There are even stats for the demogorgon and the STD&D brings back a classic from the Monster Manual II. Both sections give great details of possible magic weapons, armor, and items that players might find and monsters that they will encounter and battle as well. The STD&D also includes brief magic and monster sections that, again, tie to the Adventure Book. But then again, this is a starter set so that’s sometimes expected. I guess the downside is if you are using the STD&D exclusively you cannot build your own character or chose a different class aside from the supplied 5 pre-gens. There are sections for weapons, armor, equipment, spells, and such (truncated and only pertain to the pre-gens), but still have some additional items and spells to customize the pre-gens somewhat. All the pre-gens start at 3rd level and have excellent detail for new and experienced players. All that information is already included on each pre-gen character and the rules tied back to those sheets quite well. I must admit that these truncated rules are very well written and organized like the core books, but has obvious omissions from the Player’s Handbook like full character generation and background sections. I have been playing 5e since 2014 and I know the game well, having played several different character classes. The STD&D Rulebook only contains images from the series and most have nothing to do with D&D. You will not have the classic fighting and stealth classes, but it does include the classic arcane and faith-based classes. The pre-gens are not all your classic character classes and I was ok with that. Starting at 3rd allows new players to begin at a relatively fun level because you have higher Hit Points, better attack, and can sling more and more powerful spells like Fireball or Lightning Bolt. I tried to get some of my friends and even my kids to play D&D before and most really didn’t like their 1st level characters because they can die so easily and if you’re a caster of any kind, you have only a few weak spells. Now, purest will scoff at this because most starting players or campaigns have you start at level 1. The second surprise (spoiler alert) – all the pre-gen characters start at level 3. I mean there’s a cut-out window on the front of the box showing the painted demogorgon fig. But these do seem like a money grab element to make gamers and others want to buy the set. The first is that you receive 2 demogorgon figs (one painted and one not) – now this surprised me that both were not painted but then it’s clearly labeled on the back of the box and if you want to customize, then I do get it. Lots of empty space in the box makes you wonder “what’s missing?” All are nicely produced but there were 2 things that surprised me. The STD&D does come with a starter set rulebook, an adventure book, 5 pre-gen characters, two demogorgon figs, and a set of dice. The only spoiler that I will not try to hide is that there’s lots of empty space when you open the box a seemingly disappointing amount that makes you think something is missing. Overall STD&D is part Dungeon Master’s Guide, Player’s Handbook, and Monster Manual and comes with a Mike Wheeler adventure book. Now, let’s hope two words don’t sum up this starter set: “money grab.” This popular show brings the 80s back and, like many of my age group, Stranger Things has tons of nostalgia and WOTC tries to add some of their own by placing this set into the classic red box to mirror the Basic D&D set that my generation cut their teeth on. Stranger Things season 3 released on July 4 and as timing would have it, BGQ was provided with a Stranger Things Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game Starter Set (STD&D) to review last month.
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