We run both together. You won't be disappointed with either but I would pick the Starter set if you are only going to go with one. It is just a better story line. The Essential kit runs more like a series of loosely affiliated one shots in the region. It does work well to expand the Lost Mines of Phandelver. You need to develop a bit of touch adjusting difficulty for each encounter. Both sets take you to level five but when you combine we made it to seven. We handled that by making the ice dragon an adult but adjustments are needed for many of the other encounters to increase difficulty for a more seasoned party. The way to combine is to start with LMOP and introduce the Essentials arc after the party has returned from their first encounter outside of town after Tresendar Manor.
@@WASD20 Especially with the Sidekicks rules having been expanded and printed in Tasha's...meaning that you can get access to the one major rules thing from the Essentials Kit which leaves it a bunch of short encounters chained together for the most part.
This. I run them in tandem to give the players more choice. Also I split the town late in the game, along the lines of which is the greater threat. The spider or the dragon.
You are very wise. Thanks! I'm reading and playing LMOP in hopes of becoming a DM soon. The Young Green Dragon is the real deal. Challenge rating of 8. 3,900 XP. Playing the Essential Kit one shots will help get more XP. Level 4 Deadly encounters are 500 each. So if you play as the pregenerated PCs you will have 2,500XP for one monster. Granted, you just need scare off the Young Green Dragon. So that is kind of like 1,950XP for one monster. Keep in mind. Deadly could mean tpk.
As of 19-05-2022 The Lost Mine of Phandelver is now free on DND Beyond So it would be better to just get the Essentials Kit if you are starting out right now!
Each kit is really good, but I find that combining both kits creates a great Group Starter Kit: -the starter rulebook for players, more-detailed essentials rulebook for DM -Enough dice for DM and for players to share -Map, cards, DM screen -Starter adventure for good intro and quality story -Essentials adventure to flesh out starter adventure -Enough pre-gen and blank character sheets for small group to get going
The Essentials Kit also gives you 3 additional adventure on DnDBeyond that come after Ice Fire Peak and moves you to the new town of Leilon. Gets you campaign up to level 12 and all 3 adventure tie together fairly well with a trip back to Phandalin
@@WASD20 Yes, I also recomend, that you take a look at them. As far as I have seen, nearly all TH-camrs (and maybe most buyers of the EK) miss that point with the digital Add-Ons on DnD Beyond. Also the Player versions of the maps are on DnD beyond for all adventures, that you can use on Roll20 for example and grey out hidden areas.
My players and I have just finished up our Phandalin/Leilon campaign and honestly about half way through it was clear that at least a third of the content is filler that has nothing to do with an over-arching storyline. We ended up cutting out a bunch and filling it in with more player-centric stories. Value for money wise it's a 10/10 but as a campaign it's very poorly put together.
Also both games can lead into a much much larger campaign. If you do decide later you’ve already accomplished almost 2/5th of the tyranny of dragons saga…
I just bought essentials today, and was probably opening it while this video was being uploaded. I went with essentials because of the character creation. Being new to this, character creation was one of the main points that finally drew me to this game. This is my very first interaction with D&D or any RPG for that matter. Looking forward to getting started.
Nice! I think you’ll enjoy it. I would definitely recommend modifying the quest to make them more exciting if you are comfortable with that. The channel Bob Worldbuilder also has some great videos for DMs on how to modify them to tie them together a bit more.
@@WASD20 i second Bob the World Builder here! As a long time player but 1st time DM last year, his videos were a big help running DoIP. My group of experienced players all had a good time, and I was able to slightly modify a couple of the orc encounters to foreshadow my homebrew sequel adventure after level 6. Note: the party broke the CR system in the adventure by level 4. I had to do a lot of buffing encounters after that to try and keep it challenging.
The adventure of lost mine of Phandelver has a classic fantasy feel Very lord of the rings / hobbit feel making it excellent for starting D&D The heroes are elves, humans, Dwarves, and hobbits (halfling) Which is exactly lotr feel Enemies include goblins, orcs, and a dragon The cargmaw cave with the wolves and the trap are cool I highly recommend it
I actually use the Essentials kit DM screen as my main DM screen. It has all the information I need, it is able to hide my notes and rolls, and has the bonus of having no obstruction of the battle map for me.
I find that two medium-sized binder clips, one on each of the outside corners at the bottom, greatly stabilizes the screen. Otherwise, as DM sometimes just breathing too hard can knock it over.
Lost Mines was the first thing I ever ran for D&D. As a new DM, something I really appreciated was the way the adventure started off ‘hand holding ‘ me as a DM and then backed off. By the end, I felt as though I was ready to do things ‘on my own’.
Only played a few times in the 80's. My kids are causing me to give this a go. Really great content here. Thank you so much for this. It is very very helpful.
If I may dare an advice, as a familiar with roleplaying... Feel free to keep it simple and in touch with your taste and those of your children. It is you at the heart of the game, not the Dongeons & Dragons system, if you choose this one. (Because there are other games, with many themes, which may be as good for you. Also, there are roleplaying games especially made for children, if they are young.) So in the story you play, if they find a little fantastic animal they would like to keep as a pet, why not... ? If they want to invent a potion with all of what they find in the forest that do not move, again why not... If you do not find a rule for it, invent one, simply evaluate a probability, make them roll a dice and think later. Children can do unexpected things, but often they have the sens of play...
Essentials Kit also comes with a code for dndbeyond, which includes the stuff in the kit plus three sequel adventures to follow up what's on the physical book.
@@WASD20 Which is something that other people have viewed as a disadvantage for the Essentials Kit since it's content that is online and difficult for those who don't really want to have a lot of tech at the table...which tends to get distracting and not all game stores have rooms where it's easy access...and most games at a few near me have banned players from using them (One rather infamous group of cheaters were well known for editing pdfs of electronic copies of books and other things)
I got Starter Set last year, because it was on sale. It was gathering dust till 31 Dec. Started playing with my family: my parents and my sister, all above 30. While we came late to the party (hehe) and my first (well, i watched some d&d online, especially VLDL) time as GM was less than stellar, we had so much fun and it was hilarious from the moment we tried to name the characters. Only my mom never played any RPGs, the rest of us are cRPGs veterans, so at first she struggled a bit with some slang but that didn't stop her from having fun. We all loved the freedom D&D gives you: in video games you are very limited in terms of interaction with the world. It's like you said in one of your other videos: if you have a chance, just go play, even if you don't know the rules, don't let that stop you (at least in D&D, other fields of life might require different approach)
and in Germany since we FINALLY got the Essentials Kit as the "new" Starter Set (since WotC now does the translations) they handed over the adventure from the starter set for free as PDF xD
I agree with you, I really love the Lost Mine of Phandelver adventure. I've taken inspiration from it as I'm running a mixture of LMoP and Ghosts of Satlmarsh, essentially Ghosts of Saltmarsh with NPCs, story ideas, expanded upon from LMoP. I've also run LMoP by itself with 3 different groups and its a lot of fun!
I have the essentials kit and I think it has a great set of introductory tools for a new player- but as someone who wants to try DMing for the first time I think I'm gonna grab the beginner set to run LMoP as it seems easier to keep track of the adventure.
As a complete D&D newbie, I bought both of them as I thought they were quite cool to have, and it gave me more options. The only (extremely minor) gripe that I have is that Wizards Of The Coast should make the boxes a few millimetres longer. It would then mean that A4 pages can fit in without bending. Yeah, it doesn't even qualifies as a complaint lol :) Great video, thanks for the content!
I actually think that's a perfectly valid complaint for the international edition of this box. You're expected to put notes and stuff in the box. It's not a deal breaker but it's absolutely worth noting.
I combined the 2 into one big sandbox since there aren't any overlapping locations. I've run it for 2 groups. Only adjustment I made for the second group was to not start them off with the contract in the Starter Set since the first group was a little railroaded by that linear adventure and ended up ignoring a lot of the side quest options offered by the Essential kit until they had gone all the way through the Starter quest.
I am new to d&d, I bought the essentials kit, I love it...but I was going to be a Forest Gnome no matter what so I went out of my way to create one seeing as there aren’t any in it. Also as a creative writer I didn’t find it too tough finding ways to expand the map. It’s what I do on Mutant Year Zero.
I found Icespire Peak a better guide to learn from than the Lost Mines. We had started Lost Mines an Ihad zero idea how to DM so I bought the Essentials kit and found that Icespire Peak provided a clearer learning experience because of how it was broken up into all the small quests.
I'll note that starter kits are often primarily for people who have never played an RPG, much less D&D The essentials is more a low priced entry point into D&D for players who know what it is, or have played a bit themselves, or know they want to GM etc... The core books are for hobbyists who are going all in. So it's more a matter of who the target audience is and then trying to cater to that audiences needs/desires
Not only do I think you should get both, but you should also get every book (except Mordenkainan's Tome of Foes), a ton of miniatures, lots and lots of terrain, dice towers, spell cards, a Deck of Many Things, and any other accessories you can get your hands on. And all this will still be much cheaper than a hobby like golf.
