D&D 5E Absolutely Clear on Definition of Basic D&D

[hbarsquared]

I've seen various comments from the WotC website, Mike Mearls' twitter feed, and Morrus' news updates....

So when, exactly, will Basic D&D be available, and what does Basic D&D encompass?

From what I gather, Basic will be available on the WotC website on July 3rd. Is this genuinely correct, or will I have to go searching for it somewhere else?

I also know Basic D&D will be updated, "with upcoming releases." Hey, fair enough. But what, exactly, is included on July the Third? JUST character creation? Or character creation plus basic rules (those that are included in the Starter release?)

I understand that Basic will be updated with various PHB rules when the PHB is released, but I am genuinely curious about the interim. I, of course, am happy to wait. If we just have character creation, and nothing else, on July 3f, then fair enough. I'm just curious, and just want to know.

When will we have a "Basic Game" available, for free, online? Including the our basic races, the four basic classes, basic character creations, and the basic rules?

Has this actually been stated, anywhere? Thanks, all!

 

[samursus]

It'll be out on the 3rd. Includes char gen for the 4 iconic classes and 4 Tolkien races, and basic rules. No monsters, treasure etc till later books release. Only the most iconic spells. Can get around 30 monster stats plus some magic items in the starter set.

 

[Iosue]

Exact content is still up in the air, but here's the general plan.

July 3rd - Early retail release of the Starter Set. Basic Rules file first goes up. Simple text-only pdf with no art, contains character generation only. Probably called ver. 0.0.

Early August - Early retail release of the Players Handbook. How to play, monsters, and DM rules are added to Basic Rules.

September through October - Updates to the Basic Rules file, adding more content and graphic design.

October - Release of Monster Manual.

November - release of DMG. Basic Rules are complete, with some rules from all three corebooks, as well as artwork and attractive layout. If the first release was ver. 0.0, this is ver. 1.0.

Source: Unboxing of the Starter Set video.

 

[fjw70]

I missed them saying that the basic rules wouldn't have art at first and it would be added later.