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Explore subterranean labyrinths! Plunder hoards of treasure! Battle legendary monsters!

The Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set is your gateway to action-packed stories of the imagination. This box contains the essential rules of the game plus everything you need to play heroic characters on perilous adventures in worlds of fantasy.

Ideal for a group of 4 – 6, the Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set includes a 64-page adventure book with everything the Dungeon Master needs to get started, a 32-page rulebook for playing characters level 1 – 5, 5 pre-generated characters, each with a character sheet and supporting reference material, and 6 dice.

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The Player’s Handbook is the essential reference for every Dungeons & Dragons roleplayer. It contains rules for character creation and advancement, backgrounds and skills, exploration and combat, equipment, spells, and much more.

Use this book to create exciting characters from among the most iconic D&D races and classes.

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In an audacious bid for power the Cult of the Dragon, along with its dragon allies and the Red Wizards of Thay, seek to bring Tiamat from her prison in the Nine Hells to Faerun. To this end, they are sweeping from town to town, laying waste to all those who oppose them and gathering a hoard of riches for their dread queen. The threat of annihilation has become so dire that groups as disparate as the Harpers and Zhentarim are banding together in the fight against the cult. Never before has the need for heroes been so desperate.

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he Monster Manual presents a horde of classic Dungeons & Dragons creatures, including dragons, giants, mind flayers, and beholders—a monstrous feast for Dungeon Masters ready to challenge their players and populate their adventures.

The monsters contained herein are culled from the D&D game’s illustrious history, with easy-to-use game statistics and thrilling stories to feed your imagination.

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The Cult of the Dragon leads the charge in an unholy crusade to bring Tiamat back to the Realms, and the situation grows more perilous for good people with each passing moment. The battle becomes increasingly political as opportunities to gather allies and gain advantage present themselves. From Waterdeep to the Sea of Moving Ice to Thay, it is a race against Evil. Succeed or succumb to the oppression of draconic tyranny. Win or lose, things will never be the same again.

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The Dungeon Master’s Guide provides the inspiration and the guidance you need to spark your imagination and create worlds of adventure for your players to explore and enjoy.

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For those not in the know (myself included) this seems like a good related read:

http://randomology.org/2012/11/dd-next-preview/

No, that's hopelessly out of date. There's been a lot of development since over a year ago.

I saw this earlier but hadn't read the actual press release. 360PR needs to do a little more work on these, though I am enjoying the following:

"Players fight the most fearsome monster of all time in an exciting multi-platform gaming experience"

There will only be one monster, and it was us all along.

"Wizards of the Coast...is the leader in entertaining the lifestyle gamer."

What if I am a gamer, but it isn't my lifestyle?

360 Public Relations makes me think of Entertainment 720.

I think "lifestyle" is the game?

Man, it's a real bummer when they let all this corporate speak into my games!

I'm slightly optimistic about Next actually.

 Da Boss wrote:
I'm slightly optimistic about Next actually.

I am as well, I just think the PR company didn't really read what they wrote, or they aren't quite sure what they are selling. I doubt it will be the official statement when [WotC] makes their big marketing push, which will be a bit more polished. I could be wrong, though, as I am not a lifestyle gamer.

 Ahtman wrote:
aren't quite sure what they are selling

I am worried that this applies.

Yeah I get that impression. Some of the word choice is just really strange marketing garbage. That side of WOTC is a big weakness I think- a more honest conversation with fans will win them over a lot more than this sort of crap.

 Da Boss wrote:
strange marketing garbage

D&D "Next"

True! Very true.

I know I'm initially going to be all over Next because I like simplistic systems without too much bloat, but then I'm going to fall out of love with it as it bloats up.

Bit of a necro, but two weeks ago I ran a little once off with the playtest document. My players had a lot of fun, and commented that it felt pretty good to play.

They were skeptical that it'd hang together well at higher levels though. So I've converted a section of Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil over to 5th and am going to run them through it tomorrow. Will report back on how it went tomorrow!

I'm interested to hear the results!

Likewise! Let us know how it goes!

Cool. I will try and take a couple of screen shots of maptool while we're playing if I remember to.

Last time I tried DnD next, they touted they mixed the spirit of all the DnD editions.

Though at the same time, they basically cut 4th edition out, which saddened me.

I think there are still some of the ideas of 4th edition in there- stuff like the Hit Dice, the recharging powers to a lesser extent, even the skill system and the idea of a flat bonus to hit for everyone, it's all a little 4th edition.

Don't forget giving Clerics and Wizards a few At-Will spells.

Yeah. The guy playing the Wizard in our level 2 game really enjoyed that, and the fact that he could swing a sword half competently when it came down to it.

http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/28027.html

Anticipation is high for information on Wizards of the Coast next Dungeons & Dragons edition, while WotC has been tightlipped with specific details. Now it appears online book retailer Barnes & Noble has accidently leaked the first two releases and their summer street dates, which we believe to be correct.

