It's Gonna Be Easier Than Ever to Play Dungeons and Dragons

By Brandin Tyrrel

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Today during DnDLive 2019: The Descent, Wizards of the Coast has announced the D&D Essentials Kit, a new starter box product designed to make it easier to get started playing Dungeons and Dragons.

The D&D Essentials Kit (pictured below) will feature a newly designed rulebook to help those interested in playing Dungeons and Dragons by teaching them how to make characters without the often intimidating amount of information contained within the three core rulebooks. The kit includes a 64-page rulebook for creating characters levels one thru six, from five different classes (the four iconic classes and the bard).

Like the Dungeon and Dragons Starter Set, which includes a selection of everything you need to get started playing, the D&D Essentials Kit also contains a brand new adventure called Dragon of Icespire Peak written by Chris Perkins, Principle Narrative Designer on Dungeons and Dragons.

Dragon of Icespire Peak is scalable for characters level one thru six and takes place in the same location as The Lost Mine of Phandelver (the adventure included in the D&D Starter Set.) Both adventures can be played together, or you can run one right into another. The Dragon of Icespire Peak is meant to be a starter adventure for new Dungeon Masters that will guide you through 14 different regions tied to quests.

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D&D can be an intimidating game for newcomers, but if you’re at all curious to try, the Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set is where to begin. It includes a rulebook, an adventure book, five pre-made characters, six dice, and a character sheet – everything you need to get started on your adventure.

The other element that might prevent people from getting onboard with Dungeons and Dragons is other people to play with. That’s why the kit includes a new rules variant for one-on-one play, where one Dungeon Master and one player can run the Dragon of Icespire Peak using sidekick rules to fill out a party with non-player characters.

In addition to all the above, the D&D Essentials Kit includes a set of dice (including two D20s for advantage and disadvantage and four six-sided dice to roll statistics for your character) and a new DM screen with all new art.

The box also contains a map of the town in which the adventure is set, with a larger map showing the surrounding region on the other side. Also included is a box of cards that include things like magic items, rule reminder cheat sheets, sidekicks, and more.

The D&D Essentials Kit will be available for $25 at most Target stores in North America on June 24 before it rolls out everywhere else on September 3.

Wizards of the Coast also announced Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus today, the new adventure book that’s being described as a combination of Hell and Mad Max: Fury Road.

Brandin Tyrrel is IGN’s Xbox Editor. You can find him on Unlocked, or chat over on Twitter at @BrandinTyrrel.