I second everything said in the video. In addition I'd say the Starter set adventure does a much better job of hand-holding the new DM through the start of running a game. Essentials felt like it threw you into the deep end more. I was an experienced GM from other games but new to D&D 5E and I found Lost Mine of Phandelver a real delight to run and eased the transition to the new game. I've since used a couple of the sidequests from Icespire Peak, including the dragon finale itself, with a little upgrading of the monsters. If I was starting from scratch now I'd definitely get both sets and weave the adventures together.
I've got the Essential Set; and I liked the way that you get access to digital content on D&D Beyond taking characters up to higher levels. However, I may well pick up the Starter Kit, as I've only heard good things about the adventure.
The pregenerated characters in the Starter Set are especially useful when starting off with players that have zero D&D or TTRPG experience. You want them to start playing asap so they can see what D&D is all about, and not have to spend hours understanding races and classes and rules and then go theough actual character creation. You can do that in the second campaign with the Essentials Kit, letting them create their characters in a setting that they already know from the first campaign.
100% Also it's very difficult to make a character for a game you've never played. Starting with a pregen is great. Just tell them they can change the personality however they want.
One thing I do appreciate more about Icespire Peak than Lost Mine, is the future-proofing. With how much of a sandbox it already is, when you've run through the story in its entirety, it's not that hard to keep things going - especially if you also include the free extra D&D Beyond adventures. I appreciate Lost Mine as a standalone adventure, it's a lot easier and frankly more fun to run in that capacity than Icespire Peak is, but it's not as easy to use as a jumping-off point in that regard.
Having run both and combining them together, started set makes a nice enclosed campaign, essentials kit makes a good open sandbox that leads into a higher level campaign with the sequel adventures on dndbeyond.
I own all three current 5e boxsets. I think the "job board" quests in the Starter set really serve a specific purpose...they are easy to run for a new DM and new players while not taking hours to complete. As someone who plays with younger players and someone who is considering running an afterschool D&D club for 4th and 5th grade students, I think these quick quests are simply perfect.
The Essentials Kit comes with a code for D&D Beyond to run a campaign up to level 12, standard D&D adventure campaign, a lot of loosely linked together content where you are fighting Talos disciples and a god of the undead for an artifact. For that alone, the essentials kit edges out the starter set. In reality, you probably want both and you can run a complete campaign.
so as a new DM I decided to jump in with the essentials kit. I took the story and made it my own. We are in the middle of the campaign now and are about ready to branch out into homebrew. I basically used it as a way to get comfortable with the game and being the DM. Part of being a DM is crafting storylines, so I came up with my own setting and inserted the provided story into my setting. Is it good? debatable lol, but my players are having fun and its allowing me to learn while flexing my creative muscles. The quick and dirty of my setting is the players joined a god's army to fight the century long war against dragonborn who are trying to take over the "kingdom". I made my adjustments by adding a taking things away. Loving it!
I am WAY late to the 5E party, especially with One D&D on the horizon, but I really like the newer starter and essential kits. I'm OG, preferring to home brew most of my stuff, but at the same time, I also like having a lot of the work done for me, I just have to modify and slot it into my world. You make some great points, and I'll end up getting the original Starter Set, the Essentials Kit, and the new Starter set - if for no other reason I love art, dice, and plenty of stuff to help get me back into the DM chair. Love the video, keep up the great work!
I ran both sets for a group of three players and I have to say that the Starter Set adventure, "The Lost Mines of Phandelver" is fantastic - much better than "The Dragon of Icespire Peak." "Lost Mines" is a very well-written, cohesive story that was very easy to run for a DM who, like me, hadn't payed D&D in over 30 years. But, best of all, it has the "old-school feel" of the sort of campaigns I remember so fondly playing as a teen in the 80s. Also, having pre-generated character sheets gets people playing much more quickly (and, much to my surprise, my players fell in love with their pre-generated characters and made them their own). So, all in all, I recommend the Starter Set for new players.
I bought both because of the flexibility they'd offer me. I like the Starter Set adventure so far because I'm playing through it and teaching a lot of new players how to play the game with the Lost Mine adventure. Once that's done, I'm definitely going to implement some of the Icespire Peak stuff in as well, just to expand the world and see where new adventures end up taking us before jumping into a related adventure book. I'm still pretty new at DMing, too, so both of these kits have been super useful to me in playing and teaching. :)
I'm from a third world country, I really love dnd because of you guys. Today I found the starter set after years of finding anything related to D&d. Should I just buy it? I didn't find the 3 core book. Is that okay if I just buy the starter set? It was a little overpriced, like over $30. But I'm just glad that I found something that is related to D&d.
I found that utilizing both adventure modules combined, create a great sand box. I don't start with the basic set storyline. instead, the party starts in Neverwinter. from there, they get rumors of various stories within the lands surrounding Phandelin. as they get involved in these lands, different stories open up. the players get to choose what to get involved with, but their decisions may cause conflict with various factions. also, both dragons are significant influences within region. they are the true power. whether you have them work together or as opposition to each other, they are the greatest threat.
I’m currently running a group of 5 through LMoP and it’s been very enjoyable would highly recommend it to anyone wanting to jump into D&D. And I hope to either continue into DoIP or add its content into our game as we get farther.
For absolute beginners, the starter set did not go well for us. I am an old timer 1st edition player, my 14 yr old became interested we picked up the starter set and tried it with my wife and his brother. No character creation only pre gens, so ostensibly the players don't need to know anything. This resulted with all players confused about where to find info on their sheets and saddled with a character that didn't fit them. Our youngest player wanted to be the thief which (spoiler alert) has the background of having previously worked with the main gang of bad guys, which he is keeping secret from the other players. For someone absolutely new to roleplaying it was a bit much to ask. I never felt 1st level characters should have much of a backstory.
Great video Nate. I think for absolute new players (especially DMs) that the Starter Set adventure works best. It really guides a first time DM through the process of running the game and having the linear story helps the DM stay focused on other elements. The Essentials Kit feels like a better buy for a more experienced DM to run with new players. Icespire Peak feels so customizable, I love the fleshed out folks of Phandalin, and because the adventures are fairly self contained, a DM can easily inject their own spin off adventures or a festival or some other element into the game without harming the overall story. Icespire Peak also provides the DM with some quick one-shot adventures to run. The Logging Camp makes a great horror one-shot for low level characters and can be plunked down in any setting that has forests. So yeah, I"m a big fan of the Essentials Kit overall. I love the side-kick rules and being able to play with just two players. But I do feel that the open ended nature of Icespire Peak does make it a more challenging experience for a brand new DM to run.
A greater question is about if you want to start playing D&D at all. I began with another game system, Palladium Books. I still RPG to this day (47 years old now) and I have yet to play D&D. I just never needed to. These days my games of choice are Pocket Fantasy, Mini-6 Bare Bones, and my new favorite, Dungeons and Delvers Dice Pool.
I'd say the essentials. The Starter adventure is a free PDF on D&D Beyond. The Essentials adventure and it's expansions have a standalone cost. So it's better to get the superior content of the Essentials and get the main adventure content of Starter for free, than to buy Starter first and inevitably buy Essentials later
If you are an online player, and it is easy to find and put in the maps, the starter kit is much better. Not only is the adventure better, but the other additional material in the essential kit is not essential. I also contend that having ready made characters for beginners helps them not feel overwhelmed. Once they learn how the game works they become excited to make their own. The only thing I would like from the essential is the easy access information on the cards and screen.
Got the essential kit..I run the game until the final boss..dropped the party's cleric in one turn..but then the sorcerer hasted the paly with the dragonslayer dealing 70 points..ended the fight in 2 turns..it was awesome
The essentials kit also has a code that gives you the other 3 adventures that expand from Icespire peak, and they are much more detailed and fleshed out
From time of writing, I would no doubt go with the Essentials Kit, as the only redeeming aspect of the Starter Set, the adventure, is now available for free on D&D Beyond.
Honestly for the price just buy both. Use the pregen characters and play LMOP. Then you can create your own characters and use DOIP as a follow on adventure. To me that made it seem well worth the money .That's how I started and now I'm hooked. Got the Beadle and Grimms Strahd set for Halloween next and havent looked back!
I think Phandalin is a great setting, and LMoP is a good introduction, with one exception. The finish was a real let down. I am currently a player in DoIP, and while the questboard adventure idea is interesting, I would rank the two quests we have completed as a C- and a B. I think both adventures would benefit from a DM's creative plot overhaul. I think sometime I might weave LMoP and DoIP into a single campaign. I know several have done this already.
Hey .. i just want to say .. your videos helped me a lot with starting to learn about dnd - you were there for me - thank you. You helped me with the character sheet, I was a little lost with the battle video but i have learnt .. again thank you.
