Inspired by Shadowdark’s streamlined mechanics, I was curious as to what people recall and could relay about Dungeons & Dragons rules. I wanted a sample of players from outside of TTRPG social media. My hypothesis was that the core of D&D mechanics were the six ability scores, hit points, rolling a d20 against a Difficulty Class, armor class, etc. I was very wrong. (See Core Rules Remembered for a summary.)

It was important to break out beyond a convenience sample of role players who could be found on social media, as those would be far more engaged with D&D. Instead, we conducted an omnibus survey of 1,253 U.S. adults recruited from online panels, asking which of eight common games they had ever played (Monopoly, Checkers, Uno, etc.). Of these, 16% had played Dungeons & Dragons. We then asked these 204 respondents a set of questions, some of all of them, some of a random subset. (Respondents can find too many open-ended questions tedious.)

Each player was asked, “If you were teaching someone else to play Dungeons & Dragons for the first time, what would you tell them?”

The major themes of their responses were around character creation, imagination, and learning by playing rather than by reading the rules.

The biggest theme, though only mentioned by about a sixth of respondents, was characters, especially character creation, with less of a focus on the mechanics and more on the possibilities. To my shock, only one player mentioned any of the six abilities (see below). 

Character creation:

  • “To play d and d, first make your character sheet. The dungeon master will lead you to different objectives. You can make decisions about what you want to do, but you’ll need to check your abilities on your character sheet and roll dice in order to determine whether you’ll be successful.” – Millennial 5e player, last played 2024-2025
  • “I would start teaching them how to build a character. I would ask what they want out of the game and their character.” – Millennial 5e player, last played 2026
  • “It’s an rpg. You make your own character with a stat spread. Most of the interactions are through dice rolls but a lot of the randomness can be taken out with gear, abilities and consumable items.” – Gen Z AD&D 2e player, last played 2024-2025

Imagination, creativity, collaboration, and storytelling were another theme:

  • “It’s math rocks with story-driven creative interactions.” – Millennial 5e player, 2026
  • “It’s a game where you use your imagination to explore worlds, with characters you create.” – Gen X 5e player, 2026
  • “Bring your imagination and a notebook.” – Gen X AD&D 2e player, before 2020

Many players emphasized learning as you go, starting simple:

  • “Start simple, learn and focus on having fun with storytelling rather than memorizing everything.” – Millennial 5e player, 2024-2025
  • “Get them involved in a campaign with people who already know how to play so they can learn on the fly.” – Gen Z 5e player, 2026
  • “Keep things simple in the beginning until they learn the aspects of the game.” – Gen X AD&D 2e player, before 2020

Only three players mentioned leveling up.

Character Classes 

We then asked all the past players an open-ended question about which types of characters they’d tell a new D&D player they could play. The number one answer was wizard (16%), then cleric (14%), elf and fighter (13% each), paladin (12%), and rogue (10%). In a four-way tie for ninth, amusingly, was dragon (7%)—yes, dragon: only two respondents mentioned dragonborn, the actual 5.5e character species. [I wish I’d asked which types of characters they remembered instead, for consistency with the next question.]

On a subsequent screen, we showed everyone a list of 29 classes and backgrounds, in random order, and asked which they remembered. The only five remembered by a majority of players were wizard (66%), warlock (58%), elf (56%), sorcerer (54%), and monk (52%)—a strong emphasis on magic.

Core Stats

We asked half the participants to name all six ability stats, and we asked the other half how they would explain stats to new players.

We asked half the respondents, “Which, if any, of the six core abilities, attributes or stats that describe characters do you remember?” To my shock, only 7% of past players could name all six stats, and only 31% could name at least one of the six stats. The most named: Strength (27%), Charisma (16%), Intelligence (15%), Wisdom (13%), Dexterity (12%), Constitution (9%). The two most common non-stats mentioned were Magic (5%) and Fire (5%). One response sounded like a player was describing an indie game, though no such game exists (yet): Power, Strength, Bravery, Kindness.

We asked the other half of respondents, “What would you tell new D&D players about abilities and scores like strength, intelligence, dexterity, wisdom, constitution, and charisma?”

Some emphasized how the stats constrained class choices, though two players mentioned picking the class first then making the stats support it:

  • “The stats you are strongest in will determine the classes it’s best for you to play.” – Gen X player, before 2020
  • “That each class of characters has strengths and weaknesses. Like cleric has high wisdom and fighter has more strength.” – Gen X B/X player, before 2020
  • “We play a roll system that allows [you] to roll then place where you want. Would show where to look at what each means for each class.” – Baby Boomer 5e player, 2026

Only a few players discussed how the stats were used in play:

  • “They impact your fights and actions and chances in those scenarios.” – Gen Z 5e player, 2026
  • “Each ability and score determines how your character survives.” – Gen X 5e player, before 2020
  • “When you’re in a situation where you need to use your abilities like strength for example, if you’re trying to push a heavy object, the Dungeon Master will roll a dice based on what your strength rating is to see if you achieve in moving the object.” – Gen X AD&D 2e player, before 2020

No one mentioned the 3- to 18-point range of stats.

