I am one of those people who freaks out at the idea of (just) a PDF. Crazy, I know.
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D&D 5E The new Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set - and online tools?
- Thread starter MerricB
- Start date
I am one of those people who freaks out at the idea of (just) a PDF. Crazy, I know.
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.
My last experiences with Kinko's were in the late 90's, when they wouldn't think of touching anything that even might be copyrighted.
sidonunspa
First Post
sidonunspa
First Post
You can take a flash drive/chip and print it on your own..
Once printed, they will bind it
I use to work at kinkos
The have a friend print it out for you...
You never have to 'see' the PDF
My friend doesn't know how to bind a book.
Can they print it like Moldvay? 11x17 paper, folded and center-stapled with a thick full color cover?
Sincere question.
sidonunspa
First Post
3 hole punch + three ring binder = win
Hell the 2nd edition monster Manuel was sold in a 3 ring binder!
Jan van Leyden
Adventurer
Not necessarily so. FFG offered two additional characters for download for their SW:EotE Beginner game.
mechascorpio
First Post
I brushed over this earlier, but wanted to mention it again and see if others here could confirm it. I took a long break from gaming from @'85 - '07, so I'm genuinely not certain. But when I did come back, I bought some of the older and newer Starter Sets, they included pregens, but did not include rules for chargen, DM guidelines for creating your own adventures (dungeon or wilderness) and much of the material we've been discussing here that we associate with the old Basic sets of the 80s.
When 4E was announced, I went back and bought the 3.5 "Dungeons & Dragons Basic Game" set (2004?), and it had minis, tiles, rulebook and pregens. IIRC, it did not contain the advanced material we are discussing. 1st Level characters only, I think.
Same with the Basic set released in 2006.
Same with the "Roleplaying Game Starter Set" for 4E released in 2008; $17, no minis, all pregen. May have included rules taking characters to 2nd Level.
The 2010 red box "Essential D&D Starter" set for 4E, did, I think, let players create characters, but I seem to recall it was extremely limited and that, for reasons I can't recall, the characters may not have been compatible with the full game (in terms of leveling up as it was presented in the PHB or the Essentials "Heroes of..." books?).
I've never seen the '91 or '94 "Easy to Master" black box sets, but I've read that it was very boardgame-y and very limited to the adventures included, unless you bought some expansion sets (or graduated to the Rules Cyclopedia). There might have been some others Basic or Starter sets in there but, like I said, I skipped ahead a few decades!
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I'm just saying that this does not seem to be an approach that is new, or at all limited to 5E. It seems that someone, somewhere a long time ago made a decision that perhaps character generation and creating custom adventures should not be part of an introductory product, and that they've been trying to find the right balance ever since.
And I'm not sure if anyone else in this thread has come out and said it, but I think it's worth floating that this 5E Starter Set simply isn't targeted at us, those who have had any recent experience with roleplaying. At the same time, it sounds like the team is talking about something external that will be available to make the product of more interest/use to us, without the risk of "hurting" the product (be that something like cost of materials, or simply including material in the game they feel complicates the product for its real market, "newbies"). It seems like a decent enough strategy and, as I hope I've illustrated above, more than what's been done in many years.
When 4E was announced, I went back and bought the 3.5 "Dungeons & Dragons Basic Game" set (2004?), and it had minis, tiles, rulebook and pregens. IIRC, it did not contain the advanced material we are discussing. 1st Level characters only, I think.
Same with the Basic set released in 2006.
Same with the "Roleplaying Game Starter Set" for 4E released in 2008; $17, no minis, all pregen. May have included rules taking characters to 2nd Level.
The 2010 red box "Essential D&D Starter" set for 4E, did, I think, let players create characters, but I seem to recall it was extremely limited and that, for reasons I can't recall, the characters may not have been compatible with the full game (in terms of leveling up as it was presented in the PHB or the Essentials "Heroes of..." books?).
I've never seen the '91 or '94 "Easy to Master" black box sets, but I've read that it was very boardgame-y and very limited to the adventures included, unless you bought some expansion sets (or graduated to the Rules Cyclopedia). There might have been some others Basic or Starter sets in there but, like I said, I skipped ahead a few decades!
----
I'm just saying that this does not seem to be an approach that is new, or at all limited to 5E. It seems that someone, somewhere a long time ago made a decision that perhaps character generation and creating custom adventures should not be part of an introductory product, and that they've been trying to find the right balance ever since.
And I'm not sure if anyone else in this thread has come out and said it, but I think it's worth floating that this 5E Starter Set simply isn't targeted at us, those who have had any recent experience with roleplaying. At the same time, it sounds like the team is talking about something external that will be available to make the product of more interest/use to us, without the risk of "hurting" the product (be that something like cost of materials, or simply including material in the game they feel complicates the product for its real market, "newbies"). It seems like a decent enough strategy and, as I hope I've illustrated above, more than what's been done in many years.
Uller
Adventurer
Looking at my original basic set (circa 1979) the rules for character generation are about 6 pages plus the spell descriptions. It basically covers rolling stats, choosing a race or class and some tables that cover advancement to level 3. They could have done something very similar in the 5E starter set - 5-8 pages dedicated to creating characters with very limited choices and packages of backgrounds/skills/gear pre-chosen and then provided this 48 page PDF for people that wanted more...but they probably realized they would be repeating that 5-8 pages of basic character creation (since it is likely to be in the PHB since the PHB will not assume you bought the starter kit). It seems a no brainer to decide to just leave it out all together to make room for more content in the 32 page booklet in the starter kit useful to DMs. Just tell players to go download the pdf or (as I will likely do) have the DM do it and print a copy or two to be passed around at the table as needed.
Oh...and since the 48 page character generation rules are just part of the PHB...no PDF is required...just wait a few weeks and buy the PHB.
Oh...and since the 48 page character generation rules are just part of the PHB...no PDF is required...just wait a few weeks and buy the PHB.
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