I did both adventures as a experienced DM with mixed player groups. Some players were semi new some play TTRPGS for many years. Most of them did not play 5e before. My players enjoyed dragon of ice spire peak much more. (Essentials kit) They all didn't like lost mines that much because of it's linearity. Most of them said they love the freedom, looking on the map, taking the cards of all the quests they have right now and all there notes about rumors they heard and just talk about what they like to do next. I personally liked the box contents for the essentials kit also more. ( The DnDBeyond integration is a big plus) Lost mines is I guess a bit easier for new DMs to run. But not much easier. I guess the best way to decide if you're just getting one, is to ask your future players if they enjoy linear more "movie like" games more or enjoyed games like Skyrim more. But I think both adventures are good but the essentials kit as a box set with all the stuff it comes with is the far better deal.
But combining the two into one big game sounds like the way to go. If I feel the need to return to the sword coast and have some new players interested in it, I might try it.
That’s good to hear that you had a good experience with dragon if icespire peak. I agree with your take, and I guess what I found through this experience is that I didn’t enjoy the sandbox style as much as I thought I would.
I agree with your assessment of the two adventures, The Dragon of Icespire Peak is kind of a snore. But I really prefer The Dragon's of Stormwreck Isle to both. It's simple, feels like an open world to the players, and has a few side-quests to add to play time, or just give the players some more combat practice. Best of all it teaches a lot of good habits for new DMs, and it has a social encounter and combat chapter when you save a Myconid Sovereign and battle a Fire Snake.
New DM and I was first exposed to the starter set. I hold an unpopular opinion that Lost Mines of Phandelver is a horrible booklet. Starting out, I was completely lost and so were my players. We had no idea how combat, surprise attacks, turn order, or healing worked and I had to lie on damage rolls to stop a TPK with the first encounter. Since then I’ve learned more but had to buy the PHB and DMG to figure out what the rule book included couldn’t tell me. As a starter, it was a horrible and confusing start. It’s been over a year and my family (players) are still confused by it to the point they still have trouble knowing what they can do. The starter set also lacks all information about various things that would have helped me tremendously like; knowing Mount Hotenow is more than a boring volcano, examples of npc encounters, knowing what twig blights are, knowing the party has an option to talk to Venomfang rather than tpk, how to run encounters with potentially dangerous entities like a banshee or cultists, and giving ways to describe interiors, encounters, combat, and how perception works. For the first two chapters I was having them roll for perception excessively as if the characters needed permission to open their eyes. “You enter the room. Roll perception. 15? You see four goblins who’ve noticed your presence. Oh, it’s a large cave room that’s dark. Hang on, I’ve got to google initiative again.” Now, I do know I’m probably not the brightest and probably missed countless things, but I’ve flipped through the booklets so many times they’re falling apart trying to figure out what’s going on. I could go on, but my point is that it felt like the starter set was created with the assumption you already have some idea on how to play and that your players won’t die...ever. Because if they do, you have no idea how to create a new character to continue playing. Oh, one last thing. My players hated trying to update a premade character sheet whenever they leveled up, changed equipped weapons, and obtained loot.
@@corphish129 Really? So you’re saying that if someone has some difficulty understanding a game that generally requires at the very least two of the three core books to understand the mechanics of gameplay, but only has the most basic set of rules that barely describes a handful of things that a new DM could encounter with players who are also new is then an idiot for having to google things that they can’t remember within the first few sessions of play? You must be a genius who knows how to play every game before it’s even created.
@@roypeak3603 No, I didn't say that. D&D can be hard to learn depending on how you go about it, but initiative is just about as easy as a rule can be. I could understand looking it up once, but looking it up multiple times... All it is is roll a D20 and add the initiative bonus. Then players go in order from highest to lowest. The only other thing to worry about is tie breakers, but that's simple too, and honestly it doesn't matter much how you choose to resolve it. It's not worth digging through a book. Honestly, you don't need to know a ton of rules to run D&D and most of the content in the core books is not important to know 90% of the time. The Starter Set was my first experience running the game, and it did a great job as a reference for the necessary rules. Actually, the fact that it is not as bloated as the core books makes it a great starting point.
I've bought the Essentials kit because of the extras it came with and the more 'episodic' style of play (I expect to have a group of 3, sometimes 4 with short memory and irregular sessions :p) on your recommendation I believe! haha I have yet to run it, but from reading the booklet, I just expected a lot more guidance! A lot of it is: This is the quest objective and here is the map, these are the rooms in there.... Not much to really guide you with 'if the players are hostile towards ... then ...' or 'if the players decide to ignore ... then ... ' Also, what the hell are they supposed to do at Falcon's Lodge? I've watched Bob World Builder's videos, which give a much clearer idea of what can happen during the quests. Would recommend them to any new DM! I'm working on a background plotline of the dragon cult being there, trying to convince the town to try and bring treasure and animal sacrifices to the dragon to appease it etc. (while trying to win them for their own evil cause). And maybe a rival group of adventurers. Anything to make it less of 'level-up on sidequests until you're strong enough to defeat the dragon....'
Both are excellent products, but they definitely offer different experiences and approaches to play. Personally, I find the sandbox style of some adventures to be too vague. I like modules where there is a definite story. I play with my young family and they're definitely into a strong narrative too. Combining the two makes the most sense, introducing optional sidequests from icespire once the Manor has been cleared.
Personally I think the 2 products are mis-named. The starter set should be "Beginners Set" and essentials "Starter Set." A true beginner - never played an RPG - the current starter set is more streamlined. PCs are pregenerated; less dice helps focus on which each is (it does need a d100, but the most difficult thing all the brand new players I've taught have struggled with was which was the d8, the d12, or the d20 [and I even had a graphical cheat sheet image for them]); the adventure is more streamlined. The Essentials box is better for folks with at least some experience. The added stuff is great; experienced players are more likely to want to create their own character; the "learning caverns quest" starting Phandelver is less necessary. Both are great. And combined are less $$ than 1 of the 3 core books. But if it's 1 or the other, they both really are set up for differing experience level (of the players, not PCs).
1:00 flashback to DungeonCraft's video where he mentions how he used to describe things mentioned, and how looking back it was just a waste of time and space.
You certainly have to pick your moments and going all out describing everything is not necessary. But I've found DScryb to be immensely helpful and key moments deserve rich description.
Getting back into playing…I’m old school in that I played all through the ‘80’s and into the ‘90’s. After watching several videos on these two sets and reading some articles, it appears getting, and using, both sets in tandem is the way to go. Also, for the Starter Set, instead of using the pre-made characters, I was going to have my players generate their own characters using the Essentials Set, but playing the Lost Mines adventure, then go into the Icespire Peak adventure. Thoughts?
I've bought both of these two boxes but none is near to the red box of BECMI D&D (I know, it's an unfair comparison). They lack of an introductive adventure, as on Call of Cthulhu 7ed Starter Set. The material is good but far less evocative than a starter set should be. It seems more a semplification of the player manual than my first step in a new world of fantastic adventures, if you can understand what I mean. By the way, for their price, they remain a good choice, the starter set for the mini campaign and the essential kit for characters creation and props. I think that the player manual has more to tell and, even for a new player, is better because it gives a better understandig of how huge is the world inside D&D.
I personally much prefer the sandbox style. It's very akin to a lot of old school modules. Icespire Peak felt very episodic to me. Sort of like the Mandalorian where every episode is its own contained thing with an overarching link throughout the whole thing.
That completely makes sense. I haven’t given up on the sandbox style, but I didn’t like it as much as I thought I would. It could also be just poor execution on the part of this particular adventure.
So, I started DnD as a player and I'm about to buy the Players handbook to get to know more, would the Essentials Kit then be nice to also have if I would like to run as a DM with some friends occasionally? In 2022?
When I started the Essentials Kit was not out in German yet (you see The Dark Eye is from Germany and their company is also publishing DnD, so they kinda get a bit shaftet here) So I got the Starter Set. I will be honest, we didn't manage to play through it, because we have difficulties meeting up and my players are a bit overwhelmed with the paperwork a Spellcaster has to do. But I want to get the Essentials kit aswell, now that it is available in German aswell, jut so I can get my players Rule, without handing out my PHD (looking at my other rulebooks, I don't want to hand them out anymore, because they look like we've played those games nonstop for 10 years)
I have discovered roleplaying games, notably if not firstly, with the "Dark Eye" (L'Oeil Noir en français). It had many qualities and I heard it was still doing good in Germany, which I find encouraging. However, any roleplaying game of your taste, including Dungeons & Dragons, is a good choice. So I find the kits a good option and I agree, if you are the most careful with your books, keep them in hand and if needed, use a printable document to offer them copies of the informations they need, like spells descriptions... Wishing you good times ! 🙂
both are good but I like the essentials kit better than the original starter set. Especially coming from other boxed sets, if you see on my channel were I demonstrated that all the previous boxed sets for previous editions were better buys than the 5e counter parts. Even the upcoming one looks like a worse buy, given you don't get nearly as many components in the box. (I can't talk about R&M or the Stranger Things set as I don't really get into crossovers so I have not seen or used those)
I can see where you’re coming from. When you account for the price, however, especially adjusted for inflation, these are quite a bit less expensive. The fact that you can pick a starter set up for less than 10 dollars on Amazon sometimes is bonkers.
