Documents
Prepared by F. Sinclair, Librarian
Some guides are referenced from the D&D Core Rule Books: Player’s Handbook and Dungeon Master’s Guide, Published by Wizards of the Coast, 2014
RPG Activity – General Rules – To ensure everyone has a good time and that the various games run as smoothly as possible in the short time we have please read these rules. Covers things like respect for other players and your DM / GM; use of technology; resources use.
Guidelines and Expectations – Including character creation guidelines, and house rules for games run by Mrs Sinclair
D&D Ork lib info and guidelines – information for participants in the Orkney Library D&D sessions
Table Rules v2 – Guidelines and expectations that govern behaviour, conduct, and gameplay. They include respecting turns, maintaining a respectful atmosphere, and following agreed-upon rules. Linked to Stromness Adacemy behaviour expectations.
Consent & Safeguarding – Consent involves obtaining and respecting explicit agreement and boundaries from participants. It ensures a safe and enjoyable experience by discussing and establishing limits on themes and content, addressing triggers, and actively listening to each player’s preferences thus fostering an inclusive and supportive gaming environment.
Quick Reference Guide – An outline of Actions in combat and other key rules with page references to the Player’s Handbook and Dungeon Master’s Guide for further detail.
DM Screen – Collated information useful for DMs, especially if you don’t have access to one of the screens available in the library (not enough to go round).
Condition cards – cards to give to players when their character is subject to a condition.
How to Play
How to Play / Dice – Overview
Using a Grid – Showing how movement, line of sight, cover and spells work on grid
Character Sheets
Character Sheet – Print back-to-back
CharacterSheet (Colour Boxes) – Print back-to-back. Key parts of the sheet are highlighted with coloured boxes to enable DMs to easily direct [beginner] players to the right part.
Character Sheets for Dyslexia (found via Geek Native [Online] 26/4/21) by Axelle & Inuyasharuls)
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- Character Sheet 1 – Print back-to-back.
- Character Sheet (Colour) – Print back-to-back.
Creating a D&D Character (This is how the Librarian, Mrs Sinclair, creates her characters if doing it on paper. Each person may develop their own system.)
Other Info & Accessories
Spell cards – Blank spell cards for you to note your spells on.
Initiative Tracking – 2x A5 initiative tables on A4. Print back-to-back (on short edge).
Orkney Library D&D – Mrs Sinclair runs a monthly game at Orkney Library during the winter months, (usually) November through to March or April (barring illness). These guidelines specifically relate to these sessions and are adapted from the full Guidelines & Expectations shown above.
Links
Dungeons & Dragons website (Wizards of the Coast):
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- What is D&D
- Basic Rules – Download the official basic rules to your tablet, laptop or phone. Also includes spellcasting information and some spells as well as monsters for DMs to use.
- Character Sheets – blank and starter set pre-made characters to download.
Lost Mine of Phandelver Pt 1 (uploaded to You Tube by Dungeons & Dragons)(Useful to get an idea of how a game is run. They haven’t used grids or miniatures.)
Detentions & Dragons – Introducing Dungeons & Dragons in the classroom (Podcast).
Wizards of the Coast – Remote D&D Tricks & Tips: Free resources – WotC are offering free adventures, colouring pages, as well as resources for Roll20, Fantasy Grounds, and DnDBeyond.
Consent in Gaming – a guide and checklist from MonteCooke Games
Virtual Tabletops
Map Creation
Dungeon Alchemist – Procedural AI map builder using thousands of internal assets to create a wide range of maps in different biomes (eg. desert, forest, jungles, etc). Use the AI to create quick maps or hand build your map. Requires a beefy computer to run this software.
Wonderdraft – great for world or region maps.
Dungeondraft – create dungeons, buildings or villages.
Inkarnate (free version available) – Great for world maps. One of the leading mapd makers out there.
Dungeon Scrawl (free) – a simple tool for creating old-school dungeon maps.
Watabou (free) – a suite of procedural map generators, best know for its Medieval Fantasy City generator. Also has generators for villages, neighbourhoods, caves, one-page dungeons.
