D&D General Who is this made for (Not Beginners) - the New D&D Starter Set

[Charlaquin]

I just feel you're not getting a campaign experience with a short turn as GM in a round-robin style, and the campaign is the whole reason I like to GM. Short sessions mostly filled with combat seem more likely for the proposed style, and that doesn't sound like an RPG experience I would enjoy for long.

Well fortunately for you, you don’t have to use this product

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Absolutely the adventure was better in the Phandelver Starter. Everything else is better about this set.

If you think about it, having a really good adventure in the starter set could be really intimidating for potential new DMs, at least when it comes to creating their own content. “I need a bunch of plot threads, compelling NPCs, a deep knowledge of setting lore and the ability to write purple-prose text box descriptions.”

Keep on the Borderlands demonstrates that actually all you need to get started is a hole in the ground with some monsters in it. I remember reading the original back in the 1980s and thinking “I can do better”. And I’ve been a DM ever since.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I'm betting all those who are saying it's so easy are experienced players like me

On the contrary, those who are finding it difficult are experienced players like you.

Experienced players are a self-selected group of people who like to look things up in books. In good board game design, the rule book is intended to be read once then go back in the box, never to be used again. All the information you need to actually play is on the game materials. Which is where people who haven’t formed the habit of constantly referring to rulebooks will instinctively look.

 

[aco175]

Not sure if everyone is done badwrongfunning the OP for his experience, but has anyone else had problems running or teaching new players this? I have not bought it yet.

 

[KYRON45]

Your hyperbole doesn't due you any favors. It's still the shop window of D&D for prospective new players. It is how they are introduced to the whole game. It is intended to be used by an entire group of new people, including GMs. No mentoring, so no perspectives other than what the box gives you.

Can you really not tell why so many people have blocked you?

 

[Imaro]

I just feel you're not getting a campaign experience with a short turn as GM in a round-robin style, and the campaign is whole reason I like to GM. Short sessions mostly filled with combat seem more likely for the proposed style, and that doesn't sound like RPG experience I would enjoy for long.

Ok but...

1. You dont play 5e so is this just a thought excercise, a chance to poo poo on an excellent WotC product or what?

and

2. Nothing in the set forces you to play Round Robin style... its given as an option.

 

[Imaro]

Not sure if everyone is done badwrongfunning the OP for his experience, but has anyone else had problems running or teaching new players this? I have not bought it yet.

Who did this? I see a ton of corrections around the OP's mis-information that was presented about the set... but who is badwrongfunning (what does that even mean in the context of this thread?) the OP.

 

[GreyLord]

Who did this? I see a ton of corrections around the OP's mis-information that was presented about the set... but who is badwrongfunning (what does that even mean in the context of this thread?) the OP.

Personally, I'd say a LOT of people in the thread. However, because they are pro-WotC no matter what WotC puts out, it's not really seen that way on these forums.

I'm okay with it. At least I've expressed my thoughts on the box (and no one here has really changed my feelings on it. There's been about two posts that actually sort of addressed my concerns, but they didn't actually cover WHY the problem happened in the first place except to blame everything but the box. All my players, me, anything but WotC is to be blamed.

That said, I think I may be the ONLY one here that let new players actually just try to figure things out on their own without an experienced player to guide them...

I haven't seen anyone else replicate that experience thus far...except to say that my players must be bad people or something to that degree since they didn't figure out what was "obvious" to the experienced players here.

That even I found difficulties (The Saving throw thing is an excellent example, it tells you the wrong location of where to find the information, it is not actually listed under Saving Throws or where you'd expect to find it...etc) and no one has really addressed that except to...well...no one has actually really addressed that problem (one person pointed out it could be found in one sentence in a section unrelated to it and which was not even referenced under Saving Throws in the glossary or defined section) of misdirection in the rules and not being clear.

So, yes, I feel a LOT of people here have said our group was badwrongfunning and I'm happy none of those players I had are on these forums because they'd probably be heavily insulted and if they DID have fun, after reading the comments in these thread may decide it's just not worth it.

That said, it's not something that truly bothers me all that much. I just wanted to make sure that if people are looking into this, they are forwarned that this box is NOT going to be as straightforward or as simple as many of those reviews out there are saying it is. I think I made that clear and abundant, and others have made their opinions that they do not agree with me. That's a good thing. To have a difference of opinions where each can read the differences makes for a better view than just one side (and up until my singular post I think only one side has been expressed thus far, that of experienced players rather than someone who had total newbies unfamiliar with D&D try to figure it out on their own out of the box without the experienced player helping them at first. I've done this same thing with other introductory sets in the past as well, so this isn't my first time doing this. It IS the first time it turned out so badly though).

A Starter box should be that. A thing where you can sit down and basically start playing off the bat pretty quickly. This box is not that. If a Starter Box is not a Starter box...what then is it's purpose.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I mentioned the internet, and said “Purchasers of the box set will have many avenues to get more information about the game.”

Your direct response was, “Sure, if they get past the starter set”. How is the starter set impeding their ability to get perspectives on D&D outside of the starter set?

I mean, come on. The internet. The existence of a starter set does not impede the flow of information that is from other sources outside the starter set.

What I mean is, if the starter set doesn't do it for them, they have no motivation to learn about D&D from any other source.

 

[TiQuinn]

I think the fact that the OP bought four boxes and didn’t like the product may be playing an outsized role in their reaction.