Starter Set: Dragons of Stormwreck Isle
Lately I have been getting questions by parents on how to get started playing Dungeons & Dragons. My go to response is always to check out one of the starter boxes for any of the current edition or the edition they are looking to play. When I was just getting started, I had the 3rd edition starter kit and fell in love with the game and now spend almost every waking moment thinking about it and other games. My goal here is to give a quick rundown of each published book for this edition as well as help new gamers get started in this hobby make it easily approachable.
5th edition has a few starter sets, the first one had a green dragon on the front of the box and has the Adventure, The Lost Mines of Phandelver. The second set was the Essentials Kit with the adventure Dragon of Icespire Peak. The third version was the Starter Set: Dragons of Stormwreck Isle. They also made both a Stranger Things and Rick and Morty starter set, but I have not had a chance to read through one and hunt down the other.
Today we talk about the 2019 Starter Set: Dragons of Stormwreck Isle. This is a much shorter adventure, only taking the characters from first level to third level. The box set has dice, the adventure, premade character sheets, and basic rules for running the adventure. My original assumption seeing the box art was the premade characters were going to be the characters from the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon show, but they only feature in the artwork in the booklets and the premade characters are unique new characters. They have no names but feature a dwarven cleric, a wood elf fighter, a human paladin, a halfling rogue, and a high elf wizard. Each character has a personal goal tied into the plot of the adventure, which is something helpful for new players. the character sheets also show how the character levels up, which is great for new players.
The adventure feels more intuitive for new dungeon masters. The players can take on any of the tasks in any order and the adventure has recommendations for adjustments depending on the order they do the tasks. This can be as simple as adding additional monsters to an encounter, or removing a monster that might wipe the floor with the characters.
I have read through the adventure but I have not had the chance to run it yet. The monastery the adventure takes place at has many NPC characters the party can interact with and many have secrets the party can investigate. Depending on party composition I would love to send a kobold along with the group using the sidekick rules from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything. The adventure feels more self-contained as an introduction to Dungeons & Dragons instead of the prologue to any of the published campaigns. This is great for new players and new dungeon masters.
Happy Gaming!
-Rob the Book Gnome
Essentials Kit
Lately I have been getting questions by parents on how to get started playing Dungeons & Dragons. My go to response is always to check out one of the starter boxes for any of the current edition or the edition they are looking to play. When I was just getting started, I had the 3rd edition starter kit and fell in love with the game and now spend almost every waking moment thinking about it and other games. My goal here is to give a quick run down of each published book for this edition as well as help new gamers get started in this hobby make it easily approachable.
5th edition has a few starter sets, the first one had a green dragon on the front of the box and has the Adventure, The Lost Mines of Phandelver. The second set was the Essentials Kit with the adventure Dragon of Icespire Peak. The third version was the Starter Set: Dragons of Stormwreck Isle. They also made both a Stranger Things and Rick and Morty starter set, but I have not had a chance to read through one and hunt down the other.
Last time I talked about the 2014 Starter Set, would like to talk about the 2019 Essentials Kit today. When it released, the Essential kit was $25 and had some extra bits the normal starter kit lacked. There were cards, a small deck box to keep them in, a DM screen with relevant rules on the back, a map of the region the adventure takes place in, and even more dice. The cards were interesting because they had a mix of magic items as well as new NPC henchmen or sidekicks that were introduced in a new system for helping players in smaller groups have a character to follow the party with a less robust character sheet.
The adventure, The Dragon of Icespire Peak, is less straight forward than the Lost Mines of Phandelver, It is a sandbox adventure, meaning the events of the adventure are more free form. the adventure is set up in a way that allows for more exploration with player agency and helps showcase the Forgotten Realms in an accessible way, small chunks.
With many of the Fifth edition adventures they started the characters higher than first level, meaning there needed to be a option for players and dungeon masters that could help prepare the characters for the later levels. The Dragon of Icespire Peak is slated as a 1-6 level adventure, which was a great solution for groups that had already played the Lost Mines of Phandelver but still wanted an intro adventure.
