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

[Thommy H-H]

I think they understood it, the set just wasn't made for people who may boardgame, but do not understand RPGs.

On top of that, every starter Set (basic sets or things like the Essentials Kit is different) I've played is a sit down and run type of game. Except for prepping the dungeon everyone already is ready to go the instant they get their character sheets. It is then (as I'm normally familiar enough with the sheets, they are not that different from the full character sheets of the game the set is for) a simple matter for me to explain it as I go rather than trying to tailor it to however the starter set has done things.

For a Starter Set, the entire reason to go with a Starter Set is ease of starting the game with new players. If it fails at that basic task...why use a Starter Set rather than something more complex in the first place (like the PHB???)

It's not the set's fault you seemingly didn't tell your players what you wanted from them though, or expected them to do all the prep themselves when you - an experienced DM - had offered to run it for them. Like, if I knew a DM was showing up to run the game for me, I wouldn't be sitting there trying to work out how to play myself. It's quite possible they would have been able to do it fine without you, but why would they bother to try when you were arriving soon?

Sorry, it all just reads like you had a pretty crappy intro session due to a misunderstanding or miscommunication over expectations and you're trying to blame it on the product. How can you judge it as a tool for teaching new players when you ran it as an experienced player teaching newbies, but also didn't do any prep for that?

 

[GreyLord]

It's not the set's fault you seemingly didn't tell your players what you wanted from them though, or expected them to do all the prep themselves when you - an experienced DM - had offered to run it for them. Like, if I knew a DM was showing up to run the game for me, I wouldn't be sitting there trying to work out how to play myself. It's quite possible they would have been able to do it fine without you, but why would they bother to try when you were arriving soon?

Sorry, it all just reads like you had a pretty crappy intro session due to a misunderstanding or miscommunication over expectations and you're trying to blame it on the product. How can you judge it as a tool for teaching new players when you ran it as an experienced player teaching newbies, but also didn't do any prep for that?

I told them to read through the materials and have their characters ready and prepped so we could start to play the game immediately when I arrived.

They, themselves, as we went through getting the things set up said that there was nothing in the book to tell them to do this. When I went through the book, I agree. The section that mentioned the Background and Race cards didn't really explain what to do with them, and there wasn't anything really telling them how to set up their class boards. There was a page explaining each section in brief of the class boards, and another of the cards, but nothing really explicit to walk them through it.

It's not like the aren't experienced at setting up board games and reading rules either. This is a board game group that I decided to give a taste of RPGs/D&D to this week (still unsure what they actually thought of it).

PS: AS I mentioned, the only way really provided is to watch the videos. That will get you to know what you should, but those videos are not in the box and seem directed to get you onto D&D beyond. This set is not made for beginners from what I've seen. It's tailored to people like you and me and those on these boards. That's why it has all the pretty little pieces and such. They spent more time on making it with all the accessories than seeing how accessible it was to new players (IMO).

 

[cranberry]

There's a rulebook in the box. It's the second item in there, after the "read this first" flyer.

I was responding to the OP's comment claiming there were no rules.

 

[cranberry]

Yeah, why would a starter set target new players anyway?

Specifically the module, not the starter set itself. Why choose a remake of B2 if not to catch the attention of older players?

 

[Distracted DM]

Specifically the module, not the starter set itself. Why choose a remake of B2 if not to catch the attention of older players?

It does catch the attention of older players, but it's made to serve new players. "Hey Keep on the Borderlands was a great intro for new players back then, let's reimagine/update it to be great to intro new players in now. And maybe old players that recognize the name will buy it just for the new content maps etc, not the rules."

 

[BruceWright]

I told them to read through the materials and have their characters ready and prepped so we could start to play the game immediately when I arrived.

They, themselves, as we went through getting the things set up said that there was nothing in the book to tell them to do this. When I went through the book, I agree. The section that mentioned the Background and Race cards didn't really explain what to do with them, and there wasn't anything really telling them how to set up their class boards. There was a page explaining each section in brief of the class boards, and another of the cards, but nothing really explicit to walk them through it.

Honestly, this is page 2 of the quickstart guide. Summarized:

If You're A Character:

1 Choose your class. Pick one of the four level 1 class boards as your character's Class.
2 Pick one Background Card and one species card
3 Gather all the components listed on the "What you need to play" section printed on your Class Board
4 Place all these on your Class Board as shown in the accompanying image.

and there's a photo on the facing page showing exactly where those go.

Did you skip the "READ ME FIRST" guide?

 

[Imaro]

I told them to read through the materials and have their characters ready and prepped so we could start to play the game immediately when I arrived.

They, themselves, as we went through getting the things set up said that there was nothing in the book to tell them to do this. When I went through the book, I agree. The section that mentioned the Background and Race cards didn't really explain what to do with them, and there wasn't anything really telling them how to set up their class boards. There was a page explaining each section in brief of the class boards, and another of the cards, but nothing really explicit to walk them through it.

It's not like the aren't experienced at setting up board games and reading rules either. This is a board game group that I decided to give a taste of RPGs/D&D to this week (still unsure what they actually thought of it).

PS: AS I mentioned, the only way really provided is to watch the videos. That will get you to know what you should, but those videos are not in the box and seem directed to get you onto D&D beyond. This set is not made for beginners from what I've seen. It's tailored to people like you and me and those on these boards. That's why it has all the pretty little pieces and such. They spent more time on making it with all the accessories than seeing how accessible it was to new players (IMO).

Ok I just want to point out that in the "Read Me First" booklet it tells you there is a section on the character card called "What you need to play" that lists out all the equipment and spell cards a class needs... you keep claiming info isnt in the set that is specifically called out in the set (Usually in the "Read Me First" booklet).

Im thinking about combination of your players not reading over the actual material and you assuming the presentation would be the same as the PHB (instead of approaching this as an actual starter set) led to a bad experience for you all.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Specifically the module, not the starter set itself. Why choose a remake of B2 if not to catch the attention of older players?

I do wonder about that. Not an adventure really tailored to the young prospective roleplayer of today.

 

[BruceWright]

I do wonder about that. Not an adventure really tailored to the young prospective roleplayer of today.

It makes total sense to me, given the stated goal that this set was for short sessions with changing DMs.

This whole adventure is bite-sized encounters with only an emergent plot, if that.

Tailored exactly to this design goal.

Is that the design goal you would choose if uou were designing it? Maybe not.

But i think, via playtesting, they figured out an approach that met their goal.

 

[Micah Sweet]

It makes total sense to me, given the stated goal that this set was for short sessions with changing DMs.

This whole adventure is bite-sized encounters with only an emergent plot, if that.

Tailored exactly to this design goal.

Is that the design goal you would choose if uou were designing it? Maybe not.

But i think, via playtesting, they figured out an approach that met their goal.

What an odd goal to me. Do they state that in the product? Are they giving up on long campaign as a playstyle? What's the benefit of constantly changing GMs? Are they shifting to RPGs as short combat-filled sessions that get run by someone else next week? I'm really struggling to understand what they want D&D to be for new players and why.