling up and stuff, D&D is the way to go. But there is much more to role-playing than that and if you ever want to go beyond that, just be aware that there are games better suited to different playstyles.

/b/tard detected

That's a board game. good way to get minis in bulk though.

go get the 5e starter. its like 13 bucks on Amazon

Yeah well you're not entitled to shit here. You're not a customer, and the people here certainly aren't being paid to suck your dumb dick about a system that has been talked about to death. You obviously knew the answer to your question and proceeded to ask it anyway.

you asked if it was good for newcomers then someone told you it isn't and you didn't want to hear it

nice thread OP

Don't listen to him. Savage Worlds is garbage.

In the store scenario I gave, they certainly weren't an employee, but rather that guy who hangs around waiting for someone to talk about something they don't like, run around and shove something else in their face. In the store scenario, no one is immediately designated as being an employee, but rather another frequent customer who has better knowledge of the game I'm asking about. Wanting my thread to be about the subject it was created for isn't entitlement, but it IS what I'd like input on

I was asking if this particular set was okay for a newcomer, not "please tell me not to play something and give me your game that you think is subjectually better than the one you asked about"

>People only play D&D because everyone else plays D&D.

Lies and tomfoolery.

I have a group that I can GM anything for. We've been through D&D 2E, 3E, 4E, vampire revised, vampire NWOD, exalted 1E, exalted 2E, Cyberpunk 2020, Call of Cthulhu both Chaosium and D20 version, several homebrew systems and a heavily modded Ars Magica game.

And now we're playing D&D 5E.

Go on, tell me the only reason I'm doing it is because that's the only game we can agree on. Go on.

>But D&D gives XP for combat so it's a bad game

If you can't handle combat having an incentive in your game, maybe go cry in the corner you cuck.

I am aware of that, but for now I want to ease into tabletop games and start with something a little more mainstream. From there I would explore different games after joining a group and getting the hang of things

>I was asking if this particular set was okay for a newcomer
I've not played any D&D-related board games outside of the now venerable Dungeon! (see pic) from like 30 years ago, so I can't comment on the quality of Wrath of Ashardalon, but usually when people talk about "sets", they mean actual D&D and not a board game based upon it. Unless Wrath of Ashardalon is closer to the real thing than I give it credit for...?

I just didn't really find myself drawn to it after looking it up like D&D has. Doesn't mean I wouldn't possibly give it a try later on, but it's not what I'm looking for in a game as of this moment

>was asking if this particular set was okay for a newcomer

Disregarding all the cucks in this thread:

Wrath of Ashardalon is a fun D&D-based board game.

If you're trying to use it as a stepping stone to get into D&D-the-roleplaying-game, be advised that WoA is mostly like 4th Edition D&D while the New Hotness in D&D is 5th Edition D&D.

If you'd asked this question in 2012, I'd have said "go for it" and told you a bit about what changes you could expect when you switched from the board game to full-on D&D. Asking in 2016, the differences are more significant.

If you "want to get into D&D, I would today instead recommend the 5E starter set
dnd.wizards.com/products/tabletop-games/rpg-products/rpg_starterset

If you want to start get into D&D and want to start with a board game, I would instead look into Temple of Elemental Evil, which is more 5E-like in its approach to making a board game
dnd.wizards.com/products/tabletop-games/board-games/temple-elemental-evil

This is not because 5E is more fun to play than 4E (That's an extremely subjective call) but instead because "play the newest version" is the way to most easily get into a game.

The map is more "discover as you go" if I'm understanding it

Not him, but D&D's popularity is mainly due to brand recognition, historical legacy and how easy it is to find other people who play it (a bit of a feedback cycle). That's not a judgment of quality, but merely an observation that there is more to the popularity of something than how good it is--there are plenty of good things that never catch on, and plenty of bad things that far outshine more worthy competitors. If something other than D&D had occupied its preeminent position, there's a good chance you would've started playing it, and gotten hooked on it, instead. All of this is not to say that D&D doesn't have things that appeal to people, or to imply that any other game with the same legacy and branding would have the exact same following, but people are certainly not judging RPGs on a level playing field.

Jesus the editing mistakes on that post. TL;DR version:
WoA: Fun game but dated.

Instead, get one of:
>Temple of Elemental Evil board game
>D&D Starter Set

ToEE is a board game that will get you slightly into the rules but it is a board game, not an RPG.
D&D Starter Set is a full RPG with a sample adventure to get you started.

I recommend Starter Set over ToEE unless you definitely know you want a board game for some reason.

Son of a whore, I forgot the pic

You make lots of good points, and I'm not going to imply that nostalgia has 0 influence when I pick D&D, but the guy from before didn't say "one of the reasons," he said "the only reason" and that's clearly bull.

Okay, and I'll also check with the local group as to what edition they're playing so I don't go in there and get blindsided by them playing a completely different edition. Thank you

>Unless Wrath of Ashardalon is closer to the real thing than I give it credit for...?

