Last week, I finally managed to get my hands on a copy of the new D&D Basic Game. (This makes it the fifth "introduction to D&D" game I own - along with Holmes, Moldvay (the best!), Metzner and the Adventure Game).
Some good things about it:
* The four tiles. They're sturdy, 10"x10", double-sided and depict all the rooms in the example dungeon. Very nicely illustrated, and with a lot of variation.
* The dungeon. Opportunities for role-playing, exploration, battle, finding traps, secret doors and other fun experiences. "You open the coffin? Hehe"
* The dungeon. Jonathan Tweet also included rules for restocking it between expeditions (a variant on the Wandering Monster rules). I really like that.
* The dungeon. The first time a "black dragon" attacks is wonderful...
* The advanced rulebook has character creation rules - including feats and a simple skill system!
* Rules for creating your own dungeon.
* Guidelines for using the stats on D&D miniatures to expand the game. (Including guidelines like "Make it up!")
Some bad things about it:
* A few editing errors. References to "Roll for Initiative" instead of "Determine Initiative" (all characters are presumed to "Take 10" for initiative). Two of the character sheets have minor errors on them (Eberk lists a crossbow in equipment, but has no attack value for it; Regdar should have a skill at +2 for being human), and there's also an error in the character creation rules (Halflings should get a +4 to Hide for being small). This is pretty minor.
* The weapon selection. Why do most of the simple weapons deal d8 damage and the martial weapons deal d6 damage? Not having more advanced rules for weapons does make a few things a bit wonky.
* No description or example of how to use the Diplomacy skill.
* The "Read this First" sheet doesn't direct the players to the Quick Start Rules.
Overall, however, my impressions of the game are favourable.
I've played the sample dungeon with two groups of more experienced players. (I'd love to have some newbies to witness experiencing the game for the first time...) and it's interesting to see how they react to different experiences. Young Grace, who I've mentioned before, loved the talking mirror... the other group basically bypassed it to go look for more monsters to kill.
That second group got slaughtered by the Black Dragon, but we were playing it for fun.
Cheers!
Some good things about it:
* The four tiles. They're sturdy, 10"x10", double-sided and depict all the rooms in the example dungeon. Very nicely illustrated, and with a lot of variation.
* The dungeon. Opportunities for role-playing, exploration, battle, finding traps, secret doors and other fun experiences. "You open the coffin? Hehe"
* The dungeon. Jonathan Tweet also included rules for restocking it between expeditions (a variant on the Wandering Monster rules). I really like that.
* The dungeon. The first time a "black dragon" attacks is wonderful...
* The advanced rulebook has character creation rules - including feats and a simple skill system!
* Rules for creating your own dungeon.
* Guidelines for using the stats on D&D miniatures to expand the game. (Including guidelines like "Make it up!")
Some bad things about it:
* A few editing errors. References to "Roll for Initiative" instead of "Determine Initiative" (all characters are presumed to "Take 10" for initiative). Two of the character sheets have minor errors on them (Eberk lists a crossbow in equipment, but has no attack value for it; Regdar should have a skill at +2 for being human), and there's also an error in the character creation rules (Halflings should get a +4 to Hide for being small). This is pretty minor.
* The weapon selection. Why do most of the simple weapons deal d8 damage and the martial weapons deal d6 damage? Not having more advanced rules for weapons does make a few things a bit wonky.
* No description or example of how to use the Diplomacy skill.
* The "Read this First" sheet doesn't direct the players to the Quick Start Rules.
Overall, however, my impressions of the game are favourable.
I've played the sample dungeon with two groups of more experienced players. (I'd love to have some newbies to witness experiencing the game for the first time...) and it's interesting to see how they react to different experiences. Young Grace, who I've mentioned before, loved the talking mirror... the other group basically bypassed it to go look for more monsters to kill.
That second group got slaughtered by the Black Dragon, but we were playing it for fun.
Cheers!
