D&D 5E The new Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set - and online tools?

[darjr]

at least it'll be availbe

 

[ExploderWizard]

And finally, most importantly - if EVERYONE can create characters for the game with or without A COMPUTER OR INTERNET CONNECTION then by definition the starter set isn't missing that element of the game, because you already have it. Somehow people keep avoiding dealing with that issue. It doesn't matter if it is in a box or outside a box when you first get it - all that matters is whether you have it, or do not have it.

Fixed.

 

[Majoru Oakheart]

Good to know that expecting tools to use in a game supposedly about unlocking your imagination is regarded as hyperbolic now. Its not as if ready to run content isn't welcomed. It should be supplemental to the foundations of the basic game (which is to make stuff up) instead of replacing it.

Coming at it from a new player's point of view, which do you think is easier to learn:
"Here are 100 different monsters, here are rules on how to create encounters, how difficult those encounters should be, how often you should have them, what all these special abilities do, what kinds of stories you should make up, what makes up an RPG, how player abilities work, and a list of 100 different variations on class/race/class features/spells/equipment. Use this in order to make up a storyline the same way that authors write novels but make sure you follow these rules to get there. Then help your 5 friends make up characters using these rules. They'll have a lot of questions so make sure you understand the rules well so you can answer them. Oh, if you're having difficulty with this process, you can also get some ready to run content."

VS

"Hand these characters to your friends, let them read them until they understand what abilities they have. Then start reading out loud right here and follow the instructions as you go along."

Next I suppose comes the 'you are not the target audience bit'.

You aren't. You've played the game before. You know what an RPG is and you like to customize the game to suit yourself already. You are not just an experienced player, you an an advanced player.

The starter set is not for people who like to make up stuff they think will be fun.

That is precisely correct. The starter set is for those people who have no idea what exactly they are even supposed to make up(or even that they were supposed to make up something in the first place). How do you make up a story about elves when you have no idea if elves are tall or short. You have no idea what elven culture is like. You have no idea even what an elf IS or if they are even supposed to be involved in your story. You don't know if the adventure is supposed to involve fighter orcs, reading books at a library, or playing on a slip and slide in the front yard of someone's house. You're a completely blank slate coming into this hobby in terms of "I've heard this D&D thing is fun...now explain how that works."

To me that's about the same as saying "This Starter Movie Kit" doesn't explain how to properly frame and light shots. Instead it just gives me a list of movies to watch that it thinks I'll find interesting and directs me to a course on directing once I've watched those movies.

There is a spectrum in D&D that ranges in the same way movies do: People who watch movies, people who watch lots of movies, people who watch obscure movies, people who film family events, people who make their own amateur movies in their backyard with their friends, people who make youtube movies that 100 people watch, people who make independent films that get released at Sundance, people who make blockbuster Hollywood movies, people who are critically acclaimed award winning directors or producers.

The amount someone needs to know to watch a movie is completely different than the amount someone needs to know the be an award winning director. Also, the amount someone needs to know about filming is even different between what you need to know to film a party with your friends and filming a movie that will be released commercially.

The Starter Set is aiming at the low end.

 

[Riley]

So at the ACD Open House, WotC stated there will be a document on their website that will give the info to generate a BASIC character, emphasis his (Chris Lindsay)

And I'm fine with it only letting you generate basic characters; I am totally down with waiting for the full book for the full suite of options to be available.

I am in favor of excerpted, basic character creation rules.

 

[sidonunspa]

Fixed.

Or 1 person has or knows someone with both a computer and a printer..

I know that combination is rare in toads day and age...

Must be the a game for the 1%

 

[Riley]

Good thing, if true. Now to turn it into a nice, printed book(let).

...this will be easy enough, cheap, and probably not cost more than it would raise the price of the Starter Set.

Lulu? I'd be looking to print a staple-bound book with a cover. I tried uploading a PDF of something or another to Lulu a few years back, and I found it to be a painful and ultimately fruitless process. I hope it has gotten easier.

 

[Riley]

Or 1 person has or knows someone with both a computer and a printer..

I know that combination is rare in toads day and age...

I used to print lots of stuff, until I found Evernote and an iPad. Now my printer has been dead and lifeless for over a year, and I haven't missed it.

Yet: even though I now prefer an iPad to water-soluble looseleaf printouts of PDF's... I still prefer books over either of the previous options. Weird, I know.

 

[the Jester]

Lulu? I'd be looking to print a staple-bound book with a cover. I tried uploading a PDF of something or another to Lulu a few years back, and I found it to be a painful and ultimately fruitless process. I hope it has gotten easier.

I usually just go to my friendly neighborhood FedEx Office (used to be Kinkos). But I have a very good idea of what's possible there, since I used to work at one.

But yeah, I'll probably print it in BW, either bookletized (folded in half and stapled in the center) or maybe coil bound, like a spiral notebook.

 

[sidonunspa]

I used to print lots of stuff, until I found Evernote and an iPad. Now my printer has been dead and lifeless for over a year, and I haven't missed it.

Yet: even though I now prefer an iPad to water-soluble looseleaf printouts of PDF's... I still prefer books over either of the previous options. Weird, I know.

I use my windows tablet.....

But apparently some people freak out at the idea of a PDF....


Thus my printer/computer combination suggestion

Crazy, I know

 

[ExploderWizard]

Use this in order to make up a storyline the same way that authors write novels but make sure you follow these rules to get there.

Ugh. This needs to be purged from gameplay explanations for the sake of the universe.

That is precisely correct. The starter set is for those people who have no idea what exactly they are even supposed to make up(or even that they were supposed to make up something in the first place). How do you make up a story about elves when you have no idea if elves are tall or short. You have no idea what elven culture is like. You have no idea even what an elf IS or if they are even supposed to be involved in your story. You don't know if the adventure is supposed to involve fighter orcs, reading books at a library, or playing on a slip and slide in the front yard of someone's house. You're a completely blank slate coming into this hobby in terms of "I've heard this D&D thing is fun...now explain how that works."

To me that's about the same as saying "This Starter Movie Kit" doesn't explain how to properly frame and light shots. Instead it just gives me a list of movies to watch that it thinks I'll find interesting and directs me to a course on directing once I've watched those movies.

There is a spectrum in D&D that ranges in the same way movies do: People who watch movies, people who watch lots of movies, people who watch obscure movies, people who film family events, people who make their own amateur movies in their backyard with their friends, people who make youtube movies that 100 people watch, people who make independent films that get released at Sundance, people who make blockbuster Hollywood movies, people who are critically acclaimed award winning directors or producers.

The amount someone needs to know to watch a movie is completely different than the amount someone needs to know the be an award winning director. Also, the amount someone needs to know about filming is even different between what you need to know to film a party with your friends and filming a movie that will be released commercially.

The Starter Set is aiming at the low end.

I think you may be worried to much about getting everything "right". I feel it is far more important for new players to explore their own creativity rather than get playing the game "correct" by the numbers.

Who cares what elves are "officially"? A child picking up this game could envision them as Vulcans or Gelflings or anything else that strikes their fancy. Some of the most memorable fun early play memories I have are of playing 'wrong'. How do these hit points work? Every time you kill a monster, you get another hit point. Sounds good.

When it comes to playing elf games I'll take creative imaginative play over getting it right any day of the week.