Eh. EEEeeeh.

WoA is kind of like the real thing IF you use the real thing exclusively for running dungeon crawls. It has more interesting challenges than "monsters" and more interesting objectives than "kill them all" but it is definitely a board game and not an RPG.

Also IIRC (it's been like three years since I last played) there is no DM. Instead, the enemies follow pre-determined rules that can differ from one enemy to the next, and the dungeon is randomly generated as you play.

There is a campaign book with progressively weirder dungeons, with differing objectives, until you finally get to the finish and face off against Ashardalon.

You don't play Pen and Paper games that are "played around you"
You gather your friends and play with them whatever game you like.

>Okay, and I'll also check with the local group as to what edition they're playing so I don't go in there and get blindsided by them playing a completely different edition. Thank you

No problem.

HAVING SAID ALL THAT:

Millions of players got into roleplaying the following way, and it works really well:

Step one: Join an established group.

For people who are trying to get into RPGs without that option available, I have typically not recommended board games. For a group of friends who want to get into D&D together, I recommend getting a starter set to the latest edition of D&D.

Not a different game. Not the starter set for an earlier edition of D&D, and not the starter set for the latest edition of a different game. "Earlier edition of different game" is right out.

The reason I recommend "latest edition of D&D" is not that "latest edition of D&D" is the best game - that's a matter of taste. But Latest D&D has an almost guaranteed player base.

(Also if you're made of money you can get the Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide and the Monster Manual instead of the starter set, but honestly I recommend the starter set first - it has better advise for completely new players.)

>You don't play Pen and Paper games that are "played around you"
>You gather your friends and play with them whatever game you like.

#BadAdviseForNewbies

I gather my friends and play the game I like. But then, I have played RPGs for twenty years and know what I'm doing.

Your advise breaks on the following points:
>Not enough friends
>Enough friends but they lose interest
>Don't yet know what game is good

That guy's dumb, ignore him.

Savage Worlds is a fine system, but it definitely handles different than D&D. If Dungeons and Dragons doesn't sate your thirst, I'd give it a try. It definitely has more of a pulp, action movie feel to everything.

The main reason I wanted to get the game before actually joining the group is that I'd rather not be a burden to the group and really lag the rest of them. I wouldn't quite have a running start or anything, but I certainly wouldn't drown my first time playing (if that makes sense to you)

I'll give it a try if I can get enough people to join after getting into D&D. Shadowrun definitely peaked my interest as well, but at the same time it again falls into my personal question "would I be able to get local people to play it too, while also not having to be in charge of everything?" Granted I'm looking at this all with some unavoidable naïveté that comes with being a newcomer, but c'est la vie

/b/ is the shit filled gate that usually is a person's first introduction to this site, so should you really be surprised?

Sending somebody off to play at the LGS or with random groups is a great idea, when those groups are usually complete shit and teach bad habits and houserules on top.
As for the games, lurking Veeky Forums for a week pretty much tells you what games there are and investing one minute searching the web tells you everything else you need to know.

As said a dozen times already, what you're looking at is a board game based on the D&D IP and not an actual RPG. What you want if you're looking to get into D&D is the "D&D Starter Set"

dnd.wizards.com/products/tabletop-games/rpg-products/rpg_starterset

>LGS
I really should be a little clear about my residence. Middle of Pennsylvania, about an hour from Penn State Main Campus, in a primarily rural/suburban area full of rednecks and wannabe rednecks. I honestly don't know of ANY stores that sell these games. Most people who play probably did what I plan to: order online.

Scratch that, Barnes & Noble in State college has the D&D boardgame I naively thought was a core version of D&D itself. No other set or edition. Plenty of Star Wars Armada and Catan cores and expansions though, but only the former interests me

...

>The main reason I wanted to get the game before actually joining the group is that I'd rather not be a burden to the group and really lag the rest of them. I wouldn't quite have a running start or anything, but I certainly wouldn't drown my first time playing (if that makes sense to you)

Totally understandable.

However: Have you considered that this is not how any shared hobby works?

If you're coming from e.g. Dota and don't want to be the idiot who jungles alone as a support, I get that, but RPGs aren't like that, and the board games won't help you avoid the traps that could happen anyway.

Yeah, he was obviously overstating things.

I object! The first node should be whether you have friends who want to start an RPG group with you. I'd forsake an established group to learn how to play with my friends.

>I object! The first node should be whether you have friends who want to start an RPG group with you. I'd forsake an established group to learn how to play with my friends.

You're correct, my diagram is insufficient.

Tthe problem is that I phrased box 1 wrong. It SHOULD have been:

>Are you trying to join an established group?

I agree that playing with friends is superior to playing with strangers.

I think reordering things would solve the problem:

1. Do you have friends who want to start a group?
2. Can you join an established group?
3. Do you have friends who may want to occasionally play?

Do you want to play D&D or do you want to play a board game?

Because Wrath of Ashardalon is a board game. And it's a board game I haven't played.