A Comparative Review
So, you’ve made the excellent decision to jump into the fantastic world of Dungeons and Dragons, but you don’t know where to start. Maybe you stumbled across a clip of Critical Role and thought that it looked pretty fun to make funny voices and tell stories with your friends. Maybe you saw Will from Stranger Things desperately trying to get his friends to have fun again. Maybe you are coming back to D&D after many years away, but don’t feel like jumping into the deep end by picking up a new Players Handbook, Monster Manual, and Dungeon Master’s Guide. Or maybe you are introducing a loved one to the game for the first time and need something accessible.
There are two official products from Wizards of the Coast that are designed to provide an introduction to the fifth edition of D&D: The Starter Set and the Essentials Kit.*
There are also a number of great resources on DM’s Guild aimed at newer players and DMs, including our popular introductory adventures for one-on-one play, the Crystalline Curse Trilogy!
We’ve written a few posts about getting started playing D&D if you’re a first-time DM or a brand new player!
Both the Starter Set and the Essentials Kit are excellent products, but which one you pick up first will depend on what you are looking for in an introductory D&D product. In brief:
The Starter Set is excellent for people who want to jump right into D&D with minimal setup, board-game style.
The Essentials Kit is perfect for people who want to create customized characters and be more involved with building the story that these characters bring to life.
Both of these gaming desires are equally valid and awesome, but will ultimately determine which D&D product is right for you.
The Starter Set
The Starter Set comes with everything you need to run hours and hours of D&D with your friends. It includes:
- one set of dice,
- a basic rules book,
- several pregenerated character sheets (complete with back stories: more on this later),
- and the excellent early levels adventure book, “The Lost Mines of Phandelver” (LMoP).
Pros
The included character sheets make the Starter Set a great jumping off point for those that do not want to be slowed down by complex character creation and customization. Of course, you are welcome to tweak and change anything about the provided characters you might like to, but the only thing you have to add yourself is a name for your adventurer. The character sheets include leveling guides letting you know what to do when you gain experience and its time to level up.
In a stroke of genius, Wizards included the bones of a backstory for each of the character options as well as ties for that character into the provided adventure. This gives each character unique goals and an extra entry point into the events of LMoP.
Speaking of, Lost Mines of Phandelver is an excellent adventure for new Dungeons and Dragons players. LMoP does everything a good D&D campaign should do.
- It provides the adventuring party an immediate access point into the story with the disappearance of a trusted ally.
- The adventure is situated around a solid starting region and town with diverse factions and forces in place to provide tension and choice.
- That choice is supported by a number of different paths the party can take to push the plot naturally forward.
- Perhaps most notably, it also makes a cohesive and satisfying narrative arc with a satisfying conclusion.
In playing through Lost Mines of Phandelver, your adventuring party will get a healthy serving of all the different elements that make Dungeons and Dragons special. They’ll get to roleplay and interact socially. They’ll get to slay terrifying foes (monsters and men). They’ll get to explore ruins and forgotten magical caverns. And they’ll grow more and more powerful, coming fully into their characters and the world.
Cons
If you can’t tell, I am a big fan of the adventure included in the Starter Set. However, the set isn’t a perfect product for every situation.
A big part of D&D that many people enjoy is creating their own characters and telling their own stories. Collaborative worldbuilding is kind of what we’re about after all! Of course, you do not have to use the included character sheets and excellent background material from the Starter Set. There is a blank sheet in the box as well as numerous online resources if you want to roll up your own character. However, if you want to play a character that is not part of the released SRD, you’re out of luck.
(The SRD is the System Reference Document: basically, it’s the material Wizards has released to the public so you can get started for very little, even for free!)
The Essentials Kit
Spoiler Alert: I’m a big fan of the Essentials Kit for folks looking to dive into D&D. Check out our extensive review of the Essentials Kit.
The Essentials Kit is a treasure trove of goodies including:
- a set of 11 dice,
- a basic rulebook that includes some character creation information and the Sidekick Rules for one-on-one play,
- several kinds of cards (magical items, adventures),
- the Dragon of Icespire Peak adventure,
- and a DM screen.
