D&D (2024) Take A Deeper Look At The New D&D Starter Set's Card-Based Characters

Heroes of the Borderlands, the upcoming Dungeons & Dragons 2024 starter set due out in September, was on display at New York Toy Fair, and the YouTube channel Otakus & Geeks were given a brief demo. The way the cards, standees, and maps are presented it looks like they took some inspiration from 1989's boardgame HeroQuest!

• Character creation is card-based.
• Each player has a 'class board', such Fighter, Cleric, Wizard, and Warrior (it's not clear if the demonstrator misspoke and meant to say Rogue or not).
• Then you pick a species card and a background card and place them on your class board.
• Those components the tell you what equipment or spell cards to also pick up--for example, the Fighter takes the cards for chainmail. greatsword, a lantern, and one additional item.
• The class board and the equipment cards tell the players what dice to roll for attacks, etc.

• The DM has a small, 10-page guide.
• There's a big battlemap for each of the three main areas (presumably Keep, Caves, and Wilderness?), and a booklet for each.
• Monsters have tokens and corresponding monster cards for the DM.

 

[dave2008]

I didn't need Phandelver, but I picked it up anyway so I could teach the game. If you ever plan on introducing players to 5E 2024, it's probably a good purchase.

Good point, but not likely. I moved away from my group a year ago and am going to transition to playing locally instead of DMing.

 

[Morrus]

Move over, Daggerheart, top dog is back in the house. And I bet this set will outsell the core rulebook to many casual fans, especially people who want a simple game to take out and play without time consuming character generation or high level play. Yes, Daggerheart can do that, but it is not the most popular role playing game in the world.

You seem very invested in D&D’s market share!

 

[stormwriter]

Very interesting! It reminds me of the Dreams & Machines starter set as well. It's also card-based with cards for your careers, backgrounds, items, talents, etc. It's very clever and intuitive to build your character.

 

[Clint_L]

Move over, Daggerheart, top dog is back in the house. And I bet this set will outsell the core rulebook to many casual fans, especially people who want a simple game to take out and play without time consuming character generation or high level play. Yes, Daggerheart can do that, but it is not the most popular role playing game in the world.

This is not targeted at the same audience.

I would say that Daggerheart is designed for experienced role-players who prioritize story. It's not a newbie starter kit for kids. But maybe some of them will get started on this starter kit and eventually want to try out other awesome games, like Daggerheart.

 

[Argyle King]

The games I play have come full circle.
D&D ---> Munchkin ---> D&D

 

[R_J_K75]

Seems more like a boardgame to me than a starter set. I'm just speculating but doesn't seem like there is any character advancement in it, but maybe there are cards that do allow players to advance. I wonder how linear the adventure is and how much replayability the same group can get out of this. I'd think that if a group of people who are not familiar with D&D and TTRPGs, or if they are familiar with them in passing that play this then decide pick up the 3 core books; I think they may be surprised how much the two appear to differ.

 

[Older Beholder]

A starter set that contains battlemaps is pretty exciting to me.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Seems more like a boardgame to me than a starter set. I'm just speculating but doesn't seem like there is any character advancement in it, but maybe there are cards that do allow players to advance. I wonder how linear the adventure is and how much replayability the same group can get out of this. I'd think that if a group of people who are not familiar with D&D and TTRPGs, or if they are familiar with them in passing that play this then decide pick up the 3 core books; I think they may be surprised how much the two appear to differ.

One of the videos stressed that replayability is a big goal with this project. That doesn't seem too difficult. At worst, there's probably going to be a market for putting up new scenarios and printable standees for new monsters and maybe even new maps on DMs Guild.

 

[R_J_K75]

One of the videos stressed that replayability is a big goal with this project. That doesn't seem too difficult. At worst, there's probably going to be a market for putting up new scenarios and printable standees for new monsters and maybe even new maps on DMs Guild.

I didn't see that and so I was under the impression that this was a standalone product to onboard players/DMs for the 3 core books. Perhaps they are making a simpler system apart from them. I'll follow this in the next few months to see if it'll sit in a rules lite space between boardgame and the core books.

 

[Vin St. John]

Sorry, that wasn't necessarily about you.

It would be great for WotC to put out info clarifying a lot of these questions.

It's early for them to be promoting this right now, and they really want to promote other, higher-margin products to their core audience. The only reason they announced it online the other day is because they knew news like this would be our there once Toy Fair happened, and the reason they showcase at Toy Fair is, I believe, to get non -hobby retailers to order stock of this product and commit shelf space to it in the fall.