Dice

We asked half the respondents, “What would you tell a new player about dice?”

“Math rocks are fun. The d20 is most important but you’ll need d6 and d8 mostly. A d10 if you’re a fighter, and you’ll really only need a d12 if you’re a barbarian; d4s are useful for some things but mostly for casters.” – Millennial 5e player, before 2020

Common answers were that different situations call for different dice and that dice determine outcomes, while some offered practical advice about dice. 

Different dice for different times:

  • “There are different dice for different situations, and they affect different things such as strength of attack, weapon, health, etc.” – Gen X AD&D 2e player, before 2020
  • “That there’s many different variations, the most common being the standard six-sided dice and the iconic twenty-sided dice.” – Gen Z player, 2020-2023
  • “You need a variety of dice to help determine different types of chances and rolls of probability.” – Gen X AD&D 2e player, before 2020

Outcomes:

  • “I would tell them that the dice are the shards of fate that decide the success or failure of your character’s actions.” – Millennial 5e player, 2026
  • “Dice are used to decide outcomes, especially the 20-sided d20. You roll to see if your actions succeed or fail.” – Millennial 5e player, 2024-2025
  • “Dice are used to determine whether abilities or attacks are successful.” – Gen X AD&D 2e player, before 2020

Practical advice:

  • “You need dice to play. If you’re playing with seasoned players they will have extras.” – Millennial 5e player, 2020-2023
  • “Expect to develop quite a collection eventually. Don’t let them stay on the floor, as stepping on them isn’t at all pleasant.” – Gen X player, last played before 2020
  • “The prettier the better and use your own.” – Millennial OD&D player, last played before 2020
  • “Get cute ones that roll well.” – Millennial AD&D 2e player, 2024-2025

Some superstitions:

  • “Dice will betray you. Get more than one set.” – Millennial 5e player, 2026
  • “Treat them nice. They will return the favor.” – Millennial AD&D 2e player, last played before 2020
  • “It is simply a matter of luck.” – Baby Boomer OD&D player, last played before 2020

All of the respondents were asked what they associated with each type of die—

  • d4: small damage, daggers, and other weapons.
  • d6: damage or just being the common or standard die.
  • d8: medium or moderate damage.
  • d10: damage and percentages.
  • d12: high or heavy damage.
  • d20: determining success or failure and with combat and skill checks.
  • percentile dice: random events.

I then asked them which die they most associate with D&D: 37% said the d20, 22% the d6, and 12% each the d4 or d8. Ironically, an even 10% chose the d10. Only 04% choose percentile dice.

Half were asked what they would tell new D&D players about modifiers when it comes to dice rolls:

  • “While your dice roll represents your raw potential, the modifier is the actual value you add to or subtract from your d20 rolls based on your abilities.” – Baby Boomer B/X player, before 2020
  • “Modifiers are based on your core stats and are what you add to the d20 roll to determine how things go.” – Millennial 5e player, before 2020
  • “Numerical values added to dice rolls to reflect a character’s capabilities.” – Baby Boomer 4e player, 2020-2023

No one mentioned in any open-ended question the advantage/disadvantage mechanic (roll two d20 and either keep the best or the worst).

Combat

A third of respondents were asked, “What would you tell a new player about how combat works in Dungeons & Dragons?” 

“That it sucks, and you should do homebrew.” – Gen X 3.5e player, before 2020

Ouch. The key themes from the other players asked this were around the dice mechanics, that combat is turn-based and structured, and to be creative and strategic.

The dice mechanics:

  • “Take turns, roll to hit, then deal damage if you succeed.” – Millennial 5.5e player, 2024-2025
  • “Roll the d20, add your strength or dex mod, plus your proficiency bonus. If it’s a hit, roll your damage die plus your strength or dex bonus. I tend to advise new players not to play casters.” – Millennial 5e player, before 2020
  • “Almost all of the attacks are based on dice rolls. You have to roll high enough for an attack to be successful.” – Gen Z AD&D 2e player, 2024-2025
  • “I would break down the dice system. I would explain the actions they can take. I would review with them how it relates to the abilities they picked out.” – Millennial 5e player, 2026

Turns:

  • “Turn-based, 6-second round system starting with an initiative roll.” – Gen Z 5e player, 2026
  • “Everyone gets a turn to do their thing, but it’s easy to get lost in what you’re doing so it’s important you pay attention to what other players are doing.” – Millennial 5e player, 2020-2023
  • “Combat usually takes around 6 seconds to finish.” – Millennial 5e player, before 2020 [If only!]

