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C C
United States
Esky
Michigan
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As with most folks, I had my first run in with D&D at a young age. Like most folks I stopped playing past a certain age but recently I found myself drawn back to it. The main thing that drew me back was playing Dungeons & Dragons: Wrath of Ashardalon Board Game. I enjoyed the gameplay, the theme, and the concept so I decided to kick it up a notch. Finding a starting point as far as which product to buy was a bit intimidating, but for the $13 this cost me on Amazon I figured I couldn't go wrong.
Once I had it in hand I sat down with a beverage and started checking out the components.
Tokens
Very nice way to keep the cost down. While I do enjoy miniatures, having a full set would probably drive the cost up significantly. The variety here is pretty cool, and they seem durable enough. Artwork is well done, and numbered opponents of the same type is a helpful touch.
Dice
d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, and d20. My cat likes them too.
Cards
Whoever the accountant is who decided to save an extra $.001 per card needs to come to my house and punch these things out. They are brittle and barely a step above crepe paper. It was very tedious to pop them all out to avoid ripping the cards apart. A sheet of abilities with a check-box would have been more convenient. (Printed on cardstock)
Players Guide
This was probably the part I liked best. I sat down with a simple character sheet and played through a sample encounter. It included some theme building, combat, skill checks and a good easily understandable logic as far as what a character does. One issue I had was the why of some of the decisions. Later, when trying to migrate to another character sheet I felt in the dark with some processes. It was a good way for my wife, who had never played an rpg, to get a feel for what to do.
DM Guide
This contains the adventure and rules explanations. So far I've played through three of the encounters. The encounters are well done. Though a scaling chart would be nice if you have less than the recommended amount of players. Once we played an encounter we realized that we had to scale it back, usually by cutting the HP's in half. (There was me, the DM and player, and my Wife) The foldout map makes for a very visual experience and that is really great.
Issues
I first purchased this item as an introduction, to see if we liked it and then to go from there. First impressions were good so I got the next books. (What is next was a bit confusing too, the website for the manufacturer doesn't really spell this out) The next books purchased were the Player Essentials: Heroes of the Fallen Lands and the Rules Compendium. The first issue came when trying to migrate my wife's Elf Rogue "Springella" into an Essentials character. Stop the music, hit the lights, frustration time. The Red Box didn't really jive. The abilities are different, there are "Tricks" now. Instead of a quick conversion I had to relearn the process and figure out why things were done in a particular way.
My character, a dwarf Cleric, wasn't nearly as challenging. Mainly because I tossed the Red Box book and created the character from scratch. The more complex character sheets found online are a bit handier than the Essential sheet, if a bit more cluttered. Once we had the new characters I thought everything went smoothly. The next two encounters went good. I scrapped the cards that came with the boxed set and instead found an online template to type in and print out my own. The cards are helpful, but a sheet for each character with everything they can do (and why) would have been more useful.
There was a definite "dull" feel. The characters felt pretty one dimensional. Instead of the rogue getting a 'dagger', why not a 'slender runed elven dagger'? Or 'chainmail' becomes a 'suit of fine ringed dwarven chainmail'? There's potential to insert some really great theme in this introduction. Show me the world, place me into it and the theme will works its magic. The dungeon was detailed well, but more back story and a bigger tie in to the rest of the world would be cool. The door is left open in a few occasions, and suggestions are given for future encounters/campaigns but the scenario is ripe for more detail.
Conclusion
Definitely worth my money. It gave me exactly what I hoped to see, whether this was for me (and my wife) or not. In future games the tokens, map and dice will be nice. The encounter offered some potential tie-ins so there is a carrot (or stick) for future adventures. The rest of it is kinda scrap. The next two Essentials books are ~$13 on Amazon so the next tie-ins come pretty cheap. I'm not going to comment on those yet as I haven't played long enough. The details could be crisper, the explanations deeper, and the rules more consistent, but not too shabby for $13.
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Hugh G. Rection
United States
La Mesa
California
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You'll probably want to pick up the Dungeon Master's Kit (since you're DMing the game) and Dungeons & Dragons Essentials: Monster Vault (for the mass amount of tokens) as your next steps.
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Brian Leet
United States
Montpelier
Vermont
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Great review Casey. It is always good to hear how things work (or not) to those who are trying to get into them without the particular perspective that us RPG Geek addicts bring to it. Please do continue to review the products you use and let us know how the playing goes!
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King of the Dead
United States
Portland
Oregon
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I am confused by your conclusion.
Why is it "definitely worth [your] money" as an introduction to the system when earlier you had the following to say about the transition?:
Quote: Stop the music, hit the lights, frustration time. The Red Box didn't really jive. The abilities are different, there are "Tricks" now. Instead of a quick conversion I had to relearn the process and figure out why things were done in a particular way.
This would tell me it doesn't do its job at all and people would be better off simply starting with essentials.
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Maurice Tousignant
Canada
Windsor
Ontario
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Excellent review. It gets to exactly why I am so frustrated by WotC and this product. This was supposed to be the boxed set that got the world back into D&D. For sale at big box stores and brimming with nostalgia for old time fans and looking iconic for the brand. But it doesn't work. It's supposed to be an intro to 4e D&D but doesn't jive with the rest of the rules. I don't think I've seen a bigger 1 rolled in the gaming industry.
There are conversion rules on the WotC website that should help you with character conversion.
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Taylor Liss
United States
Quincy
Massachusetts
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GilvanBlight wrote:
Excellent review. It gets to exactly why I am so frustrated by WotC and this product. This was supposed to be the boxed set that got the world back into D&D. For sale at big box stores and brimming with nostalgia for old time fans and looking iconic for the brand. But it doesn't work. It's supposed to be an intro to 4e D&D but doesn't jive with the rest of the rules. I don't think I've seen a bigger 1 rolled in the gaming industry.
There are conversion rules on the WotC website that should help you with character conversion.
I'm curious to see how Paizo's Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Beginner Box turns out by comparison.
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