The Dungeons and Dragons Starter Set: Heroes of the Borderlands is a packed treasure chest of booklets, cards and colorful tokens. It is a big offering built to introduce a group to all core aspects of Dungeons and Dragons. Unlike most offerings from Wizards of the Coast, this is not primarily aimed at either veteran dungeon masters or more experienced players. It is that rare product aimed at creating and helping out new players and DMs. It’s the perfect gift for both adult friends or teens who want to play Dungeons and Dragons specifically, or who want an introduction to tabletop roleplaying games.
We at Game Industry News received a review copy of this starter set, and the first thing we noticed was its weight. This box set is over five pounds, or over two and a quarter kilos for those who like the metric system. Five full-sized maps and four half-sized maps are stacked with care, and they’re separated with high quality cardboard stock. The boxset has a thirty-two-page rule book that is labeled a Play Guide with the subtitle of Reference Booklet. This soft sell approach is very evident throughout this offering. The abundant art is inviting and instructive, and the language is warm and simplified. There is even a link to a video that shows how to use the materials.
An example of this simplification is how the reader is introduced to Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma, the core stats that every character and monster uses. The original 3 to 18 score, with the plus or minus 1 to 3 modifiers for high or low numbers are no longer used. Instead, all that is given are the modifiers. So, someone with a high strength has a +3 to their checks, but there is no associated 18 score for them. This is great for a new player or dungeon master. It gives them less to remember without losing the mechanical game advantage of being really strong.
Another way to help new players and DMs is with the beautiful cards. There are two sizes, playing card size and ones that are three by five size. The cards are all made of high-quality paper and have a glossy coat that makes for longtime use. As a longtime player of Dungeons and Dragons, I wish I had these before now!
Of the playing card size, there are 55 equipment cards (weapons, armor, tools and adventuring gear), 53 spell cards and 20 NPC cards. I would say that these spell cards are better than the previous spell cards for Dungeons and Dragons in that they are simplified and have specific art. When someone is looking at a character sheet (or in this case a class board), they now have a separate card to show what their weapon or spell does.
The NPC cards have a great picture to show the players and DM who is who, and the characteristics are bare bones enough to jog a memory or help the DM roleplay the interaction between the NPC and the player. It lets the DM concentrate on the NPC so they don’t have any extraneous information like the map or the adventure to distract them from the moment.
The larger, three by five cards have 42 Monsters and four On Your Turn Cards. The Monster Cards have actions, traits and stat blocks with art that looks like the antagonist is in the middle of an action on the front.
The large, On Your Turn cards are best paired with the page sized Class Boards. There are four classes for the beginning player: Cleric, Fighter, Rogue and Wizard. There are two of these page sized cards for each class, with a level on each side. This makes the progression from levels one to four very easy. Paired with Background, Species and Equipment cards, it makes for a tactile and easy way for a beginning player to check what their weapon does and look at the modifiers that their class, species and backgrounds gives them. They can also quickly see what actions they can take without having to hunt for them on a sheet crammed with information.
This tactile and layout design works really well. I have used a phone with Dungeons and Dragons Beyond and also traditional character sheets and rule books, and this is a lot easier. Anything keeping my phone from distracting from a campaign is a plus. While digital tools are great, they can leave players one click away from leaving the game atmosphere and getting into distracting texts, emails or other apps and webpages.
Heroes of the Borderlands has three adventures. Each seems to point to one of the three pillars of Dungeons and Dragons adventures: exploration, social interaction and combat. Each adventure has its own booklet. One adventure is simply entitled Wilderness, which while showcasing exploration also has some combat and social interaction. The second, Keep on the Borderlands, has lots of social interaction and finally, the third is called The Caves of Chaos. It has lots of combat.
These adventures are set up so you can level up the players, and you don’t have to run them in any rigid sequence. They are set up to run independently or over a short campaign that caps with the players reaching fourth level and getting ready to move on to other adventures.
While this new Starter Set can be used as an introduction to Dungeons and Dragons in general, it also introduces the 2024 version of their Fifth Edition ruleset. The 2024 ruleset, with its faster character creation and streamlining of certain rules and spells, also introduces new complexity and weapon mastery. This gives longswords, rapiers and bows special combat abilities that are more than just hit point damage. I was surprised this was included, as it is another layer of granularity, but it does give fighters special things to do in combat rather than just knock hit points off a foe.
Like many of the more recent offerings for Dungeons and Dragons during the Fiftieth Anniversary Celebration, the history of the game is given a small bit of space in the credits page. This Starter Set takes a large amount of inspiration and material from a 1980 Basic D&D Module “The Keep on the Borderlands.” It too was designed for new players. That module sold well historically and has been reprinted and reimagined numerous times.
In fact, the 1980 Basic D&D box set has been an inspiration for the OSR movement in TTRPGs of which this module is often referenced. The nostalgic Goodman Games has even made a product that showcased some of the different versions of this module.
Justice Ramin Arman, the lead designer for this 2025 starter set, has done a great job. We’ve reviewed some of his previous work like Quests from the Infinite Staircase and the new Planescape boxed set. All of them were very well received.
The art directors Kate Irwin (lead) and Josh Herman have curated some great pieces, like the cover and even the cute lamb that appears in adventures. The graphic designers under the lead of Trish Yochum have made cards, pages and 273 tokens while integrating them with some very readable and playable maps. The different character and NPC tokens made for use with a map allow for great tactical gaming right away. They are a very welcome feature.
The book specifically mentions the play testers whom the team that made this book cite as helping to shape the box set. This dedication to those who play the game is evident in the new starter set. It’s the box for anyone who needs an introduction to Dungeons and Dragons or any tabletop roleplaying game. Remember, it has been play tested specifically for this purpose, and people have been playing Dungeons and Dragons for over 50 years! So, if you want to get in on the action, adventure and fun, this is a great way to do that and take those first few steps.
The Heroes of the Borderlands Starter Set with its thoughtful design, nostalgic callbacks and a focus on making every step easy for newcomers offers both a tribute to Dungeons and Dragons storied past and a bold step toward its future.