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. 

D&D Essentials Kit

I like starter sets.  Maybe it's because I find the early adventures in a campaign the most exciting, or maybe it's just because I like buying things that are bundled together.  Sometimes it's an economical way of getting several PC-type miniatures at once, along with extra maps and dice.  In any event, I tend to buy every starter set D&D puts out.

While the D&D Essentials Kit doesn't include any miniatures, it still may be my favorite D&D starter set to date.

The box includes:
Abridged rulebook (64 pages)
Dragon of Icespire Peak adventure (64 pages)
Double-sided map (Sword Coast and the town of Phandalin)
4-panel DM Screen
6 blank character sheets
11 dice (1d4, 4d6, 1d8, 1d10, 1 percentile, 1d12, 2d20), translucent red with white numbers
81 cards (magic items, sidekicks, conditions, combat step-by-step, quests, initiative)
A box for the cards
Codes for D&D Beyond content (The included adventure, some follow-up adventures, and a 50% off coupon for the Player's Handbook)

The rulebook isn't much different than the free Basic Rules you can find on the official website.  It has instructions for building a character and advancing them to level 6.  It has four races (Dwarf, Elf, Halfling, Human), five classes (Bard, Cleric, Fighter, Rogue, Wizard) with two archetypes each, and five backgrounds (Acolyte, Criminal, Entertainer, Sage, and Soldier).

About the only significant new thing in the rulebook is the sidekick rules (which can also be found for free in Unearthed Arcana).  This is important, though, because it acknowledges one of the biggest barriers to getting a new group together - finding enough players to make a well-rounded group.

Dragon of Icespire Peak is one of the better starting adventures I've seen.  Not because it's a particularly memorable plot or anything, but because it's presented in such an efficient manner that they managed to cram a lot of content into a 64-page adventure book.

When you reach the town of Phandalin, you find a job postings board with three short quests on it.  You can complete them in any order, and after you finish a couple, more quests will be posted.  There are nine quests altogether.  Instead of experience points, the adventure encourages milestone-based leveling based on how many quests you complete.  These quests take place all over the surrounding area, so the PCs will really have a good layout of the land by the end.

Dragon of Icespire Peak will take the characters from level 1 up to level 6.  The included code unlocks three follow-up adventures on the D&D Beyond website, which bring the characters up to level 11.  That's a pretty good value for the price; it's enough to keep the players busy for several sessions.

The included cards are pretty cool, but kind of cheap.  They're not pre-cut cards, just perforated cardboard sheets you have tear apart yourself.  The card box is also thin cardboard that you have to fold into a box.  The quest, item, and sidekick cards make good handouts specifically for this adventure, and the rest of the cards are useful in any campaign, especially for beginners.

My only real complaint is the sidekick cards.  Each one shows a picture of the character on one side, and describes their personality on the back.  I would have preferred their stats being printed on the cards, with multiple versions of the cards for when they level up.  But it's a minor complaint.

The DM screen has some useful information on it.  The first panel has some basic rules - Actions in combat, things you can do on your turn, etc.  Panel 2 has conditions.  Panels 3 and 4 have miscellaneous charts like common prices, light distances, cover effects, sample DCs, and so on.  It's a handy reference, but I don't tend to use DM screens so I probably won't get much use out of it.

Overall, I think this is a great value for new players.  I plan to run Dragon of Icespire peak next time I DM for new players.  I do wish it had included a few minis or tokens and a combat grid, but it's still a good value.  If you're new to D&D and trying to decide which starter set to get, this is the one I recommend.