#halfaboyhalfaghost

you guys essentially asked for the same thing so i’m gonna go ahead and answer them in the same post if that’s okay?? haflskjfldsf ;w; mainly because i don’t,, really have many general agere headcanons for this series. adlfkjasdf. i’m a one trick pony what can i say? though i do have other characters that i headcanon as littles, like mike crew, maybe melanie, and my hearts telling me little manuela for some reason?? idk these are all thoughts for another time kdfljasldkf

but yeah i’m gonna focus on little jon for now SO: 

steven pays for everything in cold hard cash

I have never used the starter set, so I can’t be certain.  It is very popular (and if you finished TAZ, you already know part of the story, so hey!), and the pre-made characters are pretty great if you don’t want to jump into making your own.  If I remember correctly, it also has information on leveling a few basic character classes, up to about level 10, I think?

Almost all of the starter information, you can get on DnD’s website as well.  I can’t get the links for you atm (my work computer’s firewall keeps me from accessing gaming websites), but a quick google search can get you the basic rules, a handful of monsters, and those same pre-made character sheets.  Honestly, the use of the starter pack is a pre-made set of adventures that are very clearly made for people who haven’t really played much DnD before, so it eases you into it a little more.

The handbook (PHB for short) is definitely an investment.  If you keep an eye out, you can definitely find better deals, too.  Amazon sells it for about 25 bucks every couple of months, and I’m sure you can get it used.  Or find online PDFs if you’re really strapped.  It’s also a LOT of information. But it has great stuff about how to build characters quickly, the full set of rules, ect.

So it kinda depends?  If you think you’re going to DM, then I’d say that the PHB is probably worth it, just to help solve disputes faster, but you definitely don’t need it to start out.  I’d go at least a couple of sessions without it, making sure to keep the internet on hand for looking up questions very fast.  There’s a TON of resources out there on youtube or reddit or what have you that show you how to run a game, from mechanics to more complex issues.

If you’re going to just play, then I’d say you definitely don’t need the PHB up front.  Having one or two at the table is really useful, but mostly you just need the stats on your class and race (which you can get online with a good google search), and your character sheet (you can download the PDF for free on the DnD website and just use that!  Or there are great websites like Orcpub2 that help you build it out, but they have limited information sometimes).

I’d say you also 100 percent don’t need the starter campaign stuff, either.  Literally googling ‘good starter 5e games’ will net you a ton of stuff.  Some you can pay for, like on the DM Guild (great place!), and there are a bunch of free ones (I just ran A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing, which is a famous 5e one-shot freely available).  Or if you want to make your own, go for it!  I homebrew (make up my own stuff) almost everything.