ToV Tales of the Valiant Starter Set

Tales of the Valiant (Black Flag)

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I bought my Starter Set when it dropped to $15 + S&H a few weeks ago.
I love the design and packaging. The folio sized rules and adventures help me think about how little table space is actually needed for a high fantasy game, even one with minis, tokens and maps.
Another enjoyable thing is the minis don't include an elf! They quite purposefully include a kobold, duh, and a bearfolk.
The what's an RPG micro guide is a solid addition -- even though I object to their embrace of the word fluff in the glossary.
The rules fitting into a folio of 40-ish pages is great. So many people I've talked to about D&D and the 5e ecosystem get overwhelmed with the size of the ruleset. Even with the explanation that a player really only needs to understand a few pages, that can be a lot.

I haven't looked at the pregens or adventures in detail yet.
 


Well, I've been pouring over my newly acquired Starter Set, and I really want to like it, but... the actual product it not making it easy. Yes, it's a beautiful set - especially, the miniatures. I love them. But there are so very many errors and oversights...

Right off the bat, the Cabbage character's stats, on his sheet, are clearly not the same ones assumed in the solo adventure. For example, he has no Arcana proficiency and Int +0, for a total of +0, but the adventure assumes Arcana proficiency and Int +2, for a total of +4. And this actually matters, during the adventure. His Str is +3 but the adventure says +2. And, as for the somewhat tedious adventure, itself, it is super easy for Cabbage to die from a mimic bite and/or sword slash and/or poisoning before completing the tutorial, which kind of defeats the purpose. Etc., etc. Just... sloppy.

The pregens all have missing info, some serious. For example, the poor warlock is missing the Find Familiar pseudodragon stats that are needed for his main class feature, and, at 2nd level, he has only one 1st Level spell listed, even though it says he should have two. Most of the wizard's starting spells are not explained, nor is his Create Familiar or the familiar it creates. They even forgot to list the barbarian's rage damage bonus. Their armor qualities are listed but not explained. Anywhere. Etc., etc.

Like I said, I really want to like this, but... It just has really bad editing. Honestly, I pity the starting player who tries to actually learn from this "starter" set. It pretty much requires you to have access to the actual player's book or, at least, the Black Flag SRD. And to recognize when you'll need them and aren't just misunderstanding what you have read (which may be harder than it sounds, for an actual beginner).
 
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The character sheets are not explained well for new players to the hobby. And, as mentioned, there are chunks of missing information, particularly spells and the stats for the two familiars. The pregens have no healing and no heal potions in first adventure. I'd have liked to have seen a bigger mix of character types. There is a fighter, barbarian, wizard and warlock. No divine or skill based characters.

The miniatures, maps and dice are great. Our table will probably have fun but we are experienced and used the SRD to fill in the holes. As a beginner product, it fails, unfortunately. It's too bad because it's a box full of lovely goodies.
 


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