Best Basic D&D Starter Set?

[sir_blacksoutalot]

Don't ask me how, but I somehow miraculously convinced my wife to sit down for a game of old school Basic D&D. "Old school" in the sense that we are both 50+ years and I pulled out my old Basic Boxed Set purchased back in 1980:



Now those rules were pretty rough around the edges compared to later editions. At least that's my suspicion, because I haven't tried any of the subsequent starter sets. Anyway, I found myself fumbling through the rules as I tried to DM a dungeon crawl for my wife. We made it through like three rooms in two hours. Doh! Like literally making things up on the fly, which I think is the intent of D&D in the first place...to a degree. Regardless, she had fun and is open to trying more.

So now I'm interested to find a basic rules set that lets gameplay flow as smooth as possible. It doesn't really matter which edition of the rules, I'm just looking for super-smooth gameplay. And availability is also not a big issue, as most anything can be found on eBay these days.

For you pnp players out there, would you mind chiming in about your experiences with the various starter sets? I'm interested in pros and cons, or whatever else you care to share. I just want to be able to sit down with my wife on a Friday night, set up my Dungeon Master screen (oh man, you should see the "custom" POS cardboard screen I put together for our session last week -- complete with Abed from the Community D&D episode on the cover), and have some fun without giving us both a headache.

Here's a link to help get us started, though it only goes up to 1996 and I’d certainly be interested in rule sets published after that so long as they improved gameplay: https://www.acaeum.com/ddindexes/setpages/basic.html

Oh, and any tips on game mats and affordable miniatures would also be appreciated. Thanks all! Hope you have some fun with this thread, sort of a blast-from-the-past trip down memory lane. Unless one of you wants to recommend Fifth Edition starter set -- but who would do such a thing?!

[Glowfire]

I'm not sure why you're opposed to 5e but maybe you can share your thoughts so that people who comment know what you don't like?

Having tried 3e and 4e myself I appreciate how much smoother 5e really is. It's also awesome how you can play it over on https://roll20.net/ with ease. You seem to want actual miniatures etc and that's great but for anyone else thinking about maybe starting up a game of PnP and either not having any buddies living close or thinking the miniatures are too expensive, consider roll20. You can buy digital sourcebooks there and they're all automatically loaded up as dungeons etc. Great time saver for a DM. They support some other games too but I haven't looked into it really. They do support character sheets of other editions of D&D.

I'm playing through 5e Lost Mines of Phandelver and I would say it might be difficult for someone not experienced at all with PnP and it doesn't really hold your hand, as it can be brutal at some moments. Online reviews do mention several party wipes (even in the first battle!) but it depends on party composition as well. As a party of 4 it was a struggle but with 6 it's much easier. For people who might want some more intrigue or just NPC-PC interaction I'd instead suggest to start with Waterdeep Dragon Heist. Lost Mines of Phandelver has a bit of both but is really what you make of it. Tomb of Annihilation is also a lvl 1 campaign but as the name suggests it's a total dungeon crawl. Lost Mines of Phandalin is however considered to be the 5e starter set but any adventure starting at lvl 1 is fine IMO, choose by what draws you in (for anyone else reading this, not necessarily the OP).

[sir_blacksoutalot]

I must apologize for my slight against 5e rules. I made that quip only based on rumor, not on my actual experience. I'm honestly open to whichever edition(s) allow for smoothest play.

And thanks for the tip on https://roll20.net/ -- I'll for sure read up on that! But my wife is an analog gal, so probably for us we're sticking to old school pnp.

Thanks for your input!

[Okan]

I'd recommend 5e starter module Lost Mines of Phandelver from personal experience, especially for a new player and a returning DM alike.

I feel like 5e got rid of many of the unnecessary rules of old editions with more of a narrative based experience but still retained the good old numbers game that DnD is. It has lost a decent amount of mechanical customization but I believe it was worth doing so. Combat flows much greater compared to the old days, leaving much more time for social interactions and exploration or more combat! In my opinion, the bounded accuracy they have introduced helped minions/low CR enemies still a threat while maintaining a sense of progression.

