Reddit reviews Heroes of the Fallen Lands: An Essential Dungeons & Dragons Supplement (4th Edition D&D)
We found 11 Reddit comments about Heroes of the Fallen Lands: An Essential Dungeons & Dragons Supplement (4th Edition D&D). Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Officially LicensedFeaturing Dungeons & DragonsPrinted in the USA
iirc, the classes in red box were built from the rules designed for the smaller essentials rule books. They are quite a bit simpler and easier to run than the classes in the original rule books.
see-
http://www.amazon.com/Heroes-Fallen-Lands-Essential-Supplement/dp/0786956208/ref=pd_sim_b_1
4e is pretty simple. Even simpler than that is Swords and Wizardry which is made to resemble old school DnD. Microlite 74 is similar but does not hew as closely to any incarnation of DnD. All of these are free.
Swords and Wizardry has quick start rules here. I listed some beginner modules for it.
>Is there a D&D "basic" set in its latest incarnation?
You mean like this?
The Red Box, then Rules Compendium, Heroes of the Fallen Lands, and then the Monster Vault.
The Red Box comes with some premade characters and a quick adventure. Its pretty cheap and will help you determine if this is the system you want (note your free options.)
If you like it, then:
Then the Heroes book will help you guys build characters.
The Rules Compendium contain all the... rules. (What happens on each players turn, etc etc).
Monster Vault has monsters for the DM.
Not a lot of good adventures available for 4e though, though if you like 4e and want to run premade stuff for it, some options are laid out here.
You also have the option of subscribing to a service called DnD Insider, which will give you access to, among other things, an online character builder for the players and a monster builder for the DM with all the stuff from the books,. It costs like 10 bucks a month... but its an option that you should be aware of.
You might get some recommendations for Pathfinder, because redditors love them some Pathfinder (which is based off DnD 3.5 so if you know that, you know PF). It's a good system--I'm playing it right now--but its so complex that I have some trouble recommending it to absolute beginners in good conscience. You can look into it here. If you do go with it, I highly highly recommend a character builder like PCGen.
EDIT: Fixed some links.
First, I'd recommend that you keep the box and all of the components in good condition, so you can consider re-selling it once you're done with it. The Red Box seems to be out of print and is selling for far above its $20 MSRP, and if you can recoup some of the money you spent on it to buy some resources that will have more lasting value, it might be worth it (depending on how highly you value your time), since you will have little use for most of the contents of the box once you're through with the initial adventure.
Or, if it's not too late, you may want to cancel your order. The Starter Set is a relatively gentle introduction to D&D, but not necessarily the best one and certainly not the cheapest.
To prepare, you might want to read, and have everyone else read, the quick start rules. You can also have the players choose pre-generated characters from that document and print off the corresponding character sheets. The Red Box method of character creation involves running through a solo "choose-your-own-adventure" book, which you might not want to do 3 or 4 times in succession for each of your players. Note that the the quick start rules uses slightly different versions of the character classes presented in the Red Box, but the characters/systems are compatible.
You will not immediately need to create your own group adventure, as one is included with the Starter Set.
Also, as an alternative to the Starter Set, /u/Dracoprimus posted a bunch of links to free adventures. You can also choose to run one of these adventures after you finish with the Red Box.
However, neither those those links nor the Red Box will not give you the resources needed to build your own characters or advance them past level 2, nor do they contain the info a DM needs to create his own campaign, or extensively modify an existing one. For that, I recommend getting the following resources (buying some of the books used may yield a good savings):
With those three products, you have everything you need to run a level 1-30 campaign. A D&D Insider subscription can substitute for those resources to a large extent, and supplement them with tons of content, but it's most useful as a convenience and reference. I would still recommend getting the core books even if your group has a DDI sub.
On top of that, a few game aids are nice to have:
Alternately, you can get either or both of these for character creation. They offer a different style of characters to play, and will be the same classes that you'll find in the Red Box. In my experience these classes are easier on new players than the PHB classes.
Players don't need much. I agree with BenDunno's suggestion - PH1 is a good place to start. Depends on what they feel like playing. Community opinion is mixed on the Essentials builds in Heroes of the Fallen Lands and Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms, but these builds are fully cross-compatible with the rest of 4th Ed, so if people want to play them, it won't cause a problem. A few players in my group tried out Essentials characters and had fun with them.
The Rules Compendium is amazingly handy for both players and DM's - easy to carry around, clearly indexed and consolidated.