@@WASD20 I do not buy ANYTHING from Amazon as they are a terrible company which treats their employees like garbage, besides I give my $ to support the local stores
I got the essentials kit and ran the adventure It's nice Regarding the cards Initiative cards are absolutely useless Condition cards are meh Magic item cards are conditional as the adventure spans many sessions Do you want to give the players the magic item cards to take home and bring next session or do u want to keep track as a DM ? What if you want to to duplicate an item or make up your own ? Honestly from a practical stand point it was too much encumbrance I only liked the sidekick cards
I think the ability of being able to create your own character is a major point in favor of the Essentials Kit. Yes, the options are very limited compared to the PHB, but they are there. You can still create your character and take that character through adventures. The Starter Set's pregenerated characters might be technically easier to get started, but I feel like that misses a large component of what D&D is because you are working with someone else's character and hoping that what exists works for you. You can make it your own, but it's not the same thing as starting from scratch. Plus, if you really want the pregen characters from the Starter Set, Wizards of the Coast has them available for free download on their website alongside their blank character sheets.
@@WASD20 That's a point, but the Basic Rules has even less level 1 options than the Essentials Kit, although the Basic Rules does go up to level 20. The Essentials Kit at least has two subclasses per class. The Basic Rules has no subclasses.
@@JasonCorfman The Basic Rules gives one subclass per class I think, but yes - pretty limited. The System Reference document has a lot of stuff and is also available for free.
I am hopefully getting the starter kit because i am going to get it from money i made from eid and i dont have enough for essential's kit (or i kinda do but i wont have any money after that tho 5 dollar may not sound like alot it is kinda alot to me here in egypt) Anyway yeah i am also not sure if i will continoe playing so yeah hope its fun👍👍
There are certainly exceptions, and keep on the borderlands is probably the most obvious. I also admit that my personal history with DND only goes back to 2014. Perhaps traditional was the wrong word, but the vast majority of modules I’ve encountered have been pretty linear.
@@WASD20 That's fair enough, but KotB was an introductory module. Modules which are stronger on story you would expect to be more linear, because stories unfold in a particular way
6:59 I sort of like that... the fact that the first few quest the player does are not your a hero go and do this heroic thing and defend us from this bad thing. but more like rummers of this anicent dragon thing, and the player does a quest and no conection whit big bad because why would it. I really hate it in RPG when the player starts and 20min in we are the savior of the world. I rather have it that at the start the Evil is not shown they might not even be active/awaken. heck one of my fav game campagn was one in Hero System (fantasy modern time) where the party had set up to travel to a town for a large event, and the reason why we was partying up was because my characte was the only caracter at this Inn that had a driver licence and a car that was going to said event so the party was formed as a result of that. then next town we get a quest to deliver a item to a town further along our road sure we said took it delivered and got paid. got to the Final town did the event (competition) did okey I think, then as reason for our performent at the event we was offerd to do some work for the local police force or something. did them and along here that item we had delivered was a jar of evil and now said evil was out of the jar building its power, we by "chance" stumble upon some of its results and that more or less started the whole campaign and for a good time we had no clue what the Evil was we thought it was a rebel group or a criminal group something. (this was seasion 3 I think whit a season zero and character build), GM ide was that we would take the train but I Bought a car and driver license+skill so no need for trains. my car was wreaked at least twice in that campaign.... recommend putting some armor on it as soon as it make sense instead of using the hero insurance to get a new one.
Recently a player asked me what was the population of Phandalin. Neither set gives that information although Essentials Kit says 40-50 buildings but not all buildings are inhabited homes. I thought about 40 families permanent residents and unknown number of visitors/miners. What do you think is the population of Phandalin?
I've often visited Waterstones and kept picking up the Starter and Essentials sets for me and my partner but end up putting them back on the shelf as I feared they'd be pretty daunting or an expectation I need to put down more money just to actually get started. The most experience I have with D&D is when I was 11 I owned a set in 1996 which had minituares and a board like a Games Workshop title. They don't make them like this no more no? Never played much of the franchise since other than some Baldurs Gate when it first came out.
You really don't need to put any more money down to get started than the price of one of the sets. As far as daunting, I suppose it's more robust than your typical board game but these kits make it as manageable as it can be. I highly recommend it, you'll have a blast.
Yep. Agree with @Chilrona. You’ll be fine with just what you have in the box. They really do a good job of giving you all that you need, and not enticing you to buy more.
So for a group of people new to the game trying this, should each person read the rule book before getting together. Or 1 person who will explain as you go?
I don’t think everyone NEEDS to read it. If they are open to it, I would definitely offer that, but most new players will do better to learn while playing. It can often be too overwhelming otherwise. The DM should definitely do their best to read and get a grasp of the rules.
Perhaps a controversial view here, but as someone who is just starting. I almost feel the adventure style should be revered potentially: Starter Set with quest format to get new players and New GMs uses to how the gameplay mechanics. The smaller format give more opportunities to do so. Once familiar, players can then progress into the linear format and scale their characters in a larger world. Seems like more of a logical progression that will increase the likelihood of need players staying with D&D. The smaller quests first seems it would also reveal who wants to to commit and who doesn't. As someone who wants to DM, I just want to play. If i need t split that in to two groups (sporadic vs consistent players) that is totally helpful and fine for me. As I am admittedly a noob and I am missing something. Do let me know. Would love to learn more. One final question. I saw a lot of info on the GM screen, but have a chart/diagram to understand handling encounters (order for initiative, and the order subsequent GM actions) on it? Also, seems that would be helpful for brand new players. What I have seen do far is a great deal of "see page XX" in the middle of a paragraph type stuff. I understand this is not completely avoidable, but that feels like a lit of jumping back and forth, which ultimately would hold up gameplay. A sample line diagram on top of the game screen and the monsters in a separate booklet would be more intuitive. and give the GM and players less busy work. Again, I am a noob and if I wrong, no worries. Educate me. But I am also a Creative Director with a strong, design background and one of the key responsibilities of that is simplifying visuals and processes to make it easier for other to understand. Looking at this, as I would in my job, from the standpoint of a mindset of another player who would be a total beginner.
We run both together. You won't be disappointed with either but I would pick the Starter set if you are only going to go with one. It is just a better story line. The Essential kit runs more like a series of loosely affiliated one shots in the region. It does work well to expand the Lost Mines of Phandelver. You need to develop a bit of touch adjusting difficulty for each encounter. Both sets take you to level five but when you combine we made it to seven. We handled that by making the ice dragon an adult but adjustments are needed for many of the other encounters to increase difficulty for a more seasoned party. The way to combine is to start with LMOP and introduce the Essentials arc after the party has returned from their first encounter outside of town after Tresendar Manor.
Yep! I completely agree. Solid advice.
This one is the correct answer!
@@WASD20 Especially with the Sidekicks rules having been expanded and printed in Tasha's...meaning that you can get access to the one major rules thing from the Essentials Kit which leaves it a bunch of short encounters chained together for the most part.
This. I run them in tandem to give the players more choice. Also I split the town late in the game, along the lines of which is the greater threat. The spider or the dragon.
You are very wise.
Thanks!
I'm reading and playing LMOP in hopes of becoming a DM soon.
The Young Green Dragon is the real deal.
Challenge rating of 8.
3,900 XP.
Playing the Essential Kit one shots will help get more XP.
Level 4 Deadly encounters are 500 each.
So if you play as the pregenerated PCs you will have 2,500XP for one monster.
Granted, you just need scare off the Young Green Dragon.
So that is kind of like 1,950XP for one monster.
Keep in mind.
Deadly could mean tpk.
As of 19-05-2022 The Lost Mine of Phandelver is now free on DND Beyond
So it would be better to just get the Essentials Kit if you are starting out right now!
I was seconds away from buying the starter set after just getting the essentials kit. Thank you for saving my money haha
Each kit is really good, but I find that combining both kits creates a great Group Starter Kit:
-the starter rulebook for players, more-detailed essentials rulebook for DM
-Enough dice for DM and for players to share
-Map, cards, DM screen
-Starter adventure for good intro and quality story
-Essentials adventure to flesh out starter adventure
-Enough pre-gen and blank character sheets for small group to get going
Totally agree.
The Essentials Kit also gives you 3 additional adventure on DnDBeyond that come after Ice Fire Peak and moves you to the new town of Leilon. Gets you campaign up to level 12 and all 3 adventure tie together fairly well with a trip back to Phandalin
Nice. I haven’t even looked at them, but I’ve seen them in my account.
