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I went to B&N during my lunch break yesterday to check out the new DMG. Surely seeing the book in the flesh would knock it down a few pegs and make me want it less.

Yeah. That didn't work. :lol

The starter set is on sale at Walmart for about what it cost me to print out and bind the free download. Hmmm.

I'm heading into the end of running the starter set with my group now, and it's been fun (I won't say a "blast"). My DMG has just arrived so I have the set now, but the DMG is going to take a while to digest because there are quite a lot of options. But I think the game has a lot of potential, and I like it more than anything since B/X (and that's really apples and oranges because B/X has hardly any options to speak of). So much so that I'll probably convert the modules I'm writing to 5E for my group.

tumblingdice wrote:I went to B&N during my lunch break yesterday to check out the new DMG. Surely seeing the book in the flesh would knock it down a few pegs and make me want it less.

Yeah. That didn't work. :lol

Yeah, I'll get it too. I have the PHB & MM, so why not? Just after Christmas.

seneschal wrote:The starter set is on sale at Walmart for about what it cost me to print out and bind the free download. Hmmm.

It's a toss-up. With the free downloads you'll get plenty of rules for characters, monsters and treasures. With the starter set you'll get no character generation rules, but a quick and dirty 32-pg guide and a decent adventure.

The solution: do both!

Vile wrote:I'm heading into the end of running the starter set with my group now, and it's been fun (I won't say a "blast"). My DMG has just arrived so I have the set now, but the DMG is going to take a while to digest because there are quite a lot of options. But I think the game has a lot of potential, and I like it more than anything since B/X (and that's really apples and oranges because B/X has hardly any options to speak of). So much so that I'll probably convert the modules I'm writing to 5E for my group.

I love that D&D appears to be in good shape once again. I wonder if D&D Next might just be D&D Last. "Here's what we've learned, folks, based on all the previous editions. It's not perfect, but it's the best we can do. Here's a starter set to get you hooked. The hardcovers are here if you want them. If not, well, here's the free basic rules. We'd rather you play in the 5e ecosystem for free than in one of our competitor's. Besides, maybe you'll buy one of our modules--produced by licensed publishers, not us, thank goodness--someday. Let's hope we've made this game simple enough, and that enough people are interested in fantasy these days, that this game will gain widespread appeal, and no longer be a niche market that requires an edition cycle to remain profitable. Good luck!"

I don't say this to sound cynical or sarcastic. It's my sincere hope that this edition, and this game, survives. I don't have a business background, though, so I could be completely full of dragon dung. We'll see.

While I'm tempted to run the Lost Mine of Phandelver, it's hard to get excited about ditching my Night's Dark Terror campaign. Why give up a perfectly good module that starts off with the party attempting to rescue an NPC kidnapped by goblins, in order to begin another module that starts with the exact same premise?

"While I'm tempted to run the Lost Mine of Phandelver, it's hard to get excited about ditching my Night's Dark Terror campaign. Why give up a perfectly good module that starts off with the party attempting to rescue an NPC kidnapped by goblins, in order to begin another module that starts with the exact same premise?"

Hmmm, how about it is the same NPC, kidnapped again by the same goblins. If at first you don't succeed .... The bad guys will be ready for Our Heroes this time, having learned their habits and combat styles during the earlier adventure. This creates a recurring, personal foe or group of foes that can dog the player-characters' steps no matter what else is going on in the campaign.

I got a Barnes & Noble gift card for Christmas so I bought the new DMG. I paged through it a bit. If you have any questions, I will try & answer them.