I’m going to try and take part
in the #RPGaDay writing prompts for 2021. The idea is there’s a prompt every
day that asks you to write about something in RPG’s you really like. There are
a couple of alternate prompts offered but I’m going to try and do the main one
every day. If you want to try it yourself, you can head here for the calendar
for this year.
As a
writer for Meeplegamers.com I cover a lot of RPG products. One of the most
frequent types of supplements I get are starter sets. I like starter sets and
have developed some opinions on how starter sets should be put together.
A
starter set should do a couple of things. It should give you an overview of the
game and the rules, have a nice introductory adventure to set the tone for the
system, let’s you figure out if it’s a game you’d enjoy, a selection of pre-generated
characters, and do it for a pretty reasonable price point. Some things they
might also include but don’t need are any type of special bits you need to run
the game, a decent selection of tokens for use on battle maps, some cards the
cover frequently used pieces of equipment or abilities, and some blank
character sheets for future use.
I’ve
hit a lot of different starter sets with a range of qualities. By far the best
one is the Legend of the Five Rings Starter Set from Fantasy Flight Games. It
was one of the first ones I reviewed and it set the tone for what I wanted out
of a good starter set.
Rule
Book
It has
a rules reference book that is set out in a way to help you answer any
questions you might have as you play. It’s designed to supplement the game play
and how you’ll run your players through the rest of the included materials. The
rules reference is meant to be the second book you read in this set and is used
to fill in any holes that might come up as you play. It’s not a full rule book,
you’ll need to purchase that separately but you won’t need it for use with the
Starter Set.
Adventure
Module
The
adventure book included in this set is meant to be the first book you read. If
you’re going to be running this for your friends you should only need to read
this book. In fact, before running the game for my friends, this was the only
book in the set I read. The adventure evolves as it moves forward adding a new
rule or concept as you play through it. The first scene in the game is entirely
role play based. You’re just talking to a peasant you meet on the road. It lets
the player meet a local, learn about how the world works, get used to the idea of
talking in character, and find out some information about what’s coming up.
The
second scene introduces dice mechanics and how to perform a simple role to
solve a problem. The second scene also has a strong role play component to
build on the first. It moves the story and the game forward while adding to the
rules and mechanics the players understand.
Future
Enjoyment
The
adventure and rules provided are an excellent selection of mechanics, theme,
and story that lets players know if they’ll want to delve deeper into the game.
By the end of the adventure provided in the game you’ll have seen everything
this game has to offer. However, you’ll only have been given a hint of the
depth to the game. You can expand you’re knowledge of the system and the rules
if you want by going deeper in the game with further play but at this point you’ve
seen social encounter, combat encounters, and been given a good example of how
much of each you’ll be getting. You’ll also have a good representation of how difficult
the different bits are.
Additionally,
if you want to keep going and see what else you can get for these characters
there’s a second adventure you can download from their site. This adventure
continues the story for these characters, offers a couple more systems from the
game, and gives the players more choices moving forward. Though it might be
more helpful to have the full rules if you want to go this way I don’t think it
will necessary.
Pre-generated
Characters
The box
comes with four well designed and diverse characters that players can use. Each
character sheet is designed and annotated to show what your character can do
and when things will be useful. It also has multiple pages that are used during
the session. Midway through the adventure the characters level up. To work
through this process you turn to the second page where the sheet walks players
through the changes that occur when leveling and gives them a couple of points
to spend to alter the character.
They
even have three additional character online that you can download and play if
you so desire. The three downloadable characters are more advanced than the
ones included in the base game adding different themes, ideas, and styles of
play to the game. For example one of the downloadable characters has a horse,
one of them is less concerned with their outward appearance, and another has a
dark secret. (If you’re a fan of L5R you can probably guess which clan each of
them is from.) This also gives you a character from each of the seven great
clans of Rokugan to choose from.
The
only drawback to this is that they only give you one copy of each sheet and don’t
have a place online where I can download copies. This is slightly surprising
considering the three downloadable characters.
Price
The
basic box is $40 and I get that it’s a bit high. However, in this instance I
think it’s worth it. In addition to what I’ve already laid out it comes with
most of the extra bits I like. A full set of the custom dice you need to play,
a large collection of the cardboard tokens for the character bits, and a map of
Rokugan and the town the adventure takes place in. I would have loved some
equipment cards and such, but overall I think it’s worth the money and something
I’ve used multiple times for different groups.
I
could go the other direction with this review and talk about the starter sets
that didn’t work for me or fell down in some way. One in particular I still haven’t
gotten to the table because the game requires custom dice that I’ll need to buy
in order to run the game comes leaping to mind.
However,
I think RPG a Day is more about putting out positive vibes for the hobby and I’d
rather sing the praises of one game than spew venom at another.
I
would love to hear from you folks. I really like starter sets and am forming
quite a collection of them What are some good sets out there I can look for to
include in my collection? I’m always looking for more.
I’ll
see you tomorrow when I talk about Move.
Until
then, stay safe and be well.
No comments:
Post a Comment