D&D 5E Dragons of Stormwreck Isle: New D&D Starter Set Is Coming This Year

Hasbro has posted a short video which highlights its 2022 portfolio of brands, including toys and games, and in it can be seen images of a D&D Starter Set called Dragons of Stormwreck Isle. The cover feature a blue dragon breathing lightning.

Critical Role's Call of the Netherdeep also appears briefly.

In this press release, Hasbro lists the boxed set with a retail price of $49.99, which seems very high for a starter set.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

WotC then immediately confuse things further by noting that the Kobolds are nocturnal, but they also immediately rush out and excitedly pepper the PCs with questions, so the DM should assume that the PCs land at night?!

How about, they are excited, so they jump out of bed? Nocturnal is a preference, not enforced dormancy.

 

[robus]

How about, they are excited, so they jump out of bed? Nocturnal is a preference, not enforced dormancy.

Sure, but to immediately have inconsistency without explanation puts the DM on the spot. New DMs are stressed enough without unnecessary complication/confusion.

 

[edosan]

Lost mines will hold a special place in my heart, we definitely got more than our money's worth out of it. I would really like another essentials style kit but set in a large city that guides a new DM through city adventures. Not sure if that would be a hot seller but it would be cool to add it with LoP and DoIP.

This feels like an obvious next move to me - they had an opportunity to do this with Dragon Heist but it didn't really work that way.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Sure, but to immediately have inconsistency without explanation puts the DM on the spot. New DMs are stressed enough without unnecessary complication/confusion.

There is no "inconsistency". There is no time of day specified for the PCs arrival, so what the kobolds were doing immediately beforehand can't be specified. They might be in bed, eating breakfast, playing board games, whatever. It's not relevant. Nor are the individual personalities of each kobold. The players will never be able to keep track of them all anyway.

This adventure teaches and important lesson for DMs: there is no need to bother with irrelevant detail.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Lost mines will hold a special place in my heart, we definitely got more than our money's worth out of it. I would really like another essentials style kit but set in a large city that guides a new DM through city adventures. Not sure if that would be a hot seller but it would be cool to add it with LoP and DoIP.

Cities are inherently more difficult to run than adventures set around a villages and small towns (where everybody knows your name). The advice for new DMs would be "don't try to run a city adventure until you are more experienced".

 

[Parmandur]

There is no "inconsistency". There is no time of day specified for the PCs arrival, so what the kobolds were doing immediately beforehand can't be specified. They might be in bed, eating breakfast, playing board games, whatever. It's not relevant. Nor are the individual personalities of each kobold. The players will never be able to keep track of them all anyway.

This adventure teaches and important lesson for DMs: there is no need to bother with irrelevant detail.

I mean, these do sound more like concerns thst would trip up an experienced and detail oriented DM more than the average 12 year old.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I mean, these do sound more like concerns thst would trip up an experienced and detail oriented DM more than the average 12 year old.

An experienced DM would be able to wing it should a player inquire.

The only time it might be a problem is if the DM is inexperienced, but the players are experienced and deliberately trying to be difficult.

The point about 12-year-olds is a good one. That is clearly the target age for this product.

 

[Parmandur]

An experienced DM would be able to wing it should a player inquire.

The only time it might be a problem is if the DM is inexperienced, but the players are experienced and deliberately trying to be difficult.

The point about 12-year-olds is a good one. That is clearly the target age for this product.

That's why I specified "detail oriented."

 

[MockingBird]

Cities are inherently more difficult to run than adventures set around a villages and small towns (where everybody knows your name). The advice for new DMs would be "don't try to run a city adventure until you are more experienced".

Exactly, that's why I think it would be beneficial to have a starter city adventure. I've DM'd for at least 6 yrs and I still have trouble with them. I would definitely appreciate an adventure being broken down to a basic learner level. That's just me though, you might be very correct in this.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Exactly, that's why I think it would be beneficial to have a starter city adventure.

What makes you think WotC would be any better at writing this than anyone else? Seen Dragonheist?

I've DM'd for at least 6 yrs and I still have trouble with them. I would definitely appreciate an adventure being broken down to a basic learner level. That's just me though, you might be very correct in this.

There is no "basic and learner level". The thing with cities is there is a whole lot going on. Most of which is irrelevant and boring. If you look at a typical D&D city Gazetteer, they are hundreds of pages long, so would be difficult to fit in a 32-page starter adventure! As for writing it from scratch, don't bother unless you have a couple of spare years lying around.

If you want advice on writing and running a city adventure, I would suggest starting a thread on it. These forums have hundreds of years of combined DMing experience, considerably more than WotC can muster.