D&D Essentials Kit

This was one of the things I got for Christmas, having seen it in a store in December and then finding a very nice discount on Amazon. (As an aside, I don't feel particularly good about that, but when Amazon are offering 40% off, and that's the difference between "too much" and "sure, why not", it's hard to argue with it. But I digress.) This is a revised starter set for D&D fifth edition, although it looks like the existing Starter Set is to remain in print, which makes for a rather confusing offering: they now have the Starter Set, the Essentials Kit, a "Stranger Things" starter set, and a "Rick & Morty" set - four products doing essentially the same thing all competing in the marketplace.

My initial thought is that this is a very impressive set, and that in all aspects but one it blows the "Starter Set" out of the water. But that one aspect that remains is a big one. I'm also inclined to think that this set is a worthy contender against the old Pathfinder "Beginnner Box", which thus far has been what I've considered the gold standard for these things. Though, again, there is one exception that leaps to mind...

Firstly, let's take a quick look at the "extras". This box is fairly packed with them, and they're quite impressive.

We have the obligatory set of dice. This includes the standard 6 dice, but also includes a second d20 (for dis/advantage), a second d10 marked with the 10's (for d%), and four d6. This is a really nice touch, instantly covering the major multi-dice rolls. My only nitpick is that the dice aren't colour-coded, but to be honest I didn't expect they would be.

The set also comes with six blank character sheets. These are okay as far as they go, except that the standard 5e character sheet pretty much sucks, and these days the go-to place for character sheets is really online. These are okay, but... meh. (Incidentally, this is where the one aspect that the Beginner Box does better comes in - that box includes double-page spreads breaking out and explaining the sections of the character sheet. Adding one of those would probably be a better use of resource than a handful of blank character sheets. That is, of course, a pretty small detail.)

Moving beyond the standards, the box includes a fairly basic (but, IMO, quite nice) DM's screen and a double-sided map (the Sword Coast on one side, and Phandulin on the other). Two nice-to-have items here.

Then there are the cards, and a flat-packed box in which to hold them. There are, I think, 81 cards, including Initiative cards (1 to 9), Sidekick cards, Condition cards (very nice), and Magic Item cards for the items included in the adventure. These are all pretty great, and much appreciated.

Finally, the set includes a flyer advertising other products, notably the core rulebooks and D&D Beyond. However, whereas the equivalent flyer in the "Starter Set" could be disregarded as mere advertising, this one includes access codes for some expanded material, and a 50% discount for both the "Essentials Kit" adventure and also the "Player's Handbook" in D&D Beyond. So if you're interested in such things, this is good stuff. (And, actually, it means that if you're about to buy into D&D Beyond, and are going to purchase the PHB on that platform, this flyer alone pretty much pays back the cost of the "Essentials Kit", especially if you do get a big discount somewhere.)

So, those are the extras, and a fine bunch they are. And now the meat of the set: the two books.

Like the "Starter Set", the "Essentials Kit" comes with a rulebook that gives the basic rules of the game. In this case, however, the rulebook is 64 pages long (rather than 48), includes rules for advancing as far as 6th level, and includes character creation. It also includes the basics for the four most popular races (human, dwarf, elf, halfling), the five most popular classes (fighter, wizard, cleric, rogue... and bard) each with two subclasses, and five backgrounds. So there are a decent number of customisation options here. The book then gives concise equipment, combat, and exploration rules, details a basic set of spells for each class, and gives details of a number of magic items. The book then ends with a brief appendix giving the Sidekick "rules" (though it's a bit of a stretch calling them rules - there's a handful of paragraphs and three stat blocks), which are both very nice, and ideal for one-on-one play; and then the back cover serves as a second appendix of conditions.

Three thoughts about the rulebook: Firstly, this is a vast improvement over the one in the "Starter Set", which was really hampered by the absence of character creation. Secondly, there's almost nothing new here (the exception being the sidekick rules). But, thirdly, this book really puts the Core Rulebooks to shame, especially as it seems most games are in that 1-6 level range, and almost nobody plays higher than about 12th level. There's just so much unnecessary crap in the core rulebooks, and I'm inclined to think we'd be better off ditching most of it. Indeed, one could almost produce a boxed set the same size as this one containing only two 128-page softcover books, and include everything worthwhile from the three core rulebooks for levels 1-12... and that product alone would then be sufficient for almost every group out there.

Thus far, this is an outstanding product. As I said, it's a vast improvement over the "Starter Set", and it is most certainly the set I would recommend to new groups. The only remaining item is a 64-page adventure, "Dragon of Icespire Peak", designed to take characters from 1st level up to 6th.

Now, the first thing I have to say about this adventure is that it's not bad. This is an adventure you could buy, read, and run as-is and have a good time. So that's a pass-mark in my book.

But the problem is has is that the adventure in the "Starter Set", "Lost Mine of Phandelver" is a genuine classic, by far the best adventure WotC have produced for 5e, and quite possibly the best WotC have produced for D&D ever. "Dragon of Icespire Peak"... isn't. It's a collection of mini-quests all centred around the town of Phandulin - PCs are expected to pick a quest, go off and complete that quest, and return for tea and biscuits. Rinse, repeat, and then kill a dragon.

That's fine, so far as it goes. But it lacks the immediate hook of "Lost Mine" (which saw the PCs starting with a small dungeon incursion), and it also lacks the gradual build of complexity of "Lost Mine" (which started small and gradually opened up, while also gradually guiding the DM to more and greater things - eventually ending with an exhortation to create an adventure of his own). This one basically presents a bunch of stuff, and leaves the DM to get on with it.

(Though, funnily enough, one other newish DM I spoke to commented that he didn't find "Lost Mine" particularly well presented, in that the details could disappear in the text. I daresay he'd find this one easier to follow.)

It's also worth noting that this adventure doesn't really contain enough material to take PCs from 1st to 6th level. Instead it uses milestone advancement - PCs gain 1 level for completing each of their first two "starter quests", and then 1 level for completing two "follow-on quests". And they gain a level for slaying the dragon. This takes them to 6th level if they complete almost everything, but those individual quests are very small. Play it out using standard XP awards, and you won't get that far.

(Oh, one more thing: one of the features I really liked about "Lost Mine" was that there was one encounter that was really tough, and that would almost certainly lead to a TPK if the PCs just barged in. This set doesn't have that - while a TPK is possible, PCs can afford to be much more bullish as the set tries hard to avoid challenges that are just too tough. I don't consider that a positive development.)

So...

The best thing about "Dragon of Icespire Peak" is that is does serve as a really nice complement to "Lost Mine of Phandelver" - it's set in the same region but uses different areas in the sandbox. So one ideal possibility is to take the quests and encounters here and add them in to "Lost Mine", and run a combined adventure as a mini-campaign. You'd need to revert the "Dragon..." quests to 'normal' XP awards, but that's no bad thing.

In terms of a recommendation: my view of the "Starter Set" is that you should only buy it if you plan on running "Lost Mine of Phandelver", but that I'd recommend the set for that adventure alone. My view of the "Essentials Kit" is that it's a much better offering for new players, and so I would recommend it unreservedly for such groups. However I wouldn't recommend the "Essentials Kit" for more advanced groups, as the adventure doesn't sustain the recommendation by itself, and while the extras are nice-to-have, they're not that good.

However, for both beginners and more experienced groups, I would be inclined to suggest that if you have funds to hand then get both. Combining "Lost Mine of Phandelver" with "Dragon of Icespire Peak" should give a really nice mini-campaign of general utility, while new groups will benefit from the Rulebook and other items from the "Essentials Kit".