D&D 5E Why I'm Buying the Starter Set

[Holy Bovine]

Holy cow, that's...I don't even...I feel so sorry for everyone who's excited about 5e! I know that the PHB is all that one supposedly needs to 'run a full campaign,' but this release schedule is just asinine.

Has WotC claimed some sort of pretense for releasing the core books months apart, or is it just a bald attempt to make as much money from the starter set as possible before releasing the full game?

Remember the reams of errata 4E produced in an astonishingly short time?

Mike Mearls says the staggered release format (same as they did with the original 3E) is to try and make sure that doesn't happen this time. Trying to edit 500+ pages of PHB/MM/DMG is too taxing for the RPG department.

Just be glad you aren't waiting the 2 years between the 1E AD&D MM (yeah it was first in 1977) and the DMG (they shoehorned the PHB in the middle there somewhere).

 

[Li Shenron]

Personally I'd far prefer the Basic game to be hard-copy from the start as that's the version I'm most likely to want.

I was expecting that to be in fact an actual book, although I wasn't going to buy it. To release such product was an explicit goal about a year ago, but it's possible they didn't specifically mention a printed product. Perhaps they figured out that the prospect sales weren't going to be nearly as good as a simple boxed set.

In a sense, the 3 core books contain also the Basic game, if you e.g. define a default subclass for each class, ignore feats, and stick to the smallest set of combat, interaction and exploration rules. But I don't know if the 3 core books will tell you how to do this explicitly, or you'll have to figure it out (i.e. take a look at the free pdfs).

So if you only really want to have the Basic game, your disappointment is understandable... You can have it for free, but it's just a digital product, not a physical book with gorgeous artwork. Or you can sort it out from a larger and more expensive set of 3 books. Or you can hope they'll release an actual book, but when?

 

[Tequila Sunrise]

Mike Mearls says the staggered release format (same as they did with the original 3E) is to try and make sure that doesn't happen this time. Trying to edit 500+ pages of PHB/MM/DMG is too taxing for the RPG department.

Thanks for the info! Quality control is an admirable goal, but this info does beg the question "Why not release everything in November to allow for that much more quality control?" I guess they rightly figure that many gamers want their bits and pieces of the game right now.

This thread has been very enlightening.

Just be glad you aren't waiting the 2 years between the 1E AD&D MM (yeah it was first in 1977) and the DMG (they shoehorned the PHB in the middle there somewhere).

Hm, maybe this is another subtle appeal to what D&D feels like.

"Psst, 40+ year old gamers! 5e is just like the D&D from your childhood, right down to the staggered release schedule!"

 

[Morrus]

The thing to remember is that Tyranny of Dragons has always been promoted as a standalone product. As in - don't need the starter set.

 

[fjw70]

Thanks for the info! Quality control is an admirable goal, but this info does beg the question "Why not release everything in November to allow for that much more quality control?" I guess they rightly figure that many gamers want their bits and pieces of the game right now.

Yep that's me. I would much rather a staggered release than waiting until everything is done. In this case it sounds like enough of the MM and DMG will be available right away to hold us over until the books are out. And even without that the Tyranny of Dragons adventures could probably be ran with just the PH.

 

[BurntToast]

I'm buying the Starter Set...

to introduce new players to the game. That's what it was designed for, not for the hardcore like some people are whining about. Which is fine... and frankly, for $12.66 that my Amazon pre-order is locked into (unless it goes lower at any point), it's a no-brainer.

 

[Li Shenron]

to introduce new players to the game. That's what it was designed for, not for the hardcore like some people are whining about.

But you have to keep in mind what's inside to understand what kind of "introduce new players to the game" is meant here.

To introduce new players into your game, you do not give them the Starter Set. It will be useless in that case, because it is about playing a specific adventure using pregens, while in that case you'll want players to create a PC and play in your adventure. When this is the case, you should download & print the free basic rules for them.

Instead the Starter Set is what you give a friend if you want them to try out the game on their own. I think this is somewhat less common than the first instance, but also the Starter Set is supposed to lure into the game people who have no-one inviting them in, i.e. people walking down the toy shop or toy isle at the mall, seeing a gorgeous box with a really low price tag and thinking "why not try it out?"

 

[Hussar]

Be fair though. How many of us used a module for our first dming experience?

 

[Iosue]

Be fair though. How many of us used a module for our first dming experience?

I did. My First D&D was the Moldvay Basic Set, so I first ran the sample dungeon in the Basic Rules book, and then ran B2.

 

[am181d]

The thing to remember is that Tyranny of Dragons has always been promoted as a standalone product. As in - don't need the starter set.

Based on what they've announced since then, tgisbdoesnt sound true. Is it possible that the WotC representative either misspoke or was misquoted? (i.e. was actually talking about the Starter Set?)

Might be worth confirming with Mearls over Twitter.