Welcome to a new way to learn how to play 5e Role-Playing Games.

This is not just another guide. This is a powerful, modern, and highly creative learning experience designed to help you understand how to play 5e Role-Playing Games step by step, using the free and basic rules available online, while also giving you tools, ideas, and skills that go far beyond the traditional way of learning the game.

How To Play 5e Role Playing Games

Access your first steps into the world of 5e Role-Playing Games and learn how to play.

Important Note:

Independent and Unofficial Educational Resource:

This website is an independent and unofficial educational resource created to help players learn and enjoy Dungeons & Dragons.
We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or officially connected to Wizards of the Coast LLC or Hasbro.
Our sole purpose is to introduce, teach, and expand awareness of the game to as many players as possible, driven by our passion for the hobby and our respect for its creators.
All educational content on this website is based on the System Reference Document (SRD) 5.2.1, which are released under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY-4.0). This allows us to use, adapt, and teach these rules freely, provided that proper attribution is given to the original creators.
Attribution Notice:

This work includes material from the System Reference Document 5.2.1 (SRD 5.2.1) by Wizards of the Coast LLC, available at:

https://www.dndbeyond.com/srd

The SRD 5.2.1 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY-4.0):

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode
We fully respect and recognize the work of Wizards of the Coast LLC, and we strongly encourage all players to support the official game by purchasing original materials such as the Player’s Handbook, Dungeon Master’s Guide, and Monster Manual, which are widely available online and in stores. Our mission is to share knowledge, celebrate creativity, and help grow the global community of players, while always giving proper credit to the creators and respecting their intellectual property.

16+

AGE RECOMENDATION 16+

Age Recommendation for Website Content (16+)

Our stories feature intricate plotlines, deep character development, and mature themes designed for a more experienced audience. While our content is suitable for readers 16 and older, we advise discretion, as some narratives may include complex themes, sophisticated language, and intense scenarios.

Parental guidance is recommended for readers under 16, and we encourage guardians to assess content suitability based on individual maturity levels.

This recommendation helps ensure an enjoyable and appropriate experience for all. We appreciate your understanding and cooperation.

Welcome to the

A roleplaying universe you can read, play and collect. It all starts here, and it all starts free.

Season One · 41 chapters

Multiverse-Z — Access the lore for free

Season One

Access the lore for free

The 41 chapters that open the Multiverse-Z. Brothers who became war, queens who founded worlds, paladins who chased the glory of the Kwasar, and a Moon that died one night.

Character chapters come with an audiobook, so you can listen while you do something else.

And this is only Season One. The story is still being written. Enter the Multiverse-Z

End of Season One. Season Two is already being written: new chapters and new characters are on the way.

How to play 5e Role-Playing Games — Access the full ruleset for free

Learn to play

The full ruleset, free

105 lessons that take you from your first die to the monster compendium. In order, without jargon, and without assuming you already know how to play.

Based on the official SRD 5.2.1, but told so it lands the first time. You don't need to buy anything to start.

Start with Lesson 0
Dragoncrest sculpted metal dice set for RPGsFrom £29.95

Roll it yourself

Dice worth the story

You have the rules. Now you need something to roll. Solid metal, sharp-edge resin, liquid core — full 7-piece sets, from the d20 down to the d4.

A d20 that lands with weight changes how the table reacts to a natural 20. That is the whole point.

  • 7-piece sets · d20 to d4
  • Solid metal & sharp-edge resin
  • Liquid core & sculpted dragons
  • 13 sets to choose from
See all the dice
Dragonflight Hollow Metal Dice Runeforge Metal Dice Cat Familiar Resin Dice Astral Sigil Metal Dice

Bring it to the table

The Multiverse-Z miniatures

The characters you just read about, in resin, on your table.

Faction Bundles — build your army

Faction bundles

Several miniatures in a single lot, at a better price. Build the whole army in one go.

See the factions
Hero Miniatures — discover the collection

Individual heroes

Your character — the one that hooked you while reading. One by one, with base and pose.

See the heroes
ARKADERS acrylic paint set — 24 colours for miniatures£39.95

Give it colour

24 colours, one miniature at a time

Your mini arrives in raw resin. This is the moment it stops being a model and becomes your character.

24 acrylics of 20 ml each, non-toxic, ready for brush or airbrush. Enough range to paint a whole faction without buying twice.

  • 24 colours × 20 ml
  • Brush & airbrush ready
  • Non-toxic
  • Made for 40–45 mm resin
Get the paint set Pick a mini first
The 24 ARKADERS acrylic pots Colour range, close up 20 ml dropper bottles Faction colours on painted resin
How to play 5e Role-Playing Games like a Prime Hero — Next-Gen Intelligence

Next level

Play like a Prime Hero

The rules are free up there. This is the other half: what separates a correct session from one your table remembers for years.

