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.

 

[wicked cool]

All depends on the adventure.

 

[Parmandur]

I've never heard anyone say the starter set was great, good, or even worth it to start. Its usually a junk set quickly forgotten. The Paizo beginners box on the other hand has stuff folks still use after years of playing.

The module the 2014 Star Set came with, Lost Mines of Phandelver, is rock solid and a stone cold classic thst is very replayable. The dice are also actually quite nice (the latter Essentials Kot dice are my wife'sgo to set of choice). The rest is pretty basic. So, for #19.99, it was quite a great deal.

This is a different animal, more like the Paizo beginners box.

 

[Professor Murder]

I am not disputing that what is in the box is worth $50. What I am arguing is that it should be a loss leader. Or to point out another simple fact, why would I recommend this product when the PHB is the same price?

 

[Nikosandros]

The module the 2014 Star Set came with, Lost Mines of Phandelver, is rock solid and a stone cold classic thst is very replayable. The dice are also actually quite nice (the latter Essentials Kot dice are my wife'sgo to set of choice). The rest is pretty basic. So, for #19.99, it was quite a great deal.

Yes, the original Starter Set was a great product and the adventure is outstanding. I was less enthused about Dragons of Stormwreck Isle and even less about the Stranger Things starter set.

 

[Nikosandros]

I am not disputing that what is in the box is worth $50. What I am arguing is that it should be a loss leader. Or to point out another simple fact, why would I recommend this product when the PHB is the same price?

Of course it depends a lot on the situation, but this set is stand-alone, while you need the DMG and the MM to play. Further, if this is well done, it will teach new players in a quick and efficient way. Learning D&D from the PHB can be challenging, IMO.

 

[Professor Murder]

So I am curious as to how often a table of completely inexperienced people get into TTRPG. It's a larger topic than for here. But what I mean is, how common is it for a given table of say 5 complete gaming virgins to decide to buy an intro product or perhaps receive one as a gift and start playing? Because I have to think that overwhelmingly, someone who is already in the hobby brings people in.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I've never heard anyone say the starter set was great, good, or even worth it to start. Its usually a junk set quickly forgotten.

Lost Mine got me to come back to D&D.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

So I am curious as to how often a table of completely inexperienced people get into TTRPG. It's a larger topic than for here. But what I mean is, how common is it for a given table of say 5 complete gaming virgins to decide to buy an intro product or perhaps receive one as a gift and start playing? Because I have to think that overwhelmingly, someone who is already in the hobby brings people in.

And this boxed set is an attempt to change that. It's doing something that hasn't been attempted at least since the 1991 boxed set. If it doesn't work, they can always fall back on the cheap loss leader starter sets in future.

 

[DarkCrisis]

It's Keep on the Borderlands. You know what that is? It's not a one-shot.

Yes, Ive ran the original. and 5E is a vastly different animal than Basic/AD&D.

Plus modern WotC has more misses than hits when it comes to well designed adventures.

Although since they are basically updating a classic, perhaps ill be surprised

 

[Professor Murder]

I will admit that because of my long held love of Keep on the Borderlands I was thinking of getting this update, but for this price point, I would have to wait for a deep discount to fell it was worth it.