Others commented on strategy, decision making, and creativity:

  • “I’d explain that the dungeon master instructs on what enemy we’re facing, and we have to decide how to deal with it.” – Millennial 5e player, 2020-2023
  • “They need a strategy to not die or get injured.” – Millennial AD&D 2e player, 2026
  • “Be creative and if you can say it, it can be done.” – Millennial AD&D 2e player, before 2020

What wasn’t discussed much also fascinated me:

  • Only three players mentioned hit points or hp.
  • Only one player mentioned armor class.
  • Only one player mentioned that weapons were different from one another.

Explaining critical hits and misses was mostly straightforward, though no one offered a complete explanation:

  • “Crit hit = extra damage, crit miss = big failure.” – Millennial 5.5e player, 2024-2025
  • “D20 on the 20-sided dice is a critical hit. D1 on the 20-sided dice is a critical miss.” – Baby Boomer B/X player, before 2020
  • “They are more powerful hits or misses. Not guaranteed but you do your best.” – Millennial 5e player, 2026
  • “Critical hit is when substantial damage is done. Critical miss is when you injure yourself.” – Gen Z 5e player, 2026
  • “Critical Hit is when a natural 20 is rolled on a d20 attack, resulting in an automatic hit and doubled damage dice.” – Baby Boomer 4e player, 2020-2023
  • “Critical hit and critical miss are associated with the extremes of dice rolls and do more damage than normal.” – Gen X AD&D 2e player, before 2020
  • “They make the game more exciting.” – Millennial 5e player, 2026

Skill Checks

A third of participants were asked about skill checks. 

Skill checks are about success or failure:

  • “Rolling a die, usually a d20, and adding a character’s skill to see if an action succeeds or fails.” – Millennial 5e player, 2024-2025
  • “Core mechanics and challenges, difficulty class, degrees of success or failure.” – Millennial 5e player, 2026
  • “Strength and skill is used to determine success when attempting a challenging task.” – Baby Boomer 4e player, 2020-2023
  • “Rolling a d20 to see if you succeed.” – Millennial 5.5e player, 2024-2025

Some players just listed skills or activities:

  • “Perception. Intimidation. Persuasion. Athletics. Acrobatics.” – Gen Z 5e player, 2026
  • “Perception, stealth, insight and persuasion.” – Millennial 5e player, 2026
  • “Fighting, looting, thieving, searching pretty much everything.” – Millennial 5e player, 2024-2025

Spells

“What would you tell a new player about spells?” 

Some players mentioned their power:

  • “They’re complex and wording lets you do crazy stuff if your DM lets you.” – Millennial 5e player, 2026
  • “They can change the trajectory of the game.” – Millennial player, 2026
  • “They are fun and can actually make you stronger.” – Gen X AD&D 2e player, before 2020
  • “A fireball can clear out a room of enemies. There’s an almost infinite amount of uses for magic.” – Gen Z AD&D 2e player, 2024-2025

Others their limitations:

  • “Spells must be from the class list.” – Gen Z player, 2026
  • “Magic works differently for every class and some subclasses, so make sure you check this out before choosing spells.” – Gen X player, last played before 2020
  • “That they cost a lot to cast and to save the big ones for the right moment.” – Millennial player, 2020-2023
  • “That certain spells require certain conditions.” – Millennial 5e player, 2020-2023

Despite the fact that the most recalled classes were wizard (66%), warlock (58%), elf (56%), sorcerer (54%), none of these classes were mentioned by these names in this discussion. Other notes—

  • Only one respondent mentioned specific classes: “Clerics and magic users cast spells.” – Gen X B/X player, last played before 2020.
  • Only one mentioned slots or cantrips: “Spells are magical actions divided into cantrips and leveled slots.” – Millennial 3e player, last played before 2020
  • No one mentioned forgetting spells.

0 HP

Only three players had mentioned hit points or hp in the discussion of combat. A subset were asked, “What happens when a character reaches 0 hit points?”

About 40% of asked players mentioned death or dying. About two out of every ten players thought the player would immediately die, while the other two out of ten mentioned opportunities to live:

  • “Characters die and are removed from the game at 0 hit points.” – Millennial 5e player, 2024-2025
  • “They either die or are just removed from battle.” – Gen Z player, 2020-2023
  • “Character will be disabled or die.” – Gen X 4e player, before 2020

Anyone who mentioned “unconscious” also mentioned death or dying:

  • “They go unconscious and if they get hit a couple more times then they’ll die. They can also die if they roll badly on their turn after that.” – Millennial 5e player, 2020-2023
  • “Go unconscious and will die if [they] fail saving throws.” – Gen Z 5e player, 2026
  • “Unconscious and need to make death saving throws.” – Millennial 5e player, 2020-2023

About one in ten said the player was out of the game or battle or lost:

