Dungeons & Dragons - Essentials Kit Review

 

by Grzegorz Rutkowski

Today we're going to take a look at the D&D Essentials Kit, a boxed set containing everything you need to play Dungeons & Dragons.

I just want to note that it retails for $25, but you can buy brand new copies of it for $7.79 on amazon right now. If you have any interest in this product, now is definitely the time to buy it.

This boxed set came with a code that lets you access the adventure in this kit - Dragon of Icespire Peak by Chris Perkins - on D&D Beyond for free. I haven't really looked at D&D Beyond much, but I did while working on this article and man do I have a lot to say. I'll do an article on D&D Beyond soon. It's extremely useful! It made reading the adventure so much easier for me.

Here's what you get in the Essentials Kit: 

• Softcover Rulebook: 64 pages of D&D rules.
• Dragon of Icespire Peak: 64 page adventure for level 1 characters.
• Poster Map of Phandalin
• 4-Panel DM Screen
• Dice Set
• Character Sheets
• Tons of Cards
• Box: To hold the tons of cards

Dice Set

You get two d20's, four d6's, and one of everything else. These dice are the "gem" type of dice - red and translucent. I don't like these of dice because they roll forever and end up flying off the table. I refer to this phenomenon as "sloppy dice."

I like that the kit give extra dice, though.

DM Screen

This thing is pretty thin, not at all burly and strong like the Dungeon Master's Screen Wilderness Kit. It is 4 panels wide. The art is pretty good, but it came out a little dark, so some details are difficult to make out. 

The information on the inside of the screen is nearly identical to what's on the wilderness kit screen, except that this one contains a listing of all the actions in combat.

Do you think D&D should veer away from combat a bit? In the olden days, it was all-combat all-the-time. But now I think that people want a bit more storytelling - more adventure and less killing. I do think that the days of inconsequential combats are behind us. 

Character Sheets

Just a bunch of character sheets waiting to be filled in. They're printed on very nice, heavy paper, which is appreciated.

Poster Map

The map depicts the town of Phandalin on one side, and the area around Phandalin on the other side. This map is meant to be used with the adventure in this boxed set, Dragon of Icespire Peak. It's by the great Mike Schley.

Cards

There are a lot of cards in this box! They come on perforated sheets. You have to assemble the box that holds them. I honestly didn't think the cards would fit in the box, because there are so many of them. 

There are many different types of cards:

Initiative Cards: You can give these to players, so they know who goes when.

NPC Cards: In this adventure, you can take along an NPC sidekick using the sidekick rules. These cards each depict a different NPC. The front has an image of what they look like, and the back lists their personality, ideal, bond, and flaw. 

I dug through the D&D Beyond version of this adventure to show you my favorite NPC:

A sidekick has one of three stat blocks: Expert, Warrior, or Spellcaster.  They are listed in the rulebook

Quest Cards: In the adventure, the town of Phandalin has a board where the quests are posted. There are three starting quests. Once 2 of the quest have been completed, 3 new quests are posted. Once 2 more are completed, the final 3 quests are posted. 

The first 3 quests:

• Warn dwarf prospectors that a white dragon is in the area.
• Visit the gnomes of Gromengarde to see if they have a device that could repel the dragon.
• Convince a woman who lives in a windmill to move to Phandalin for her own safety.

Condition Cards: I think that every D&D player should own these cards. Very handy! Each card lists a different condition, including grappled, charmed, and incapacitated.

Combat Cards: These 3 cards all contain the same information - references on how combat works, step-by-step.

Magic Item Cards: This is something else I think every group should have! Each card details a different magic item. How handy. All the information is right there.

There are a ton of these cards. There are actually multiples of a few items. It looks like there are 6 potion of healing cards.

Magic Charm Card: This last card details the Charm of the Storm, a special boon a character can acquire on one of the quests. I won't spoil what it does, but it is very cool.

Rulebook

This book has information that allows players to take a character for levels 1-6. Four races, five classes, five backgrounds. Then there's general rules to play the game, followed by equipment and spells.

Sidekicks are in the appendix. I like it when they keep things condensed. On one page, we get the stat blocks for the three sidekick types. On the other page, we get all the info needed to level up a sidekick.

How do you describe D&D to a new player? It feels weird to do, especially if you're very familiar with the game. This is how the rulebook describes it:

"In the D&D game, each player creates a character who is an adventurer and teams up with other adventurers (played by friends). One player, however, takes on the role of the DM, the game's lead storyteller and referee. The DM runs adventures for the characters, who navigate its hazards and decide which paths to explore. The DM describes the locations and creatures the characters face, and the players decide what they want their characters to do. Then the DM determines the results of the adventurers' actions and narrates what they experience. Because the DM can improvise to react to anything the players attempt, D&D is infinitely flexible, and each adventure can be unexpected."

