TOPIC: First time-gencon

Gencon this year will be my first time doing TD. I got tickets for all 3 adventures, r1 alone and r2, r3 with 2 friends who are also first time players.

I read the PHB and browsed the token DB. Anyone have advice for a first time player? What’s the best class for a noob? I normally play wizard in regular D&D but I’d be disappointed if I died a few rooms into the dungeon do to lack of experience or tokens.

Thanks for any tips!

Hi Brent, welcome to the insanity engaging pastime that is True Dungeon.

Reading the PHB and tokenDB is a great start. The best class for you is the one you think you will enjoy the most. Spells always succeed, the skill tests just give you a bonus if you pass them, so don't let that scare you away if a caster sounds fun.

As for other advice,

• Be early if you can. Your coaching room will be open 30 minutes before your ticket time, and having more time to get organized and meet your new friends is always good.
• If you can't be early, be on time. (10 minutes or so before your ticket time). You'll have to check in at the ticket desk, get your wristband and find your coaching room. The built-in coaching time (24 minutes after your ticket time) can get hectic, doubly so if players trickle in after it starts.
• If you have tokens already and/or want to go the extra mile, get set up in the app, website or spreadsheet. Having your character pre-equipped makes the coach's life easier, and you get a bonus hit point for doing so. Maybe have a backup character or three ready as well. There can only be one of each class, and being flexible can smooth over some arguments
• Teamwork is critical. Work together on puzzles, speak up if you have an idea.
• Time is more deadly than any monster. Keep combat moving. I've seen many groups lose because they argued too long on who should slide first, or spent minutes digging around in the bottom of a backpack for that bag of healing potions they're sure are in there.
• Most importantly, have fun

See if you can find the rest of your group in Andrew's Group Index for all your runs. That is my number 1 advice. Everything else you are already ahead of the curve.

I played a wizard on my first run, and dozens of games later I still main wizard. It's a tremendous amount of fun if you like more strategic gameplay. There is one thing to keep in mind though, combat works very differently in TD than in DND. A big part of TD combat is the shuffleboard, and wizards don't really do that. Non-casters slide pucks with their weapons in them across a board onto a drawing of the monster to determine where/if they hit. Casters line up to the side and tell the DM what spell they're casting, and then do a memory test to see if they get a bonus. If that sounds like fun to you then definitely go wizard. If you'd rather slide pucks go with a non-caster class.

I would say to stick to wizard. Since most of your offense is the spells on your card, you don't have to worry as much about tokens at first.
Also, the sliding combat can be hectic for new players since so much is based on time and interactions with the other sliders.
With wizard you can stand back, cast spells and really enjoy the room.
My wife got all frazzled when she played fighter, and was about to stop playing until I talked her into wizard. Then the art major in her could enjoy the sets, monsters and the experience without the stress.

jedibcg wrote: See if you can find the rest of your group in Andrew's Group Index for all your runs. That is my number 1 advice. Everything else you are already ahead of the curve.

Welcome! Like jedi said, look to see if there are threads for your runs. Look for the Gen Con ‘22 Adventuring Groups Form Here thread. The easiest way to locate a post for your runs is to use the Index thread created by Andrew. If there isn’t a post already, you could start a LFO (looking for others) post for each run. It’s a great way to coordinate classes, tokens, and difficulty level in advance.

Brent,
If you are coming in prior to Thursday (say Wednesday afternoon or evening) of the convention, myself and John, my TD partner in crime would be happy to meet with you ahead of your runs and offer advice. PM Message me for my cell number if interested. We will be there starting Monday as we are doing local install this year. Just a few short years ago I was a newbie that wished he discovered this game 20 years ago and it is really fun and a great community.
PS. I play Wizard and survived many rooms I should have died in
Spud

I too wish I had tried TD years before I did. Super fun time and awesome community. Welcome to one of the greatest games ever!

Thanks to everyone for all the messages. The community seems very welcoming.

I have a few questions if anyone has time to address one or more.

1. Are the spellcaster charts available online? Do they change every time or once you memorize it are you good?

2. What’s the average value (in $) of a treasure pull? I see there are some very expensive tokens that can boost your pulls from 3 up to the 20s. How many runs until you “break even?”

3. What difficulty is most common? I understand normal is the “default” but is there a target level most experienced groups play at?

4. What class/ classes are the cheapest to “gear up” to a reasonable level? Which are the most expensive?

5. What classes are the most/least picked? I’d like to focus on putting together a set of tokens for something that is likely to be available to play most times.

Thanks again everyone!

Class wise, the least popular is Elf Wizard, followed by Wizard then Monk.
The most popular are Ranger, Cleric and Rogue.
This is based on remaining character cards after the con, and the ones that run out.
Most players at GenCon are casual players, the experienced players usually have their favorities which they specifically gear for.

The spellcaster chart is only available in the training room, so running often helps out. But the spell always works, the spell chart provides bonus damage to the base spell. So memorize a couple each time and you will do fine.

Most runs are normal. Experienced groups will usually organize ahead of time and play at higher difficulty. In practice, Non-Lethal is not very common at all. Most folks want some challenge.

As far as gear and tokens, once you find a class you really like, good Rare tokens can usually be had for 5 dollars or so, which can really help. Any class can go as high as you would like on gear costs.

I am not sure about the value question, I very rarely get anything amazing in the treasure draws, but thats not why I play and volunteer.

I hope this helps!

Brent wrote: 5. What classes are the most/least picked? I’d like to focus on putting together a set of tokens for something that is likely to be available to play most times.

If you are looking for how to buy tokens that will cover you most of the time... If you focus on Fighter, it has the benefit that almost all gear is usable by Dwarf and Paladin. And grabbing a non-bladed weapon will cover you well for a less spell-focused Cleric. While not on raptorov's list of 3 least picked, they are probably 4,5,6,and 7 on that list.

Another approach you can take is to just focus on something like a generic dex-based build focused on tokens that are usable by all (or at usable by most anyways). You may not be as optimized as possible, but that isn't necessarily needed.

Treasure draws are valued at $3-4 maybe? What you pull determines any 'break even' value. You could pull 3 tokens and get one worth a lot or you could pull 23 (the max per run) and get all rares, uncommons, and monster trophies. If you can't afford to do a regular runs, and more than a 1 or 2 per con, don't worry about the high dollar TEs, honestly. You could place a PYP order at $250 and pick the Platinum Nugget or bid on one in an auction as it is still considered in print until the next set is available though.