  • “They are out of the game.” – Gen X 5e player, last played before 2020
  • “They are out of the game but they can come back.” – Gen Z AD&D 2e player, 2020-2023
  • “They can no longer engage in battle.” – Gen X 5e player, before 2020

About four in ten didn’t remember or know. The remaining one in ten had a grab bag of answers:

  • “He’s in a lot of trouble.” – Baby Boomer player, before 2020
  • “Their spell is out.” – Gen Z 3e player, 2020-2023
  • “They can buy lives.” – Baby Boomer 4e player, 2020-2023

Saving Throws

A third were asked about “saving throws,” but only five or six of the players knew the term:

  • “They happen to avoid bad effects of spells and some attacks.” – Millennial 5e player, last played before 2020
  • “Rolls to avoid harm.” – Millennial OD&D player, 2026
  • “D20 is to be safe from traps and spells.” – Gen Z player, 2026

The lack of awareness of this one really surprised me, as I really resonated with how Freebooters on the Frontier 2e reconceptualized Dungeon World’s Defy Danger as “Make a Saving Throw”: it seemed like a core concept to D&D.

Encumbrance

“What would you tell a new player about encumbrance?”

Three players were against these rules:

  • “Only used by sadists and for dragging PCs.” – Millennial 5e player, last played before 2020
  • “Nothing, I don’t really use that rule.” – Millennial 5e player, 2026
  • “I don’t use this in our homebrew.” – Gen X 3.5e player, last played before 2020

Others had simple explanations:

  • “I would tell a new player about encumbrance is that it’s the inventory limit for their character. It tracks how much gear they can carry before they start slowing down or becoming tired.” – Millennial 5e player, 2026
  • “Rule regulating how much weight a character carries, impacting their speed and agility.” – Millennial B/X player, 2020-2023
  • “It slows you down and decreases your stats.” – Millennial 5e player, 2024-2025
  • “Depends upon coins acquired or used.” – Baby Boomer OD&D player, before 2020
  • “It limits how much you can carry.” – Millennial 5.5e player, 2024-2025
  • “How it affects their endurance.” – Gen Z 5e player, 2026
  • “How much gear you can carry.” – Millennial OD&D player, 2026

In retrospect, I probably should have used the term “carrying capacity,” as that is the term of art in the D&D SRD 5.2, which does not use the term “encumbrance.”

Core Rules Remembered

The core mechanic that past and current players focused on was rolling a d20 to hit a target number, with no one mentioning advantage or critical hits (before being asked about them).

Less than a third of players could name even a single ability, and stats were seen more as predictors of your class. Unaided, the classes most often mentioned for new players were wizard (16%), cleric (14%), elf and fighter (13% each), paladin (12%), and rogue (10%). The classes recalled from a list (aided recall) focused on spellcasters, though little was remembered about spells except that they were class-specific and powerful. 

People remembered that combat took turns and that dropping to 0 hp could result in death.

Playing Experience

Players were disproportionately male (20% of men had ever played D&D, 13% of women had) and disproportionately Millennial (23%) and Gen Z (24%) rather than Gen X (14%) or Boomer (7%). Likelihood of being a player didn’t vary by household income.

One out of five respondents have played D&D this year. (I would have loved to have done a survey of just such players, but it would have required a survey of 6,000 U.S. adults to identify 200 current players.) Another 23% of respondents last played in 2024 or 2025, while 15% played in 2020 to 2023. (I felt like COVID lockdowns were an inflection point for the TTRPG industry, so I simply asked respondents if they’d played before 2020: 41% had.)

When they were actively playing, most respondents played frequently. About half played at least once a week, including one in four who played multiple times a week. Another quarter played a few times a month, and about one in four played once a month or less.

Typical sessions ran two to three hours for half of respondents (53%). Sessions of four hours or more were reported by about three in ten, and a small but notable group—roll 1 on a d20—played marathon sessions of six hours or longer. Only one in ten played sessions of an hour or less.

Only 7% have last played the 2024 edition, now known as 5.5e, but 35% have played the original fifth edition (2014). The next most popular were 4th Edition at 13% and Basic/Expert at 12%. Advanced D&D 2nd Edition (11%), 3rd Edition (8%), and v. 3.5 (7%) were each well represented. Only one player had last played Holmes Basic.

Taken together, respondents skew toward lapsed but experienced players who were active participants when they played.

The online survey was fielded from April 10 to 12, 2026. The data was weighted to the U.S. population by 9 demographic questions. The credibility interval for closed-end questions answered by all respondents is ±4 percentage points. Some verbatim quotes were lightly edited for grammar or punctuation.

Photo credit: Dungeons & Dragons Player’s Handbook (2024 edition) book cover, © 2024 Wizards of the Coast. Dungeons & Dragonsis a registered trademark of Wizards of the Coast.