In the first part of this series we went over some popular RPGs with free rules or quick starts. Now let’s look at the implements you will require and how we can get them for free or cheaply.
Dice
When you think of DnD, the first thing you are probably conjuring in your mind is a group of people sitting around a table rolling strange dice, and you would be right. DnD and other RPGs don’t just use the old standard 6-sided dice but use dice with 4, 8, 10, 12 sides, and the most iconic 20-sided dice or d20. So, it is understandable that you are unlikely to have these, so let’s look at some options.
Your first option is to simply buy some dice. The standard 7 polyhedral dice can be found all over the place for anything from $1 to hundreds of dollars. My most used sets come from the company Chessex. Chessex make in my opinion the best quality dice for the price, with their more budget friendly sets available on Amazon for under $8 AUD.
If you don’t want to pay that much but still want physical dice then you can try Aliexpress, where cheap sets of dice can sometimes be found for less than $1. Recently EB Games here in Australia had a half price special on their $5 dice so I picked up about 10 sets for $2.50 each to give out to new players.
The other option is digital dice; there are many good free websites and phone apps you can choose from.
If you want to use a computer or just use a website, then I suggest Google. Did you know if you type in ‘Dice Roller’ into Google you will get a fairly simple but effective dice roller app? I didn’t until recently and it is now one of my favourite online dice rollers.
If you are using DndBeyond from part 1, you will find an effective 3D dice roller in the character sheet section.
For Android devices i suggest RPG Simple Dice. Like its name suggests, it is a simple dice roller. It doesn’t have any fancy 3D models, but it runs on any Android device, takes up very little space, and allows you to create your own special dice in case you need a d27 for some reason. It also makes it easy and quick to roll large numbers of the same die.
For Apple, my favourite is Dungeon Dice - RPG Dice Roller. While it isn’t as feature rich as RPG Simple Dice, it is elegantly simple, and visually nicer.
Stationery
The last of the required equipment is Stationery, or some way to keep track of your character.
Every RPG will require the players to use a character sheet. What we use as a character sheet is up to us, our budget, and what equipment we have access to.
The cheapest / free version is to get a scrap piece of paper and a free pen and simply write down your stats and notes. I ran an impromptu game this way using some pens I took from some open houses I visited and some sheets of paper i found in the recycling bin at the library. It wasn’t pretty, but it worked and we all had fun.
The more common way is to use the character sheet PDFs from the game designers. Pretty much every RPG will include printable character sheets. If you don’t have a printer, you can usually print pretty cheaply at your local library. If you are using a computer, many RPGs will have character sheets with forms to allow you to fill them out.
The last method is using is using a dedicated app. While less common, some RPGs provide apps that act as character sheets. For DnD, you can use Dndbeyond. Dndbeyond allows you to easily make character sheets using source books purchased on their platform.
Conclusion
So we have got the essential equipment down, the rules, the dice, and the stationery/ character sheets, the last part of this series will delve into some of the extras that can make DnD more fun.