Pros
The greatest advantage of having the Essentials Kit is having access to character creation rules. With this introductory product, you can make your own party of characters from the provided (but incomplete) selection of races and classes. You can take these characters up to level six. Beyond level six (or if you want the other classes and races) you will need to pick up the Player’s Handbook.
Having the freedom and flexibility to make your own characters is a core delight in D&D. Getting a cool idea and then expressing that person on the page, attempting to quantify their unique qualities and quirks by filling in Wisdom scores and picking proficiencies is an essential Dungeons and Dragons experience that you miss out on if you are using someone else’s character. Fortunately, the slightly expanded rulebook in the Essentials Kit enables this kind of character creation!
In the back of this rulebook, you will also find Wizard’s Sidekick Rules which tell you how to run and level up a companion for your party. This can be especially helpful for people who want to play D&D, but only have one player and one DM. You don’t need these for 1-1 Dungeons and Dragons, but it does provide one option for duet-style play.
The addition of a serviceable DM screen adds to the classic D&D experience. It is made of the same thick, glossy paper as the cards. The magic item, “what can I do on my turn?”, and condition cards are a worthy addition to any table.
Finally, the Dragon of Icespire Peak adventure provides the same quality starting town and region as in the Starter Set and adds in a series of bounty-board style areas and location-based adventures. The numerous and diverse locales featured in the adventure book provide a nice variety of tasks for your adventuring party to complete.
Cons
Whereas the strength of the Starter Set lies in the excellent Lost Mines of Phandelver adventure, it is here in the adventure that the Essentials Kit misses a step.
The lack of cohesion between the different jobs that party members may elect to complete leaves something to be desired. It will take the new DM and players some effort to make some kind of meaningful narrative arc out of the bones of the provided adventure.
Creating a narrative is, to me, a delight. However, some new DMs and players may prefer a more complete campaign such as the one found in the Starter Set for their first foray into the Forgotten Realms.
The Verdict
If you are looking to pick up something to play D&D that you can implement with minimal effort or planning (this is not to say zero of either) then the Starter Set is likely the correct option for you. The provided adventure and excellent pre-made characters make the Starter Set an excellent way to begin playing Dungeons and Dragons quickly.
If you are looking for a more classic (and by classic I mean involved and requiring some planning and writing beforehand) experience with the fifth edition of the world’s greatest roleplaying game, I would suggest picking up the Essentials Kit. While you will have to do more work, this Kit provides the necessary tools for your party to create their own characters and for you all to tell your own stories while the provided adventure offers solid “filler” tasks for when your party needs more money or experience as a diversion from your narrative.
Or, you could pick up both and run the Essentials Kit jobs out of Phandelver while you work through the Lost Mines adventure!
In the end, both are excellent products in their own right. The value that one gets from picking up Dungeons and Dragons rulebooks cannot be overstated. For the price of a movie ticket, you get hundreds (thousands) of hours of entertainment and completely unforgettable stories with your friends!
For those interested in reading about more of Wizards of the Coast’s published adventures, the Hobby Inspired blog discusses each of them in this post.
What are your experiences with the Starter Set and/or Essentials Kit? If you have experience with both, which do you recommend for new players? Leave your comments and questions below!
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If you like what you’re reading, please consider supporting the blog by purchasing our adventures and supplements in our shop or sponsoring us on Patreon. We appreciate you so much! Thank you for joining us on this adventure! – Beth and Jonathan
Glenn D Rittenhouse says
I am running them together. I am running the Mines campaign, but using the Essentials box to fill out the town, and give them more player agency. In previous runs of just Phandelver, it really felt like the players didn’t have a lot of options for things to do. With the addition of side quests, and other events going on, unrelated to the Spider’s activities, they have so many more options for things to do. As their renown grows in the area, more and more people approach them for help. They can choose to stay on mission, chasing down teh Spider, and looking for Gundren, but they can also look into the logging camp, or rescue the local herbalist. One option is important to the players. The others are important to the town. The more time they spend in Phandalin, the more those quests intersect.
Jonathan says
This is a great use of these tools! Anytime you can make your region feel like it has more going on AND simultaneously encourage your players to make decisions (chasing down Gundren vs. dragon hunting, etc.) there is going to be more player buy-in. I love that you are having your players make that critical choice between serving their interests or the town’s. Sounds like you are killing it! Which way do your players tend to lean, or is there a decent balance?