@@WASD20 Yes, I also recomend, that you take a look at them. As far as I have seen, nearly all TH-camrs (and maybe most buyers of the EK) miss that point with the digital Add-Ons on DnD Beyond. Also the Player versions of the maps are on DnD beyond for all adventures, that you can use on Roll20 for example and grey out hidden areas.
That's interesting. This is the first I've heard about it also.
My players and I have just finished up our Phandalin/Leilon campaign and honestly about half way through it was clear that at least a third of the content is filler that has nothing to do with an over-arching storyline. We ended up cutting out a bunch and filling it in with more player-centric stories. Value for money wise it's a 10/10 but as a campaign it's very poorly put together.
How does that work? Do you get codes in the EK box to redeem the 3 adventures?
Starter Kit storyline is much more thought out and our group preferred it over Essentials.
Also both games can lead into a much much larger campaign. If you do decide later you’ve already accomplished almost 2/5th of the tyranny of dragons saga…
I just bought essentials today, and was probably opening it while this video was being uploaded. I went with essentials because of the character creation. Being new to this, character creation was one of the main points that finally drew me to this game. This is my very first interaction with D&D or any RPG for that matter. Looking forward to getting started.
I personally preferred Icespire Peak over Lost Mines. Essentials kit easily takes the cake for me. Hope you enjoy!
Nice! I think you’ll enjoy it. I would definitely recommend modifying the quest to make them more exciting if you are comfortable with that. The channel Bob Worldbuilder also has some great videos for DMs on how to modify them to tie them together a bit more.
@@WASD20 Bob the Worldbuilder? That weedy STR: 10 Commoner? 😂😂😂 I love his physical D&D experiments.
@@WASD20 i second Bob the World Builder here! As a long time player but 1st time DM last year, his videos were a big help running DoIP. My group of experienced players all had a good time, and I was able to slightly modify a couple of the orc encounters to foreshadow my homebrew sequel adventure after level 6.
Note: the party broke the CR system in the adventure by level 4. I had to do a lot of buffing encounters after that to try and keep it challenging.
I just got it today as well
And this is my first tome playing d&d
I hope the game will be as fun to play as it sounds and i am looking forward to it
The adventure of lost mine of Phandelver has a classic fantasy feel
Very lord of the rings / hobbit feel making it excellent for starting D&D
The heroes are elves, humans, Dwarves, and hobbits (halfling)
Which is exactly lotr feel
Enemies include goblins, orcs, and a dragon
The cargmaw cave with the wolves and the trap are cool
I highly recommend it
I agree. Classic fantasy is a good way to describe it.
I actually use the Essentials kit DM screen as my main DM screen. It has all the information I need, it is able to hide my notes and rolls, and has the bonus of having no obstruction of the battle map for me.
I find that two medium-sized binder clips, one on each of the outside corners at the bottom, greatly stabilizes the screen. Otherwise, as DM sometimes just breathing too hard can knock it over.
@@JasonCorfman I am going to use that trick
@@swordsman111982 Another D&D binder clip hint... small binder clips make cheap but effective bases for paper minis.
@@JasonCorfman Oh, that is a neat idea! 😍👍
Lost Mines was the first thing I ever ran for D&D. As a new DM, something I really appreciated was the way the adventure started off ‘hand holding ‘ me as a DM and then backed off. By the end, I felt as though I was ready to do things ‘on my own’.
Only played a few times in the 80's. My kids are causing me to give this a go. Really great content here. Thank you so much for this. It is very very helpful.
If I may dare an advice, as a familiar with roleplaying...
Feel free to keep it simple and in touch with your taste and those of your children.
It is you at the heart of the game, not the Dongeons & Dragons system, if you choose this one.
(Because there are other games, with many themes, which may be as good for you.
Also, there are roleplaying games especially made for children, if they are young.)
So in the story you play, if they find a little fantastic animal they would like to keep as a pet, why not... ?
If they want to invent a potion with all of what they find in the forest that do not move, again why not...
If you do not find a rule for it, invent one, simply evaluate a probability, make them roll a dice and think later.
Children can do unexpected things, but often they have the sens of play...
Essentials Kit also comes with a code for dndbeyond, which includes the stuff in the kit plus three sequel adventures to follow up what's on the physical book.
Good point. I hadn’t really considered DND beyond integration.
@@WASD20 Which is something that other people have viewed as a disadvantage for the Essentials Kit since it's content that is online and difficult for those who don't really want to have a lot of tech at the table...which tends to get distracting and not all game stores have rooms where it's easy access...and most games at a few near me have banned players from using them (One rather infamous group of cheaters were well known for editing pdfs of electronic copies of books and other things)
I got Starter Set last year, because it was on sale. It was gathering dust till 31 Dec. Started playing with my family: my parents and my sister, all above 30. While we came late to the party (hehe) and my first (well, i watched some d&d online, especially VLDL) time as GM was less than stellar, we had so much fun and it was hilarious from the moment we tried to name the characters. Only my mom never played any RPGs, the rest of us are cRPGs veterans, so at first she struggled a bit with some slang but that didn't stop her from having fun. We all loved the freedom D&D gives you: in video games you are very limited in terms of interaction with the world. It's like you said in one of your other videos: if you have a chance, just go play, even if you don't know the rules, don't let that stop you (at least in D&D, other fields of life might require different approach)
and in Germany since we FINALLY got the Essentials Kit as the "new" Starter Set (since WotC now does the translations) they handed over the adventure from the starter set for free as PDF xD
Oh wow. That’s cool!
I agree with you, I really love the Lost Mine of Phandelver adventure. I've taken inspiration from it as I'm running a mixture of LMoP and Ghosts of Satlmarsh, essentially Ghosts of Saltmarsh with NPCs, story ideas, expanded upon from LMoP. I've also run LMoP by itself with 3 different groups and its a lot of fun!
I have the essentials kit and I think it has a great set of introductory tools for a new player- but as someone who wants to try DMing for the first time I think I'm gonna grab the beginner set to run LMoP as it seems easier to keep track of the adventure.
As a complete D&D newbie, I bought both of them as I thought they were quite cool to have, and it gave me more options. The only (extremely minor) gripe that I have is that Wizards Of The Coast should make the boxes a few millimetres longer. It would then mean that A4 pages can fit in without bending. Yeah, it doesn't even qualifies as a complaint lol :) Great video, thanks for the content!
I actually think that's a perfectly valid complaint for the international edition of this box. You're expected to put notes and stuff in the box.
It's not a deal breaker but it's absolutely worth noting.
I find the starter set to be better simply because the story is much more connected and is easier for new DMs
I combined the 2 into one big sandbox since there aren't any overlapping locations. I've run it for 2 groups. Only adjustment I made for the second group was to not start them off with the contract in the Starter Set since the first group was a little railroaded by that linear adventure and ended up ignoring a lot of the side quest options offered by the Essential kit until they had gone all the way through the Starter quest.
I am new to d&d, I bought the essentials kit, I love it...but I was going to be a Forest Gnome no matter what so I went out of my way to create one seeing as there aren’t any in it.
Also as a creative writer I didn’t find it too tough finding ways to expand the map.
It’s what I do on Mutant Year Zero.
I found Icespire Peak a better guide to learn from than the Lost Mines. We had started Lost Mines an Ihad zero idea how to DM so I bought the Essentials kit and found that Icespire Peak provided a clearer learning experience because of how it was broken up into all the small quests.
That’s good to hear! I appreciate the perspective of new DMs.
I'll note that starter kits are often primarily for people who have never played an RPG, much less D&D
The essentials is more a low priced entry point into D&D for players who know what it is, or have played a bit themselves, or know they want to GM etc...
The core books are for hobbyists who are going all in.
So it's more a matter of who the target audience is and then trying to cater to that audiences needs/desires
Not only do I think you should get both, but you should also get every book (except Mordenkainan's Tome of Foes), a ton of miniatures, lots and lots of terrain, dice towers, spell cards, a Deck of Many Things, and any other accessories you can get your hands on. And all this will still be much cheaper than a hobby like golf.
I second everything said in the video. In addition I'd say the Starter set adventure does a much better job of hand-holding the new DM through the start of running a game. Essentials felt like it threw you into the deep end more.
I was an experienced GM from other games but new to D&D 5E and I found Lost Mine of Phandelver a real delight to run and eased the transition to the new game. I've since used a couple of the sidequests from Icespire Peak, including the dragon finale itself, with a little upgrading of the monsters. If I was starting from scratch now I'd definitely get both sets and weave the adventures together.
I've got the Essential Set; and I liked the way that you get access to digital content on D&D Beyond taking characters up to higher levels. However, I may well pick up the Starter Kit, as I've only heard good things about the adventure.
