Eville-Sentials: Session 8

Game Date: 9/21/2025

Location: Home Game
Campaign: Eville-sentials, Session 8

System: D&D 5e
DM: Matt

Breena (Whitney) - Gnome Druid

Lilly (Leah) - Dragonborn Paladin

Lucy (Genna) - Halfling Rogue

The Session: 

Today the party started by exploring some old shipwrecks near the lighthouse. Lilly and Lucy used potions of water breathing while Breena used wildshape. They managed to loot two ships before they were attacked by a trio of sharks. When the battle was over, they searched the remaining ships and returned to Phandalin.

 

The town helped them prepare for their trek to the dragon's stronghold. Along the way they found a dying displacer beast. They couldn't save it, but they befriended its surviving kitten. They crossed an ice bridge and entered the gatehouse. They were surprised to find four horses already in the gatehouse stables.

 

They soon found out why - a group of treasure hunters had taken up residence in the gatehouse, waiting for the dragon to go hunting so they could search for loot. The party didn't want these mercenaries getting in the way, so they found ways to lock them up. First the party offered them some mushroom wine, then locked them in a room and pushed an anvil in front of the door. When they encountered two more mercenaries, the party tied them up and locked them in another room.

 

The party continued to search the fortress, but found little of interest. Then they reached the roof and spotted the dragon. It was just waking up from a nap when the party arrived.

 

The battle didn't last two rounds. Between Breena's Faerie Fire, Lucy's Assassinate ability, and Lilly's Dragonslayer sword, the dragon only managed to use its icy breath before they took it down. Their mission now complete, the party gathered up the remaining treasure and returned to town as heroes.

 

This ends the Essentials Kit campaign. The party went ahead and leveled up to 8, though it's hard to say if we will revisit these characters in future campaigns.

 

My work schedule is about to change, so we won't be able to meet as often in the future. If I am available next week we will run the Alien RPG one-shot I've run for two other groups. 

 

 

Starter Set: Heroes of The Borderlands

I love starter sets, but some are better than others. I absolutely adored 2019's Essentials Kit, and I've run its adventure for three different groups. In addition to the usual abridged rulebook, adventure book, and dice, it also included a DM screen, maps, and tons of cards for items, NPCs, initiative, and more. It's almost everything you need to play a campaign, and at a decent price. 

I was much less enthused by 2022's Dragons of Stormwreck Isle, which didn't include much more than the adventure. And it wasn't a particularly great adventure, either.

Today I purchased the newest Starter Set, "Heroes of the Borderlands."  Here are my first impressions.

So, right off the bat, this is a lot closer to the Essentials Kit than other starter sets, in that it includes everything you could possibly need to run a short campaign. In the box you will find:

Quick-Start Leaflet
4 Booklets (a Play Guide and three Adventure Booklets)
8 Background Cards
8 Species Cards
55 Equipment Cards
53 Spell Cards
42 Monster Cards
20 Magic Item Cards
20 NPC Cards
4 "On Your Turn" (Cheat Sheet) Cards
8 PC Tokens
40 Power Tokens
46 Hit Point Tokens
75 Gold Piece Tokens
6 Gem Tokens
18 Terrain tokens
80 Monster Tokens
5 Full-Size Double-Sided Maps
4 Half-Size Double-Sided Maps
5 Adventure-Related Handouts
8 Class Boards (2 for each of the 4 Pregens)
Combat Tracker (Basically an Initiative Notepad)
4 Storage Baggies
Dice

That's a lot of content. It has maps, monster cards, and tokens for every combat encounter in the included adventures. The pregens include Cleric, Fighter, Wizard, and Rogue, and they go up to level three (with two level-three subclass choices for each pregen).

The three adventures can be run in any order. I've only flipped through them so far, but the booklets include:

Keep on the Borderlands - This is mostly roleplay, and does not give an XP reward. This adventure gives the players plenty of opportunity to socialize with NPCs, earn some gold, and buy some equipment. 
Wilderness - The party travels through the woods and fights a few monsters along the way.
Caves of Chaos - The party explores the many cave systems full of goblins and ogres.

While I haven't browsed the adventures in-depth, I don't think I like them as much as the adventure in Essentials. Essentials felt more sand-boxy, with two or three jobs available at all times. Also, Essentials takes the characters up to level seven, while Borderlands only goes up to level three.

