I skipped all the 2024 re-releases of the Dungeons and Dragons core books (for me there’s just nothing in them to justify the upgrade price). In fact I was so unimpressed that when my 5e Dungeon Masters’ Guide and Players’ Hand-Book were destroyed in a storm, I re-purchased the old ones second-hand rather than update.
Anyway, I’m still cranky at Hasbro (and Wizards of The Coast) for trying to turn D&D into a recurring monthly subscription service for players in DND Betray. They seem to want to get people away from physical objects in general. They charge too much for ephemeral digital add-on “purchases” they can delete whenever they feel like it (and you can’t download a backup copy just-in-case they do). And don’t even mention the way they tried to shaft third-party content creators by changing the Open Games License.
On top of all that the last several Starter Sets (my personal weakness) have been pretty low-effort affairs, especially when compared to the meticulous Pathfinder Beginner Boxes. Just two cheaply bound books and one set of dice. Sure, the adventures were pretty good but there was nothing luxurious about the experience.
But, I’ve got to admit I’m a little excited for the new starter set “Heroes of the Borderlands” for a couple of reasons:
1. Multiple adventures in the box.
2. It’s not just books and dice.
3. They are making it easy for multiple players to have a go at being the DM with what’s in the box
4. As Midnight Oil almost sang “I’m back on the Borderlands”. This will go nicely with the lovely 5e conversion of the original borderlands modules published by Goodman Games (Yeah, you can’t get it any more, but I got mine). This leads me to another WoTC gripe. When Goodman Games made this they were forbidden by the license to release it in a PDF format. Goodman‘s default is that if you buy the print copy of one of their adventure modules, you get a code for the FREE PDF within the book. Or if you don’t want the print copy you can buy the PDF – to download and keep forever. Are you listening WoTC?
You can see a sneak peak video of the new box here, and see some more pictures here.
The only thing I’m not thrilled about is the box art but, like people, it’s what’s on the inside that really counts. And, like people, it will take time to reveal what really is inside…
Once I get hold of it, I’ll try to publish a comparison between Heroes of the Borderlands and the latest Pathfinder (Remaster) Beginner Box.