Me and a group of 3 others are planning on getting together and playing some 5e

Me and a group of 3 others are planning on getting together and playing some 5e.
I've never DM'd before...

any advice?

Are figures necessary? Is a map necessary?

>Are figures necessary? Is a map necessary?

Yes and no.
It's entirely possible to run combat without any visual aids, but it can be a bit of a headache to track positioning and shit.

What I would suggest doing is to draw a rough sketch map when the players get into combat, just to help them visualise the place, yanno?
You can use figures to help remind everyone where they are, but you could also use tokens or bottlecaps or some such shit.

For general adivce, seeing as it's your first time running anything I'd strongly suggest you run Lost Mines of Phandelver from the starter box.
It's a fairly solid adventure with some decent advice on DMing. It'll sorta let you get some insight into how an adventure works, instead of just trying to make your own blind

sweet, thanks. I actually did not purchase the started box. just the 3 books in the op picture.

Any suggestions on paper for maps?
Any suggestions for generic class figures?

Also, again regarding maps, if you're using a rough sketch map instead of a grid feel free to play fast-and-loose with distances, within reason.

Also, I meant to ask, have you or any of your player played before? Have any of your players GMed?

>have you or any of your player played before? Have any of your players GMed?
I've played once and one other in the group has GM'd a few times in the past so he's going to give me a hand when we get going

I just use plain printer paper which I draw on on the fly. Literally just lines on a page which i point to and say "Okay this here's the cliff-face, here's a clump of bushes, here's where you are, here's where the goblins are"

I don't actually use figures myself, but I think WOTC released a few sets of figures along with 5e

Figures and maps are entirely optional with 5e (For the better IMO). You can use a grid with some pennies to represent different characters if you need to.

I don't think that actual miniatures are worthwhile, but if you do want some in order to look cool, get figures from Heresy Miniatures, Ral Partha, Games Workshop, Reaper, Cadwallon, Kingdom Death, Lead Adventures, among others. The pre-painted official figures look terrible (And the new ones are expensive), and as getting miniatures is purely cosmetic, they defeat the point.

So your players all know how to make characters and stuff already? That's pretty good, cause it's a pain to go through with total newbies.
In that scenario it's really best to use pregens

>So your players all know how to make characters and stuff already?
yes, thankfully!

well, it should have gone:

"Me and a group of 3 are planning on getting together for some 5th E"

It might be worth investing in a whiteboard with 1 inch grids marked on it via thin tape.

i'll keep that in mind.

>Are figures necessary?
no

Is a map necessary?

no

Theater of the mind is welcomed

I prefer map and minis for combat since some spells/attacks have specific ranges.

a blank battle mat from chessex
tiles

if money is no object, Dwarven forges stuff is quite nice

I use pic.

interlocking dry erase tiles

minis can be practically any small trinket.

beads
extra dice
game pieces from board games

I like the rpg minis but they can get pricey

That's a pretty good vidya collection.

>any advice?

Read the Players Handbook - focus on combat and character creation.

But, if stumped, just keep the game moving and worry about the correct by the book answer later. As long as the players have fun, and your ruling makes sense, it will work out.

>Are figures necessary?

No. It is helpful for larger fights, but that is about it. If you have a dozen combatants or some such.

I only use figures for the 'big' fight, and only then because I want to show off my collection. I have done almost my entire DMing without figures and really don't even use them that often now.

> Is a map necessary?

It can be helpful. You should sketch stuff out for yourself, at the least. It helps so much to organize your thoughts and insure you don't miss anything in your descriptions.

But the players can do without. Although in some circumstances it can certainly help.

Do encourage them to make their own maps though.

>Guilty Gear
>Air Combat
>ZOE
>every MGS game
I like your taste.

congrats on No Mans Sky

>Any suggestions on paper for maps?

I used to use, and still have/buy, all of those cool pre-created maps. They look great.

But any more all I do is use one inch graph paper (the large sheets). Honestly, I just find it works better and easier.

>Any suggestions for generic class figures?

I have a stupid large collections, thousands of dollars worth, of the D&D/pathfinder pre-painted miniatures. But honestly, if I were starting out today, I'd probably go with those pathfinder pawns box sets they have.

I think the pawns would be a far better buy for your moneys worth and actually give you the stuff you need. I bought my minis years ago when they cost a fraction of what they do now. today, starting over, I would go with the pawns.

The exception is that I would probably look for actual miniatures, if I could find them, for the player characters. I wouldn't let it bother me if I couldn't find what I wanted though.

Like other anons said, I say just use 1 inch graph paper (preferably in large sheets so you can have a decently sized map without using multiple sheets) if you want to use a map. For character figures and tokens, just use something like a button or a coin and draw a line on it, that way you can track a character's facing. It's cheap and it works pretty well.

Yeah, play 4e instead, or pathfinder, or GURPS, or Shadowrun, or Rolemaster classic. All much better systems than 5e.

I have a dry erase mat with a grid on it for maps. I keep a notebook with all of my maps and notes in it, and when combat starts I draw a map from the notebook on the mat. The maps aren't too complicated, so it doesn't take too long to draw. For figures I just use whatever I have available, usually a mixture of Lego figures and coins.