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.