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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Doc_Klueless" data-source="post: 7783592" data-attributes="member: 261">Some thoughts I shared elsewhere when asked if it would be useful for anyone who has run the Starter Set:I think it would be very useful though I've only glanced through it myself. The adventure booklet entitled, Dragon of Icespire Peak, gives a bit more information on Phandalin. The adventures look straight forward. Nothing spectacular, but nothing that has so far made me facepalm neither. Maybe they'll swing one way or another once I've delved deeper.I particularly like 9 Starter Quests with associated Quest Cards that you can give to the players. These Quest Cards give a synopsis of what the group is trying to accomplish, such as: Umbrage Hill QuestThe local midwife - an acolyte of Cauntea named Adabra Gwynn - lives by herself in a stone windmill on the side of a hill a few miles south of Phanhdalin. With dragon sightings becoming common, it's not safe for her to be alone. Urge Adabra to return to Phandalin. Once she's safe, visit Townmaster Harbin Wester to claim a reward of 25 gp.What I like about these Starter Quests is that only one of them has the basic task of Destroy the Evil!!1! All the others are things like fetch an item, warn a village, escort a person, etc. I think this is incredible for teaching new DMs that D&D is not all about Kick in the Door and Take the Pie!Page 48 of the Adventure book, helps guide new players/DMs to other adventures, mentioning D&DBeyond (more on this later) and also giving short blurbs about each adventure so far published by WotC for 5e.My daughter, who has run the Starter Set for her friends, seems very excited by the adventures contained in the adventure book. According to her, it's a perfect complement to the Phandelver adventure. Her D&D gaming pedigree is as such: <ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">New to running D&D</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Only played D&D for a few years. Prior to that, playing Savage Worlds and being her daddy's gaming guinea pig.</li> </ul>Things that are her favorite MATERIAL parts of it:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The Condition Cards</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The double-sided map</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">And her super, duper favorite part: the DM screen. It's smaller than the other official screens and made of thickish cardstock, but it's full of information that she thinks as a beginning DM will be very useful.</li> </ul>In short, for people it was aimed at (Beginners) who have purchased and run the Starter Set Phandelver stuff, it's an awesome addition. I think I'm gonna have to buy another one for myself as she's "acquired" mine. I'm actually tempted to buy a second box set just for the cards inside. I live the aesthetic of the condition cards, the combat cards, etc. Now on to the DNDBeyond stuff. Full disclosure: I love DNDBeyond. I use it a lot. Even when I'm running a game via Fantasy Grounds. I find it super easy to search and FAST to search through.On the outside of the box is a little picture/diagram thingy that says: [Picture of the Starter Set and Essential Set with caption: LEARN TO PLAY] >> [Picture of Players Handbook with D&D Beyond emblazoned next to it with the the caption EXPAND YOUR SKILLS].In the box, is a flier that has on one side pictures of the Starter Set & Essential set that is again labeled Learn to Play, but also includes pictures of the Big Three Core books labeled Develop Your Story, followed by at the bottom with pictures of some of the available other books for 5e labeled Expand Your World; More Stories to Explore. On the other side are some unique codes for DNDBeyond to give them a digital version of Dragon of Icespire Peak AND 50% off the DnDB version of the PHB. See as that is already pretty cheap and now gets that cut in half. I think this is brilliant marketing.</blockquote>

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