D&D General Starter vs Essentials vs Stormwreck Isle

[Jaiken]

My sister’s Ranger decided to investigate the bushes with her wood elf’s bow drawn. Short to say the Goblin’s did not get to ambush the party as effectively as I thought.

Then the other players, Half Orc Paladin and Hill Dwarf Druid decided to draw out the goblins from their cave. The Paladin did this by banging his Maul against his armor and the Druid and Ranger hide in waiting in nearby bushes, ready to ambush.

 

[delericho]

IMO, the Essentials Kit is better than the first Starter Set in every respect except for the adventure. And it's better than the new Starter Set in every respect.

My recommendation, if you have to pick one, is to get the first Starter Set if you can. Better still, get that and Essentials - the two adventures link together quite well.

I'd skip the new Starter Set unless neither of the other two can be found.

 

[Zardnaar]

IMO, the Essentials Kit is better than the first Starter Set in every respect except for the adventure. And it's better than the new Starter Set in every respect.

My recommendation, if you have to pick one, is to get the first Starter Set if you can. Better still, get that and Essentials - the two adventures link together quite well.

I'd skip the new Starter Set unless neither of the other two can be found.

It's better as a product it's not better for beginners.

 

[TerraDave]

This is very useful.

But! I always start at level 1. Running LMoP the second time.

 

[Iosue]

I'll speak in defense of Dragon of Icespire Peak.

To be sure, the starting quests are all a little rough for a party of 1st level characters to engage in straight combat. That's exactly what I like about them. They encourage finding strategies or solutions other than straight, "We fight it."

I also think the job board is great. You provide a party of new players with choice, right off the bat, but not so much freedom that they don't know what to do. Though I do think some of the later quests could have been more integrated into the story. The job board is great for starting out; that doesn't mean that every quest has to come from the job board. (This is even more egregious in the expansions Storm Lord's Wrath, Sleeping Dragon's Wake, and Divine Contention. Higher level characters shouldn't be going to a job board. If anything, the quest givers should be coming directly to the PCs for help.)

I do think it's fair to say that DoIP is not very friendly for new DMs. A lot more guidance could have and should have been provided for how to handle these first encounters. But as a product for experienced DMs to introduce the game to new players, I like it a lot.

 

[MerricB]

I do think it's fair to say that DoIP is not very friendly for new DMs. A lot more guidance could have and should have been provided for how to handle these first encounters. But as a product for experienced DMs to introduce the game to new players, I like it a lot.

Putting a manticore (flying, high damage) against first level characters is such a horrible DMing trick from Wizards. But - honestly - most of their recent low-level writing has been "let's get it over as fast as possible."

While I rather enjoy good first level play. You just need situations that are interesting and not overwhelming. Stormwreck Isle doesn't interest me at all, though I know some people like it a lot.

When I used Icespire Peak, it was integrated into Lost Mine, as a result extending the "quests" section of the original adventure - and it was excellent for that. They're of a piece with the small quests of Lost Mine. I wonder if that was its intent, and little consideration was given to how it worked as a stand-alone product.

There's lots of quality stuff in Icespire Peak, and I do love job boards. I just think it's a little disconnected to work as a stand-alone product.