One of the best things about Dungeons & Dragons is that you don’t need a whole lot to play. It’s a hobby you certainly can spend quite a lot of money on if you choose, but very little is required to have a fulfilling gaming experience.

When you get down to the bare bones of it, all you need are some people to play with, some paper, a pencil, a set of dice, and the rulebooks. When I was a kid, my friends and I burned through entire summers without much more than that. Even now as an adult, I tend to keep things pretty simple.

If your style leans more combat heavy, a map and some markers to represent your characters can come in handy. A map can be easily drawn up with a sheet of graph paper or be as complex as a 3D model of a village. As for me, I’ve always favored a nice big whiteboard with graph lines.

As for markers, you can use coins, pieces from other board games you’ve got tucked away in your closet, or even spare dice if you’ve got enough of them lying around. If you’re using an upright whiteboard, different colored magnets make nice character tokens. I was big into Legos as a kid, so my friends and I liked to use Lego minifigures to represent our characters.

But if you really want to dive into a money hole, there’s no shortage of miniatures available for any combination of race and class you can think of. You can buy them painted or unpainted. For some, collecting and painting miniatures is as satisfying a part of the hobby as playing the game is.

As technology advances, even the aforementioned bare bones equipment isn’t strictly necessary. If you’ve got a stable internet connection, sites such as roll20.net allow you to play online. With a digital character sheet, gone are the need for paper and pencil. Easily customizable buttons and macros obviate the need for a physical set of dice.

Hell, you don’t even need any friends! Do a little digging, and you’ll be able to find groups all over the world who are willing to welcome a stranger to the party.