The pregenerated characters in the Starter Set are especially useful when starting off with players that have zero D&D or TTRPG experience. You want them to start playing asap so they can see what D&D is all about, and not have to spend hours understanding races and classes and rules and then go theough actual character creation. You can do that in the second campaign with the Essentials Kit, letting them create their characters in a setting that they already know from the first campaign.
step 1: grab a victim
step 2: shove the pre written character sheet to their face
step 3: profit
100%
Also it's very difficult to make a character for a game you've never played. Starting with a pregen is great. Just tell them they can change the personality however they want.
I have both. The adventure in the Starterset is way better but both are usefull.
I just bought both from Amazon last week and I think I paid less for both than the cover price of either.
I did the same. For that price I got myself a set & another for Christmas gift. Haven't bought D&D stuff since 2/3e.
I actually just got both of them yesterday! I got them from Amazon and they were $23 together. They also came the day after I ordered them.
Cool! Enjoy!
One thing I do appreciate more about Icespire Peak than Lost Mine, is the future-proofing. With how much of a sandbox it already is, when you've run through the story in its entirety, it's not that hard to keep things going - especially if you also include the free extra D&D Beyond adventures.
I appreciate Lost Mine as a standalone adventure, it's a lot easier and frankly more fun to run in that capacity than Icespire Peak is, but it's not as easy to use as a jumping-off point in that regard.
Having run both and combining them together, started set makes a nice enclosed campaign, essentials kit makes a good open sandbox that leads into a higher level campaign with the sequel adventures on dndbeyond.
I own all three current 5e boxsets. I think the "job board" quests in the Starter set really serve a specific purpose...they are easy to run for a new DM and new players while not taking hours to complete. As someone who plays with younger players and someone who is considering running an afterschool D&D club for 4th and 5th grade students, I think these quick quests are simply perfect.
Great point
I love both. But the essentials kit is well layed out. I’ve even solo played it. When extra bored 😀
The Essentials Kit comes with a code for D&D Beyond to run a campaign up to level 12, standard D&D adventure campaign, a lot of loosely linked together content where you are fighting Talos disciples and a god of the undead for an artifact. For that alone, the essentials kit edges out the starter set. In reality, you probably want both and you can run a complete campaign.
so as a new DM I decided to jump in with the essentials kit. I took the story and made it my own. We are in the middle of the campaign now and are about ready to branch out into homebrew. I basically used it as a way to get comfortable with the game and being the DM. Part of being a DM is crafting storylines, so I came up with my own setting and inserted the provided story into my setting. Is it good? debatable lol, but my players are having fun and its allowing me to learn while flexing my creative muscles. The quick and dirty of my setting is the players joined a god's army to fight the century long war against dragonborn who are trying to take over the "kingdom". I made my adjustments by adding a taking things away. Loving it!
I am WAY late to the 5E party, especially with One D&D on the horizon, but I really like the newer starter and essential kits. I'm OG, preferring to home brew most of my stuff, but at the same time, I also like having a lot of the work done for me, I just have to modify and slot it into my world. You make some great points, and I'll end up getting the original Starter Set, the Essentials Kit, and the new Starter set - if for no other reason I love art, dice, and plenty of stuff to help get me back into the DM chair.
Love the video, keep up the great work!
Thanks!
I ran both sets for a group of three players and I have to say that the Starter Set adventure, "The Lost Mines of Phandelver" is fantastic - much better than "The Dragon of Icespire Peak." "Lost Mines" is a very well-written, cohesive story that was very easy to run for a DM who, like me, hadn't payed D&D in over 30 years. But, best of all, it has the "old-school feel" of the sort of campaigns I remember so fondly playing as a teen in the 80s. Also, having pre-generated character sheets gets people playing much more quickly (and, much to my surprise, my players fell in love with their pre-generated characters and made them their own). So, all in all, I recommend the Starter Set for new players.
I bought both because of the flexibility they'd offer me. I like the Starter Set adventure so far because I'm playing through it and teaching a lot of new players how to play the game with the Lost Mine adventure. Once that's done, I'm definitely going to implement some of the Icespire Peak stuff in as well, just to expand the world and see where new adventures end up taking us before jumping into a related adventure book. I'm still pretty new at DMing, too, so both of these kits have been super useful to me in playing and teaching. :)
I'm from a third world country, I really love dnd because of you guys. Today I found the starter set after years of finding anything related to D&d. Should I just buy it? I didn't find the 3 core book. Is that okay if I just buy the starter set? It was a little overpriced, like over $30. But I'm just glad that I found something that is related to D&d.
I think you should buy it, you don’t need the 3 books
Well, we will need to revisit this soon when the new starter set: Dragons of Stormwreck Isle comes out.
I found that utilizing both adventure modules combined, create a great sand box. I don't start with the basic set storyline. instead, the party starts in Neverwinter. from there, they get rumors of various stories within the lands surrounding Phandelin. as they get involved in these lands, different stories open up. the players get to choose what to get involved with, but their decisions may cause conflict with various factions. also, both dragons are significant influences within region. they are the true power. whether you have them work together or as opposition to each other, they are the greatest threat.
I’m currently running a group of 5 through LMoP and it’s been very enjoyable would highly recommend it to anyone wanting to jump into D&D. And I hope to either continue into DoIP or add its content into our game as we get farther.
I don't have an issue with either. But I bought them as adventures and not starters.
For absolute beginners, the starter set did not go well for us. I am an old timer 1st edition player, my 14 yr old became interested we picked up the starter set and tried it with my wife and his brother. No character creation only pre gens, so ostensibly the players don't need to know anything. This resulted with all players confused about where to find info on their sheets and saddled with a character that didn't fit them. Our youngest player wanted to be the thief which (spoiler alert) has the background of having previously worked with the main gang of bad guys, which he is keeping secret from the other players. For someone absolutely new to roleplaying it was a bit much to ask. I never felt 1st level characters should have much of a backstory.
Great video Nate.
I think for absolute new players (especially DMs) that the Starter Set adventure works best. It really guides a first time DM through the process of running the game and having the linear story helps the DM stay focused on other elements.
The Essentials Kit feels like a better buy for a more experienced DM to run with new players. Icespire Peak feels so customizable, I love the fleshed out folks of Phandalin, and because the adventures are fairly self contained, a DM can easily inject their own spin off adventures or a festival or some other element into the game without harming the overall story. Icespire Peak also provides the DM with some quick one-shot adventures to run. The Logging Camp makes a great horror one-shot for low level characters and can be plunked down in any setting that has forests.
So yeah, I"m a big fan of the Essentials Kit overall. I love the side-kick rules and being able to play with just two players. But I do feel that the open ended nature of Icespire Peak does make it a more challenging experience for a brand new DM to run.
A greater question is about if you want to start playing D&D at all. I began with another game system, Palladium Books. I still RPG to this day (47 years old now) and I have yet to play D&D. I just never needed to. These days my games of choice are Pocket Fantasy, Mini-6 Bare Bones, and my new favorite, Dungeons and Delvers Dice Pool.
I say get both. I think the rules book in the Essential Kit is better and the adventure in the Starter Set feels more like a unified campaign.
Both is a great way to go!
I'd say the essentials. The Starter adventure is a free PDF on D&D Beyond. The Essentials adventure and it's expansions have a standalone cost.
So it's better to get the superior content of the Essentials and get the main adventure content of Starter for free, than to buy Starter first and inevitably buy Essentials later
If you are an online player, and it is easy to find and put in the maps, the starter kit is much better. Not only is the adventure better, but the other additional material in the essential kit is not essential. I also contend that having ready made characters for beginners helps them not feel overwhelmed. Once they learn how the game works they become excited to make their own. The only thing I would like from the essential is the easy access information on the cards and screen.
Got the essential kit..I run the game until the final boss..dropped the party's cleric in one turn..but then the sorcerer hasted the paly with the dragonslayer dealing 70 points..ended the fight in 2 turns..it was awesome
The essentials kit also has a code that gives you the other 3 adventures that expand from Icespire peak, and they are much more detailed and fleshed out
From time of writing, I would no doubt go with the Essentials Kit, as the only redeeming aspect of the Starter Set, the adventure, is now available for free on D&D Beyond.
Honestly for the price just buy both. Use the pregen characters and play LMOP. Then you can create your own characters and use DOIP as a follow on adventure. To me that made it seem well worth the money .That's how I started and now I'm hooked. Got the Beadle and Grimms Strahd set for Halloween next and havent looked back!
I think Phandalin is a great setting, and LMoP is a good introduction, with one exception. The finish was a real let down. I am currently a player in DoIP, and while the questboard adventure idea is interesting, I would rank the two quests we have completed as a C- and a B. I think both adventures would benefit from a DM's creative plot overhaul. I think sometime I might weave LMoP and DoIP into a single campaign. I know several have done this already.
Yep. I agree with this take!
Hey .. i just want to say .. your videos helped me a lot with starting to learn about dnd - you were there for me - thank you.