First posted on Sunday, the B&N.com active pages have been removed, but are available as Google cached pages. According to the now removed B&N pages, the Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set will release on July 15th with an MSRP of $19.99, and the hardcover Dungeons & Dragons Player’s Handbook will release August 19th (right after Gen Con), with an MSRP of $49.95.

These release dates appear to be in line with WotC’s announced “summer” release (see "'D&D Next' Launch Date Set"), and WizKids planned release of the first set of D&D Miniatures (see "WizKids Creating 'D&D' Miniatures").

Not a huge surprise, really. I think some variation of the Starter Set and Core Trilogy i pretty much standard for D&D for decades.

(Fun fact: I've recently read that the first 1st Edition AD&D book published was the Monster Manual. The Player's Handbook and Dungeon Master's guide came out over the next two years.)

I'ma little concerned this may be a bit rushed, despite having been under development for a while. Playtest reviews have been a bit controversial, and it sounds like there may have been some goals that were abandoned. I'm interested, but I really want to see more reviews before spending more money on these than I did the 1st edition AD&D "Premium" reprints I picked up recently!

 Balance wrote:
Playtest reviews have been a bit controversial

On the other hand, how could it be anything but? I don't fear swimming for getting wet and similarly neither do some folks complaining make me wary of 5E. As for seeing reviews before purchasing -- I think that is a great idea ... and now I'm going to get a bit conspiratorial ... because I don't think the published product will necessarily ... erm, exactly reflect, let's say, the play test documents. My own (conspiracy) theory is that this whole episode boils down to an extended marketing platform designed to create both chronological and emotional distance from the latest (and probably worst) bout of edition wars. I think this because (1) 5E as a rule set did not really require years of public play testing and (2) I don't think the slice of the demographic that did the playtesting is WotC's main concern. I really wonder whether it will even retain the name "Next."

As for me, I am already on board. As the Emperor wisely told Luke, "it is pointless to resist." In fact, I am going to GenCon this year for the first time specifically to bask in the glory of 5E. So you can look forward to a post-GenCon review from me. Not sure if I will get the starter set but if I do, you can bet I will review that here as well.

With mass release being right after GenCon, meaning that printing is done, I wonder if GenCon attendees will be able to get it early. I MUST HAS IT. IT IS PRECIOUS TO ME.

 Ahtman wrote:
IT IS PRECIOUS TO ME.

Understand, Ahtman, I would use this edition from a desire to do good ... but through me, it would wield a power too great and terrible to imagine.

I'm expecting something at Gen Con to be available, but I won't be surprised if it's somehow limited. Maybe just the starter set? Would be cool if they gave that with some sort of rebate on the full books.

I did some more reading on D&D Next and would currently rate myself as 'cautiously optimistic.'

Ont he plus side, I like that they're going for quick character creation and not regressing to 3rd edition point-fiddling, which I did not like. The Advantage/Disadvantage mechanic sounds good and has possibilities as a mix of 'rules' and GM fiat*. Also numbers may be a bit saner: Double-digit modifiers to rolls should be rare.

On the other hand, there's a few negatives. Reports indicate that Paladin and Ranger get spells as their high-level powers, which I never liked. A lot of promised 'modules' are rumored to be AWOL, and I'm curious how open this edition will be to 3rd party material.


* What I mean by this is Advantage and Disadvantage can be assigned by hard rules, or by GM fiat. So the rules might say the Thief has Advantage to pick a lock by default, which is fine normally. The GM has the option to say "But you're doing it hanging upside down from a rope, so that's Disadvantage" and there's a simple system to work out what happens if both apply. (There's no such thing as double-advantage or double-disadvantage, and disadvantage cancels advantage. End of rule.

My gaming group (Hardcore Pathfinder lovers) play tested this for a bit using modules from different editions and then with myself free forming a campaign...They really liked it and as a DM i enjoyed the challenge it provided. The rules were flowing well and there were only a few small issues that I imagine will be fixed with the final product, but my group enjoyed it....although a few of them still preach pathfinder as if they were the pope......

http://greyhawkgrognard.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/d-5th-edition-news-from-gama.html

ENWorld has a nice recap of the highlights from Wizards' presentation on the upcoming 5th edition of D&D. You can read the whole thing here, but the gist of it is:

Organized play will be set in the Forgotten Realms, and 5E will kick off with the Tyranny of Dragons story, which centers on the cult of Tiamat. (No word if that also means there will be a Living Realms.)
The D&D boxed starter set will be "gorgeous."
There will be a PH, DMG, and MM. Only one PH (we'll see how long that lasts). All the "iconic" monsters will be in the MM.
They will continue to make previous editions available.

Oh it will be gorgeous will it?

I would have liked to see those covers. What a shame WotC didn't allow photos. I wonder what the rationale was behind showing the covers?

With the 'back to basics' approach I'm a bit surprised the cover art isn't based off previous-edition covers.

That might send the wrong message in the larger context of "all editions are valid" marketing.