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<blockquote data-quote="delericho" data-source="post: 6386238" data-attributes="member: 22424"><p>I wasn't, but that's a failure of communication on my part. The stated goal of the Starter Set is to get a new DM running his first adventure - presumably with the hope that he'll then run more. So the question of how well it does should be judged on that metric. Either way, it's too soon to tell.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Moldvay Basic was released just as the D&D fad was at its peak. It's probably the single best-selling version of the game in history, and was probably seen and used by many more people still. So it's no surprise that it generated many new DMs.</p><p></p><p>But if they replicated Moldvay <em>now</em>, there's no guarantee it would do as well. So we're stuck comparing how well the 5e Starter Set has done (which we don't know), with how well a 5e Moldvay-equivalent would do (which we don't know).</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I don't know about 'sophisticated', but the Starter Set absolutely does contain advice on how to run a game - albeit the very specific game that comes from running the adventure included. It's basically "My First Adventure", with the hope that DMs who run it will be bitten by the bug and then proceed to the Basic set or the 'full' game.</p><p></p><p>And it is, surprisingly, an <em>excellent</em> adventure, both in its own right and as a teaching aide for the game as a whole. The first part is deliberately structured as a fairly simple, classic dungeon-crawl, intentionally combat heavy but also including distinct role-play and exploration options. This eases new groups into the new ruleset by focussing on the most mechanical (and most teachable) elements of the game. Thereafter, in parts two and three especially, it opens up into a much more sandbox-y style of play, giving the players lots of scope for interaction, exploration, and combat. It's very, very well done.</p><p></p><p>(The Starter Set is actually a bit of an odd beast in that regard: in my view there is absolutely no value in the box unless you're going to run <em>that</em> adventure, since everything else is available online; but the adventure itself is one of, if not the, best that WotC have ever published - and both for newbies and more experienced DMs.)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="delericho, post: 6386238, member: 22424"] I wasn't, but that's a failure of communication on my part. The stated goal of the Starter Set is to get a new DM running his first adventure - presumably with the hope that he'll then run more. So the question of how well it does should be judged on that metric. Either way, it's too soon to tell. Moldvay Basic was released just as the D&D fad was at its peak. It's probably the single best-selling version of the game in history, and was probably seen and used by many more people still. So it's no surprise that it generated many new DMs. But if they replicated Moldvay [i]now[/i], there's no guarantee it would do as well. So we're stuck comparing how well the 5e Starter Set has done (which we don't know), with how well a 5e Moldvay-equivalent would do (which we don't know). I don't know about 'sophisticated', but the Starter Set absolutely does contain advice on how to run a game - albeit the very specific game that comes from running the adventure included. It's basically "My First Adventure", with the hope that DMs who run it will be bitten by the bug and then proceed to the Basic set or the 'full' game. And it is, surprisingly, an [i]excellent[/i] adventure, both in its own right and as a teaching aide for the game as a whole. The first part is deliberately structured as a fairly simple, classic dungeon-crawl, intentionally combat heavy but also including distinct role-play and exploration options. This eases new groups into the new ruleset by focussing on the most mechanical (and most teachable) elements of the game. Thereafter, in parts two and three especially, it opens up into a much more sandbox-y style of play, giving the players lots of scope for interaction, exploration, and combat. It's very, very well done. (The Starter Set is actually a bit of an odd beast in that regard: in my view there is absolutely no value in the box unless you're going to run [i]that[/i] adventure, since everything else is available online; but the adventure itself is one of, if not the, best that WotC have ever published - and both for newbies and more experienced DMs.) [/QUOTE]
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