I have not had the chance to run this adventure yet but I have read through it a few times now. Of the entire box set, my favorite thing is the simplified sidekick system, which was further enhanced in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything. As someone that has run for both large and small groups, the sidekick element is something I will be bringing to more games I run whenever the party needs extra muscle or healing.
As a part of my hoarding issues, I have picked up a few copies of each of the starter sets as a way of helping new groups get started up and spreading the love.
Happy Gaming!
-Rob the Book Gnome
Dungeon Starter Sets
Lately I have been getting questions by parents on how to get started playing Dungeons & Dragons. My go to response is always to check out one of the starter boxes for any of the current edition or the edition they are looking to play. When I was just getting started, I had the 3rd edition starter kit and fell in love with the game and now spend almost every waking moment thinking about it and other games. My goal here is to give a quick run down of each published book for this edition as well as help new gamers get started in this hobby make it easily approachable.
5th edition has a few starter sets, the first one had a green dragon on the front of the box and has the Adventure, The Lost Mines of Phandelver. The second set was the Essentials Kit with the adventure Dragon of Icespire Peak. The third version was the Starter Set: Dragons of Stormwreck Isle. They also made both a Stranger Things and Rick and Morty starter set, but I have not had a chance to read through one and hunt down the other.
Starter Set 2014: This starter set includes the adventure, Lost Mine of Phandelver, a basic rules booklet, character sheets, and a set of dice
Lost Mine of Phandelver: When the dwarf Gundren Rockseeker goes missing the group is instructed to investigate, finding multiple enemies working for a strange figure known as the Black Spider, and a lost dwarven mine.
This was the introductory adventure in the starter set for 5th edition and it takes place in the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting. I ran the first few encounters for my home group and then took it to a game store to run before I even had the Players Handbook for this edition. There are many types of encounters across the module from standard fighting the monsters, negotiating with the undead, to freeing a town from band of ruffians. My favorite encounters were the goblin caves at the very beginning and the green dragon in the forest from the cover of the Starter Set box art. This adventure is a great tool for new groups and can be used as a starting first through fifth level campaign for most of the adventures published afterwards, which a few started after 5th level. When I ran this adventure, I tweaked the final area, adding in a few custom creatures due to the large number of players I had at the game store. The town of Phandalin can serve as an adventure hub for further campaigns in the Forgotten Relams.
They also made an entire adventure around this Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk. It is a pretty solid adventure I will revisit at a later date.
Happy Gaming!
-Rob the Book Gnome
Longer blurbs
So recently I have been modifying my Rob Recommends reading list with short descriptions I use when talking about the books, modified a little bit, for I tend to talk non stop.
Young Reader Books: ages 9-14 *graphic novels
Amulet, by Kibuishi *
Two kids and their mom move into their great uncle’s house after a family tragedy. The mansion holds many secrets, one of which is a magical amulet, another main one being a passage into another world. Emily and Navin must uncover the secrets of this other world as well as the strange amulet that seems to have a voice of its own.
Artemis Fowl, by Colfer
Young Artemis seeks to steal money from the fairy folk to strengthen his families weakening power after his father’s disappearance and his mother’s declining health. Complications arise when the fairies decide to take Artemis out of the picture.
Aru Shah and the End of Time by Chokshi
Young Aru Shah and her mom run a small museum on the history of India and have many artifacts on display, one of which is a lamp that should never be lit. Once lit the lamp lets loose a bound demon that seeks to end the world and Aru Shah and her new friend must stop him.
Athena the Brain, by Holub
A retelling of Greek mythology, young Athena must attend school with fellow mythological characters. Each book focuses on different goddesses.
Bone, by Smith*
Fone Bone and his cousins are kicked out of their home land for embezzling and end up in a magical valley full of magical monsters, dragons, and talking animals finding a young girl and her grandmother with a secret past.