The phrase "lead storyteller" alarms me a little bit. You don't want the new DM to think that D&D is a novel that they write/force on the players. I think most of us have played through a D&D game where the DM has their pet NPC that does all the important stuff, and our characters are just kind of there to tag along.

Dragon of Icespire Peak

We start off with some DM tips:

• When in doubt, make it up.
• Embrace the shared story.
• It's not a competition. 
• Be consistent and fair.
• Modify the adventure to suit your tastes.
• Keep a notepad and some graph paper handy.

"Make it up" is one I've seen some players struggle with. They become concerned with the notion that their character "build" is built on the anticipation that certain conditions exist. What's the point of making a build to gain an advantage in certain situations if those situations may never actually arise?

I think that's where it is important for the DM to inform the players what their style is, so the players can craft characters accordingly. For example, if your DM doesn't require rolls for certain skill checks, then there is no point in making a character that is proficient in that skill. 

Number of Characters: You can run this for 1-6 characters. One character? How can one character survive an adventure balanced for up to 6? The one character gets an NPC sidekick, using the sidekick rules in the rulebook. 

I'm very interested to see if you really can survive this adventure with just one hero and an NPC sidekick. 

Looking through the adventure, I see how they worked around this. Here's an example: "Lurking in the hall is one ghoul for each member of the party, not including sidekicks." 

Another example: "There are three times as many orcs as there are characters in the party, not including sidekicks." 

At the Shrine of Savras, there's actually a table that lists how many orcs and ogres lurk at the locale, depending on what level the heroes are.

Pretty good, right?

Phandalin: The town is described in just two pages, which I really appreciate. The heroes choose one of three quests from a board in town and off they go. 

The Dragon: The villain in this adventure is Cryovain, a white dragon. As the group travels to different locations, there is a chance the dragon will show up, looking for something or someone to eat. If the group can do 10 points of damage to it, it will fly away. 

The Scenarios: One weird thing that comes up in this adventure, is that every location seems to have been over-run by monsters at some point in their history. This displaces other monsters, which causes problems. For example, the white dragon kicks out the orcs, who then move to a town and destroy it, etc. Almost every single location in this adventure has been attacked, wiped out, and rebuilt in its history.

by Olga Drebas

(no lvl) Falcon's Hunting Lodge: This is a "secret location" that the group might find. It is home to one of the featured NPCs in the adventure - Falcon the hunter. Falcon will let the heroes stay in his guest house for free. This is a safe place to rest.

(lvls 1-6) Shrine of Savras: Another "secret location" that the group might hear about in town or on another quest. At the shrine are some orcs and the opportunity to gain a magic vision that can give the group clues as to where the dragon is.

There's also a cool magic item: The mystery key. It has a 5% chance of unlocking any lock into which it is inserted. Then it disappears.

I didn't remember seeing this item in the deck of magic item cards, so I checked. It's there!

(lvl 1) Dwarven Excavation: The adventurers come here to warn the dwarves about the dragon. The heroes are asked to kill some ochre jellies. 

This location has an interesting backstory - the jellies are actually followers of a god of greed. The god became angry with its dwarven followers and turned them into jellies.

(lvl 1) Gnomengard: This is a somewhat deluxe location. There's quite a bit going on, here. I don't want to spoil it, but someone or something is causing gnomes to disappear. One of the kings has gone mad, and the place is a wild magic zone. I really like this place.

(lvl 1-3) Umbrage Hill: A manticore is attacking this windmill which is home to a woman who can sell the group potions of healing. Very short and sweet, which is how I like it.

(lvl 3) Tower of Storms: The group finds this place through rumors. This location is a lighthouse/temple devoted to an evil god of storms. There are a number of monsters here, including harpies and a friendly talking crab. There are shipwrecks in the water that have some good loot. The gimmick here is really cool - the bad guy's heart is linked to the light house.

(lvl 3) Butterskull Ranch: I love the name of this place. Sounds delicious!

Orcs have overtaken this place and tied up Big Al, the owner. This is essentially one encounter, as all the orcs are in one spot.

(lvl 3) Loggers' Camp: This one involves a D&D monster that doesn't get used much - the ankheg. The monsters are plaguing a logging camp.

(lvl 4) Mountain's Toe Gold Mine: A big mine complex with some wererats in it.

(lvl 5) Axeholm: A nearly empty dwarven fortress that is now home to ghouls. The map is huge and there is very little actually inside the dungeon.

(lvl 5) Dragon Barrow: The adventurers come here to retrieve a dragon slayer longsword once wielded by Lady Alagondar. This is a small tomb with some traps, a very cool skeletal horse, and the sword is resting one the skull of a huge dragon. I love this place.

