D&D 5E (2024) Heroes of the Borderlands

[CharlesWallace]

There are four species options with two copies each for a total of eight Species Cards: two humans, two dwarves, two elves, and two halflings. Each Species Card has unique art on the front and is tied to one of the eight Player Character Tokens in the product. Additionally, Kate Irwin, the art director on this set, did something really cool with these cards. If you place two of the same species side by side, they actually form a little scene. The dwarves are at a forge, the humans are building a house, and as one might expect—the haflings are having a meal! This also helps to showcase that any species can be a member of a certain class; none of them are wearing armor or holding a spellbook.

Wow, that's such a thoughtful touch! I'm definitely picking up this set.

 

[THEMNGMNT]

@JusticeArman got my copy in the mail today. It's great. You nailed it.

 

[sevenbastard]

I don't even have my copy but am already hopeful they do a Expert style version two for levels 4 to 6.

Maybe an update to Forge of Fury? Make it a cool dungeon in a box and show where to place it on the wilderness map.

Im not a 5.24e fan but starter boxes and simplfied games are my jam. Keep them coming.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I don't even have my copy but am already hopeful they do a Expert style version two for levels 4 to 6.

"You're going to need a bigger card."

That's the fundamental issue. The point is to have all the information the player needs on the card, so they don't need to refer to the rules. But the amount of things a character can do grows rapidly with level, so level 4 won't fit on the same card as level 3.

And you would need to deal with things like ability score increases - these cards have fixed ability scores.

The cards are great to start players off, but they are still going to have to move on to character sheets.

 

[Stormonu]

I don't even have my copy but am already hopeful they do a Expert style version two for levels 4 to 6.

Maybe an update to Forge of Fury? Make it a cool dungeon in a box and show where to place it on the wilderness map.

Im not a 5.24e fan but starter boxes and simplfied games are my jam. Keep them coming.

Nah, needs to be Isle of Dread, showing how to do a hexcrawl-style expansion that is exploration driven instead of set-encounter play.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Before they go on to higher levels, I hope they expand horizontally first, with more classes, ancestries, etc., available as an expansion kit. They could also detail the Cave of the Unknown and give us more monsters, etc.

I do think the Isle of Dread -- which would definitely benefit from a more modern take on adventure design, maybe by making it a point crawl -- is the obvious next big boxed set, should they want to do one.

 

[Sulicius]

There are four species options with two copies each for a total of eight Species Cards: two humans, two dwarves, two elves, and two halflings. Each Species Card has unique art on the front and is tied to one of the eight Player Character Tokens in the product. Additionally, Kate Irwin, the art director on this set, did something really cool with these cards. If you place two of the same species side by side, they actually form a little scene. The dwarves are at a forge, the humans are building a house, and as one might expect—the haflings are having a meal! This also helps to showcase that any species can be a member of a certain class; none of them are wearing armor or holding a spellbook.

It’s been really interesting to see people react to all these clever design solutions so far. Some of them are understandable, like the difference of the jumping rules.

Fitting everything on cards seems to have been a challenge. Is that why there is no Gelatinous Cube, but instead a Jelly Cube?

 

[JusticeArman]

It’s been really interesting to see people react to all these clever design solutions so far. Some of them are understandable, like the difference of the jumping rules.

Fitting everything on cards seems to have been a challenge. Is that why there is no Gelatinous Cube, but instead a Jelly Cube?

Yes! That's exactly it. Because the Gelatinous Cube stat block didn't fit on a card, we had to change or remove some bits. However, we felt the differences in the design were distinct enough that it was essentially a new stat block and required a different name. That's also why the gray ooze in this set is called the Gray Ooze Glob; that creature's Corrosive Form trait differs from the one in the Gray Ooze stat block. For the gelatinous cube, we didn't want to make the name too long by adding to it, hence the name "jelly cube," which has a nice, mildly whimsical ring to it that I hope encourages a generation of new players to get up close and personal with this wobbly, totally-not-painful cube of pure delight (and digestive gelatin).

 

[Sulicius]

Yes! That's exactly it. Because the Gelatinous Cube stat block didn't fit on a card, we had to change or remove some bits. However, we felt the differences in the design were distinct enough that it was essentially a new stat block and required a different name. That's also why the gray ooze in this set is called the Gray Ooze Glob; that creature's Corrosive Form trait differs from the one in the Gray Ooze stat block. For the gelatinous cube, we didn't want to make the name too long by adding to it, hence the name "jelly cube," which has a nice, mildly whimsical ring to it that I hope encourages a generation of new players to get up close and personal with this wobbly, totally-not-painful cube of pure delight (and digestive gelatin).

Thank you so much for your fast response! I am planning to introduce new players to the game with it and get much use out of those beautiful maps.

I can’t wait until they arrive in the EU!

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Fitting everything on cards seems to have been a challenge. Is that why there is no Gelatinous Cube, but instead a Jelly Cube

Yes, but in addition the name change reduces the reading age.