Heroes of the Borderlands Starter Set Price Point Revealed

The new Heroes of the Borderlands D&D boxed set will be significantly more expensive than past Starter Sets. Pre-order pages up on D&D Beyond and Amazon confirm that the new Starter Set, made to introduce the new version of 5th Edition rules to newcomers, will cost $49.99. Previous starter sets, such as the Essentials Kit or the Dragons at Stormwreck Isle, had much lower price points ranging from $19.99 to $24.99.

One reason for the price increase is that the new Starter Set will contain many more components than previous Starter Sets. A trailer (seen below) shows off many of the cards, tokens, and handouts that are included in the boxed set in addition to the standard quickstart guide and character sheets. Per Amazon, the new Starter Set will contain 3 adventure booklets, 8 character class boards featuring iconic D&D classes, 1 quick-start guide, a reference booklet, 5 in-world immersive handouts (including a tavern menu and shop catalogs), 9 double-sided poster maps, a combat tracker, 11 dice, 210 game cards (including spells, magic items, and equipment), and 273 tokens (including monsters, terrain, and resources).

One twist for this new boxed set is that it will include tiles that will add a modularity to character creation. Players will choose their background and class and then build a character sheet using corresponding tiles.

Hasbro also previously stated that the Starter Set was produced in China, so the increased price could be impacted by the current tariffs imposed by the US on foreign-made goods.


The new Heroes of the Borderlands Starter Set will be released on September 16th, 2025.

 

[John Lloyd1]

I mean, it's really just a physical visualization of the 2024 PHB quick build suggestions. But this may prove very intuitive to people who find a blank character sheet intimidating.

Exactly. Experienced players will create a character on the spot (probably using dnd beyond). New players can find the existing pregens overwhelming and not always the the sorts of characters they want. Having to figure out what spells to use are an example of this since you need to find them in the book to figure out if they are applicable.

 

[Benjamin Olson]

Man. Hearing all the dissatisfied folks about the $50 price point has me getting a bit worried about my own boxed set. (skip to the 2 min mark). I'm listing it for $100. Granted, it's not a starter set but the full game, and it has more stuff. And since it's a limited run, I don't get to enjoy large scale cheap print runs so I have to have a higher mark up (but customers really don't care about that). I'm starting to get worried that when I launch in a few weeks, no one will be interested, and that will be...disappointing.

Personally my budget and price points for cool indy projects and my budget and price points for mass produced WotC products in Walmart or wherever are different things. And yes, a boxed set that is the entire game is a very different prospect than one that anticipates you buying a set of core books if you want to continue after you've used up it's short adventures.

But yeah, I think I bought whichever of the 5e Starter Sets was a "Target Exclusive" partly just as an excuse to go run suburban errands that day and get out of the house, and neither your boxed set nor this new D&D one are in that category for me.

 

[MGibster]

Man. Hearing all the dissatisfied folks about the $50 price point has me getting a bit worried about my own boxed set. (skip to the 2 min mark). I'm listing it for $100. Granted, it's not a starter set but the full game, and it has more stuff. And since it's a limited run, I don't get to enjoy large scale cheap print runs so I have to have a higher mark up (but customers really don't care about that). I'm starting to get worried that when I launch in a few weeks, no one will be interested, and that will be...disappointing.

If you can afford to live in anything other than the fanciest of cardboard boxes, it means you're charging too much for your gaming products! (You're going after a different market than A&D, so I think you're safe.)

AD&D 2nd edition Player's Handbook - $20 in 1989 which is the equivalent to $53 in 2025.

Ravenloft boxed (black) - $30 is 1994 which is equivalent to $66 in 2025.

Like the vast majority of RPGs out there, the retail price seems very reasonable to me. It's a much bigger, more ambitious starter set than the ones previously released and both the contents and price reflect that. The price does not seem out of whack with historical trends.

 

[Stormonu]

Moldvay set was ~$9 in '81, equal to about $32 nowadays. Heroquest First Light is $50. Pathfinder Beginner set is ~$42.

For me, this set is overpriced, but the only thing I'd buy it for is collecting interest, not to play. I'll just have to keep watch to see if it ends up in the likes of Ollie's or somewhere else at a deep discount.

 

[Zaukrie]

I'm committed to buying physical products local, but I may also buy the digital for this?

 

[Parmandur]

Moldvay set was ~$9 in '81, equal to about $32 nowadays. Heroquest First Light is $50. Pathfinder Beginner set is ~$42.

For me, this set is overpriced, but the only thing I'd buy it for is collecting interest, not to play. I'll just have to keep watch to see if it ends up in the likes of Ollie's or somewhere else at a deep discount.

"the new Starter Set will contain 3 adventure booklets, 8 character class boards featuring iconic D&D classes, 1 quick-start guide, a reference booklet, 5 in-world immersive handouts (including a tavern menu and shop catalogs), 9 double-sided poster maps, a combat tracker, 11 dice, 210 game cards (including spells, magic items, and equipment), and 273 tokens (including monsters, terrain, and resources)."

The cost comparison would be more like the Moldvay Basic Set plus two extra modules, and the 4E Monster Vault...

I think it is definitely not overpriced for the contents.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

The price makes lots of sense for the stuff in it

 

[bedir than]

Pathfinder 2 Beginner Box is $40-45
Tales of the Valiant Starter Set is $35-45

I expect this will get the 10-15% discount from online and box stores

It won't drop to $10 like the og 5e set did. I bought several of those to give away to people or for toy drives.

 

[sevenbastard]

It could easily be a dry creek bed.

It could also make sense if the edges of the map are a canyon and the trail winding around those boulders is making the best of things.

Sure. But WOTC catagraphy is normally top notch and as a battle map there is no reason not to cut through the grass. Adding elevation in these spots would present a tactical choice and this is important..... you could take the high ground.

 

[Parmandur]

The price makes lots of sense for the stuff in it

Yeah, I thinkna case could easily be made that it would be nice to have a cheaper more basic option like they had before...but I think if they had a $30 basic set (adjusting the w024 Set for inflation) next to the full featured $50 set...I tend to think many would prefer the fuller set?