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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.