Besides this rulebook, you’ll want a notebook for writing your character’s information in and for remembering details about your character’s adventures. You’ll want a pencil so that you can write things down and easily change them and a pencil sharpener to keep your pencil sharp.
You will also need a set of dice. Look for a 10-die set: it will include one each of all the dice, plus an extra ten-sided die (for rolling d100) and three extra six-sided dice (for rolling abilities). You can also buy your dice separately. You’ll want four six-sided dice, one eight-sided die, one ten-sided die, one ten-sided die with tens on it, and one twenty-sided die. If you’re a completist, a sorceror, or an Adventure Guide, you’ll also want a four-sided die and a twelve-sided die. Any game store will have them.
Go to http://www.godsmonsters.com/Dice/ for a demonstration of what these dice look like and how to read them.
There must be at least three players, four is usually best, and five is fine. Four is often best, because it provides the opportunity to roleplay a narrative of three unique heroes: warrior, thief, and mage.
One of the players will be the Adventure Guide. The Adventure Guide will present the adventures to the rest of the players, who will take the role of heroes in this fantasy world.
If the characters enter a town, the people living in that town are the Guide’s responsibility. If the characters open a trapped chest, the Guide not only knows what the trap is, but also what treasures or horrors are inside the chest. The Guide may choose to use treasures, horrors, towns, or complete adventures that were written by someone else. But the effectiveness and tenor of the adventure remain the Guide’s responsibility.
This is not to say that players cannot offer input to the Guide, nor that the Guide may not request such input. Both are recommended. But in the end, the Guide is the world that the characters interact with.