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.

 

[pemerton]

My experience with younger players indicates they like lighter and fluffier. I run a game for the kids of our group, who range from 9 - 14 years old. They had to deal with a lot of anxiety from the pandemic and other factors. They don't want grimdark. My sample size is admittedly limited, but does track with trends towards hope punk, cozy, etc.

My sample size is limited too, but it runs the same way as yours.

A few years ago I ran a session of In A Wicked Age for some kids and their dad. That is not a RPG that defaults to "lighter and fluffier", but there were light and fluffy elements, introduced by the kids, that I wouldn't have introduced on my own acccount.

Also a few years ago, I ran a brief bit of Torchbearer 2e for my daughter. Her Halfling, Peony, tried to trick the bandits she encountered by telling them "We're out for a stroll in the woods - would you care to join us for a picnic?"

The feel of this Starter Set - just judging from the pictures on the first page of this thread - seems to fit with that sort of thing.

 

[bedir than]

There seems to be a theme from people who've played for 20+ years that they don't like a Starter Set designed for people who have never played before.

It's a Starter Set for people who've never played before and reviewing it with your decades of experience is like a Yankees fan saying the Boston Red Sox new jersey isn't appealing (Man City and Man United for a different sport).
We aren't the target market.

 

[Micah Sweet]

There seems to be a theme from people who've played for 20+ years that they don't like a Starter Set designed for people who have never played before.

It's a Starter Set for people who've never played before and reviewing it with your decades of experience is like a Yankees fan saying the Boston Red Sox new jersey isn't appealing (Man City and Man United for a different sport).
We aren't the target market.

Of course, everyone who watches a Red Sox game has to see the new jersey, no matter what team they're a fan of.

And to be honest, I'm not sure you'll ever get wide-spread agreement that some D&D fans are not the target audience for some D&D products.

 

[bedir than]

Of course, everyone who watches a Red Sox game has to see the new jersey, no matter what team they're a fan of.

Sure, but if you're a Yankees fan and buy a Red Sox jersey then complain about how it isn't a Yankees jersey that's not a Red Sox problem.

 

[Von Ether]

That seems a little binary though. Cozy and grindark aren't the only options.

Exactly, Free League pitches their new fantasy game, Dragonbane as Mirth and Mayhem. Which seems to translate into adventures that range from serious to a bit silly.

 

[TarionzCousin]

Hopefully alongside a dread gazebo.

Terrifying!

 

[mearls]

I think a good starter set is appealing to long-time players, because they are the ones most likely to buy it and run it for newbies.

With that said, while I'm not crazy about either the cover art or the promo art they've shown off (the piece recreating the B2 cover), the components and especially the maps look fantastic. I'll be preordering this one. So at the very least, they've hooked and caught this grognard.

EDIT: To add another point, I really like how they lay out the adventure as featuring the Keep, the wilderness, and a dungeon crawl. I think that approach gets at the structure that makes B2 work.

 

[darjr]

It’s Justice and the Keep. Yea I’m hooked.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

It’s Justice and the Keep. Yea I’m hooked.

I can definitely see using this for one shots with my youngest and her friends. If I want more content, I've got Goodman Games' Into the Borderlands, which has plenty of material to flesh things out. And I anticipate a ton of supplemental material appearing on DMs Guild over the next few months, including a zillion versions of Cave of the Unknown.

 

[Jacob Lewis]

D&D fans who have played for decades probably already know how to play D&D, or at least learn from a rulebook, given there weren't really starter sets previously. They aren't the target audience. This is a starter set for kids, primarily.

So, a Starter Set for starters? I can see that. But one could also argue that a Starter Set is also a starting point for a campaign setting, or an adventure series, or a starting DM, or an adult who just starting playing D&D for the first time. But wouldn't a Starter Set for starters actually make more sense if it were called a Beginner's Set?