AICN TABLETOP: D&D o' Plenty! D&D Starter set! Deluxe editions! And a BIG Minis announcement!

Hola all. Massawyrm here. So while next month offers us D&D players two big new books – one for players in the MARTIAL POWERS book and one for DMs with the DRACONOMICON – this month gives us the release of two very different CORE products. One is for beginners and only beginners – while the other is only for those with a tremendous love of the game and some serious disposable income on hand.

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS ROLEPLAYING GAME STARTER SET

Okay, when this first came in I glanced at the box and was a little disappointed. The 3.5E version of this box was a two level adventure complete with all the minis you needed to run it. It had several rooms and was a complete self contained adventure designed to teach you the rules by putting you in encounters designed to force you to use them. It was a neat idea. One glance at the box shows you that this new one is nothing like that. But then you open it – and discover that it is instead much, much better. Despite not having a lot of use for this personally it was the single most exciting thing I’d seen since I first flipped through the playtest rulebook. This isn’t a self contained adventure. This is 4E’s version of the old RED BOX Basic Set. You old school guys know what I’m talking about. D&D first began in 1974. By ’77 they had branched into two very distinctly different entities: Advanced Dungeons & Dragons and the Basic Set Dungeons & Dragons. By the early 80’s TSR had made a strong push to hook kids young with the cartoon series, digital game, video game and action figures. It worked. Coupled with that they put a larger emphasis on making a simpler, more self contained and easily affordable D&D. The Basic Set. How it worked was simple – Classes and race weren’t separate. Elf and Dwarf were classes. Everyone else was human. And each box had everything you needed to play from one level to another. Basic Set took you from 1-3, Expert set took you from 4-14, Companion 15-25 and then the infamous Master Set black box took you from 25-35 and the dreaded IMMORTALS set white box dare to go to Levels 36+ or, you know, godhood. When I was thirteen, I spent the summer between Middle School and High School ditching swim team practice (which my parents had mystifyingly shanghaied me into) to play Dungeons and Dragons with some friends every morning after his mom left for work. Every workday, from 10am to 4pm we dived into that Red Box and fought all manner of foe, working feverishly towards the mysterious blue box, before he’d slip the box back under his bed and scatter us to the winds before his mom got home. There was something cool about that. And that summer drives my love for the game today. Flipping through this box took me back to that summer – feeling what it was like to thumb through that set, dreaming of what lay in the box beyond it. Well this? This set has everything you need to play levels 1-3. It contains five characters much like Keep on the Shadowfell including level up instructions taking each to third in a 16 page no-secrets-here players book. But the Dungeon Master’s Book is where all the excitement is. It contains a starter adventure and all the rules you need for all the abilities the characters possess. You know, everything I expected from the set. Then there is a section explaining the fundamentals of setting up encounters, how to structure adventures and how to create a dungeon. Which leads to the part that got me giddy. The Monster Manual. 27 pages including every single monster from the standard Monster Manual ranging from levels 1-5 (including all three dragons in that range.) In other words, the box contains EVERYTHING someone would need to play levels 1-3. So who is this for? Anyone who has been thinking of jumping into D&D but finds the 832 pages of Core rule books somewhat daunting. This is 80 pages total – but still everything you need to play enough levels to get the hang of what’s going on. It’s also great for younger players as it gives you the kick start adventure and contains enough leading information to put together some adventures of your own. I know as soon as I’m done typing this up, my copy is getting boxed up and sent off to my 12 yr old nephew who I’ve slowly been feeding geek materials for the better part of the last decade. Hopefully next time I’m up there I can run him through an adventure – or even better, vice versa. So where to next? Well, if you and your gang blow through this and are ready to move on you simply need to pick up the Players Handbook and make your choice between two different options. If you’re comfortable with DMing and creating your own adventures, then the DMG (Dungeon Master’s Guide) and MM (Monster Manual) is where it is at. But if you still are feeling a bit uncomfortable creating it all yourself, simply run them through THUNDERSPIRE LABYRINTH, an adventure that will take them from levels 4-6. After that is PYRAMID OF SHADOWS (my favorite 4E adventure to date) taking them from 7-10. Then it’s either Paragon level adventures or starting from the beginning with scratch built characters rather than Pre-generated ones. Overall the box is an excellent starting point with a Red Box feel and a $16.99 buy in that will make it VERY accessible to teens and first timers. If you’ve been reading my column but still hesitating diving in to D&D Tabletop – this is the box that will get you in.

