D&D 5E Street date for D&D Next Starter Game is July 15

[Obryn]

Damn I sure hope they get this right this time. If this is another "levels 1 and 2 only, one crappy adventure, no character creation rules, and plenty of errata" debacle like almost every other starter set Wizards has ever made, I will be genuinely depressed. I tend to get excited about starter sets for some reason.

Yeah, calling it a litmus test is a bit much, but if they fumble this one, I'll be a lot more skeptical about the final product.

I mean, D&D hasn't had a good starter set since the early 80's. That's crazy. It needs to have...

* good character creation rules, with the understanding that it's going to be narrow and somewhat limited
* at least 3, but preferably 4 or 5 full levels.
* a good adventure which shows off the system
* advice and rules on how to run the game
* a good list of both monsters and treasures, enough to keep things exciting for a while
* and most importantly a big section on how to run the game and make your own adventures.

Basically - is it a half-assed advertisement for something else, or is it a full, simple, playable game, suitable for both kids and adults for dozens of hours of play as opposed to, like, four?

 

[thalmin]

Be realistic with expectations of what will be in the set. The full set of PHB, DMG, and MM will probably run about $120 to $150. A set of dice about $4 or more, an adventure $10 for a short adventure, $20 for a multilevel one, $5 to $10 for a small set of tokens (if included at all). So how much can be included in a $20 starter set?

 

[Obryn]

Be realistic with expectations of what will be in the set. The full set of PHB, DMG, and MM will probably run about $120 to $150. A set of dice about $4 or more, an adventure $10 for a short adventure, $20 for a multilevel one, $5 to $10 for a small set of tokens (if included at all). So how much can be included in a $20 starter set?

It's more the book content and approach. I think it's reasonable to use the old Basic set as a metric, though. Apart from hoping for a few more levels, that's pretty much what I'm describing.

 

[thalmin]

The price of the original Basic set was the same as the PHB. It's got to be a balancing act to include enough to be a meaningful example of the game but be inexpensive enough for people to give a strange new game a try.

 

[thalmin]

Also, Basic D&D was a full game on it's own.
I hope they do include rules for character creation and the first couple levels. And Maybe publish a continuation of the adventure.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

Also, Basic D&D was a full game on it's own.
I hope they do include rules for character creation and the first couple levels. And Maybe publish a continuation of the adventure.

First i want to say thank you for the information


Second i think 3 levels of 4 classes with 3 races all watered down to almost no choices could work with a good advenyire

 

[el_stiko]

Again, this is the best birthday present ever. If only I could get an instant download of the PDF on July 15th when I pre-order the physical box...but maybe only Evil Hat does cool things like that.

Oh, and I found this:

http://www.lionrampantimports.com/product.htm?Product=WTCA9216&Source=Category&Category=PRE ORDER

 

[Sword of Spirit]

It it's really intended to work as a true intro, then it really needs to have a set of dice. The great thing about the old Red Box from the 80s is that you not only got the text you need, you also got dice and (plastic) miniatures. You were good to go right out of the box (literally).

 

[Scrivener of Doom]

Damn I sure hope they get this right this time. If this is another "levels 1 and 2 only, one crappy adventure, no character creation rules, and plenty of errata" debacle like almost every other starter set Wizards has ever made, I will be genuinely depressed. I tend to get excited about starter sets for some reason.

Agreed.

I sincerely hope it uses the same iteration of the ruleset that the PHB et al uses.

 

[Unwise]

I am confident that this will be just like the Edge of the Empire Starter Kit. A set of dice, some basic rules, an adventure and a bunch of pre-gen characters with tick boxes for going up levels. When you hit level 3, you tick either this box or that one. D&DNext kind of lends itself to that simplification anyway, so it need not be overly lacking. I bet it includes a link to get more adventures and characters online, kind of drawing people into the D&D web.