(lvls 5-6) Woodland Manse: Agents of the god of storms have taken over this place. They've even grown a gulthias tree, like in the Sunless Citadel. Lots of loot in this place! I like that. I hate when adventures are stingy with treasure.

At the end of this scenario, we are told that on the following day, the bad guys will attack Falcon's lodge with 20 orcs and Gorthok the Thunder Boar. Yikes.

by Jason Engle

(lvl 6) Circle of Thunder: This is sort of a "secret quest" not listed on the job board, but hooks to it can be found in a few other quests. Worshipers of a storm god use this place to summon storms or a "thunder boar." When the heroes show up, the bad guys are in the middle of a summoning.

(lvl 6) Icespire Hold: This is where the dragon is. As the group gets close to the lair, they come upon an ogre frozen in ice - a victim of the dragon's breath weapon. That's awesome.

This is a really huge place with almost nothing in it. There are a few bandits and stirges, and of course, the dragon. The group will probably end up fighting the dragon on the roof of this place, which is covered in slippery ice. The ice causes you to fall prone. I don't see any info on what happens if you fall off the roof.

No treasure, either!

Thoughts on the Adventure

This adventure is, I assume, made for people brand new to D&D. I looked around online, and I found that some new DMs struggled with this product a bit:

"My family just purchased this, as our first attempt at playing D&D. I took a shot at being DM with my wife and son playing... I struggled a lot more than I thought i would, as a first time DM. Without another resource we couldn’t figure out a wide range of things – how we managed movement and distance, when or how food/supplies came into things, etc. We kind of muddled through, but there was a lot that wasn’t clear and we all spent a fair amount of time researching online whilst trying to figure it out. And the first adventure kind of flopped..."

Another person said:

"The quests need a lot of imagination and effort if you want it to be anything more than a quest board. I don’t mind the work and creative aspect, but there is no through-line of the whole campaign that is obvious. My players are pretty much ready to jump on any clue or thread I give them so its easy to feather in quests without, “uh should we go check the job board?”"

I can't really speak on what this adventure would be like to run as a brand new DM, all I can really do is listen. I am wondering if they tested this product by giving it to people who have never played D&D before? That would be a good way to see what questions might pop up.

I can give thoughts on the adventure itself. Some of the maps are too big - too many rooms that contain nothing of consequence. The best locations are the ones that just cut to the chase. No stirges, no rooms full of mundane stuff, just the thing that we came here to deal with.

I would get annoyed running the mine. Here's 4 rooms in a row:

M5. Storeroom: A dozen crates of dry foodstuffs and nine casks of drinking water are stacked in the middle of this cave.

M6. Sleeping Quarters: This cave contains a dozen wooden cots.

M7. Gold Storage: This cave contains two wheelbarrows and an empty bin.

M8. Equipment Storage: Picks, shovels, and wheelbarrows are stored here.

Boring! Can we just take a whole section of this place and give it one entry? "This area contains storage, cots, blah bah blah." The way it is now, these new players will be creeping room-to-room, expecting danger and excitement. They're going to get disenchanted, and the game could start to drag.

Especially because a new DM won't have the instinct to hand wave these rooms. 

I would say that my favorite sections of this adventure are the dragon barrow, and the final battle with the dragon. I would change the dragon's lair, though, and turn it into ruins with no encounters.

What's Left for Chris Perkins? Reading this adventure, it makes me wonder what Chris Perkins has left to write. He has written a lot of great D&D stuff:

• Umbra: Regarded as the best Planescape adventure.
• Nemesis: The "sequel" to Umbra. I am probably in the minority on this, but I think this adventure is actually better than Umbra (needs new art, though).
  
• Bzallin's Blacksphere: An epic, planar high level dungeon.
• Curse of Strahd: Easily the most popular 5e adventure yet released, to the point that they made a deluxe boxed set version of it.
• Dragon of Icespire Peak: One of the two introductory adventures to 5th edition D&D.
• Bonus: He also wrote and ran Iomandra, a campaign setting that in my opinion should become an official D&D setting.

I think he does have at least one more epic adventure to write - the definite Vecna adventure (or perhaps a sequel to the Vecna "trilogy" - Vecna Lives, Vecna Reborn, Die, Vecna, Die). Most of the published 5e adventures make a reference to Vecna, the god of secrets. He's written in the past about using Vecna in his game, even creating Osterneth, the undead "bride" of Vecna (who appeared on 4e's Open Grave).

Overall

You get a ton of stuff in this box. Dice. Cards. A DM Screen. A Chris Perkins adventure. And right now it is $8.00! EIGHT DOLLARS.

You can buy the D&D Essentials Kit on amazon here.

Links

Kyle Maxwell Doesn't Like This Adventure