Note the Play Guide doesn't include character creation instructions, just gameplay rules. Also note that this starter set is based on the 2024 rules.

The pregens show the class details only. There are also background and race cards to use in conjunction with the class sheets, which is kind of interesting. In the past, most pregens I've used included preset race/class/background combinations, so Borderlands pregens are a bit more customizable. 

I'm a bit surprised that it came with an initiative tracker pad, when using initiative cards worked so well in the Essentials Kit. Especially because the Borderlands kit comes so close to not needing a pencil at all (since it lets players track their hp and gold with tokens). But that's a minor nitpick, when the box includes so much content.

Seriously, if you're new to D&D and still on the fence about whether to give it a try, this has everything you could possibly need. But all this content comes at a cost. At $50, this is one of the more expensive starter kits out there. Considering you can get the actual PHB for $40, this starter set is a big investment for those who are only dabbling. And experienced players don't really need it.

Will it replace the Essentials Kit? Not for me, but I'm certainly anxious to run it sometime. 

Eville-Sentials: Session 7

Game Date: 9/14/2025

Location: Home Game
Campaign: Eville-sentials, Session 7

System: D&D 5e
DM: Matt

Breena (Whitney) - Gnome Druid

Lilly (Leah) - Dragonborn Paladin

Lucy (Genna) - Halfling Rogue

The Session: 

Today the party visited the dwarven excavators, and offered to sell them the crown they'd found last session. In exchange for the relic, the dwarves gave them a Bag of Holding and a Dagger of Venom.

 

Then they attacked the orcs and ogres occupying the Shrine of Savras. Once the battle was over, they explored the shrine, and took the bell (valued at 2,500 gp). The shrine also gave them a vision that showed them the path up the mountain to the dragon. Beneath the altar they found 57 gp and a key.

 

Then they approached the lighthouse known as the Tower of Storms, which had been responsible for luring many a ship to their doom. On the way to the tower, they encountered a banshee named Miraal, who was upset about her missing conch shell. She revealed that it had been taken by a man named Moesko, and the party promised to retrieve it.

 

Farther up the path, they fought a trio of harpies. Then they reached the lighthouse, where a talking crab gave them some tips. In the harpy nest they found a potion of water breathing. Lilly touched the altar of Talos, which imbued her with a charm that allows her to cast lightning bolt three times.

 

Then they found Moesko and fought him. He had a powerful lightning attack, but he still didn't last long against the party. Farther up the stairs they found the source of the evil light powering the lighthouse - Moesko's glowing green heart.

 

They returned the shell to the banshee, who vanished as she crossed over to the other side. The talking crab rewarded them with a +1 shortbow.

 

The party leveled up to 7. Next week they will explore some shipwrecks before finally facing the dragon. 

 

 

Eville-Sentials: Session 6

Game Date: 9/7/2025

Location: Home Game
Campaign: Eville-sentials, Session 6

System: D&D 5e
DM: Matt

Breena (Whitney) - Gnome Druid

Lilly (Leah) - Dragonborn Paladin

Lucy (Genna) - Halfling Rogue

The Session: 

After a bit of an extended break, we finally got most of the party back together. They only completed one quest this session, but it was a long one. Today they cleared out Axeholm, an old Dwarven fortress filled with ghouls, giant spiders, stirges, and one very tough banshee.

 

The fortress had a lot of rooms to explore, and the party was probably sick of ghouls by the time it was empty. In the throne room, they encountered a ghoul that was once a Dwarven king, and they picked up a signet ring from his corpse.

 

On the second level, they were in the middle of a fight with four ghouls when the banshee found them. Lucy ended up being the MVP of the session when she critted on a sneak attack, taking off more than half the banshee's health with one hit.

 

The king's ring ended up opening a secret treasure chest, which contained a Dread Helm and some Gauntlets of Ogre Power. Once the fortress was completely clear, they returned to town to collect their 250 gp reward. Then they leveled up to 6.

 

That was the last job on the board. Coming up they have two more rumors to check out: There's a lighthouse that's been causing shipwrecks, and a shrine that's overcome with orcs and ogres. And once those have been completed, they can set a course for Icespire Peak.