reading: Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set Back It's strange, but at the moment, the theme of initiation into tools JDR talks to me. I wonder if it's not because my kids are becoming more insistent since a friend had them playing Forgotten Chronicles of Black Book Publishing ...
So I invested in the new red box of Dungeons & Dragons, the first stone of the new Essentials line (a kind of DD4.5 that dare not speak its name if I understood everything). And as I spend most of my time flat because of my back, I had time to unpack!
Cheap ... but a little cheap
First observation: it's not a big investment. It is found for under 20 euros here, the original price was set at 19.99 dollars. The box is thick cardboard of good quality and strong without being exceptional. At the opening, it is spoiled a bit. Indeed, it is a relative disappointment prevails as to the quality of the material provided.
- The two booklets of 32 and 64 pages of paper are rather light, but in full color. By cons, they have no coverage at Strictly speaking, the same paper is used for binding. They are therefore fragile.
- The 54 power cards and objects are very very thin. Needless to imagine using them without a transparent cover.
- The dice are correct. Beautiful but not correct.
- sheets are characters that number 4! Simple color photocopies where we would have appreciated a little packet of cards.
- The battle map is well made by cons, like cardboard tokens. Small problem though: the characters are represented on both sides of a same token, allowing them to be "normal" or "blooded" (having lost half their hit points). This is not the case of monsters when you return the token can find ... another monster. Therefore impossible to consider the status of the token with blooded monster, he will find an external marker. It gives a feeling again of a small economy, have indeed taken a second plank of tokens.
relativize: nothing shameful, especially given the affordable price of the object.
also noted the resumption of the iconic artwork of Larry Elmore - and logotypage - who graced the red box of origin. A nice fragrance of nostalgia. Turning to the content.
Birth of a hero
The first book offers an adventure you are the hero. You are accompanying a cart and ugly goblins attack you. But this little story playing dons an important feature: it serves not only to explain what the RPG, but also to create her character, step by step.
So through the choices that the player will (is he thinks frontal attack, launch a spell or hit furtively with a dagger ...) that will be elaborated the character. I admit I was very skeptical before reading. After this, I am convinced. It works very well, test support. We discover step by step how to make an attack, accounting for damages, loss of hit points, then recovered, choose your alignment, use a skill and so on. The plug - simplified compared to that of Player's - fills up progressively. It's extremely well built and well within the logic of self-initiation of the product.
course is longer than a classic creation. Although ... longer if you already mastered the concepts of a chapter of character creation as presented in the player. If we do not know anything, I think this framing is ultimately faster than being faced with a myriad of input choices. Success!
induced presentation of the RPG is also effective. On several occasions, we have a choice of type "attack / fly / do something else." The "something else" refers to an entry that explains that in the rigid framework of an adventure that you are the hero, we can not predict everything, but that is precisely the magic of the RPG as you will soon be in front of you a leader who, himself, will react to your ideas.
final note, this box lets you play levels 1 and 2 for 4 classes (cleric, fighter, rogue and wizard) and 4 races (human, dwarf, elf and halfling).
The big adventure
Turning then to the book's leader. We find the following little adventure you are the hero. And it's a good old donj families MTP pure juice with a plot to bring 7 meetings pretext of fighting. The "role" is thus reduced to the bare minimum. Of course we can not love, but in the genre is very didactic encounters are increasingly complex, the advice is relevant to introduce the rules as and when, even if they remain ultimately leafy (no simpler than DD4: even attacks of opportunity are addressed).
The skills challenge is ably introduced by a stage of negotiation with a dragon that does not a priori decided to bite the adventurers. We'll have to negotiate his way with him, using flattery or promises. It is quite well done and one of the rare moments when the interpretation is actually encouraged (note still the possibility, again, to negotiate with a doppelganger who wants to take the tower without fighting adventurers).
Once the dungeon emptied of its occupants, following some ideas to prolong the adventure that was just played, the rules of transition to Level 2 advice to create adventures and quests as well as the reuse plan the dungeon in other configurations. Follow 14 pages of a bestiary and a two-page description of the area around the dungeon.
few frills but again, an impression of efficiency, expertise, product mastered ...
And it works?
The point that remains unclear to me is the ability of a complete beginner to pick up only the game I am convinced that the creative part of personal work. But once you pass the dungeon itself, the complexity is still more exalted.
the hands of a veteran seeking to initiate, it will be through an extremely effective tool cons. Manage the creation of personal "in the mood", using the part that you are the hero as the basis of narrative, seems very nice.
This red box is a good investment, as long as you are not resistant to spot-mapping and logic D & D. But that's another debate, which does not detract from the quality of the product elsewhere.
Edit: A question I received via email: Will I use it? I very tempted, but the concern remains the English language for my daughters 10 and 7 years. I can still translate the character sheet, but include all the powers ... This limits its usefulness immediate ... unless a hypothetical French version finally sees the day!
