D&D5e Resources

It was no secret that when we began Rednecks & Reptiles that we had absolutely no idea what we were doing when it came to playing Dungeons & Dragons. For myself, having been a fan of the fantasy genre of games, film, and literature for a large amount of my life, our goal for RnR was to f**kin’ send it. Having never played, let alone acted as a dungeon master, the task was overwhelming to say the very least. Will I be good at it? Will they enjoy my ideas and concepts? Will it be something worth continuing even if the answer to the first two questions is Yes?

As we began to take the idea serious, I was unaware of the insane D&D community. By that, I mean that the number of people that, not only play, but create resource materials for others that are looking to improve their experiences.

I also began looking into the official sources: the Dungeon Master’s Guide, the Player’s Handbook, and the Monster Manual. These can be considered the backbone of many D&D campaigns, but, with the world the way it is at this moment in 2022, wanting to have these in your library may not be a financial possibility. This community, the D&D community, has you covered, and you may not even know it (SEE LINKS BELOW)

Now that the RnR keys are being handed over to Jimmy (co-host), I’m finding that these resources are almost jumping at me as I go about trying to make his transition from player to DM is as easy as it can be. Had I thought about it sooner, I would have kept up with these resources from the very beginning.

With that being said, I am hoping that what I have compiled over the last week or so (at the time of writing this introduction) is enough to help anyone, be it new or old dungeon master, with their campaign.

I’ll begin with the essentials. These, of course, are readily available online, and for free. Nothing that I list below will require any form of payment.

The Dungeon Master’s Guide will be where most people begin. After all, understanding how to run a campaign is important in the production and creation of your world/game.

Next, the Player’s Handbook is, in my opinion, the most important book you will need. Not only does it assist your players in the creation of the characters, but it provides the DM with vital bits of information. It contains the library of spells, equipment tables, and much more that will aid both the players and DM.

Now, it’s time for one of my favorite parts of Dungeons and Dragons; Character Creation. If you’re doing this with pencil and paper, you’ll need some character sheets. If you have access to a printer, it’s as simple as printing off these sheets. If you do not have access to a printer, don’t worry, you can download the PDF, edit it, and use it from your device. On that note, the simplest way to get around needing a printer is to go to D&D Beyond, creating a free account, and using their built-in character builder. They also have apps for iPhone and Android that makes it more than worthy of the time it takes to create your account.

Once your players have their characters made, you’ll need to populate your adventures with encounters of varying types. That’s where the Monster Manual comes in. Surely, the name says enough. However, you’ll find yourself appreciating much more than the monsters themselves, as many of the creations within the book also has ready-made lore should you choose to use it. After all, you’ll quickly learn that, as a Dungeon Master, your world only works how you want it to work.

As a DM, you’ll find that keeping track of the vast amount of possibilities can overwhelm you at times. So, I managed to track down a set of cheat sheets (Portrait Layout) that will make your life much more manageable. All of the credit for these goes to Reddit User Ozuro. These were adapted from his previous sheets (Landscape Layout).

Encounters

Equipment

Combat

Characters

Ability Checks 1

Ability Checks 2

Are we ready to begin playing?

Additional Resources:

Donjon has various random generators, including dungeon generators that also generates maps.

Additional Notes:

• Enable D&D Beyond’s dice feature to utilize their built-in roller.
• The amount of D&D related apps for mobile devices are too great to list. Here are some of my favorites (Android OS):
  • RPG Simple Dice
  • Loot Generator for D&D 5e
  • DungeonShop
  • DM’s Lil Helper

This set of resources is forever incomplete. As new finds reach me, are sent to me, or appear from the ether, I will add them if I feel the need to do so.

Want the dice in the featured image for this article? Get theme here!

Share on Facebook

Tweet