When I initially saw that they were using the same town form the Starter Set in the Essentials Kit, I initially felt a little bummed, but I can see the advantages!
Glenn D Rittenhouse says
I dangle the extra missions, and try to give them meaning. For example they rescued Sildar, but he was diseased. So even though they healed him, he was very sick and unconscious. They needed herbs from the local merchant, but she had not been to town in over a week. Not like her at all. So off they go to her windmill.
I also dangle rewards for the quests, while at the same time showing urgency for the main story. Constant tension with the Redbrands, until they cannot ignore their secret base anymore. They like the extra magic items and loot from the side quests, but they learn very early, that the Spider does not wait for them to proceed with his plans.
Stuart Barton says
Man! This is just what I’ve been searching for! Wanting to buy both and someone to explain how to mesh the 2 together. (1st time DM)
I just worry I won’t know how to urge players onto the main campaign story if they get caught up with side quests, without them feeling like I’m railroading them.
I also would love to read your session notes of your parties’ adventures!
Steven E. Simon says
Thank you for sharing! This is so cool. I’m looking into this as well for some 10yr olds and seeing what is the best way, since I have not played for years. Please if you could talk a little more about the cross over and what you mean by parts push each other like the spider doesn’t wait?
Rbo Stevens says
Hi, I’m actually a fantasy writer who has never played D&D (yea i’m a rear breed.)
I will probably get both but the starter set first.
I thought i would like to try it and have a few friends who are willing but we are all new to the game.
as I’m just starting out, The first campaign (i will be DM ing) I will use the Mine story, maybe tweek the characters on the premade sheet.
For the second time if we like it (i know i will) we will design our own characters.
Will let you know how it goes, and Thank you.
maxreadscomics says
Would it make sense to run the Starter set first, and then the Essentials Kit, or would Starter Set characters be too leveled up to just “start” the Essentials Kit? Looking to run these at work for an office D&D “team-building” series or meetings 🙂
PyroArrow says
Run the Starter set first and then the essentials kit stuff. Since the Characters are based in Phandalin, just branch off from there. Then maybe go into “Storm King’s Thunder” after that. What you could do is just ignore the experience points in Icespire Peak until they reached what they attained in “LMoP”, then continue from there OR you could simply up the levels and abilitites of the monsters and npc’s and or their hit points or add more of the monsters to be a better match to the party’s abilities, as you go along.
PyroArrow says
Ok, Coming from using both on Roll20.com these modules are the worst since the 3E DD1-DD3 modules, with their extremely bad layout and editing, that I have used. When one buys a module you expect a minimal amount of prep time like with the 1E/2E AD&D modules, instead there is way more work involved. To make it worst, there are all kinds of mistakes and missing maps.
Tokens are the wrong image or not even provided or something very basic like an just an icon or just a name. Something mentioned in the description text is not shown on the map. Tokens are not linked to character/npc sheets. Each Encounter area does not have it’s own folder to hold the area description (so you don’t have to scroll through the main handout) and does not have the sheets for the monsters/npc in that location. Instead if they are lowly minions, there is maybe 1 sheet for them and things can get confusing as they are not even numbered, so I would go in and make say a sheet for a ghoul at Wave Echo cave and call it “Ghoul #01 -WEC09” for encounter area #09, instead of just “Ghoul”, as the module has it. The default roll macros are minimalistic and requires more work to have them show more information like whose roll it is and whom they are attacking. Also, some images in the book are not in the VTT version, and the VTT version on roll20 could definitely use more images instead of forcing the DM to hunt for more on the internet to find missing ones or to replace wrong ones,
All that said, the Phandelver and Icespire Peak modules do provide good setting information that becomes a great story unfolding as the characters interact with the environment and each other.
Tzahi says
Considering we’re 2 friends looking to learn and start playing D&D – would you recommend the Starter or the Essentials?
I’m a bit confused because the Starter’s description says it is good for 4-6 players (while we’re only 2), but the Essentials’ description says it is good for 1-5 players.
Would appreciate your reply.