  • Custom 2D tokens. Turn your character into a real token for the table.
  • Print and paint. From file to finished miniature, step by step.
  • Crafting and terrain. Build the world, don't just describe it.
  • Next-Gen Intelligence. Use the tools that already exist today to prepare adventures, characters and maps in an afternoon.

Thinking outside the box isn't knowing more rules. It's bringing things to the table nobody expects.

Create my 2D tokens
ARKADERS miniature paint brushes — detail and drybrush setsFrom £9.95

The detail is in the tip

Brushes that reach the eyes

Micro-detail and drybrush sets, 15 pieces, in the sizes that actually matter on a 40 mm figure.

This is the difference between a miniature that is painted and one that is finished.

  • 15-piece set
  • Micro detail + drybrush
  • Acrylic & watercolour
  • Keeps its point
See the brushes
The complete 15-piece brush set Micro detail brushes Drybrush set Drybrushing a resin miniature

Digital download · nothing gets shipped

Colouring books you download, print and listen to

Two books that are not books. They are PDFs: you get the file in seconds, and you decide whether it becomes paper or stays on your tablet. Every sheet carries a QR portal that opens the lore behind that character — read it, or press play and listen while you colour.

It is a PDF, not a parcel. Nothing is posted to you. The file downloads the moment you get it, and you print the sheets yourself on an ordinary A4 home printer — one today, ten tomorrow, as many times as you like. Or print nothing at all and colour straight on a tablet.

  1. The Multiverse-Z colouring book as a downloadable PDF file

    Download the PDF

    No delivery and no tracking number. The full high-quality file lands on your phone, tablet or computer the moment it is yours — and it stays yours.

  2. A colouring sheet coming out of an ordinary home printer

    Print it at home

    A4, a normal home printer, normal paper. One sheet today, ten tomorrow, as many times as you like.

  3. Colouring a printed sheet with markers at a desk

    Colour it at your desk

    Pencils, markers, fine liners, gel pens — whatever you enjoy using. There is no correct kit.

  4. Colouring a sheet digitally on a tablet with a stylus

    Or colour it on your tablet

    Print nothing at all: open the sheet on a tablet, take a stylus and colour it digitally, anywhere.

  5. Scanning the QR portal opens the chapter on a phone

    Scan the QR on the sheet

    Every illustration hides a portal. Point your phone at it and that character's Secret Lore opens up.

  6. Listening to the audiobook with headphones while colouring

    Headphones on, press play

    Each chapter comes with a built-in audio player. Let the story run while you bring the character to life.

FreeHow to Play RPGs Like a Prime Hero, Volume Zero — cover

How to Play RPGs Like a Prime Hero — Volume Zero

Your way in. Black and white, one hundred per cent downloadable, built to be collected page by page.

  • Colouring sheets and collectible pages
  • A full sheet of printable Token Cards, assembly manual included
  • Magical QR codes that unlock lessons and lore
  • Made for phone and tablet — zoom in, nothing is hidden
Download Volume Zero — free
£9.95Multiverse-Z Volume One colouring book — cover

Multiverse-Z — Volume One

43 colouring sheets. 43 portals. Heroes, factions, worlds and conflicts from across the Multiverse-Z, drawn to be coloured.

  • 43 printable sheets, from quick ones to intricate ones
  • A QR portal on every single illustration
  • Lore to read — or to hear, as an audiobook
  • Print at home or colour it all on your tablet
Get Volume One · £9.95

This is what a sheet looks like. Top corner: the Secret Lore portal. Last one: the printable Token Cards that come inside Volume Zero.

Nerok colouring sheet with its Secret Lore QR portal Rhex colouring sheet with its Secret Lore QR portal Viktravian colouring sheet with its Secret Lore QR portal Zarek colouring sheet with its Secret Lore QR portal Printable Token Cards sheet, included inside Volume Zero

A story about two brothers that will make you want to learn how to play 5e role-playing games

Axel has been away a long time. Jayden hasn't left his screen in months. One evening back home, and one story, change that.

Keep reading their story

The same journey

Axel and Jayden started exactly where you are

One brother came home with a story. The other hadn't looked up from a screen in months. All it took was an evening, a handful of dice, and a world worth getting lost in.

That is the journey ARKADERS was built for. Here you'll find the complete 5e ruleset explained from zero in 105 free lessons, the 41 chapters of Multiverse-Z lore to disappear into, the miniatures of the characters you read about, and the next-generation tools that let you bring things to the table nobody expects.

But hold on — Primo explains it better.

And then

Primo takes it from here

The ARKADERS story told in panels. If you have a minute, scroll all the way down.

Keep reading the comic

Ready to begin this journey?

Click the link below — How to Play 5e Role-Playing Games — and start your journey for free. No account, nothing to buy: Lesson 0 is open right now, and the other 105 are waiting behind it.

How to Play 5e Role-Playing Games

ARKADERS is an independent, unofficial educational resource built on the System Reference Document 5.2.1, used under CC BY 4.0.
Not affiliated with Wizards of the Coast LLC or Hasbro. Recommended age 16+.