The new Heroes of the Borderlands Starter Set provides a new introduction to Dungeons & Dragons, borrowing heavily from adventure board games to simplify core game concepts without sacrificing too much actual gameplay. Due for release later this month, Heroes of the Borderlands is a different beast than the previous three Starter Sets released by Wizards of the Coast over the past decade. For one, the new set is much more component heavy, featuring a glut of punched-out cardboard pieces to simulate everything from spell slots to HP, as well as a plethora of cards representing NPCs, equipment, spells, and monsters. Secondly, the new Starter Set provides an important new entry point for the revised 2024 version of Fifth Edition, giving newcomers easy access to the updated rules.
Taking Inspiration From Board Games
Having played through all the previous Starter Sets, Heroes of the Borderlands feels like more of an experience than Dragons of Stormwreck Isle or the Essentials Kit. The packaging alone makes the set feel like more of a board game, complete with a plastic tray that separates out cards, holds maps, and even stores dice. There are even a few extra plastic baggies to help sort out all of the various components and keep them organized. The components have also received an upgrade. Gone are the perforated cards that needed to be torn apart to form magic item decks or provide conditions. Instead, we get actual cards made of cardstock, which provides a much sturdier component for multiple uses.
Likewise, the much-heralded Character Boards feel very similar to an adventure board game's player board. Players use cardboard power tokens and HP tokens to track damage and uses of abilities, with several spaces for players to upgrade armor, weapons, or even track concentration spells. Core class features like Sneak Attack and Channel Divinity can be found on the right-hand side of the player board, along with brief rules on what to replenish when characters take a short or long rest. There are also "What You Need to Play" instructions found on every player board, directing players to what extra cards they need in order to get their character set up.
The player boards are probably the big innovation, replacing the pregenerated character sheets that appear in previous Starter Sets. It's a double-edged sword. I like that these player boards are almost idiot-proof. Anyone can figure out how to run their character based on the easy instructions found on the card. On the flip side, this isn't a true representation of what D&D is like and I'm curious about how players transition from this very hand-holding player board to a traditional character sheet. I suppose that, given how often D&D Beyond is used in games, this player board is probably an easier bridge to digital game sheets that don't throw away some of the optimization and extra instruction.
A True Sandbox
Heroes of the Borderlands is a reimplementation of The Keep on the Borderlands, a sandbox-style adventure that accompanied copies of the D&D Basic Set in the late 1970s and early 1980s. For a generation of players, The Keep on the Borderlands was the introductory adventure, similar to how The Lost Mine of Phandelver served as a shared entry point by thousands of Fifth Edition D&D players. The Keep on the Borderlands was deliberately basic, filled with simple combat encounters meant to help new players gently wade into the rules.
For this reimplementation, Heroes of the Borderlands provides three distinct areas to explore. The Keep on the Borderlands is your quintessential settlement in the wilderness, filled with small quests and friendly NPCs. The Keep is a bustling place, but very static. Players will find NPCs in need of aid, but no deeper plot hooks other than a couple of teases of a dastardly cult hiding out somewhere beyond the keep's walls. The Wilderness is filled with low-level danger such as brigands, hobgoblins, and stirges, but little in the way of true adventure. Finally, there's the Caves of Chaos, a series of caves filled with escalating threats that culminates in a battle against cultists.
All the previous Starter Sets had plenty of plot hooks and storylines for players to follow. Heroes of the Borderlands, following in The Keep on the Borderlands' example, does not. Outside of some loosely stringed-together tie-ins for the Cult of Chaos, there are no storylines to discover or plots to uncover. Instead, the focus is on how these encounters can be used to teach players how to play, either through the use of skill checks or via simple encounters that can either be resolved through combat or through persuasion.
While sandbox-style campaigns are still popular, they're almost always a bit more filled with intrigue and secrets than this one. In Borderlands, the only reward for completing a quest is gold and perhaps a magic item instead of advancing a storyline. Again, this follows the original Borderlands' lead, but I genuinely wonder whether a pure sandbox experience devoid of any storyline is representative of D&D in 2025.
Final Thoughts
These days, I don't know many people who haven't played Dungeons & Dragons at least once, so I don't know when I'll be able to pull this Starter Set out. I think the set certainly offers a quicker entry point than past Starter Sets. A player really just needs their character board and perhaps 10 minutes of explanation and then they'll be able to jump into the game, which is really an ideal ramp for the game. However, I wonder if this Starter Set is really indicative of D&D for the modern age. No character sheets and no storyline removes two critical components of D&D, so I'm curious how this Starter Set feels compared to a normal game of D&D.
