Ben McKenzie

Dungeons & Dragons Resources

While there are many other roleplaying games, Dungeons & Dragons is the one everyone knows – and so the one I most often get asked to teach. The following resources are intended to help new players. A revised version of the current edition was released in 2024-2025; I’ve added some compatibility notes below.

• Character Picker – designed to help new D&D players make the big decisions for their first character. It doesn’t assume any prior knowledge, or get into rules stuff; instead it gives some pointers on basic character choices, and some general character creation advice. This is based on the 2014 edition of the Player’s Handbook, so some of the options differ from the 2024 edition, but it should still be useful. Made using Twine.
• Basic cheat sheet – the basic rules you need while playing, all on one A4 page for easy reference. Includes important terms, common dice rolls, and a visual guide to dice. Based on the 2014 edition, but mostly compatible with the 2024 rules. (PDF, 1 A4 page, 298 Kb; version 1.3, updated April 2023)
• Combat reference – a summary of D&D combat rules: how turns work, available combat actions, and the rules for injury, healing and death. Based on the 2014 edition, but mostly compatible with the 2024 rules. (PDF, 2 A4 pages, 93 Kb; version 1.4, added October 2019)
• DM tips – some tips for first-time Dungeon Masters, also applicable to most other roleplaying games. Includes general advice, plus tips for using and interpreting dice rolls, running combat, and resolving problems with your players. Compatible with the 2024 rules. (PDF, 2 A4 pages, 90 Kb; version 1.0, added April 2023)

If you’re looking for the official rules, there are a few versions available for free:

• D&D Basic Rules (2024) – free version of the current, 2024 edition rules, hosted online by D&D Beyond. This doesn’t include everything in the full rules, but has more than enough to get you started, especially since its update in April 2025. Doesn’t require an account to access.
• D&D Basic Rules (2014) – free version of the 2014 edition rules, also hosted by D&D Beyond. You can also get The Lost Mines of Phandelver, the original starter adventure for the 2014 edition of D&D; it’s free, but unlike the rules requires a D&D Beyond account to claim it. (It works with the 2024 rules, too.)
• PDF System Reference Document 5.2 (SRD) – this 350-page document is a reference for people making their own games and books based on Dungeons & Dragons. It’s available under a Creative Commons license, which allows you to use its content so long as you provide the proper attribution. If you do that, read the guidelines – there are many trademarked terms you can’t use.

Player Safety Resources

While roleplaying games aren’t “real”, their improvised and collaborative nature means it’s hard to predict what topics, themes and situations will come up during play. It’s important that all players can trust each other, and know they can speak up if something’s not okay and be treated respectfully. We all need to think about each other’s wellbeing and comfort at the table, but it’s not always clear how to do this safely, especially when starting out. This is where safety tools can be useful; most are for use before and during play, and help us to think about what we’re doing in our fiction, and at our tables.

Note that these are just tools – they can’t replace a culture of genuine empathy, respect and support among the people you play with. They also assume adult players, but many of the concepts behind them can be useful when playing with children and young people too.

For a broader toolkit and advice, I recommend Lauren Bryant-Monk and Kienna Shaw’s TTRPG Safety Toolkit, which can be found on Google Drive via bit.ly/ttrpgsafetytoolkit.

• Checklists – a list of stuff that could conceivably come up in a game that players can decide if they want or not. This is a good starting point for first time roleplayers who might not have thought about these kinds of things before. Monty Cook Games’ free booklet Consent in Gaming includes a sample checklist; I also really like this online Google Docs checklist by Lauren Bryant-Monk.
• Lines & Veils – a really simple way to talk about what players are happy to include in a game during your “session zero” conversation. Veiled topics are ones a player is happy to include as long as it is dealt with “off-screen” – i.e. the players agree that whatever it is happened without going into any details. Lines are a hard no from a player for something they just don’t want in the game. More info can be found in this great write-up on the RPG StackExchange.
• The X Card – this concept, originally developed by John Stavropoulos, is usually an index card or small slip of paper with an X drawn on it, placed on the table in reach of everyone. Any player can tap it at any time to indicate they’re not comfortable with whatever is currently happening in the game, allowing the GM and group to change tack and avoid the troubling material. It’s important to understand how and why to use it, and you can get all the details at tinyurl.com/x-card-rpg.