Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
The new Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set - and online tools?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Transformer" data-source="post: 6303874" data-attributes="member: 70008"><p>I'm sympathetic with the people who call the starter set crippleware. Character creation is absolutely fundamental to a tabletop roleplaying game. I don't care how basic your set is supposed to be or how inexperienced the target audience is: any set of tabletop roleplaying game rules with no character creation is little more than an advertisement you have to pay for.</p><p></p><p>No matter how user-friendly and intuitive the character creation option is, if it's not in the box, it's still a barrier. It's still a set of directions a new DM has to follow, a set of potential technical issues he has to deal with, a set of logistical issues he has to think through if he wants to be able to play D&D on his camping trip this weekend.</p><p></p><p>That said, I'll be 99% ok with their decision to leave character creation out of the box, if only these conditions are met:</p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">There are clear, prominent, easy-to-follow instructions in the starter set for accessing the character creation material, whatever form it takes.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The character creation material is completely free (at least the portion which corresponds to the starter set).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The character creation material (or free portion thereof) includes all classes, races, levels 1-5, and other crunch reflected in the starter set.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Character creation can be done without an active internet connection (with pencil and paper, via an app, etc).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Character creation can be done without any electronic device at all (i.e., you could download the character creation rules in some form, print them out, and then take them on your camping trip, secure in the knowledge that you can create more characters on the fly without the need for even a smartphone or tablet).</li> </ul><p></p><p>I suspect I will get most of the above, though the last one is iffy.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Transformer, post: 6303874, member: 70008"] I'm sympathetic with the people who call the starter set crippleware. Character creation is absolutely fundamental to a tabletop roleplaying game. I don't care how basic your set is supposed to be or how inexperienced the target audience is: any set of tabletop roleplaying game rules with no character creation is little more than an advertisement you have to pay for. No matter how user-friendly and intuitive the character creation option is, if it's not in the box, it's still a barrier. It's still a set of directions a new DM has to follow, a set of potential technical issues he has to deal with, a set of logistical issues he has to think through if he wants to be able to play D&D on his camping trip this weekend. That said, I'll be 99% ok with their decision to leave character creation out of the box, if only these conditions are met: [LIST] [*]There are clear, prominent, easy-to-follow instructions in the starter set for accessing the character creation material, whatever form it takes. [*]The character creation material is completely free (at least the portion which corresponds to the starter set). [*]The character creation material (or free portion thereof) includes all classes, races, levels 1-5, and other crunch reflected in the starter set. [*]Character creation can be done without an active internet connection (with pencil and paper, via an app, etc). [*]Character creation can be done without any electronic device at all (i.e., you could download the character creation rules in some form, print them out, and then take them on your camping trip, secure in the knowledge that you can create more characters on the fly without the need for even a smartphone or tablet). [/LIST] I suspect I will get most of the above, though the last one is iffy. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
The new Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set - and online tools?
Top
