What's D&D?

So, you don't know what D&D is? What's up with that? Anyway. Basically, D&D is an RPG Board Game.

Your Character
You can make or play as a character. D&D is usually in medieval mythical (Lord of the Rings) time era, so the basic races are.
Human, Dwarf, Elf, and Halfling

You can choose a class for your character, this is basically their profession. They include.
Warrior, Ranger, Barbarian, Monk, Rogue, Druid, Wizard, Sorcerer, and Cleric

These are the basic D&D races and classes, and are best for beginners. Things can get more complicated with Psionic series and multiclassing, but we rarely do that.

So, how is this different from a regular board or video game? Very different!

Supplies
First, you need a DM ALWAYS!

DM (Dungeon Master) is the narrator, main god, and mind of every NPC and Monster. He tells you where you are, who is there, and what you are there to do. He creates the worlds, dungeons, and scenarios. Whenever you want to do something, he backs you up. DMs must be creative, flexible, and D&D intellegent.

Make sure you have D&D dice, D4, D6, D8, D10, D12, D20, and D100. Chances are, the DM handles that.

Next, you need Character Sheets. These are referrences to your character's stats, and there are A LOT of them, but that's enough for another post.

If you're new at this, you should also have a Player Manual, Monster Manual, and Character tokens. These can be figurines or markers. Something to identify your character's location.

Finally, paper.

What can you do in D&D?
ANYTHING! This is more than just Dungeons. You can explore towns, forests, churches, and even other worlds. Creative DMs have taken D&D out of the classic time, going to future, anime, and (my favorite) Mario World.

How do you play D&D?
You use the dice and your mind. Roll the D&D dice (as indicated by the DM) to see if a move is activated. Wether you're attacking, dodging, spellcasting, bluffing, jumping, or any other skills. You will roll the dice and add the Character Stat indicated by DM (depending on what to do).

You'll need strategy and some creativeness. Chances are, the DM will give you multiple choices, you should figure out what to do.

Conclusion
D&D is a role playing board game allowing to do many different things. If you are interested in any more information, let me know.