Starting Dungeons and Dragons?

Question

I've played it before, and found it fun and entertaining (Yes, I know I'm a nerd). I'm planning on going to a local hobby shop every once in a while, and playing a game or two with some regulars. Is there some type of starting set that comes with a rulebook I could buy? I noticed that there are a bunch of different rule books, are their any I could pass on and still play the game? How much money can I expect to spend?

Answer 1

The only book you absolutely have to have to just play the game is the Players Handbook but the three core rulebooks are the Players Handbook, the Dungeon Master's Guide and and the Monster Manual. If you're not going to be DMing a game, then you only NEED the PHB, but the other supplimental rule books are full of really fun options. (If you don't want to rupture your wallet, I'd sugest looking online at places like megadownload.net, and filestube.com or on limewire and other file sharing programs and downloading the not-so-legal PDF's for free. That is, of course, if you're using the 3.5 edition rules. I doubt that the 4th edition books have been scanned into pdf form yet.)