A bit more about the module without plot spoilers.

Firstly, it does have some balance issues regarding encounters, especially in the very first act depending on your party compositions, more than player count. What I like about the module is that it creates a very compact, localized playground and a hub to accompany. The hub itself is fairly detailed with NPCs with personal agendas, although it is not necessary for completing the module itself, this allows a decent amount of social encounters if your players desire to interact. Another big selling point is that there is a huge amount of feedback/content already exist for it. Maps with removed legends for players, NPC cheat sheets, encounter tweak guides for personal preference from various people are readily available.

It has a compact end that allows transitioning to further adventures smoothly, I've run it for several groups that are new to the hobby. After the modules ending, they wanted to build upon their characters on top of the achievements they've had in the module.


There are other few modules that start from level one, but for a new player, I believe Lost Mines delivers the most "vanilla adventuring" DnD experience.

Storm King's Thunder is too big of a sandbox, requires quite a bit of familiarity and work from DM side. One upside is Lost Mines can the integrated into the SKT after its finale.

Out of the Abyss is a long linear adventure with a sandbox disguise, it has quite a bit of survival aspect with a bit resource management and it revolves around Underdark so it might not be for everyone. Has some pacing issues if run by the book.

Tyranny of Dragons modules are very linear epic storylines, the first module is filled with heavy balance issues but thankfully there are player-made tweak guides that fix quite a bit the problems.

Tomb of Annihilation is the one I've had the most "old school" feel with its design. Although I don't think I'd start with that with new players. It's not Tomb of Horrors but its still pretty unforgiving.

Dragon Heist is good for faction roleplay and an introduction to urban setting on a small scale. But don't let the name fool you, it is not a heist, it is a treasure hunt. A fun one though!


About roll20, it is mainly used for online playing but even for home games, it is a great time saver with 5e SRD content integrated to the app.

[Steve]

... I somehow miraculously convinced my wife to sit down for a game of old school Basic D&D.

This alone deserves recognition. Epic Points earned my friend!

[Svabodnik]

From personal experience, the best starter set for D&D involves transferring to a new school somewhere in your early teens without an ounce of social grace and a love of paperback fantasy novels.

In all seriousness, from all that I've seen across multiple PnP systems, almost all pre-written scenarios typically assume that the DM/GM/Seneschal/Storyteller will have a party of 3-5 players available. Even without knowing much of the system, there is strength in numbers -- and even if meeting certain failure, the camaraderie of doing so as a team adds to the fun of the experience, and becomes engaging as a group activity.

If you want to tailor an experience that will be fun, fair, and engrossing for just a single player (as it seems to be in your case) the DM will need to know quite a bit more about the mechanics of the setting than a typical starter set may provide -- if you want to stick to the RAW (Rules As Written). You would need to alter the provided contents into a challenge the sole player can actually meet (without sapping too much of their resources which may prevent them from moving forward), or may even completely remove and replace ones that they can't due to their choices in character creation (or selection, for scenarios that involve premade characters).

In fact, it may play more to the strengths of a one-and-one session to come up with a more RP-heavy plot on your own than most pre-written D&D modules contain. Better yet, have the best of both world, and peruse through modules until you find interesting plotlines to use and get inspired by, and then use them as a springboard for your own campaign. I'm certain anyone who has played in a D&D game, either as a player or a DM, can understand the time it takes out of a game session for a character to go out and interact on their own with the environment apart from the party (start chatting up an NPC, become particularly invested in an insignificant aspect of the dungeon design that just tickles their fancy, etc.). For a one-on-one campaign, however, it's perfectly fine to become completely invested in that aspect.

