Can You Play Dungeons and Dragons with only things found at the Dollar Store?

Dungeons and Dragons is a far-out game! While it has become more popular than ever, it hasn't exactly gotten much cheaper over time, with mats, dice, and miniatures all going up in price. Which begs the logical question: can I play the game with a bunch of junk I bought at the Dollar Store?

#D&D #DND #dungeonsanddragons #dollartree #ttrpg

[BrandonPaul]

I'm sure this will be in the comments already but a fun fact is that gary gygax actually made up a ton of the original dnd monsters based on having to pick out cheap dollar store toys to use for his games back before miniatures were common.

[oscarmarshall]

I just use m&ms for monster minis and whoever kills it, eats it. That way i dont need snacks either

[treetheoak]

Honestly this brought me back to my high school and early collage days. Super cool reminder that you don't need leather dice boxes and expensive dice to have a great time!

[radwolf]

Considering that the entire reason D&D has the bulette, carrion crawler, owlbear, rust monster, and umber hulk, is that Gygax bought a cheap bag of "Dinosaur Toys" at a dime store (which were actually knock-off, looks-close-enough Ultraman monsters from unlicensed third-party manufacturers in Japan, which then got imported to the US and rebranded), this is in keeping with a longstanding and fine tradition.

[jmcop]

First campaign we used the back face of a sheet of packing paper that had a grid for cuting as a map and board game pieces as players, we roled the dice on an app and "acquired" a rulebook pdf, cost us literally nothing. There is 0 monetary barrier for dnd if you've got the spirit.

[vladspellbinder]

This is a great example of limitations driving the story. Using that squeezy dinosaur as an undead is a stroke of brilliance that most people probably wouldn't have had if they had access to whatever minis they wanted. Now you've got me wanting to know how the rolls turned out and how hard to fight actually was. So much for it being a "milk run" though.

Thanks for the video Kohdok.

[PeterAnimator]

I started using mini "tumbling tower" (Jenga) blocks from the dollar store to construct boundaries and walls over my grid map for my D&D game combat. No need to dry-erase afterward (My mat is already horribly stained anyway), and you can even build little doorways and other structures. The dollar store mini tumbling tower blocks are just the right size for it, if your store carries them.

[FnrrfYgmSchnish]

Halloween would probably be a good time to find cheap monster figures -- I know the dollar store around me always have super cheap packs of little skeletons/mummies with various weapons around that time of year.

[kid]

There is a certain charm to this that I love. I'm so used to custom minis, fancy modeled terrain, and customizable digital character sheets. It brings me back to the first time I played dnd we had a little white erase board, some hodgepodge of minis from various games, only the Player Handbook, and some poorly photos canned and printed character sheets from the back of the book...

[wargameplay]

Back in 1976 when I started playing D&D we used a checkerboard as a play mat, dominoes as dungeon walls and doors and ANYTHING as miniatures! When Heritage minatures came out with “ The Fellowship “ it was a source of humans, elves, hobbits, dwarves and wizards !

[Dramatic_Gaming]

Wrapping paper is easily the best hack for some budget dnd games. Great for drawing full maps ir adjusting terrain on tge fly with secondary cut-outs.

[foegettergames]

When I was like 5 I convinced my parents to get me the DMs Guide.
I couldn't understand a lot of it but I was able to make some pretty sick dungeons out of cardboard and LEGOs for my brother.

[OverkillJOE]

This is EXACTLY how we used to play!
Borrowed rules, pen and paper, pennies for characters. Snacks a plenty and many many sleepless weekend marathon sessions. Ahhh you sir have your finger on the pulse of the “Spirit of Gaming” !!! Keep it up 👍

[ColasTeam]

When I saw the title, my first tough was "of course you can!" And yet I still troughly enjoyed the video. Shame we don't have dollar stores here.

[bellam]

This is actually so helpful! As a broke college kid who wants to get into DMing so I can play D&D with my friends, I have been STRESSING about how expensive everything is, but this really puts into perspective how a bit of creativity can do a lot even with cheap materials! I didn't even know there was a free online rulebook! I was planning on investing in the three core rulebooks, but if I can't get my hands on them right away, having that available is sick!

[TheBlueRoan]

When my oldest son was in highschool, I bought him and his brother a heroscape beginning set for Christmas. Of course they came out with expansion sets and new minis. I couldn't afford to buy all the expansions, but the kids were ok with that. They would go through their toy box and invent their own new character sets. Any figures that would fit the playing tiles was fair game. It was never boring.
They're both grown men now and have found their way to D&D.

[tobybigham]

Back in 1988 I collected each dice 1 or 2 at a time for $0.20 a piece at a local bookshop. I would carry them around in a crown royal bag my dad gave me. I never really saw a character sheet, it was just a well organized sheet of notebook paper inspired by an example in one of the 1st edition books we had. Between 8 kids we owned roughly 9 books and the rich kid owned 6 of those. We had no idea what a DM screen was and dreamed of miniatures which some of us collected when possible. D&D on a budget was how I grew up in middle school.

[drizzleleigh]

I love how creative this is. I want to try to play dnd but its not in my budget. But thanks to this video I now have an idea on how to play in a budget friendly way.

[dylanwatts]

I love the wrapping paper battle map. One of the things you can do is pre-draw the maps you need for your sessions; that way, you can go the extra mile adding little details, which can add so much to the map. And it saves time at the table, because all you have to do is have the players clear a spot, then roll out the map all scroll-like, and watch the joy spread in your players' faces as they behold your masterfully rendered map!

Oh! And! AND! You can draw on the map any changes to the site, like if a bomb blew up a section of the wall; and if the party ever revisits that location, you can roll out that same map, and it'll have all of the little changes! And if you don't revisit the site until the end of the campaign, it'd be awesome to see the old map, and reminisce about the time Dave spilt dew on that corner of the map, or Mike got cheeto finger prints all over the place! And if the location gets destroyed, you can rip it up in front of the players... then tape it back together, so you can use it as a surprise final battle, but all messed up and stuff!

Oh my G, the possibilities are endless! And one roll of the stuff will make multiple maps! All for $1.25!

[thepenultimateninja]

Dollar Tree often sells shelf paper, which is a vinyl sheet with an adhesive backing. The backing paper has the cutting grid on it just like that gift wrapping paper.
The interesting part is that it is available in a clear version, and you can see the grid lines through it, so it is essentially "pre-laminated".