Dungeon Mastering is a hobby which can end up costing quite a bit of money. If you are a collector, like me, you are constantly trying to acquire anything you think will improve your game. There is a whole library of books you “need” to have, along with your dungeon tiles, an entire dragon’s hoard worth of minis, a DM screen, a custom initiative tracker, a dice tower, a D&D Beyond subscription, and the countless other resources you find to help run your game. This simply isn’t the case though. Running a game can range from expensive to, in our case, as inexpensive as possible. Luckily, there are actually a lot of resources and materials you can get for free! We are going to discuss some of these and examine how a Dungeon Master, whether new or old, can play this great game for next to nothing. In a forthcoming article, we will also look at some strategies and resources that will allow you to slowly introduce more of these free resources into your game.
Acquiring Your Resources
When many people start their adventures in Dungeon Mastering, they tend to go out and purchase some well-known foundational books like the Player Handbook, Monster Manual, and Dungeon Master Guide. However, these books are costly and even the cheapest outlet I found (purchasing on Amazon), will leave you with a nice little hole in your pocket. So how do you get the rules to run your game and teach your players? Well, there is actually a free version of both the Basic Rules and a document that I like to call the Mini Player Handbook. The Basic Rules function as a way for both the player and their Dungeon Master to learn the basic mechanics of the game—from character creation, through combat, and more. It's a great resource, though it feels intended for the DM rather than for the player. The Basic Rules also has limited character races and class archetypes. On the other hand, when I found the Mini PHB, I was instantly sold on its value as a resource for any DM or player to have if they are trying to play without buying books. Like the Basic Rules, the Mini PHB only has a single archetype for each class; however, the Mini PHB does have all of the playable races and most, if not all, of the game-specific content that can be found in the actual PHB. Overall, both of these resources are great for players looking to get their foot in the door and try their hand at Dungeon Mastering.
Starting Your Adventure
The next step in your adventures is determining what type of adventure you want to run your players through. Since we are focusing on running your first series of games on a small budget, we will look toward modules and resources that can provide you with plenty of material to keep your story going. The first resource I used early on in my career was Dungeon Masters Guild. This is an excellent resource where you can find all manner of adventures. From adventures that take one or two sessions, to short campaigns, there are so many free or inexpensive tools for a Dungeon Master to have at their disposal. While some of these awesome campaigns even have the “Pay What You Want” feature, and you can technically get this resource for free, I urge you to at least give $1 to these awesome content creators because they all work very hard creating quality content for the D&D community. Wizards of the Coast also has several modules from different Adventure League seasons you can use to start a campaign. D&D Tomb has done a great job compiling most of them into a list. Most of the campaigns from the list are for Tier One—which includes player levels one through four—and are a great way to learn how to run the game and to see if D&D something you would like to continue doing in the future. My favorite module from the list is Death House, a thriller/horror style adventure, which is a great introduction to the genre and pairs very well as an opening to Curse of Strahd. If none of these premade campaigns sound appealing and you wish to create a homebrew game, don’t worry, I will be writing a homebrew starter guide in the near future! In the meantime, feel free to reach out I would love to help you plan your first adventure!!
The Bare Necessities of D&D
Now I want to talk about some essentials for running your first game and roughly the cost of each of these essentials. Accessories and other things you add to your game are typically cost money and you can easily over invest into the game early-on. Remember, up until this point, if you are only using the free resources discussed above, you still have a crisp $20 bill to spend.
First and foremost, we need dice. As a rule of thumb, you and each of your players should have at least one set of dice. Though dice vary in price, they typically start around $5 per set. Pick yourself up a cheap set and get rolling. Next, a composition notebook and some pens or pencils will do the trick to keep track of initiative and take notes of events that took place during your sessions. Stop at your local dollar store and you shouldn’t need to spend more than a couple dollars on these essential items, or maybe you can just use some supplies you have around the house because, if your parents were anything like mine growing up, they always bought an overabundance of school supplies each year and hoarded them over the years. Find whatever supplies you need, but make sure to get enough for you and for your party!! The last item needed is a battle mat. When you start, you may choose to just use theatre of the mind—which only costs the price of your imagination—but a good battle mat is a valuable resource to show your players their adventure. You can get one fairly inexpensively, for about $14, here. With that, we hit our $20 limit. The only question left is, what do we use to represent our characters? Well, anything around your house can do; a paperclip, loose change, or even a wood chip or pebble can do the trick to start. My first “miniatures” I used for my games were a bunch of old Legos I found in my basement. I have also played at a table where the DM used gummy bears or skittles as enemies and we got to eat the “enemies” as we killed them. Don’t worry about buying miniatures early on, especially if you are trying to decide if you like the hobby and would like to continue playing.
Hopefully, these resources can help you start enjoying D&D without breaking the bank. Now, start adventuring!
Meet the Blogger
Logan H. @dm_screening
Logan is a teacher from the Greater Philadelphia Area. A lifelong seeker of fantasy and adventure he spends his time writing campaigns and homebrews, going on adventures to local breweries, or reading all manner of tomes and scrolls to enhance his knowledge as a Dungeon Master.