A combat-heavy scenario doesn't bode all too well for a single character, since they typically don't have the resources to push through that successfully. However, one filled with interacting with the environment, the NPCs, and being granted the freedom of overcoming obstacles in nonstandard ways (slinking around them, finding a hidden path that moves you past an otherwise deadly encounter, given the opportunity to talk your way past an otherwise non-negotiable battle, etc.) actually helps both a new player and a new DM because such eschews the subject that both are unfamiliar with (the game mechanics) and plays on that both are probably more comfortable with (the way people interact and a story may come together).

Not sure if that had made any sense, but the tl;dr would be that if you want to run a one-on-one game session as a new DM, feel free to take inspiration from anything and everything, and don't get too tied into the rules. Have the game system, whichever you choose, be the backdrop of the story you tell together, rather than forcing your story to confine to the system. Rule 0, and all that. What's important is that the both of you have fun, one as the storyteller, the other as the protagonist of the story.

[Mursey]

USING EARLY EDITIONS OF THE GAME (D&D to AD&D 2nd Edition)
For solo campaigns with one player and one DM I'd recommend an early edition of D&D, such as the Red Box D&D set by Frank Mentzer, OSRIC or 2e AD&D. Nice solo play scenario to get your started and teach the rules, plus a very nice first level dungeon in a ruined keep.

Why? Because this is the simplest version of D&D, and because D&D isn't really suited to a 1:1 DM to player ratio. So your party is going to need a lot of NPC party members. I've run early edition D&D (Mentzer Basic set, or my favourite, the OSRIC rules, which is essentially AD&D 1e with better editing). I'd recommend RP all the NPC party members, but let your wife control their actions in combat.

It sounds complicated, but it really isn't. I ran an OSRIC game with 14 players at the table every week (well, 9-12 on average, depending on who could make it) and the average combat, even with all those PC's and monsters, lasted less than half an hour. The turns are fast because there's no feats to worry about and only a limited spell selection to worry about. So it shouldn't overtask a novice player to run 4-5 NPC's in a combat. And a DM can easily run a good dozen or so monsters.

It also gives you the option of having friends drop in for guest appearances to play one of the NPC's every now then.

I'm also going to send you some PDF's of some modules I have for AD&D 2nd ed which are specifically designed for one player and one DM. There are eight of them in total, two for each basic class.

USING D&D 3.5
The other alternative is to play a 3.5 campaign were your wife controlling and roleplayiing a single character. That's much more viable given the multiclassing options available in 3.5. PLUS it has the added benefit that it's basically the same engine used in NWN2. You'd also need fewer NPC party members.

I've run some fairly long running one to one games over the years using 3.5. For plotting think old school fantasy novels with just one or two protagonists. They'll give you excellent inspiration. The trick is to remember that combat is deadlier than usual, so always give a clever player the chance to avoid it. Think film noir rather than action movie when working out how much combat to put in any given encounter. I'd also recommend using shorter encounters in a city based campaign. That way the player character is never far from a safe place to heal up or rest, and can always find somewhere to hide or call for the watch if they need saving.

Warlocks, Swashbucklers, Rogues and Urban Rangers are the best character classes for a solo player in this sort of campaign. They have the right mix of skills and combat ability that they don't strictly speaking need a load of other classes to back them up. Often, a single NPC healer is enough. Think Sherlock Holmes and Watson, for example. Of Fauzer and the Grey Mouser. Or Conan, Valkryria and Subotai in the Conan the Barbarian movie. Read some of those books and watch that move and you'll have plenty of ideas for a solo campaign.

PM with links on the way

[Mursey]

MAKING YOUR OWN SCENERY AND MATTS:

Follow this guy on youtube. He'll show you how to make amazing mats and scenery for almost no effort in time and money.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uj3TzcC-2BQ

The one below is how to make your own dungeon and wilderness terrain game mats. Takes about 90 seconds of work to make a great looking game mat (oh and about $20).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hy9lU7nXFc

And this one is how to use your home made mat and make some home made cavern and dungeons walls to go with them:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mukQgrh-ChU

STARTER SET FOR MINATURES AND FURNITURE:



https://elementgames.co.uk/wargames-and ... lEQAvD_BwE