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

[FitzTheRuke]

Yeah, it's a generational thing. Whilst most younger folk will be familiar with depleting red health bars from video games, older folk (say 60+ ish) won't be. And you might want Great Uncle Bulgaria to join in with the kids in playing this game.

The players I had this past weekend ranged by age, with the youngest being 9 and the oldest 60. Most of them were in their early 30's (I'm 51, so nearer the high end!)

 

[FitzTheRuke]

But not everyone is average. In fact I would argue that no one is.

IME, they are a vast array of various extremes. With careful observation, some trends emerge, but you can't rely on the trends in any given specific case. You can only adapt.

 

[definiteFreakyFishGuy]

Yeah, it's a generational thing. Whilst most younger folk will be familiar with depleting red health bars from video games, older folk (say 60+ ish) won't be. And you might want Great Uncle Bulgaria to join in with the kids in playing this game.

I played a lot of computer games when I was a child. In those games, you died if you get hit even once.

Super Mario Brothers with the mushroom changed that, which, to me, was amazing. Then Super Mario Brothers 2 (the one with radishes) had these little red things that allowed me to not die even after I got hit—totally blew my young mind. I guess there was also Sonic, with the rings, but that was much later. (I skipped Zelda—I think I played my first Zelda game in 2010s).

That's a very long way of saying how interesting HP has become so ubiquitous in games.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I played a lot of computer games when I was a child. In those games, you died if you get hit even once.

Super Mario Brothers with the mushroom changed that, which, to me, was amazing. Then Super Mario Brothers 2 (the one with radishes) had these little red things that allowed me to not die even after I got hit—totally blew my young mind. I guess there was also Sonic, with the rings, but that was much later. (I skipped Zelda—I think I played my first Zelda game in 2010s).

That's a very long way of saying how interesting HP has become so ubiquitous in games.

Three Hearts was the trope in the 80s. Health bars came in later - 90s? The red colour, with it's obvious association with blood, has been around since video games had colour.

The hp tokens have red hearts on them, so they also call back to those early video games.

 

[Hussar]

The designers of Heroes of the Borderlands felt that they needed to define HP. As far as I can tell, they did it in a number of places!

Wait. I'm confused.

I don't have this set. So, I'm just going by what people are saying here. The OP talks repeatedly about how HP are not defined anywhere in the Basic set. Is that incorrect?

 

[definiteFreakyFishGuy]

Three Hearts was the trope in the 80s. Health bars came in later - 90s? The red colour, with it's obvious association with blood, has been around since video games had colour.

That's interesting. I actually feel like most health bars I encountered were either yellow or green or white. (EDIT: Back in the day, that is.)

I think the first time I saw a heatlh bar was for Street Fighter. I remember that in the original game, the health bars were fully yellow at full health. I can't remember if the version I played if the yellow part just got shorter to reveal a red background withn the bar or if the bar was transparent.

Some other games I played used either white or green for health bars. I can't remember if the orignal Fire Emblem used white or green. Chrono Trigger used green. There was this game where you got to switch between Ultraman, Gundam, Masked Rider, and some blue hair dude which I think used white health bars.

Anyway, you get the point.

The hp tokens have red hearts on them, so they also call back to those early video games.

Back then, I don't think I actually made the association between the red with blood, probably because the idea of blood freaked me out as a child.

I think the first time I made the connection was when I was played diablo 2, in the 90s. It was the first game I played where I saw my character actually bleed as their red health orb got depleted. Man, I really miss the feeling of diablo 2 for the first time.

EDIT: Do I have a point? I don't think I have a point. I'm just getting nostalgic. Wow, I feel like an old fart.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Wow, I feel like an old fart

Not that old. Some of us were born before Pong!

 

[Thommy H-H]

Wait. I'm confused.

I don't have this set. So, I'm just going by what people are saying here. The OP talks repeatedly about how HP are not defined anywhere in the Basic set. Is that incorrect?

Yes, that's incorrect. For example, in this video at 32:44, you can see the pages of the Play Guide that deal with damage and healing, which are the same as the Basic Rules. The 'Hit Points' heading is hidden by Todd's head, but you can zoom in on the text and see it's the relevant section from here, but possibly with some more information about how the rules interact with the components in the set.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Whist your example is somewhat extreme, I think most people do this to some extent. I know I do, which is why I very much prefer text articles over video, which force you to access information linearly. If you think about it, a whole paragraph fits into your field of vision, so why would you read one word at at time (or one letter at a time)? Close reading - reading one word at a time - is an important skill for lawyers.

No, this is important for everyone reading rules or mathematical problems.
Especially if you want to put blame on the product or author.
They are not responsible for one's inability to just read the whole sentence, not only parts.

And similar considerations come into play with images (such as the character boards). Most people, when given a picture to look at, their eyes dart around taking it all in (eye tracking research has been done). Artists are trained to exploit this to create movement in an image. So for an average person, if they have seen the character board, they have seen the character board. They don't need to be told exactly were to look to find something, because they assimilated the whole thing the first time they saw it.

But not everyone is average. In fact I would argue that no one is.

 

[GreyLord]

Wait. I'm confused.

I don't have this set. So, I'm just going by what people are saying here. The OP talks repeatedly about how HP are not defined anywhere in the Basic set. Is that incorrect?

They aren't defined in the Read this first booklet which tells you to punch tokens and gather them up and stuff.

They do not have a Section which is labeled about Hitpoints, and they do not have it in the Glossary as a term in case you don't know what they are.

They are discussed in combat (finally) after you've put together your character.