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<blockquote data-quote="OnlineDM" data-source="post: 5452439" data-attributes="member: 90804">If you just have the original 4e starter box, I'd suggest taking a look at the Dungeon Master's Kit. It has the equivalent of the DMG1 and DMG2 information. If you already have those books, you can skip the DM Kit (though the adventure in it, Reavers of Harkenwold, is pretty fun so far for my group).The Rules Compendium is complete with rules, but not with content (no powers, magic items, etc.). Rituals aren't addressed at all in any of the Essentials books. If your players want to use them, they'll have to get them from the older books. Rituals still work just fine, but the Essentials classes don't come with the Ritual Caster feat (though they're free to take it if they wish).Personally, I DO think the Monster Vault is worth it. I love that book, and I think the monsters in it are much more interesting than the MM1 monsters. Better damage expressions, but also better fluff to inspire the DM in using the monsters in interesting ways.If you don't want to subscribe to DDI, that's fine. I personally think it's very valuable (and it would make the Monster Vault much less necessary, as all of the monsters are in the DDI Compendium), but if you don't like it, you don't like it. I'll note that being a non-Windows user shouldn't be an issue now, as everything is browser-based (they've done away with the downloadable Character Builder and replaced it with a browser-based one in Silverlight). But that's totally your call.Welcome to 4e - I hope you have fun with it! I know I have.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="OnlineDM, post: 5452439, member: 90804"] If you just have the original 4e starter box, I'd suggest taking a look at the Dungeon Master's Kit. It has the equivalent of the DMG1 and DMG2 information. If you already have those books, you can skip the DM Kit (though the adventure in it, Reavers of Harkenwold, is pretty fun so far for my group). The Rules Compendium is complete with rules, but not with content (no powers, magic items, etc.). Rituals aren't addressed at all in any of the Essentials books. If your players want to use them, they'll have to get them from the older books. Rituals still work just fine, but the Essentials classes don't come with the Ritual Caster feat (though they're free to take it if they wish). Personally, I DO think the Monster Vault is worth it. I love that book, and I think the monsters in it are much more interesting than the MM1 monsters. Better damage expressions, but also better fluff to inspire the DM in using the monsters in interesting ways. If you don't want to subscribe to DDI, that's fine. I personally think it's very valuable (and it would make the Monster Vault much less necessary, as all of the monsters are in the DDI Compendium), but if you don't like it, you don't like it. I'll note that being a non-Windows user shouldn't be an issue now, as everything is browser-based (they've done away with the downloadable Character Builder and replaced it with a browser-based one in Silverlight). But that's totally your call. Welcome to 4e - I hope you have fun with it! I know I have. [/QUOTE]

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