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS DELUXE EDITION CORE RULE BOOKS

Okay, this one is only for the hard core, strictly for the headstrong. Are you ready? There’s not really too much to say about the Deluxe Editions. They’re the Core Rulebooks, only souped up unto cool looking display quality books that look great on a bookshelf. If you’re the kind of guy who wants to walk into the gamestore or Gencon looking like you have the most disposable income of anyone there, these are the books you want to slam down on the table. Glossy 3-D effect foil covers with an enlarged section of the original artwork cover about 75% of the front and back of each book while a silver protective spine covers just enough to keep finger prints off the slick, evocative art. All the info, barcodes and reference numbers come on a disposable cardboard sleeve so the book you have says only DUNGEONS & DRAGONS and the title of the book. On a shelf it kind of gives off that old school collectible TIME LIFE BOOKS look. And the paper has a silver edging like that of expensive gift books. The big news is that the boys in charge learned from the mistake of the 3E Leather-bound Deluxe Editions of old and ACTUALLY INCORPERATED ERRATA. Yep, this time when you drop $75 on a rulebook, they actually took the time to fix all the typos and add those necessary passages. While I haven’t gone line by line through the book to check for any misspellings or out of place numbers, I did go through the official updates and noted that all of the relevant passage changes noted there made their way into the Deluxe Editions. So having these books on your table means not needing to look up the errata online or double checking a printed up sheet. These have come in pretty handy this week as I gear up to play my first game of 4E as a PLAYER. My group just wrapped up my long running campaign and WotC freelancer Ari Marmell has taken over duties as DM. So I’ve been twinking out my character and cross-checking rules. Ari has used me for years to help break his stuff, so he’s fully prepared to face the full might of my twinkiness – not that it’s possible right now to do more than crank out a few extra points of damage by optimizing. But I’m gonna see what I can do. Having books on hand with all the errata in them has made my life just a wee bit easier. The long and the short of it is that these are the Deluxe Editions. They’re $75 a pop. You already know whether or not you’ve got the scratch to drop on them. But they sure are pretty.

D&D MINIATURES ANNOUNCEMENT

Okay, this is kind of a big announcement. At first glance it looks just kind of cool – but read all the way to the end and you’ll find a surprise. D&D Minis as we have known it since way back in the Harbinger days is over. It’s changing. After this next set, they will be sold very differently. Randomized 8 figure booster packs will be a thing of the past, replaced by two very different products. D&D HEROES and D&D MONSTERS. It’s pretty self explanatory stuff. PC geared minis will come in one pack of three with all three minis visible. The monster packs will come with 1 visible figure, 1 rare, 1 uncommon and two common – drawn from a set of 40 minis. This is kind of a big deal as FINALLY DMs like me who just need monsters (I have BINS filled with humans, elves and dwarves) can get just monsters. And players can buy just the hero they want to represent them in the game. Here’s the Press release:

October 21, 2008 – Renton, WA – Wizards of the Coast today announced changes to its Dungeons & Dragons Miniatures line that will streamline the buying and collecting experience for D&D players. As a direct response to customer feedback, Wizards of the Coast will be offering miniatures set purchase options that better meet gameplay needs, offering more player character (PC) minis, more large figures and groupings that make it easier for players to find the miniatures they desire for their specific D&D campaigns. “We have received a tremendous amount of feedback from fans regarding the D&D Miniatures line, and have made some exciting changes for 2009,” said Scott Rouse, Senior Brand Manager for Dungeons & Dragons. “As part of our continued dedication to meeting players’ needs and making gameplay more fun, we are changing our approach to our minis product line.” The Dungeons & Dragons Miniatures - Player’s Handbook Heroes and Dungeons & Dragons Miniatures – Monster Manual series will be available starting in Spring 2009. Addressing demand for more PC minis, the D&D Heroes line features high-quality miniatures representing iconic player character races and classes described in the Player’s Handbook and Player’s Handbook 2 core rulebooks, allowing players to find the miniature that best represents their PC. The Monster Manual sets are designed to be what every Dungeon Master or D&D enthusiast needs to create riveting adventures and exciting encounters at all levels of play and will include monsters of various shapes and sizes. Player’s Handbook Heroes · Six different packs with 18 total miniatures · Features Martial Heroes, Arcane Heroes, Divine Heroes and Primal Heroes · Each package contains 3 PC minis (2 males and 1 female) and corresponding power cards featuring new class powers · New packaging makes all three figures visible so players know exactly which set to pick · Releases will be refreshed regularly to continue delivering new PC options to players · MSRP $10.99 Monster Manual: Dangerous Delves · First Monster Manual themed release · 40-miniature set includes medium and large figures · Each booster box contains 5 semi-randomized minis: 1 visible figure, 1 rare figure, 1 uncommon figure and 2 common figures · Each box also includes full-color D&D Dungeon Delve stat cards · Additional themed releases to follow · MSRP $14.99 The new D&D Miniatures offerings will supplant the current miniatures line and Wizards of the Coast will no longer be packaging miniatures in its current configuration of randomized booster packs and huge packs. D&D Miniatures: Demonweb (November 2008) will be the final release sold in fully randomized booster packs.

I love the new direction of this line. It’s been a long time coming and I for one am glad that it’s finally here. Can’t wait to get a look at how this VISIBLE monster is going to work - I'll see if I can get the skinny on that. I’ve got more stuff coming your way shortly now that I’ve had time to catch up from Fantastic Fest and get some reading/playing time in. More to come. Until next time friends, smoke ‘em if ya got ‘em. Massawyrm Got something for the Wyrm? Mail it here.