You helped me with the character sheet,
I was a little lost with the battle video but i have learnt .. again thank you.
I did both adventures as a experienced DM with mixed player groups. Some players were semi new some play TTRPGS for many years. Most of them did not play 5e before.
My players enjoyed dragon of ice spire peak much more. (Essentials kit)
They all didn't like lost mines that much because of it's linearity.
Most of them said they love the freedom, looking on the map, taking the cards of all the quests they have right now and all there notes about rumors they heard and just talk about what they like to do next.
I personally liked the box contents for the essentials kit also more. ( The DnDBeyond integration is a big plus)
Lost mines is I guess a bit easier for new DMs to run. But not much easier.
I guess the best way to decide if you're just getting one, is to ask your future players if they enjoy linear more "movie like" games more or enjoyed games like Skyrim more.
But I think both adventures are good but the essentials kit as a box set with all the stuff it comes with is the far better deal.
But combining the two into one big game sounds like the way to go.
If I feel the need to return to the sword coast and have some new players interested in it, I might try it.
That’s good to hear that you had a good experience with dragon if icespire peak.
I agree with your take, and I guess what I found through this experience is that I didn’t enjoy the sandbox style as much as I thought I would.
I like your Movie vs Skyrim analogy.
I agree with your assessment of the two adventures, The Dragon of Icespire Peak is kind of a snore. But I really prefer The Dragon's of Stormwreck Isle to both. It's simple, feels like an open world to the players, and has a few side-quests to add to play time, or just give the players some more combat practice. Best of all it teaches a lot of good habits for new DMs, and it has a social encounter and combat chapter when you save a Myconid Sovereign and battle a Fire Snake.
New DM and I was first exposed to the starter set. I hold an unpopular opinion that Lost Mines of Phandelver is a horrible booklet. Starting out, I was completely lost and so were my players. We had no idea how combat, surprise attacks, turn order, or healing worked and I had to lie on damage rolls to stop a TPK with the first encounter.
Since then I’ve learned more but had to buy the PHB and DMG to figure out what the rule book included couldn’t tell me. As a starter, it was a horrible and confusing start. It’s been over a year and my family (players) are still confused by it to the point they still have trouble knowing what they can do.
The starter set also lacks all information about various things that would have helped me tremendously like; knowing Mount Hotenow is more than a boring volcano, examples of npc encounters, knowing what twig blights are, knowing the party has an option to talk to Venomfang rather than tpk, how to run encounters with potentially dangerous entities like a banshee or cultists, and giving ways to describe interiors, encounters, combat, and how perception works. For the first two chapters I was having them roll for perception excessively as if the characters needed permission to open their eyes. “You enter the room. Roll perception. 15? You see four goblins who’ve noticed your presence. Oh, it’s a large cave room that’s dark. Hang on, I’ve got to google initiative again.”
Now, I do know I’m probably not the brightest and probably missed countless things, but I’ve flipped through the booklets so many times they’re falling apart trying to figure out what’s going on. I could go on, but my point is that it felt like the starter set was created with the assumption you already have some idea on how to play and that your players won’t die...ever. Because if they do, you have no idea how to create a new character to continue playing. Oh, one last thing. My players hated trying to update a premade character sheet whenever they leveled up, changed equipped weapons, and obtained loot.
If you had the Google initiative multiple times... I don't know how to help you. I'm sorry.
@@corphish129 Really? So you’re saying that if someone has some difficulty understanding a game that generally requires at the very least two of the three core books to understand the mechanics of gameplay, but only has the most basic set of rules that barely describes a handful of things that a new DM could encounter with players who are also new is then an idiot for having to google things that they can’t remember within the first few sessions of play? You must be a genius who knows how to play every game before it’s even created.
@@roypeak3603 No, I didn't say that.
D&D can be hard to learn depending on how you go about it, but initiative is just about as easy as a rule can be. I could understand looking it up once, but looking it up multiple times...
All it is is roll a D20 and add the initiative bonus. Then players go in order from highest to lowest.
The only other thing to worry about is tie breakers, but that's simple too, and honestly it doesn't matter much how you choose to resolve it. It's not worth digging through a book.
Honestly, you don't need to know a ton of rules to run D&D and most of the content in the core books is not important to know 90% of the time. The Starter Set was my first experience running the game, and it did a great job as a reference for the necessary rules. Actually, the fact that it is not as bloated as the core books makes it a great starting point.
I've bought the Essentials kit because of the extras it came with and the more 'episodic' style of play (I expect to have a group of 3, sometimes 4 with short memory and irregular sessions :p) on your recommendation I believe! haha
I have yet to run it, but from reading the booklet, I just expected a lot more guidance! A lot of it is: This is the quest objective and here is the map, these are the rooms in there....
Not much to really guide you with 'if the players are hostile towards ... then ...' or 'if the players decide to ignore ... then ... '
Also, what the hell are they supposed to do at Falcon's Lodge?
I've watched Bob World Builder's videos, which give a much clearer idea of what can happen during the quests. Would recommend them to any new DM!
I'm working on a background plotline of the dragon cult being there, trying to convince the town to try and bring treasure and animal sacrifices to the dragon to appease it etc. (while trying to win them for their own evil cause). And maybe a rival group of adventurers.
Anything to make it less of 'level-up on sidequests until you're strong enough to defeat the dragon....'
I find combining the two works out great.
I just bought both and expecting on Friday so this is exactly what I need
I just tell them to buy both at the same time. Much easier and it's not expensive. yes, on amazon you can get both for around $25
My only issue with essentials is the size of the cards, just a smidge to wide to fit on a usual 3'x4' sleeve
Both are excellent products, but they definitely offer different experiences and approaches to play.
Personally, I find the sandbox style of some adventures to be too vague. I like modules where there is a definite story. I play with my young family and they're definitely into a strong narrative too.
Combining the two makes the most sense, introducing optional sidequests from icespire once the Manor has been cleared.
Personally I think the 2 products are mis-named. The starter set should be "Beginners Set" and essentials "Starter Set." A true beginner - never played an RPG - the current starter set is more streamlined.
PCs are pregenerated;
less dice helps focus on which each is (it does need a d100, but the most difficult thing all the brand new players I've taught have struggled with was which was the d8, the d12, or the d20 [and I even had a graphical cheat sheet image for them]);
the adventure is more streamlined.
The Essentials box is better for folks with at least some experience.
The added stuff is great;
experienced players are more likely to want to create their own character;
the "learning caverns quest" starting Phandelver is less necessary.
Both are great. And combined are less $$ than 1 of the 3 core books. But if it's 1 or the other, they both really are set up for differing experience level (of the players, not PCs).
Great review. Agree with everything you said!
I consider the essentials kit to be an expansion pack to the starter set and nothing more. Quite good at that thing, less so as a stand alone thing.
I bought both.
I just went with both
The starter set has a better adventure but the essentials has better stuff
1:00 flashback to DungeonCraft's video where he mentions how he used to describe things mentioned, and how looking back it was just a waste of time and space.
You certainly have to pick your moments and going all out describing everything is not necessary. But I've found DScryb to be immensely helpful and key moments deserve rich description.
Getting back into playing…I’m old school in that I played all through the ‘80’s and into the ‘90’s.
After watching several videos on these two sets and reading some articles, it appears getting, and using, both sets in tandem is the way to go.
Also, for the Starter Set, instead of using the pre-made characters, I was going to have my players generate their own characters using the Essentials Set, but playing the Lost Mines adventure, then go into the Icespire Peak adventure. Thoughts?
I've bought both of these two boxes but none is near to the red box of BECMI D&D (I know, it's an unfair comparison).
They lack of an introductive adventure, as on Call of Cthulhu 7ed Starter Set. The material is good but far less evocative than a starter set should be. It seems more a semplification of the player manual than my first step in a new world of fantastic adventures, if you can understand what I mean.
By the way, for their price, they remain a good choice, the starter set for the mini campaign and the essential kit for characters creation and props.
I think that the player manual has more to tell and, even for a new player, is better because it gives a better understandig of how huge is the world inside D&D.
I personally much prefer the sandbox style. It's very akin to a lot of old school modules. Icespire Peak felt very episodic to me. Sort of like the Mandalorian where every episode is its own contained thing with an overarching link throughout the whole thing.
That completely makes sense. I haven’t given up on the sandbox style, but I didn’t like it as much as I thought I would. It could also be just poor execution on the part of this particular adventure.
An excellent review. And some great comments!
So, I started DnD as a player and I'm about to buy the Players handbook to get to know more, would the Essentials Kit then be nice to also have if I would like to run as a DM with some friends occasionally? In 2022?
I just bought both
When I started the Essentials Kit was not out in German yet (you see The Dark Eye is from Germany and their company is also publishing DnD, so they kinda get a bit shaftet here)
So I got the Starter Set. I will be honest, we didn't manage to play through it, because we have difficulties meeting up and my players are a bit overwhelmed with the paperwork a Spellcaster has to do.
