by B. Ender

Created on: May 02, 2009

This topic is very personal for me, because I happen to be a young player who likes to play Dungeons and Dragons (D&D). D&D has a very large selection of rulebooks, gaming supplements, and now with 4th edition's intensified focus on miniatures, miniature sets. All this comes at a hefty price, even if you split this among your entire gaming group. It doesn't have to be this expensive, however.

Although there are dozens of rulebooks and other supplements you can buy, all you truly need to enjoy a good game of D&D is your group, a good story, and the three core rulebooks- the Dungeon Master's Guide, the Player's Handbook, and the Monster Manual. These three books will total about $100 for the new 4th edition core books. This can be expensive for some, especially younger players like me. Although my entire gaming group has several books among each other to share, it is rare for any one of us to have the complete set due to the pricing. So although you could say that this does prevent younger players from trying D&D, using my group's example you could also conclude that there isn't a barrier stopping us from purchasing D&D products.

With a group of 5 people (relatively small number for a D&D group size) all three core rulebooks will only cost about $20 each, not a hard thing to achieve at all. Of course this means that no single person owns the books but that isn't much of a deal anyways. If you want to include more Player's Handbooks or other player supplements, a mere $40 per person in a five man group would give you $200, enough for three core books and several more Player's Handbooks or other supplements.This isn't a difficult obstacle at all.

Only purchasing the basic rulebooks may limit your player choices, but if you simply want to play D&D with your friends the core books are plenty enough for a start. Starting a campaign with just the core books doesn't mean you can't buy additional supplements over time as you earn more money either, you can simply buy additional books when you can afford it and then incorporate it into your current campaign. Giving D&D books to your gaming friends on their birthdays is another way to easily expand your collection, as the average supplement book costs just a little higher than the average gift.

Although costs would prevent a younger player from amassing the collection by himself, splitting the costs with willing friends and spreading your purchases over time will allow you to purchase all the gaming goodness of D&D without breaking the bank, allowing you and your friends to enjoy one of the greatest tabletop RPGs of all time. Costs may be too high for a small group of people, but what fun is a game of D&D with just three or four people? D&D is all about enjoying yourself with all your friends, and when all your friends took a part in sharing the expense of buying the rulebooks you all enjoy the game that much more.

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