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| Image stolen from EN World |
I’ve been really
craving a chance to chuck some dice lately and I’ve really wanted to see what
D&D 5e has to offer for sometime now. Thus on a whim I picked up a copy of
the 5e Starter Set this week and I was surprised by what a great product it
was. Like some kind of RPG prophet, I felt compelled to write this review and
spread the good word.
What you Get
64-page adventure book (Lost Mines of Phandelver)
32-page rulebook
5 pre-generated characters
1 blank character sheet
6 really boring dice
32-page rulebook
5 pre-generated characters
1 blank character sheet
6 really boring dice
The
Physical Product
The box itself is solid and can be used
to store notes, pencils, a handful of miniatures and whatever else (a box of
Junior Mints, a cigarette for that time when you TPK the group, shark
repellent, a peanut butter and jam sandwich…you get the point), you might want
to store away for your next game session. As for the contents the production
values are top notch. The pages are glossy and thick. (make sure you take good
whiff of that new book smell). The art full color and what you would expect
from one of the leaders in the RPG industry. The cartography is both functional
and beautiful, I particularly like the inclusion of the hex map in the adventure
booklet. The set of dice included are nothing special. It would have been cool
if Wizards would have put a special symbol on the d20 like they do for the Magic:
The Gathering life-counter dice.
The
Rules
The rules seem to cover pretty much all
the major things you would expect to do in an average D&D session. The text
is very much presented in a language meant to convey how to play and adjudicate
the game to new players. I can speak from experience that learning to play earlier
editions of D&D was a challenge. I feel like the rules and presentation
succeed at helping to teach and learn the game if you don’t know people who
already understand the basics of how to play an RPG. I like that the rules seem
to be consistent with the actual published rules. Too often I’ve seen intro
sets try to simplify the rules so much that it is as if you are playing a completely
different game and therefore you’re left just as confused as to how to play the
actual game if you do decide to buy the core rules. My biggest gripe is that
aside from the five pre-generated characters that are included, there is no way
to actually make a character. You are stuck advancing from levels 1-5 based on
what is presented on those character sheets. This might not be the end of the
world but it does limit the number of players to a maximum of six (five players
+ a Dungeon Master) and the re-playability of the box unless you download the basic
rules online or buy the Players Handbook.
The
Lost Mine of Phandelver Intro Adventure
The starting adventure is what makes
this product so great. The adventure is set in the Forgotten Realms some time
around 1489 Dale Reckoning (the calendar system of setting). With the exception
of a foray into Ravenloft, the Realms seems to be the default campaign setting
for 5e and they take this more seriously than they did back when Greyhawk was
the default setting of 3e. The Lost Mines starts off fairly linear but does
branch off in the third chapter providing a more open world to explore. The adventure
provides a great starting village of Phandalin and an enterprising DM could
easily build off of the material provided here to continue a campaign for a
long time. Another thing that I really like about this adventure is how easy it
is to use as a starting point for any of the hardcover campaign books that Wizards
has put out over the years. The only real issue is that characters would be
starting those campaigns at levels higher than expected. This can be mitigated
somewhat and one of the fun parts of running a game is modifying things to fit
your group. Also from what I’ve seen the campaigns that follow are meant for
experienced players and Dungeon Masters so starting at a higher level might not
be a bad idea for novice players.
Conclusion
Over all I think that the
5e D&D Starter Set is a
worthwhile purchase for anyone who wants to test out the 5e rules, or as a
great place to launch a new campaign. I’ve seen a lot of starter sets for a lot
of different RPGs and this is by far one of the better ones. I’d argue that the
Pathfinder Basic Set is better, because
it provides the tools to make your own characters and other tools (monster
tokens, a reusable battle map, etc.), but if you’re looking to play 5e D&D
this is still a great place to start. I think the Lost Mines provides a great
framework for new DM’s on how to go about creating their own material for
future adventures or as an introduction to Wizards follow up campaign
storylines like the Tyranny of Dragons, Elemental Evil, Rage of Demons and so
forth. As someone who plans to introduce the game to 
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