But I want to get the Essentials kit aswell, now that it is available in German aswell, jut so I can get my players Rule, without handing out my PHD (looking at my other rulebooks, I don't want to hand them out anymore, because they look like we've played those games nonstop for 10 years)
I have discovered roleplaying games, notably if not firstly, with the "Dark Eye" (L'Oeil Noir en français).
It had many qualities and I heard it was still doing good in Germany, which I find encouraging.
However, any roleplaying game of your taste, including Dungeons & Dragons, is a good choice.
So I find the kits a good option and I agree, if you are the most careful with your books,
keep them in hand and if needed, use a printable document to offer them copies
of the informations they need, like spells descriptions...
Wishing you good times ! 🙂
both are good but I like the essentials kit better than the original starter set. Especially coming from other boxed sets, if you see on my channel were I demonstrated that all the previous boxed sets for previous editions were better buys than the 5e counter parts. Even the upcoming one looks like a worse buy, given you don't get nearly as many components in the box. (I can't talk about R&M or the Stranger Things set as I don't really get into crossovers so I have not seen or used those)
I can see where you’re coming from. When you account for the price, however, especially adjusted for inflation, these are quite a bit less expensive. The fact that you can pick a starter set up for less than 10 dollars on Amazon sometimes is bonkers.
@@WASD20 I do not buy ANYTHING from Amazon as they are a terrible company which treats their employees like garbage, besides I give my $ to support the local stores
I got the essentials kit and ran the adventure
It's nice
Regarding the cards
Initiative cards are absolutely useless
Condition cards are meh
Magic item cards are conditional as the adventure spans many sessions
Do you want to give the players the magic item cards to take home and bring next session or do u want to keep track as a DM ?
What if you want to to duplicate an item or make up your own ?
Honestly from a practical stand point it was too much encumbrance
I only liked the sidekick cards
The quest cards were cool as well
I definitely recommend keeping their cards!
I think the ability of being able to create your own character is a major point in favor of the Essentials Kit. Yes, the options are very limited compared to the PHB, but they are there. You can still create your character and take that character through adventures. The Starter Set's pregenerated characters might be technically easier to get started, but I feel like that misses a large component of what D&D is because you are working with someone else's character and hoping that what exists works for you. You can make it your own, but it's not the same thing as starting from scratch. Plus, if you really want the pregen characters from the Starter Set, Wizards of the Coast has them available for free download on their website alongside their blank character sheets.
True, but rules for character creation are also free in the basic rules pdf.
@@WASD20 That's a point, but the Basic Rules has even less level 1 options than the Essentials Kit, although the Basic Rules does go up to level 20. The Essentials Kit at least has two subclasses per class. The Basic Rules has no subclasses.
Or rather, the Basic Rules has one subclass per class, giving no subclass options.
@@JasonCorfman The Basic Rules gives one subclass per class I think, but yes - pretty limited. The System Reference document has a lot of stuff and is also available for free.
I am hopefully getting the starter kit because i am going to get it from money i made from eid and i dont have enough for essential's kit (or i kinda do but i wont have any money after that tho 5 dollar may not sound like alot it is kinda alot to me here in egypt)
Anyway yeah i am also not sure if i will continoe playing so yeah hope its fun👍👍
Did you see that a new boxed set is coming Aug 1st? Dragons of Stormwreck Isle, looks awesome!
Yes! I’m excited.
Ok fine. I'll go buy myself the essentials kit for Xmas
A very informative update
A traditional linear adventure? Like Keep on the Borderlands?
There are certainly exceptions, and keep on the borderlands is probably the most obvious.
I also admit that my personal history with DND only goes back to 2014. Perhaps traditional was the wrong word, but the vast majority of modules I’ve encountered have been pretty linear.
@@WASD20 That's fair enough, but KotB was an introductory module.
Modules which are stronger on story you would expect to be more linear, because stories unfold in a particular way
Very interesting - might have to cop ths
I was choosing between the Starter Set and the Essentials Kit. Then I saw the Core Rulebooks Giftset and I said "F*** IT" and that's my story :D
I got the essentials so I hope I got lucky here
They’re both solid products and you can have a lot of fun with either. You’ll be fine. :)
6:59 I sort of like that... the fact that the first few quest the player does are not your a hero go and do this heroic thing and defend us from this bad thing.
but more like rummers of this anicent dragon thing, and the player does a quest and no conection whit big bad because why would it.
I really hate it in RPG when the player starts and 20min in we are the savior of the world.
I rather have it that at the start the Evil is not shown they might not even be active/awaken.
heck one of my fav game campagn was one in Hero System (fantasy modern time) where the party had set up to travel to a town for a large event, and the reason why we was partying up was because my characte was the only caracter at this Inn that had a driver licence and a car that was going to said event so the party was formed as a result of that.
then next town we get a quest to deliver a item to a town further along our road sure we said took it delivered and got paid.
got to the Final town did the event (competition) did okey I think, then as reason for our performent at the event we was offerd to do some work for the local police force or something.
did them and along here that item we had delivered was a jar of evil and now said evil was out of the jar building its power, we by "chance" stumble upon some of its results and that more or less started the whole campaign and for a good time we had no clue what the Evil was we thought it was a rebel group or a criminal group something.
(this was seasion 3 I think whit a season zero and character build), GM ide was that we would take the train but I Bought a car and driver license+skill so no need for trains.
my car was wreaked at least twice in that campaign.... recommend putting some armor on it as soon as it make sense instead of using the hero insurance to get a new one.
Another great video! Keep it up!
Great stuff friend 👏 👍
Looks like pf2e maybe the best choice now lol.
Ty wotc
New player here. I got both.
Recently a player asked me what was the population of Phandalin. Neither set gives that information although Essentials Kit says 40-50 buildings but not all buildings are inhabited homes. I thought about 40 families permanent residents and unknown number of visitors/miners. What do you think is the population of Phandalin?
I’d say about 100
Actually, Best Answer. Buy Both. :D!!!!
I've often visited Waterstones and kept picking up the Starter and Essentials sets for me and my partner but end up putting them back on the shelf as I feared they'd be pretty daunting or an expectation I need to put down more money just to actually get started. The most experience I have with D&D is when I was 11 I owned a set in 1996 which had minituares and a board like a Games Workshop title. They don't make them like this no more no? Never played much of the franchise since other than some Baldurs Gate when it first came out.
You really don't need to put any more money down to get started than the price of one of the sets. As far as daunting, I suppose it's more robust than your typical board game but these kits make it as manageable as it can be. I highly recommend it, you'll have a blast.
Yep. Agree with @Chilrona.
You’ll be fine with just what you have in the box. They really do a good job of giving you all that you need, and not enticing you to buy more.
Can you create characters with the rules of the essentials kit and start the campaign of the starter kit with them?
Absolutely
So for a group of people new to the game trying this, should each person read the rule book before getting together. Or 1 person who will explain as you go?
I don’t think everyone NEEDS to read it. If they are open to it, I would definitely offer that, but most new players will do better to learn while playing. It can often be too overwhelming otherwise. The DM should definitely do their best to read and get a grasp of the rules.
You forgot to mention if they are interchangeable.. at least I missed it. Can you play both together?
Yes. You'd want to play Lost Mine of Phandelver (Starter Set) while peppering extra quests, etc. from the Dragon of Icespire Peak (Essentials Kit).
Perhaps a controversial view here, but as someone who is just starting.
I almost feel the adventure style should be revered potentially: Starter Set with quest format to get new players and New GMs uses to how the gameplay mechanics. The smaller format give more opportunities to do so. Once familiar, players can then progress into the linear format and scale their characters in a larger world. Seems like more of a logical progression that will increase the likelihood of need players staying with D&D.
The smaller quests first seems it would also reveal who wants to to commit and who doesn't. As someone who wants to DM, I just want to play. If i need t split that in to two groups (sporadic vs consistent players) that is totally helpful and fine for me.
As I am admittedly a noob and I am missing something. Do let me know. Would love to learn more.
One final question. I saw a lot of info on the GM screen, but have a chart/diagram to understand handling encounters (order for initiative, and the order subsequent GM actions) on it? Also, seems that would be helpful for brand new players. What I have seen do far is a great deal of "see page XX" in the middle of a paragraph type stuff. I understand this is not completely avoidable, but that feels like a lit of jumping back and forth, which ultimately would hold up gameplay. A sample line diagram on top of the game screen and the monsters in a separate booklet would be more intuitive. and give the GM and players less busy work.
Again, I am a noob and if I wrong, no worries. Educate me. But I am also a Creative Director with a strong, design background and one of the key responsibilities of that is simplifying visuals and processes to make it easier for other to understand. Looking at this, as I would in my job, from the standpoint of a mindset of another player who would be a total beginner.