![]() ![]() The DM’s book is a little meatier, weighing in at 64 pages, and it is packed with all sorts of good info for the newbie 4e DM. There is also a thread on errata for the red box. If it’s much ado about nothing, then sorry for the unnecessary link. I’m also not going to get into the builds of the classes here, as I’m not to concerned about that, but I’ll point out that there is an entire thread over at ENWorld on the fact that the characters made with this box aren’t even compatible with the Essentials characters in “Heroes of the Fallen Lands”. Perhaps a small equipment list? Rope? A 10-foot pole? Anything? Again, this leads me to question for whom exactly this box is? For ex-players? For new blood? Is there an expectation of familiarity with fantasy tropes?įrankly, I’m a little stumped as to why character creation rules were not offered outside the narrative of the solo adventure, it certainly merits its own section of a “starter set”. ![]() Other than pictures, there is nothing here to show a new player what the heck a fantasy race is. Halfling? Hope you remember when Hobbits were called that in the Lord Of The Rings films to make a connection. In fact, there aren’t even any racial descriptions here. So if 4 friends want to play D&D for the first time, my assumption is that they have to take turns going through the solo adventure, because there are no rules on character creation whatsoever. It is literally a big solo adventure that builds the character as you go. This current red box does none of that for the player. Although to be frank, WOTC invites the comparison by slapping Elmore’s artwork on a red box.Īnyway, the Mentzer red box did give you a “choose your own adventure”, but it also gave you stuff on going to town to buy equipment, finding npc retainers, adventuring, rations, dividing treasure, classes, races, and character creation. I don’t feel that it’s right to compare both products, as almost 30 years stand between them and they are two separate games, but I’ll make a small comparison. This has been hailed as a neat idea, and it emulates the 1983 Mentzer red box that this set is inspired by, yet something feels missing here. It’s a 32 page “choose your own adventure” exercise meant to guide the player as he or she creates a character. Now, the Player’s Book is a little frustrating to me, and I’ll tell you why. The red box trip down memory lane continues with the Player’s Book, and its instructions on the cover to “Read This First!”. The flip side is the dungeon for the adventure included in the Dungeon Master’s book. Still, it’s a nice map (as are most poster sized battle maps). Both have seen the light of day before, but again, if you are new to D&D this is irrelevant. If you are new to D&D you’ve obviously have never seen these before, you get the “Crossroads” map (which comes from the D&D Miniatures Starter Set), and the “Monster Lair” map. One side is a complete reprint, and the other is just a random dungeon made up of dungeon tiles, to be used in the included adventure. These tokens are gorgeous.Īnother thing I like is the included map. The only negative thing that I can say about the tokens (and it is a very minor thing) is that they aren’t labeled with the monster names. The tokens also include 5 action point tokens as well. We have goblins, kobolds, orcs, skeletons, zombies, dragons, and lizardmen, among a few other types. Even casual fans of the genre will probably identify some of these bad guys when they take a look at them. It’s worth mentioning the monster selection in the tokens, as I feel that they are very iconic to D&D, and fantasy in general. ![]() I know they work for me, but if you’ve been following this blog for a while you’ll know that I love tokens. Still, I can see these tokens become popular and maybe weening folks off minis. The monsters are double sided only to accommodate a second monster on the flip side. They are double sided, but only the player tokens are double sided to reflect a bloody status. They are made of thick cardboard with a glossy coating on them. Right off the top, my favorite thing about this box are the tokens. ![]()
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