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D&D 5th Edition US release dates and pricing


Bruce_C posts: 180 United Kingdom

From our blog:

"There has been a lot of talk on the internet this week about the fifth edition of Dungeons and Dragons, now just branded as 'D&D'. Wizards Of The Coast have finally announced release dates and pricing and there are some images on their website of the products.

The 'Starter Set' will be released (in the U.S. at least) on 15th of July. There not a lot of detail about what it contains and some official tweets from WOTC's DnD twitter account suggest the starter set is aimed at DMs, with player character creation being available free of charge on their website, which is an interesting development.

The now traditional three 'Core Rulebooks' will see staggered releases from August"

I think I'm in for the starter set at least. I didn't get around to playing the 'Next' play test though I did download and read through the material and I'm interested to see how they make the game material available online.

Bruce



Bruce_C posts: 180 United Kingdom

The latest news is that the free content will be called 'Basic D&D'. Potentially confusing to old skoolers like me who remember the various 'Basic' sets that that followed the original brown books and offered a gateway or alternative way to play than 'Advanced Dungeons & Dragons' but I guess the intent is similar.

It's quite an exciting idea though as the '5e Basic' rules cover the 'classic' races and classes up to level 20 and effectively makes the newest version of D&D 'free to play' Of course WOTC want you to buy their products too so the PHB, DM's Guide and Monster Manual will add to the game.

I'm curious to see how this plays out.

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/Article.aspx?x=dnd/4ll/20140527

Bruce



posts: 9 United Kingdom

Today I received my pre-ordered Starter Set of D&D 5th edition from Amazon.co.uk for £13.29.

As someone relatively new to D&D, this feels like "my" edition, as it's the first edition launched since I was part of the community.

As I understand it, this Starter Set contains excerpts from the core rules, and doesn't add or change anything - so they are entirely compatible with the full core rules. With five pre-generated characters in the four "classic" classes (Rogue, Melee Fighter, Ranged Fighter, Cleric, Wizard), each with a front page of the full character sheet pre-filled in at level 1, the "Starter Set" is enough to take your characters from level 1 to 5 through the written adventure included - and with very little preparation.

The Starter Set contains a "Rules Book" which describes how to play the game, and an "Adventure Book" which includes relevant bits from the DMG plus the written adventure. The 5 pre-generated character sheets include character backgrounds with plot hooks that link the characters to the written adventure and each other, and the procedure for levelling the character up to level 5. They allow you to name and sex your character and put flesh on the bones of what's written. The "Starter Set" also includes a set of polyhedral dice.

I've enjoyed reading through it, and trying it out this evening with a friend playing all the characters. We did have to look up some of the rules to see which ones are different to 3.5e and which ones are the same, so the pace was slightly slower than for a "normal" game, but in general we found it familiar enough, easy in a good way with sensible improvements and simplifications being pleasant surprises; and we particularly liked how characters have role-playing characteristics on an even footing with combat statistics - and how these have been tied in to the written adventure.

Again, as I understand it, Wizards of the Coast (WotC) will be releasing the "Basic Rules" as free PDFs online - starting very soon in August, though they'll be modified up until the release of the full Core rulebooks slated for the end of the year. Once the full Core rulebooks are released, the "Basic Rules" will be "locked down" and won't change. The idea with the "Basic Rules" is that they include everything needed to create your own characters, and progress them through from level 1 to level 20, plus a significant subset of magic items, monsters etc that represent the classic, traditional, and archetypal D&D game. The "Basic Rules" won't include extras like rules for magic item creation, monster building/adapting etc. The "Basic Rules" will be the core of the game - the standard that everyone knows.

The Core rulebooks - PHB, DMG, MM - are slated for release at the end of year.

The philosophy of 5th edition is to make the core of the game fit with the classic, traditional, and archetypal D&D game of old, and slim it down, and add some of the simplifications and newer inventions that make it easy to play and consistent. Then there will be optional modules to add-in like expanded skill lists, feats, rules for modern settings, rules for beyond level 20 etc.



Bruce_C posts: 180 United Kingdom

I've had a quick look through the basic rules and I like it. I like the way it's quite true to it's roots (more so than 4E?) but even at that level it's still quite 'crunchy'. I'd play it for a one off but I'm not sure I'd ever run it though I'm tempted to get the starter box.

Overall it's a new version of the game most of us love which will bring new people in and that's always a good thing for the hobby whatever system you play.

Bruce


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