D&D 5E 5E boxed sets.

[delericho]

I ended up making a run to the game store, and got myself both, lol. Couldn't decide, so I took option C.

That would have been my recommendation. The adventure in the Starter Set is superb, IMO - probably the single best adventure WotC have published for any edition of the game (but note that that's WotC specifically!). However for everything except the adventure, the Essentials Kit is vastly the superior product, IMO. I'm afraid I wasn't at all impressed with the adventure from that one, though it has some value as side quests for "Lost Mine of Phandelver."

Incidentally, for a while there WotC were giving away PDFs of the Essentials Kit rulebook for free (as part of their pandemic response). I have no idea if that's still available, but if so it's worth grabbing - I thought that was an excellent summary of key rules.

And just for fun, I grabbed an adventure, too. I AGONIZED over the decision of Storm King's Thunder; or Curse of Strahd; or Ghosts of Saltmarsh... They all looked so interesting! I finally went with Storm King.

Ah. Alas, my experience with SKT was not so good. Giants too easily fall into the "big bag of hit points" mould, so it quickly lost interest. Though it does follow on from "Lost Mine" quite well.

IMO CoS is the better adventure (though I haven't read GoS) - until recently it was probably their best 5e storyline. Though I'm now tending towards "Rime of the Frostmaiden" as a new favourite.

 

[delericho]

It's a sensational framework for new DMs to use when designing their own adventures, too, which I suspect was part of their plan.

Indeed. That's actually something that has impressed me quite a lot about the 5e adventures in general - even the adventures that have left me cold have generally been structured well, to the extent that they've changed the way I plan out my own campaigns quite significantly.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

The PDF of the Essentials Kit was still available on the WotC website, if you dig around a bit, last time I looked. I send that to new to RPG folks as a good starting point for them.

 

[jgsugden]

The free online materials are more than enough to get started. You do not even need dice with online die rollers. There is no reason to spend a dime if you are money limited. There are also a lot of ways to share digital content with people (if you have friends more flush with cash). Roll20, D&D Beyond, etc... all have ways of sharing some content.

 

[THEMNGMNT]

Storm King's Thunder gets a bad rap around here, but I DM'd most of that adventure and really liked it. Some pointers:

• Since you'll be playing through Lost Mind of Phandelver and/or Dragon of Icespire Peak, you can throw out the intro portion of SKT and just skip to the giant lairs. However, there are some interesting locations and encounters from the first couple chapters, so don't throw out the baby with the bath water. I ran a really fun adventure in Goldenfields, for example.
• You'll want to change the overall plot structure. SKT has the PCs run across the North in a rather nonsensical fetch quest just to figure out how to get to a key location. You can cut that entirely. Moreover, the adventure only requires PCs to visit 1 or 2 giant lairs, which means that over 50% of the adventure goes unused if played as written. Instead, just give the PCs a common sense reason for visiting each giant lair. Like, for example, defeating the giant chief/jarl/king in each lair because they are attacking civilization. Or maybe each has a piece of an artifact that the PCs need.
• Related to that, there's a secret villain pulling the strings in SKT. I'd suggest that you add an agent of the secret villain to each giant lair to hint at the villain's master scheme.
• The giant lairs are all brilliant and lead to very different play experiences. Each takes 2-5 four hour sessions to complete. They're satisfying but never wear out their welcome.
• Find ways to make the chief giant in each lair more prominent. You want them to be truly villainous. Foreshadow them, have them appear in other adventures, create opportunities for players to interact with them in non-combat situations, etc. And make them bastards.
• Don't feel obligated to include each and every giant lair. Choose the ones that really speak to you.
• Feel free to change the climax if you wish. For my climax, I borrowed Skyreach Castle from Hoard of the Dragon Queen and had the PCs fighting storm giants, an ancient blue dragon, and three archmages in the middle of a thunderstorm...and then the whole thing crashed to the earth!
• Give your PCs a break from giants by putting an adventure or two in between each giant lair. Variety is the spice of life.

Good gaming!

 

[Gorg]

Random thought: D'ya think they put the same 5 pre-generated characters in every Starter kit- or did some poor, poor bastard at Hasbro get the job of rolling up characters all day for weeks??

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Random thought: D'ya think they put the same 5 pre-generated characters in every Starter kit- or did some poor, poor bastard at Hasbro get the job of rolling up characters all day for weeks??

They're the same, unfortunately. I like your idea!

On the subject, I'm with everyone who suggests that you use the Rules material from the Essentials Kit, and the Adventure from the Starter. Review all the side-quests in the Essentials Kit and use them if they come up, or if the players seem to like the hook, or if you need a quick one-off location to fill in a session or two. Otherwise, Phandelver is the way to go.

Have fun!

 

[QuentinGeorge]

They're the same, unfortunately. I like your idea!

On the subject, I'm with everyone who suggests that you use the Rules material from the Essentials Kit, and the Adventure from the Starter. Review all the side-quests in the Essentials Kit and use them if they come up, or if the players seem to like the hook, or if you need a quick one-off location to fill in a session or two. Otherwise, Phandelver is the way to go.

Have fun!

Do the essentials rules go up to level 20? I know the basic Rules do, but they only have 4 class/subclasses. Essentials also includes the bard class.

 

[darjr]

Do the essentials rules go up to level 20? I know the basic Rules do, but they only have 4 class/subclasses. Essentials also includes the bard class.

6th level.

 

[Bawylie]

I agree with those advising “pick up the free basic rules.” That and some dice are more than enough to play forever.

Write what you feel like you need. If necessary, pay a little bit of attention to power jumps at 5th and 11th level as guide-posts for what a character ought to be able to do. Most campaigns do not go that far past 11th and very few get to 16+.