I have just piked up the D&D starter set, what is the next logical step in the word of D&D?

What word? What’s “piked”?

the most important component of D&D is the players, and most specifically the DM. You’d need at least 3 people to play (the game is meant for 5 but I’d say 4 is best for starters). And one of them has to be really experienced and willing to be the DM. This person must know the rules pretty well, have a lot of imagination, patience, and good social skills. He must be fair and make sure to balance every aspect of the game. No wonder good DMs offer their services professionally.

As far as the material components go, a DMs guide for him and just one PH for everyone else should be enough, though the 3-book set seems a good idea (I assume the 3rd book is the Monster Manual). We always play with miniatures (I actually collect them so I have hundreds), but you don’t really have to. It’s good to visualise the situation by using a map and some sort of marker for your players, but these could be anything, from beans to some toy soldier you found in the attic. But of course real miniatures add to the atmosphere :)

oh and I assume you already have dice, right? Might be a good idea to have some extra d4 and d6 for the wizards, as well as several d20 (we all have our own sets).

In my personal experience, the rules the books provide don’t matter nearly as much as the imagination needed to run the game. Without a good story and interesting characters, without a vibrant setting and a good DM who can give you the feeling of crawling through an ancient dungeon, it’s just a tactical miniatures game.

If you plan on DMing, I would buy a published Campaign Setting, such as Eberron or Planescape. Hell, steal this one, which I’ve been working on for some time (and hope to update soon). Or, if you’re feeling really ambitious, create your own!

What our DM does (and I have also tried and it works) is take a video game that he knows well (for example Icewind Dale) and turn it back into a P&P adventure. He knows the world and its feel pretty well because he’s been in it while playing the game, but at the same time changes a few things so that those of us that may have played it won’t recognise it.

My personal favourite is Might&Magic VIII. I don’t know the whole world by heart, but I know the basic plot and use the maps from the game (I already had them on a website I made for the game back then). And you can also make things up as you go along without having to look it all up all the time.

You could obviously use a movie you liked or a book you’ve read. Anything, as long as you know it well.

a GREAT published one is Rapan-Athuk(or however its spelled).

But as far as starting to play D&D you need to find a good group who will show you the ropes, you dont always need books to be able to play, dont get me wrong, it helps, but for the first 2 years i played i didnt have my own. Jumping straight into DM’ing without knowing the rules sets you up to be abused by older players, try to play a few campaigns first to get a good grasp on character build, and how they react with the world in general.