Yep, I actually got 3 in my trip to the End. The first one took me I’d guess about 40 minutes, then the next two took me no more than 10 minutes.
To be fair though most of that first 40 minutes was spent just walking to the first end city, after that I found 2 more end cities right next to the first one. Also all 3 end cities had ships, which I think is pretty lucky?
You can get the Basic Rules online for free, which are enough to get started. If you want to get deeper into D&D though you’ll have to buy the Player’s Handbook, and probably also Tasha’s Cauldron and Xanathar’s Guide.
Then you should figure out if you want to play online or in-person. It’s much easier to find people to play with online but they don’t have the “vibe” of in-person games.
To find a group, there are several Discord servers, including the official one; there’s also r/LFG, though I’m not sure if they’re participating in the blackout or not; and you can look on Roll20 for online games, though from what I’ve heard that’s not a good option. For in-person games I can’t really help you.
If you’re going to play online, you’ll have to pick a VTT- virtual table top. Roll20 is the most popular one, and is quite simple. Foundry is the best one, but costs money. I don’t know much about the rest.
I think that for a beginner, a “one-shot” is a good way to learn the game. Basically a one-shot is an adventure that you’re supposed to finish in one session, instead of a campaign that might take dozens of sessions over months. It lets you dip your toes in without too much commitment. I’m part of this discord server for one-shots that is pretty good.
Also, consider that D&D is far from the only TTRPG (Table Top RolePlaying Game) system out there. Pathfinder 2E is the main competitor to D&D, it’s a pretty similar D20 based system, but it’s rules are more comprehensive and it’s run by a much better company (D&D’s parent company has done a lot of shady shit, including charging 3rd party creators ridiculously high royalty fees, mistreating their staff, and sending Pinkerton mercenaries to threaten a Youtuber who leaked a new expansion.)
Oh and also all the rules for PF2 are available completely for free with no strings attatched on Archive of Nethys.
Check. A basic mob farm was one of my earliest builds, though I’ll have to upgrade at some point.
Check. I live right next to a desert so I’ve got all the sand I need. But what do I need sand for, actually?
Check, though that definitely needs upgrading.
TIL phantom farms are a thing, but also I’ve already got mending so that isn’t much of a concern.