Today, the new Dungeons and Dragons Starter Box lands on this side of the Atlantic Ocean, under the moniker Heroes of the Borderlands. A much heavier and bulkier box than the current Dungeons of the Isle of Tempest Starter Box, more expensive and, above all, with far more physical elements. What exactly does it contain? Is so much “tangible” content necessary? Is it worth the price? Does it bring anything to veteran or more regular Dungeons and Dragons players?
These are a lot of questions, no doubt, but fortunately for all of you, we at Gamereactor have been going through every card, every adventure booklet, and every polyhedral dice to answer all your questions for several days now. Everyone, come on down to our game room and make yourselves comfortable, the pizza will be here soon.
I’ve spent years trying to convince people to play pen and paper tabletop roleplaying games, both with Dungeons & Dragons and other titles like Pathfinder (and Starfinder), Vampire: The Masquerade, or 7th Sea, to name a few. Of all of them, the most logical to learn always seemed to me the D&D ruleset, which besides having one of the most extensive collections of books, support material, and resources, is currently experiencing a new boom in popularity thanks, in large part, to the broadcasting of games through streaming platforms. Suddenly, I’ve found that playing Dungeons and Dragons now seems ‘cool’, like really ‘cool’, and today more than ever it is necessary to offer a sea of potential new fans an entry point that is as impactful, engaging and in keeping with the current game as possible, without losing the classic roots. Heroes of the Borderlands achieves this perfectly.
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As soon as we open the box, we find a four-sided sheet of paper with the basic getting started guide. On these four sheets are condensed the most basic concepts about what a role-playing game is, what the box contains and which materials are for the eyes of the DM (Dungeon Master) and which are for the rest of the players. It also shows how to use these resources in a specific layout on the table where the game is to be played. In short, it is the first document that you should review as soon as you open the box.
After that you will find four more booklets. One called Game Guide and three others called Adventure. Put aside the adventures for the moment and focus on the Play Guide. This is actually a very condensed and light version of the Dungeons and Dragons Player’s Handbook, here boiled down to the basics of how characters, races, and classes, plus item, action, and spell distribution work for characters of levels 1-3 of the four character classes included in Heroes of the Borderlands: Fighter, Wizard, Rogue, and Cleric. All players will probably want to flip through it the first time, but it’s best left in a central part of the table for free reference while the introductory adventure unfolds.
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The three Heroes of the Borderlands adventure booklets are intended to be separate but loosely connected campaign scenarios for 3-5 players, each emphasising a particular aspect of the D&D experience. Wilderness is designed to teach the aspects of environmental exploration and mindfulness by exploring a wilderness populated by bandits and dangerous creatures. With it we learn how to follow objectives, collect gold, and deal with enemy encounters. Caves of Chaos is a complex, multi-level dungeon crawl that emphasises combat and using team strategy to achieve victory (and ideally, all in one piece). Finally, Keep of the Borderlands takes us to the Fortress that dominates the Borderlands, where interpretation and roleplay is the dominant note. All of these adventures are in turn divided into different sections, and each of them can take up to an hour or hour and a half to play, so we’re talking potentially up to 60 hours of guided play. Far superior to the Dragons of Tempest Isle adventure, although the character level range is the same: Level 1 to Level 3. The adventure booklets are DM-only material, so only the DM should be able to read their contents, and they can be played in any order you like. As all three stories take place in the same region, you decide in which order you want to play, or if you prefer to skip one. And even better, if after playing them, you want to continue freely exploring the area. The possibilities, as always in D&D, are almost endless.
The Heroes of the Borderlands Starter Box isn’t just for learning to play Dungeons and Dragons: it’s also for learning to run D&D games (and any RPG based on similar rules systems, for that matter). Right now, I can’t think of anything more sought after in the world of tabletop gaming than a good Dungeon Master, which is almost starting to be seen as a “professionalised” position. The great thing about this starter set is that in addition to the three adventures, there are endless visual resources and aids for this DM task, such as tables with weapon and equipment prices, individual item cards, NPCs, and even the tavern menu. There are nine large grid maps to help situate the action and characters in the game, as well as monster and enemy cards to help you understand how combat and positioning works. There are also cards for each player, where they can place cards (another important visual aid) with their race, background, and active equipment, as well as life and gold counters. All in all, it is much more convenient to explain and to assimilate all the basics of the game quickly.
Finally, I can’t leave out the other fundamental element of playing Dungeons and Dragons: Dice. Heroes of the Borderlands includes a set of 11 polyhedral dice of 4, 6, 8, 8, 10, 12, and 20 sides, all of which are necessary to play the game. Several six-sided and 20-sided dice are included to facilitate certain multiple rolls. They have white lines on a classic red background, and also reflect well the classic and partly nostalgic component of this very special Starter Set edition. Because Heroes of the Borderlands will also be a prominent collector’s item for any veteran player. The included adventures are revisions of the introductory Keep of the Borderlands module, published in late 1979, which early editions of Dungeons and Dragons from the late 1970s and early 1980s included, and which was written by Gary Gygax himself.
So, is Dungeons and Dragons: Heroes of the Borderlands Starter Set worth it? The answer is a resounding yes. There is no easier way for newcomers to D&D to get both a starter adventure and the materials to run it and fall in love with the game, and it was described to the attendees of his panel at SDCCM by the lead designer of D&D 5th Edition himself, Jeremy Crawford. It’s designed for everyone to enjoy, whether they’ve been playing for 50 years or this is their first day, and it honours the beginnings of this influential role-playing game in popular culture. Players in the United States already have it in their hands, those in the United Kingdom have it on sale today, and for the rest of the European territories it will arrive in specialised shops on 16 October 2025. Localised versions in other languages (German, French, Italian, and Spanish) will arrive in March 2026.
Grade: 10/10