What Starter Sets Are As Good As The Full game?

[Reynard]

Have you ever encountered an RPG starter set that was as good, or even better, than the whole game -- or, at least, worked great as a standalone game without all the extras from the full set?

I'll go ahead an name the low hanging fruit: the Shadowdark Quickstart is perfect as is.

 

[Juxtapozbliss]

Blade Runner Electric Dreams— at least based on the Foundry Module, I don’t have the physical set. It has most of the core rules built in to it. I can’t say 100% but it has a lot. Since I also own the core module, there are probably some not included but I think you could address most situations without the core module.

 

[thullgrim]

The Cubicle 7 Starter Boxes for both AoS: Soulbound and WHFRP 4e are fantastic. They have pregenerates characters tied to the box set adventures. Complete setting with tons of plot hooks. They are fantastic to either run as a standalone mini campaign or as a launching point to the larger game.

 

[Morrus]

If you’re just after a one shot I’d argue that starter sets are probably almost always better than the full game.

For a long campaign, maybe not so much. Depends!

 

[payn]

PF1 Beginners box was excellent for folks looking to keep the complexity down. I am not aware if the PF2 version kept that course.

 

[Jahydin]

PF1 Beginners box was excellent for folks looking to keep the complexity down. I am not aware if the PF2 version kept that course.

PF1 really set the bar high for all other beginner box sets. Not sure if anything has come close besides Free Leagues offerings.

 

[Jahydin]

Everything I've seen from Free League honestly.

Solid components like world maps and unique dice that are beneficial to future campaigns, well written adventures that showcase how games should be prepped and ran, and their self-contained enough to be fantastic stand-alones if the desire to expand out isn't there.

 

[Aldarc]

Fabula Ultima's "Press Start." It is just a quick start and not a fancy box set. It has no doodads, minis, dice, or anything. But the game creator doesn't have the budget of a game company like Hasbro, Paizo, Chaosium, or Free League either.

However, it is hands down one of the absolute best quick starts that I have ever read and run for beginners due to how it gradually teaches the game to complete novices to roleplaying games, whether they are the player or the GM. For context, my partner had only previously played a tiny handful of one-shot adventures in other games, but I gave them Press Start, and they ran it without a hitch.

 

[Juxtapozbliss]

Fabula Ultima's "Press Start." It is just a quick start and not a fancy box set. It has no doodads, minis, dice, or anything. But the game creator doesn't have the budget of a game company like Hasbro, Paizo, Chaosium, or Free League either.

However, it is hands down one of the absolute best quick starts that I have ever read and run for beginners due to how it gradually teaches the game to complete novices to roleplaying games, whether they are the player or the GM. For context, my partner had only previously played a tiny handful of one-shot adventures in other games, but I gave them Press Start, and they ran it without a hitch.

I need to remember this because I’d like to learn that game at some point. Do you know if it’s available as a Foundry module?

 

[Argyle King]

PF1 Beginners box was excellent for folks looking to keep the complexity down. I am not aware if the PF2 version kept that course.

+1

The Pathfinder Beginner's box was really good. I liked the adventure that came with it too.