Beth says
Hi Tzahi,
Thanks so much for reaching out! The Starter Set came out before the Essentials Kit, and the Essentials Kit was the first “official” D&D product to sanction/recognize small-party play, so that’s where the difference in numbers of players comes in, but you can be just two for either set. I think you can make either one work for you, but there are a few advantages on either side:
For the Starter Set, the adventures are arranged in a narrative arc, so you don’t have to piece together different story threads to move from one to the next. If you’re both just starting out, this can make it easier on whichever of you is DMing. The con for the Starter Set is that it doesn’t have the sidekick characters designed to help with one-on-one play, but you could have the DM create a character (called a DMPC) who they’ll run/play in conversations and who the player, once they’re comfortable, can run in combat scenarios. We have additional posts on running sidekicks and DMPCs to help with that as well!
The Essentials Kit is basically the reverse: the storyline is made up of loosely connected story threads that all begin from the same location, so it depends on how much connecting work you want to do. It shouldn’t be difficult to link them to each other, and you can pretty much proceed in level-order, but it is an extra thing to think about while you’re learning and getting comfortable. But some people will see that flexibility as an advantage, and the Essentials Kit does have the sidekick characters to give your PC a buddy to run around with!
I hope that helps you narrow things down at least! Please let us know if you have any follow-up questions, and we’d love for you to stay in touch as you get going!
Welcome to the wonderful world of D&D!
– Beth
Heilyn says
That’s a great overall recommendation, thank you.
I’m looking to run a 1-on-1 D&D game and I’m really glad to have found your site. I do own the Starter Set for many years now, but never actually started playing it with my wife. I think it’s about high time. As I will be the DM I plan to go through the rules again and prepare the scenario. Having only one PC is and was always a discouraging factor which The Essential Kit seems to fix by introducing the side-kick. However I am not sure I’ll buy it just for that, but rather I will try to read up on creating a custom side-kick in one of your posts as you’ve suggested above. Most probably I’ll also buy your “Crystalline Curse Trilogy” which sounds perfect for 1-on-1 sessions.
We both are experienced CRPG gamers including most of D&D titles but we never tried pen and paper. One of the things we love about CRPG is creating our own characters, so being locked to pre-generated characters from the Starter Set might be another reason to go for the Essentials Kit.
My dream is for us to have a blast and enjoy the game so that I can go ahead and buy the three core books (Player Handbook, Dungeon Master’s Guide and Monster Manual) and other great Adventures.
Tanner says
Me and a friend want to try playing for the first time for both of us we love stranger things and I was wondering if you can connect the stranger things guide to say the essentials or even the starter pack? I’m leaning towards the 5th edition starter pack but wouldn’t mind getting the stranger things one if its “compatible”
Thanks please let me know!!
Jonathan says
Hey Tanner,
I’m hoping to get the Stranger Things set for Christmas this year, so I can’t speak specifically to if the storylines intersect with one another. I’ll update this comment when I have a chance to look over the Stranger Things set. However, I will say that shifting any campaign from one setting to another is really a matter of communication and understanding between player(s) and DM! If you all agree that you want to play D&D and that for that to happen certain narrative liberties might need to be taken to continue a particular campaign, then I don’t think you’ll have any issue moving from either the Essentials Kit or the Starter Set to Stranger Things.
The Stranger Things adventure starts at level 3 when your party is called on to defeat a creature by a noble/knight. Just knowing that, I think it would be easy to go Starter Set/Essentials Kit up to level 3 and then have the knight come seek out your player with this quest if you wanted to weave in the Stranger Things narrative! You could even then come back to the Starter/Essentials campaign after you’ve taken care of the Thessalhydra!
Thanks for reading! Let us know how it goes!
Edward Smith says
Great job on the review. Thank you!
Great Greebo says
This Review is EXCELLENT! Thank you so much. Your explanation has clarity and brevity but with just enough descriptors to make it easy for laymen to understand the basic differences between the two options. Also, the photos were very helpful so we can actually SEE what is in each kit/set. LOVED the Pros/Cons lists too.
Steve says
Love your website so much! I actually got one of the beginner duet campaigns to play with my wife, and then we decided we need to get either the starter or essentials kit so we don’t miss anything. Did a web search and ended up right back with you guys. Thank you so much! Very 2 player/beginner friendly which is exactly what we’re looking for.