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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Amphytrion" data-source="post: 9760398" data-attributes="member: 7046181">I have finally had an opportunity to read it. I am not well-versed in prior versions of this adventure and cannot comment on them. My impressions below take this Starter Set on its own:As others have mentioned, the components are brilliant. Maps, tokens, dice, class boards, etc. I'm a fan of the presentation, I believe it is helpful to beginners and experienced players alike, and I think materially the box is well worth its price. I also believe the rules simplifications are wise and welcome. I could go into detail about any of this but others have already done so in this thread, I simply concur with all the compliments on this front.Much has been said about the lack of story as well, and I understand that choice is a compromise to allow for rotating DMs. I'm willing to accept that justification even if ultimately I'm unconvinced that a lot of groups will rotate DMs, and therefore I think that is a poor trade-off.The lack of a driving narrative aside, the writing itself is bitterly bland. I have had this issue with other recent WotC adventures, which is a great pity, because the official 5e adventures used to be very imaginative and evocative even if they had other major structural flaws (Descent Into Avernus comes to mind).A random example: in the Wilderness, the player characters might bump into a cult ritual in the woods. The cult happens around an eery old stone idol, about which no details, descriptions, or even themes are given (what is this idol of? what does it look like?). There are a few choices:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">If the players decide to step in and slaughter the cultists, no questions asked, a combat ensues. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">If the players decide to hide and observe, or aid the ritual, the idol cracks and a laughter echoes but nothing else changes in the entire adventure. This is extremely disappointing--a narrative non-choice. If there's concern about tracking effects, make it a card and hand it out, as they did with the Supernatural Charm in the Essentials Kit, or have a sheet for whatever the cultists liberated. Just do something.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">If the players decide to fool and inquire the cultists, capture a cultist to ask questions of him, or to investigate the scene post-brawl (which is certainly what all groups I've ever played with would attempt to do), the DM is doomed, because the cult is a paperthin mirage and the text doesn't even acknowledge what the cult worships (!). No ink is spilled on what the cultists know (location of base, identity of leader, cult beliefs and secrets, whether they reveal any of it). </li> </ul>Can a DM provide answers to this via improvisation, on the fly? Of course. But this is the Starter Set, and those are basic, elementary questions that any writer should foresee! A starting DM shouldn't have to work that out by himself, because I imagine any child would ask at least one of them ("what does the stone look like?"). The example above is of course only one encounter, but I think it's representative of the general writing philosophy of the box.I wish I liked the writing as much as I like the tactile components. I started with a Starter Set that my father very kindly and willingly DM-ed for us before we had any grasp on the rules whatsoever, so I have a special fondness for them and for the idea of family play. Lost Mines of Phandelver and Dragons of Icespire Peak are not as well organized or as pretty (though DoIP is very nice), but that written material is much better.PS: This is a very minor quibble and ultimately unimportant, but I see a very elderly gnarly elf (the Hermit). Are elves no longer ever-youthful? They were so as recently as Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes. I'm at a loss to what led to this retcon.</blockquote>

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