D&D (2024) What's In D&D's New Starter Set?

There's a new Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set, titled Heroes of the Borderlands, coming in September. WotC has given us a quick peek at what's inside! The set is designed to be replayable, and comes with maps and cards, which are presumably part of the tile-based character creation system WotC has hinted at recently. The video doesn't reveal much else, but we should have more information over the coming months.

 

[GreyLord]

AFAIK it does have Character Creation!

It's just designed in a modular style (pick your species card, pick your class card, pick your background card...) It's a boardgame-ttrpg fusion. And board games are very replayable, even if nothing changes (and I doubt that's the case here).

It seems like a smart introductory product that could have legs. It's not what most of us would want, but what do we need a "starter" for, anyway? Most of us started years ago (sometimes decades!) So we only "need" starters as a teaching tool, or for our amusement (be that collecting or whatever).

This seems good to me for those purposes.

If it has character creation (even if it is with cards) than it's going to be pretty awesome.

Cards is a smart way to go, in this case. I feel that their usage will make it easier for new comers to understand the ideas behind it and able to physically select the choice and place it on a mat or whatever, will make it more tangible to them.

 

[GarrettKP]

Replayable?

That means character creation. No Character creation and I HIGHLY doubt that this thing is replayable "again and again" as it states.

Character creation is a game changer. It has it, it'll be a great set. It doesn't...it's probably a one and done.

We know how character creation works in the starter set, broadly speaking. The set will have a class “board” with level 1 stuff all ready made, and you pick a species and background card to modify it.

It’s emulating a board game with easy set up. So you can make a new combo each time for a different adventurer, and I’m sure the adventure books will have multiple scenarios so you can play through one in an hour and then another at another time.

Thinking like Betrayal at House on the Hill, where the scenarios change the gameplay experience each time.

 

[Stormonu]

This looks like it was designed for younger people, like under 18. The bright colors, the cartoonish illustrations, the cheery monsters, bright colors, etc. That's not a bad thing considering it's a Starter Set. There's young people out there who still haven't played the game, afterall.

And consider the twelve year old who wants to play the game that all their other twelve-year-old friends are playing. What did their parents think the first time they saw the covers of those books and boxed sets when their child first asked them to buy this gift. This looks fun, safe, and non-threatening. Overall, I'd say this is a winner by that alone.

But that's never coming into my house. Even if I were interested in more D&D at this point, had a group that wanted to play, I wouldn't have it. And I'm a sucker for a good starter set with the neat stuff inside. But I'm not an adolescent, or play with any.

The aesthetics in this box really makes it hard to play the game with a dark or grittier tone, if that was how I wished to play it. It subconsciously pressures you to play in a fun, cheery manner, which probably suggests that's how WotC wants their new product to be presented at the tables for newcomers. Again, that's fair, and kinda brilliant strategy. But that just tells me this product has even less value for me, personally. I was probably more curious about this release than anything else in recent memory, because I always found great quality and value in starter sets. But this is going to be a hard pass just by the looks alone. My curiosity isn't even tickled for the actual content at this point anymore.

I think all the starter sets have been designed this way, post Holmes. Certainly, B/X and BECMI were; I was around 12-13 when those came out myself. The original 5E strikes me as a bit "college level" but it's variants (Rick & Morty, Stranger Things) and the two follow-on seem aimed for younger folk - and I'm talking like 13-15.

Nothing really wrong with it, I'm just really hoping it measures up well against the "Phandelver" set - that was really the gold standard for me.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I think all the starter sets have been designed this way, post Holmes. Certainly, B/X and BECMI were; I was around 12-13 when those came out myself. The original 5E strikes me as a bit "college level" but it's variants (Rick & Morty, Stranger Things) and the two follow-on seem aimed for younger folk - and I'm talking like 13-15.

Nothing really wrong with it, I'm just really hoping it measures up well against the "Phandelver" set - that was really the gold standard for me.

I suppose what counts as "kid-focused" looks different now than it did then, at least from my point of view. I still have my red box materials (the "B" in BECMI), and this looks more flashy and "cute" to me than that did, despite both products being designed for the same age group.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I think all the starter sets have been designed this way, post Holmes. Certainly, B/X and BECMI were; I was around 12-13 when those came out myself. The original 5E strikes me as a bit "college level" but it's variants (Rick & Morty, Stranger Things) and the two follow-on seem aimed for younger folk - and I'm talking like 13-15.

Nothing really wrong with it, I'm just really hoping it measures up well against the "Phandelver" set - that was really the gold standard for me.

Metzer was my starter set and still my favorite, but Phandelver was very good and I remain fond of it.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I'm just really hoping it measures up well against the "Phandelver" set - that was really the gold standard for me.

I think it will definitely feel simplified and codified compared to Phandelver. YMMV on whether that's a 'bad thing' or not, and I suspect we will hear a lot of "it's been dumbed down" complaints.

I suspect that I will think of it as something of a caricature of D&D (this is evident in the preview art as well, so it's clearly intentional) - all the lines are exaggerated and simplified. Here, I'm not just talking about the art. The story beats will likely be exaggerated and simplified as well.

It won't be for everyone here, but it is a good idea to show people clearly what D&D "is" at its essence, and they can discover that it has more depth and breadth for themselves, later.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I think it will definitely feel simplified and codified compared to Phandelver. YMMV on whether that's a 'bad thing' or not, and I suspect we will hear a lot of "it's been dumbed down" complaints.

I suspect that I will think of it as something of a caricature of D&D (this is evident in the preview art as well, so it's clearly intentional) - all the lines are exaggerated and simplified. Here, I'm not just talking about the art. The story beats will likely be exaggerated and simplified as well.

It won't be for everyone here, but it is a good idea to show people clearly what D&D "is" at its essence, and they can discover that it has more depth and breadth for themselves, later.

Or rather what the IP holder wants its consumer base to see D&D as. That makes sense as it sets expectations for future products marketed to those same consumers.

 

[SkidAce]

I am also pro starter sets in general, but personally I haven't had any use for them since Phandelver at the beginning of 5e.

I collect them

I also buy them and give them away to the locals.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I collect them

I also buy them and give them away to the locals.

I did that with Phandelver, because I really believed in it as a product (and because I could afford to at the time).

 

[DinoInDisguise]

Or rather what the IP holder wants its consumer base to see D&D as. That makes sense as it sets expectations for future products marketed to those same consumers.

Is this distinction meaningful? WotC makes D&D, of course D&D is marketed as what WotC sees it as. Seems like a strange distinction to draw unless we are using D&D as a pseudonym for the greater hobby.