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.

 

[Weiley31]

Not gonna lie, I'm kinda digging the dagger heart approach with the cards and what not. And how this starter set is doing something like that too.

 

[F5]

I really don't want to sound like I'm dumping on this starter set, because I think it looks brilliant, well-designed, and like it will be a ton of fun. I think the comparisons to Gloomhaven or HeroQuest are spot on, and I'm here for it.

BUT...

I think it's a bad "starter set". It is fundamentally a new thing, and someone who starts on this set, enjoys it, and goes on to pick up the core books is likely to be disappointed. A "normal" long-term campaign played on a VTT or a table with (or without) minis is going to feel very different from this, I think.

I could totally see this being a success, and I could see "expansion sets" for this being popular. Play it up like the old school boxed sets for nostalgia (first expansion is in a blue box called 'expert rules' or similar). But I think it's a branching point between this and the core TTRPG books, not a driver that naturally points people towards them.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I could totally see this being a success, and I could see "expansion sets" for this being popular. Play it up like the old school boxed sets for nostalgia (first expansion is in a blue box called 'expert rules' or similar). But I think it's a branching point between this and the core TTRPG books, not a driver that naturally points people towards them.

I believe they said this is going to be supplemented by a bunch of onboarding videos, presumably to bridge that gap.

 

[R_J_K75]

I believe they said this is going to be supplemented by a bunch of onboarding videos

Did they elaborate on this at all, as in how long they will be and where they will be hosted, YouTube, Wizards.com, etc.?

 

[Reaper Steve]

I played it maybe 7-8 times last year, and only because another player in my D&D group bought it. I found it to be pretty middle of the road, wasn't terrible but wasn't great either. It's a little more advanced than your average boardgame but not quite an RPG. After playing it the last few times I decided it really wasn't for me, and if I want to play a boardgame I play something simpler and if I want to play an RPG one I own. I personally wasn't a fan of mixing the two genres. I'll wait to see what the future previews reveal on the new starter set until I decide whether I'll buy it, but it's really not something I think I'd use, so it's unlikely I will.

Are you referring to the Arkham Horror board game series by FFG or the recently released Arkham Horror RPG by Edge Studios? (The latter of which only has a Starter box and Core hardback so far.)

 

[R_J_K75]

Are you referring to the Arkham Horror board game series by FFG or the recently released Arkham Horror RPG by Edge Studios? (The latter of which only has a Starter box and Core hardback so far.)

The board game. I have the hardcover and starter set but havent read them yet. I thought it would be cool to switch between the 2 but we never got there

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Did they elaborate on this at all, as in how long they will be and where they will be hosted, YouTube, Wizards.com, etc.?

Not that I recall. We're probably months away from their marketing machine fully gearing up for Borderlands, though.

 

[R_J_K75]

Not that I recall. We're probably months away from their marketing machine fully gearing up for Borderlands, though.

Time will tell I suppose

 

[Yaarel]

I like the card deck approach to character building. I will see how useful the cards are in actual gameplay. The pictures are awesome.

 

[beaumontsebos]

My main complaint with 5E 2024 is that they increased complexity of character creation. It seems they realize this. Maybe this will help ease people into the complexity of full on PHB character creation. But that doesn't solve the underlying issue.

Looks cool, though!