Charlie Bone, by Nimmo
Charlie and his family all have magical powers. Charlie can look into portraits and see what was happening when it was made. He must attend a magical academy where a few of the teachers are plotting against the kids.
Doctor Proctor’s Fart Powder, by Nesbo
Two young kids, Nilly and Lisa, meet the strange Doctor Proctor, who makes strange inventions. One of which is a powder that lets kids fart as much as they want but there never is a smell. He makes a super strong batch and the kids use it to solve mysteries.
Dragons Tooth, Wilson
Kids find out their family belongs to a society of adventurers with ties across the world. They must face off against mythical characters from folk tales to the Epic of Gilgamesh.
Emerald Atlas, by Stephens
Three orphaned children are taken to a strange mansion in the mountains and find a book known as the Emerald Atlas. The book allows them to travel back in time where they must find out why there are no children in the town they were taken to. Part Narnia, part Series of Unfortunate Events.
Fablehaven, by Mull
Kendra and Seth go to stay with their grandparents at their wilderness estate and find out it is a wildlife preserve for magical monsters. After an accident they must face off against terrible monsters and solve mysteries at the different preserves across the world.
Fairy Tale Detectives, by Buckley
Daphne and Sabrina are orphaned when their parents go missing and picked up by someone claiming to be their grandmother. She takes them to a small town called Fairyport landing where the townsfolk are all fairy tale characters, Snow White is a teacher, Prince charming is the mayor, and Sleeping Beauty owns the coffee shop. The kids are descended from the Brothers Grimm and must solve mysteries.
Goblin Secrets, by Alexander
A young boy is searching for his missing brother while working with a strange witch. The boy runs into a group of goblins that work outside the law, preforming illegally in a town with no music or acting. With their help he tries to find his missing brother.
Golden Compass, by Pullman
Lyra if gifted the Olithiometer, a divining device that only a select few can read. She looks into the missing children and finds out many terrifying things about her world and others. I was sold at the phrase Panserbjorn, the species of polar bear gifted with speech and wear armor made of sky metals.
Gregor the Overlander, by Collins
Young boy Gregor and his sister Boots get pulled into the Underland, the world beneath the streets. They find out there are a grouping of prophecies reguarding surface dwellers solving their problems and Gregor fits the bill.
Hollow Earth, by Barrowman
Twin siblings have the ability to draw creatures to life, and using this ability they must keep a book of monsters away from terrible people.
House of Secrets, by Columbus
A family moves into a curiously cheap house that belonged to a strange author. During an incident the family get trapped inside the author’s books and must work together to find their way home.
How to Train Your Dragons, by Cowell
Young Viking Hiccup and his tribe use dragons like hunting hounds and must deal with rival tribes, dangerous foreign dragons, and a rude dragon with an overabundance of sass. Hiccup can also talk to dragons in the books and Toothless is a small green dragon the size of a cat.
Lightning Thief, by Riordan
Young Percy finds out he is related to the Greek gods and must retrieve Zeus’s master bolt or the gods will go to war with each other. Great blending of modern mythology.
Loki’s Wolves, by Armstrong
Children find out they are part of the Norse mythology and reenact parts of the myths in their lives. The kids now seek weapons of the gods to stop the end of times.
Magyk, by Sage
A magical family with seven sons adopt a young girl the night their youngest is born and declared dead by the midwife, the same night the royal family is mysteriously killed. When a boy with only a number for a name and the girl who cant use magic meet they will have to work together to save the kingdom.
Maze of Bones, by Riordan
Book 1 of the 39 Clues series, Amy and Dan find out their family tree extends across the world and almost every influential person in history had ties with their ancestors. With this newfound information they must hunt down the 39 Clues to solve a problem that has been in the family for over four hundred years.
Middle School by Patterson
Rafe finds the rules in his new school to be ridiculous, he vows to break every rule in the student handbook.
Narnia, by Lewis
The Pensive family end up in a magical world populated by talking animals, monsters, and a witch.
Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy, by Foxlee
Ophelia finds a strange boy trapped within the museum where her father is fixing swords for an exhibit. Strange monsters lurk in the shadows and a quest must be undertaken to save her father and her friends.
Peculiar, by Bachmann
After a war between humans and fairies, peace has ruled the streets until half human half fairy children, or peculiars are found hollowed out and dead, covered in runes in the river. After his sister goes missing Bartholomew and a grizzled detective must work together to find her.
Pendragon, by MacHale
Bobby Pendragon finds out his uncle can jump through time and space and together end up on another world in time to help either save or destroy it.
Red Pyramid, by Riordan
Sadie and Carter find out the Egyptian gods have been trapped within the rosetta stone, and after they have been freed their world changes. The divine beings can lend their power to magicians to use their magical powers for their own goals, and Carter and Sadie must come to term with their new powers.
Redwall, by Jacques
In a war between rats and mice young Matthias must put aside his clumsy ways to become a warrior and save his people from the rats and their allies.
Ruins of Gorlan, by Flanagan
Will wants to be a knight, but he is small and wiry, no way he could wear eighty pounds of armor while riding a horse. He does have all the skills necessary to be a ranger, he moves unseen in shadows and he can climb towers with barely any handholds. With his newfound calling he must find a way to safe his kingdom from an old evil.
Scepter of the Ancients, by Landy
Stephanie meets a strange gentleman at her uncle’s funeral, a walking talking fire throwing skeleton that moonlights as a detective. His name is Skullduggery Pleasant, and he is a magical detective trying to figure out who killed his friend and enlists Stephanie to solve the case.
Search for WondLa, by DiTerlizzi
Eva Nine lives in a strange fall out shelter with a robot helper and has not been outside. She longs to travel the world and soon finds more than she had expected. Pursued by strange monsters and a bounty hunter, Eva Nine must rely on her wits to survive her new world.
Seven Wonders, by Lerangis:
Children find their life-threatening illnesses are due to their ancient bloodline. They must work together to find all seven artifacts to save each other, starting the search in Greece.
Sidekicks, by Santat *
With his sidekick retired, a superhero holds auditions for a new helper while villains watch on, waiting for their time to strike.
Spiderwick Chronicles, By DiTerlizzi and Black Jared, Simon, and Mallory travel with their mom to their great uncles house to find it teeming with magical monsters. they find they have to keep the field guide, a book of monster secrets, out of the hands of an ogre, or he might destroy all the other monsters.
Sword of Summer, by Riordan
Magnus Chase has a rough time of things. after living homeless on the streets of New York, Magnus has difficulties with a fire giant and ends up dead. Now in the afterlife of the Viking heroes Valhalla, he must undergo training for the end of times while being assigned missions in the world of the living.
Theodore Boone, Kid Lawyer, by Grisham Theodore wants to follow in the footsteps of both of his parents, he wants to be a lawyer. Even for his young age he has amazing knowledge of the inner workings of the legal system and attempts to help his friends with their problems. When one of his friends tells him that his brother witnessed a crime, they are afraid to go to the police, the brother was working illegally. Theodore will have to figure out how to get the evidence to the right people.
Thrones and Bones, by Anders
Karn has no Viking skills, but is the best Thrones and Bones player and has the mind of a master strategist. Thianna is half frost giant, half human and to her people, undersized and in the way. Karn and Thianna will have to work together to save their peoples from an ancient evil Karn may have unleashed.
Tunnels, by Gordon
Will Burrows and his father love digging holes, but when his father goes missing Will finds an underground world full of humans that seek to destroy the surface world.
World Without Heroes, by Mull
Jason finds himself in a strange magical world after falling into a hippo. Rachel just happened to follow the right butterfly, and with Jason’s help they must discover a secret phrase split into many parts and hidden across the known world to defeat the invincible tyrant that has crushed all resistance in the world.
Book Gnome quick history
It all begins with an idea.