Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition For Dummies

by Bill Slavicsek, Richard Baker, Mike Mearls (Foreword)

Open the book and find:

Genres: Role Playing Games, Nonfiction, Dungeons and Dragons, Reference, Gaming, Games

464 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2005

About the author

Bill Slavicsek's gaming life was forever changed when he discovered Dungeons & Dragons in 1976. He became a gaming professional in 1986 when he was hired by West End Games as an editor. He quickly added developer, designer, and creative manager to his resume, and his work helped shape the Paranoia, Ghostbusters, Star Wars, and Torg roleplaying games. He even found some time during that period to do freelance work for D&D 1st Edition. In 1993, Bill joined the staff of TSR, Inc. as a designer/editor. He worked on a bunch of 2nd Edition material, including products for Core D&D, Dark Sun, Ravenloft, and Planescape. In 1997, he was part of the TSR crowd that moved to Seattle to join Wizards of the Coast, and in that year he was promoted to R&D Director for D&D. In that position, Bill oversaw the creation of both the 3rd Edition and 4th Edition of the D&D Roleplaying Game. He was one of the driving forces behind the D&D Insider project, and he continues to oversee and lead the creative strategy and effort for Dungeons & Dragons.

Reviews

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm normally a big fan of the "For Dummies" series, but this wasn't organized well at all. I picked up D&D for dummies because my friends and I decided to start a game. This was my first book on D&D and I thought the For Dummies book would be great for a complete beginner. However this book was really overwhelming and difficult to follow. Reading the player's handbook would be a better place to start.

[Michelle Baillie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mostly just skim-read this. I feel it's still decent, even for being very outdated. The DM-ing section was the most useful.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just got curious - it's been nearly 30 years since I've played and Aldie thinks the newest version is "da bomb." So far, it's been interesting to read what feels like a REALLY long version of the article I read in Games Magazine so many years ago...

UPDATE: ...and, though it was interesting, I came to realize that I no longer have 20 hours/week to devote to the enjoyment of a RPG. The system for combat makes SO much more sense than the older system - as do the feats/powers/etc. systems... but the chances of me ever messing with that again are slim and none.

If, however, you were interested in playing the game, this looks to be a very helpful book.

[Josianne Fitzgerald · Rating 4 out of 5]

Speed read through it because my son wanted to learn to play it. I played in college and this book quickly refreshed and brought it all on. This is a good primer for people new to the game or oldies like me who hadn't played for a long time.

My son is now hooked, having played his first game with the sample in the book, DM'd by yours truly after a 10-minute read of the adventure.

[Chrisblue77 · Rating 1 out of 5]

Piece of crap.

[Elizabeth Howe · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have the fourth edition handbook and dungeon master's guide. I just wasn’t sure where to start and picked up this book. The first part of it about the dice and how those rolls would work was informative but after that I think it just confused me more than anything. The sheets of the character info are not set up in this book as they would’ve been on an actual sheet. I don’t know where they got sorcerer from because that’s not in my handbook and I’ve stressed about this and checked several times, both this book and my handbook are for the fourth edition of the game. Some of the information about race and how that factors into stats is very different from the handbook I have as well. I very much think that most for dummies books are quite wonderful for getting started in a subject but this one was not at all helpful. I read some of the tactical advantages but given how different things were for the class and race set up for characters I only took that with a grain of sand. The dungeon master section was helpful I think so far, I haven’t gotten to really try it out as I did the character creation. However the recommendations on further reading and other books will most likely come in handy so it has that going for it but I’m sure I could’ve found lists like that on the internet in far less time. All in all, don’t get this to start D&D. Just get the handbook and google some things on youtube.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very thorough.

[Beckiezra]

Not the version of the game we’re playing at the library so not super helpful, this is more a computer/figurine kind of focus than our theater of the mind stuff.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked this book up from the library because I'm joining a game soon and have never played before. The book has done a great job of explaining everything so that I feel much more confident and I'm not completely lost anymore. I was a little disappointed that the book only covers some of the character classes instead of all of them. I understand that covering all of them would take much too long but the class that I decided on is not in the book so I can't steal quite as many ideas as I would like.

[Amber · Rating 3 out of 5]

I guess as a manual it is should get 5 stars - it does what it's supposed to do very well. It's just not as much fun to read as an actual work of fiction.

So I technically didn't finish this book but it's not really what it's for.

It was super handy for me as I am slowly starting to play D&D with some dudes have been playing since they could walk are actually such fabulous, nerdy experts that they get to test out material for new games or editions or whatever.

I am still slow and have to ask which dice to roll first but this book was pretty a pretty helpful reference tool.

[Eric · Rating 2 out of 5]

This 'For Dummies' book provides an overview of the mechanics and general gameplay of the fourth edition of dungeons and dragons. If they had contrasted the 4th edition with the 3rd edition and then also with the pathfinder series, it would be more informative for your typical dungeons and dragons enthusiast.

[Anggitpy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a hardcore fans of RPG (Role Playing Game) Genre. This book gives you an interesting detail about dragons, their origin, what folklore said about dragon, and all about dragon. If you like RPG then you'll definitely like this book.

[Kelly]

I actually quit reading this book because the game went into a new edition and some of the information in this book no longer applied. May use it as a reference in the future for some of the DMing parts but rules specific information is now outdated.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not only an excellent introduction to the 4th edition rules, but it's also an great book for anyone new to the roleplaying hobby. For experienced players the top 10 lists in the back and the chapter on min/maxing are great.

[colleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

read 06.11.06

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ridiculously educational.

[Josh Liller · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great introductory book for D&D 3.5

D&D has since moved on to 4th Edition, but I believe they released a revised version of this for the new edition.

[David]

So, it's been about 30 years since I last played D&D, my son really wants to play, and the game has changed a lot since the 1st edition. You may address me as Merhawk the Grey, Leve1 1 Wizard....

[Abraham Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

good dnd book for beginners!

[Garrett Emile · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read it as a DM, not as a player. Better tips than the official dungeon master guide.