D&D STARTER SET Review | Dragons of Stormwreck Isle

Is the new D&D 5e Starter Set: Dragons of Stormwreck Isle actually better for beginner players and Dungeon Masters? Let's find out! ▶️ More below! ⏬

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00:00 is it better? YES
00:43 dnd starter set contents
01:44 NEW dnd character sheet design
03:52 dnd character sheet error?
05:00 dnd starter set rulebook changes
05:58 official dnd guide videos
07:22 the critical rule they left out!
08:50 no D&D Beyond support
10:09 Dragons of Stormwreck Isle (no spoilers)
11:24 which books are right for you?

#dnd #dungeonsanddragons #dndstarterset

[BobWorldBuilder]

PS: The island map shows it right off the Sword Coast, not far from Phandalin 😎
(***coming October 2022, affiliate link)

[ninja__]

"every character is an alignment of good. Now that's not a bad thing..."

That's correct. Good is not bad.

Great video bob, keep up the good work.

[rockitgamer]

The Essentials kit seems to be the best deal monetarily, especially since it can be had cheaper than list price if you look. It is nice to see they are catering the starter kit to new and beginner players more effectively.

[LordJazzly]

‘Every character has a direct personal interest in the adventure’
Nice! If you’re going to give one role-playing prompt for a character, ‘what am I doing here?’ is a very solid pick.

[annie]

What I, as a brand new dm who is playing with brand new players, have liked about this set so far is the explanations for everything. When my nieces wanted to try the game, I volunteered to DM for them. I found a silly one-shot adventure online and, since I’ve watched a lot of videos of people playing online and some stuff from you and others, I thought I’d be ready to help everyone. I was SOOOO wrong!

All of us had questions while creating and playing their characters and running the game that I had no idea about and couldn’t find quick answers to online. One question literally took me 2 hours of searching online before I could find the answer!

Luckily, everyone still had a great time and decided to try out the new starter set. Reading through it and watching the included videos have been so helpful! They’ve answered almost every question that came up in our first game, and showed me some things I should’ve done to better prepare for the game. I’m excited to try to run it this weekend.

[Shelfside]

It’s great that this is way more tailored towards the newest of new players! I always felt that the essentials kit was almost more like a quick start for groups that already have some experience, especially because like you said there’s not much DM tips. On top of that, essentials kit has really tough encounters early on that probably require the DM to do some numbers tweaking to not demolish the party lol

[MackeyD]

I think the value for money in the essentials kit is what makes it the best. More dice, more rules, poster maps, lots of handouts for players, and it comes with extra content on dnd beyond.

[crimsonhawk]

I give my players inspiration for showing up ready to play before or at the agreed upon time. It works great to incentivize players who already show up on time to keep showing up on time, not really an incentive for players who are usually a couple minutes late to change anything. Works well enough I'd say

[andrewjoseph]

*Positive Comment* for the YouTube Algorithm

[lukec]

I appreciate that you avoided spoilers, but I'm curious about the narrative content in there. If you read the entire adventure, I'm interested to know how you think the story and overall adventure structure compares to Lost Mines or other WotC-published adventures that are aimed at new players.

Really glad to hear that they included a guide on how to prep the adventure. Some of the modules and campaigns they produced desperately needed an organizational overhaul or separate manual to decipher what to do next.

[mjmartin]

Ah so nice to see you post about this! I saw a lot of videos, but they were all missing something. Apparently it was missing Bob! Best teacher of beginners like me :D

[August]

I started playing D&D in 1980, freshman year of high school. Played for about five or six years. In grad school I got recruited by a youth group at a local library to DM. After grad school life got in the way. Now almost thirty years later, a friend’s son is interested so I’m going to DM something for father and son. I Amazoned the Stormwreck starter set and came here to see what I’m getting into. It is pleasing to know that the game still is played by people like Bob. Great video. Thank you.

[BenRK]

I liked the essential set along with the original starter set. Took place in the same town and everything and could easily mix things together to make a whole beginner friendly campaign.

[ThePowerWithinOnline]

I am excited to give this a shot. My 1st time DMing was with the Essentials Kit and it was a failure. My brand new players thought everything was great and my experienced players were bored and oppositional to a lack of plot hooks and cohesiveness to the adventures. It definitely didn't provide enough info so I could be a successful DM.

[chalmersmathew]

Great video as always. Just a note about the editing, the glitch transitions you used (0:43, 8:07 and 8:37) were a bit confusing on the eyes, both because there isn't really a tech theme to this channel nor a kind of sound effect to give an audio cue for the transition to make sense. Still, very informative and enlightening video on the new starter set with well-reasoned opinions.

[the.dirt.man.]

been watching your videos for a long time now, and I never realized how much I love your editing. It's so well done and understated that you don't really notice and your full attention is directed towards the content while still enhancing the mood

[_emory]

Why not all three?
Phandelver and Icespire Peak are both in Phandalin, and Stormwreck Isle is off the coast near the High road.
In Phandalin, there is a rumor about a lighthouse that is luring ships in to their demise, which is a perfect hook to bring the party to Stormwreck Isle, which has a harpy -- luring ships to their demise.

I'm a first time DM and I'm going to mash all of this up into the greatest game ever played

Most likely going to delve into "Beyond Icespire Peak" after that

[liquidnation]

I would love if WOTC made an advanced kit for levels 6-10 like they did back in the day, since most adventures don't go to past level 12 max.

[bobbytwoshades]

I've been waiting for this!!!! I'm glad to see you got a box!

[Tankguy]

I think it’s great for new new players. Lost Mines was a bit to chew for a new DM. As for veterans, you get half the adventure you got in the old set….for the same price.