(btw, I included Amazon links for clarity, but if you've got a dedicated game store near you, buy from them instead - your FLGS (Friendly Local Game Store) is a really important part of the gamer ecosystem - give 'em all the support you can :) )
If you play Pathfinder, then note that they put all their rules and bestiary online for free and so you can save some serious dough. You can then spend your money on things like battle mats, paper miniatures, and adventure modules. They have an upcoming beginners box that would probably be perfect for you: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KPv80QsBfI
If you play D&D 4th Edition, you kind of have to choose between the original line and "Essentials" line (it's very confusing). Personally I say go with the Essentials line because it is easier, cheaper, and (to me at least) "feels" more like what D&D is supposed to be like. WotC doesn't publish anything online for free like Paizo, so you'll have to buy some stuff. I recommend:
If no one wants to play a ranger, druid, paladin or warlock at first you can skip the one book and meet your $60 budget. Eventually you'll probably want to get a Dungeon Master guide of some sort. The kind of information in those books is mostly generic advice on how to run games and handle personalities, so it's possibly to buy an older used copy from the original line even though you are playing Essentials. Hell, since it's just generic advice, you could even buy the Pathfinder guide (which is amazingly well written) and use it for D&D.
In summary - I think it's easier for you to meet your budget by going with Pathfinder, since they publish a lot of material for free, leaving you to spend your money on the adventure modules which is where all the fun is anyways. It's unanimous that Pathfinder does a much better job on published adventures too, since they are a company that started off as an adventure publishing company and that is their strength. However, D&D 4e (especially Essentials) is much easier to play, but you won't have as much money left over to spend on adventures (and those adventures kind of suck).
For D&D4e, I recommend starting with Essentials. Personally, I prefer 4e because it has balance and encourages working together. You can get the 4e Red Box, but it is slightly inconsistent with everything else and will only take you so far. Anyway, here's a minimal shopping list:
The Essentials DM kit is also good. With the exception of the Red Box, all 4e material is compatible across the board, so adding in new player options or DM stuff is as easy as picking up a supplement or getting a DDI subscription.
If you've never played before, WotC holds an "Encounters" programs on Wednesday evenings at local gaming stores. It is specifically designed to introduce players to D&D as well as sell their latest product. If you live in the DC metro area, I can give you some pointers on where to go, if you're interested.
The Red Box for 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons is more of a quick start than a full game. If you're wanting to run a full game in that edition, you'll want to pick up one of the following books:
I'd also recommend the Rules Compendium as it has all the rules needed to run and play the game (outside character creation).
These books are under $20 and you may be able to pick them up for less than $10 used. They're also Prime eligible (depending on the seller) on Amazon. They're also digest sized, making them easy to take with you when you travel. The Rules Compendium is available as a digital download as well.
You can also find multiple character creation programs online, such as Hero Lab that are detailed enough you don't actually need the books. I believe the Dungeons & Dragons Insider character generator is still available online. Unfortunately, these require a subscription or software purchase. Other programs can do the same thing, but they're fan created and some of them go way over what's legally allowed by the license to do.
These all assume you're wanting to stick with 4th Edition. If not, you can easily ditch it and make use of the accessories of the Red Box. If you want to go with D&D Next (the playtest of the edition that will launch this summer), you can pick up either of the Encounters seasons written for that edition because they include the playtest rules. Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle and Dreams of the Red Wizard: Scourge of the Sword Coast are available now.
You can also go with Pathfinder, which is a modified version of Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 edition. The Pathfinder Beginner's Box is one of the best introductory bundles I've ever seen, and it has rules for character creation and advancement for 1st through 5th levels (though you're limited to Fighter, Wizard, Rogue, and Cleric and Human, Dwarf, Elf, and Halfling). However, you can use the Pathfinder Reference Document to expand on that for free.
Well, we're still really new to the game.. we only started playing in August. However, if you want to get a good idea of what gameplay is like and/or how to build a character, check out these links:
One group's weekly D&D game, recorded live
Dungeons & Dragons Official Homepage
Character building help: 27 Questions to Ask your New Character
Also buy these books:
Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms
Heroes of the Fallen Lands
D&D Rules Compendium
These first two books are all about the character races and classes, and the last one is just a comprehensive list of all the game rules. Like I said, I've been playing since August, and I haven't read all of them cover to cover, because so far the only parts that have been pertinent to me were about building my character and leveling up. But there's a good, strong description of the gameplay in there, so you should get a pretty good idea of how it works.
Hope this helps!
You've purchased a setting supplement for Dungeons & Dragons, 4th Edition. 4th Edition (aka D&D4e, 4th, 4e) is very different to earlier editions and isn't particularly compatible with them.
There are many others in this thread recommending products and games that are not compatible with the product you've purchased, because they are different games (and thus the rules are different, in the way Scrabble and Monopoly are different). Be aware that The Shadowfell box is not compatible with non-4e games.
My suggestion is to start out with the Red Box that you've looked into already, and also the "Essentials" books -- Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms, Heroes of the Fallen Lands, and the Rules Compendium.
After that you'd want to look into the Monster Vault box.
Each of these (including the Monster Vault box) is about $20. The MV box is well worth the money.
Thanks again, you've convinced me to get the DM Kit and core rule book (hopefully it supplements the D&D for dummies book i got). Theres been come conflicting advice but your reasoning makes sense.
But for players we'll need at least one players book between them if they want to level and stuff or create new races right? So This?
Or what others have been recommending
Lastly 3 Gameplay questions.
Thanks again