Heroes of the Borderlands Review: The Best, Most Beginner-Friendly Set D&D Has Ever Released

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Ever since the debut of Dungeons & Dragons, helping newcomers grasp a complex gaming system has been one of the most persistent challenges. For novice players, the Player’s Handbook can seem like an overwhelming book, and even fledgling Dungeon Masters have a vast amount of rules to master. That’s where the starter set comes into play, as it offers a compact package containing essential items for swiftly onboarding players into the game. Over the years, Dungeons & Dragons has rolled out multiple versions of this concept, with the new Heroes of the Borderlands set being its latest attempt.

The “Heroes of the Borderlands” kit serves as an introduction to the fifth edition of “Dungeons & Dragons”, utilizing the 2024 revision. Instead of providing pre-generated characters, it offers a streamlined character creation system for newcomers. This set also comes with various physical items like tokens, cards, and maps to help beginners visualize the game’s concepts more easily. Priced at $49.99, “Heroes of the Borderlands” is considered a good investment for first-time “D&D” players to familiarize themselves with essential materials and rules. However, the adventure books included in this new “D&D” starter set lack a crucial element that characterizes “D&D” – an engaging storyline.

Rating: 4/5

Pros Cons
Good value with solid starter gear for a true D&D beginner Adventures have no overarching story
Solid, pared-back overview of basic gameplay mechanics Maps and certain other materials likely won’t hold up to multiple play sessions
Character boards offer a great intro to character sheets Basic options for character creation are a step up from pre-gens, but still narrow
Tokens and cards offer a visual, immersive experience to engage players
Full-size, full-color maps for several different areas

The Most Comprehensive Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set Yet

Compared to other starter sets, the “Heroes of the Borderlands” stands out with an extensive collection of materials. Instead of just offering pre-made character sheets, dice, and printed adventure content like previous kits, this one significantly expands those offerings. The set includes a Quick-Start Guide and Play Guide for both players and DMs, three detailed adventure booklets, nine large foldout maps, accompanying handouts for each adventure, a paper combat tracker, character class boards, over 210 cards to represent spells, characters, and monsters, and nearly 300 tokens to make your tabletop games more lively.

Priced at $49.99, this set is one of the more budget-friendly options for initiating an engaging Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) game. The Play Guide serves as an introductory guide to the rules before you purchase the Player’s Handbook and DM Guide. The set comes equipped with polyhedral dice, allowing players to start rolling right away. Although having a second set would facilitate smoother opposed rolls and combat, it’s still a valuable addition.

What makes this set particularly appealing for new D&D players is that it provides physical elements like maps, character and monster tokens, and cards, which give the game a more tangible feel. Not only does this enhance the overall fun factor of the game, but it can also be helpful for visualizing items on your character sheet in a concrete manner.

Tokens, Minis, and Maps Make D&D 5e Rules Tangible for Beginners

This new game set stands out particularly due to its practical incorporation of tokens, cards, and various items that aid beginners by making game regulations clearer through physical representations. The collection provides tokens for tracking gold, character and monster figurines for setting up combat scenes, and cards depicting spells, NPCs (Non-Player Characters), and monsters. Essentially, it seamlessly blends traditional board game aspects with D&D, enabling players to witness the rules materialize before them.

I was particularly impressed by the approach to character creation in “Heroes of the Borderlands,” which can be a bit vague when you’re new to Dungeons & Dragons. Previous sets often provided pre-generated characters, effectively sidestepping the challenge of creating your own character from scratch. The new character cards, however, offer a balanced solution. They allow players to select and combine key attributes to design their own character using the cards in the set. While it’s not as complex as drafting a character entirely on your own, it provides a better introduction to what that process might entail for new players. Furthermore, the ownership of a custom-made character adds a personal touch compared to pre-built characters.

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The detailed maps in the game Heroes of the Borderlands are a great extra feature, as they allow the Dungeon Master (DM) to craft an engaging and realistic gaming environment. Alongside the character and monster tokens, this makes for a cost-effective choice when it comes to creating elaborate battlefields that may require purchasing 3D miniatures and accessories. Additionally, the included paper combat tracker is straightforward yet useful, making it easy for players and the DM to keep tabs on the action in a tangible, understandable format. Furthermore, the notepad has plenty of pages for jotting down notes during the 3 adventures contained within the starter set, although you may eventually run out of space.

Encounters Without Story Risks Missing the Heart of Dungeons & Dragons

The “Heroes of the Borderlands” collection excels in teaching newcomers the fundamental aspects of Dungeons & Dragons (D&D). It provides essential resources that help players understand game mechanics before delving into the comprehensive 5e rulebooks. The adventure manuals offer a diverse range of scenarios, enabling both players and Dungeon Masters to experience different facets of a D&D session. This includes exploration, combat encounters, and hidden mysteries waiting to be discovered. However, it’s worth noting that one significant aspect which the starter set lacks is precisely what makes D&D truly exceptional.

In the Quick Start guide for “Heroes of the Borderland,” you’ll find an interesting note stating that the adventure lacks a central plot. Instead, each booklet serves as a guide to different areas, filled with encounters, hidden treasures, and explorable locations. There’s also some flavor text for the Dungeon Master (DM) to read, but it’s quite minimalistic. The guide provides context for the situation the players are in, but it doesn’t offer much direction on the motivations or events that set everything in motion. Considering this product is designed for beginners in Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), the absence of a driving storyline might seem puzzling.

It’s wise to avoid overloading new Dungeon Masters with too much story lore to maintain balance. However, leaving new players in a world without the captivating tales and rich lore that define D&D might teach them how to play, but not why it is so beloved. While players and DMs can create their own stories, this might be asking too much of beginners. This is where the new starter set appears to take a step back compared to earlier versions, as they offered more traditional campaign starters, providing a better sense of the epic stories that D&D can weave.

All in all, “Heroes of the Borderlands” serves as an accessible and affordable introduction for novice players to grasp the fundamentals of Dungeons & Dragons (D&D). By simplifying the rules and ideas, it provides a clear and effective guide, complete with props that make the theater-of-the-mind experience more tangible. However, it lacks some narrative momentum, which is crucial for creating an exceptional D&D session, making it slightly less than what it potentially could have been.

This review is based on a complimentary copy of ‘Heroes of the Borderlands’ that was generously supplied by the publisher.

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2025-09-09 19:14