D&D (2024) Take A Deeper Look At The New D&D Starter Set's Card-Based Characters

Heroes of the Borderlands, the upcoming Dungeons & Dragons 2024 starter set due out in September, was on display at New York Toy Fair, and the YouTube channel Otakus & Geeks were given a brief demo. The way the cards, standees, and maps are presented it looks like they took some inspiration from 1989's boardgame HeroQuest!


  • Character creation is card-based.
  • Each player has a 'class board', such Fighter, Cleric, Wizard, and Warrior (it's not clear if the demonstrator misspoke and meant to say Rogue or not).
  • Then you pick a species card and a background card and place them on your class board.
  • Those components the tell you what equipment or spell cards to also pick up--for example, the Fighter takes the cards for chainmail. greatsword, a lantern, and one additional item.
  • The class board and the equipment cards tell the players what dice to roll for attacks, etc.
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  • The DM has a small, 10-page guide.
  • There's a big battlemap for each of the three main areas (presumably Keep, Caves, and Wilderness?), and a booklet for each.
  • Monsters have tokens and corresponding monster cards for the DM.

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I think the components look amazing and the idea is great. I love the custom dice shown in some of the images from Toy Fare. Also I love how many battle mats this might have.

However if the price point is $50 and it's pushed adjacent to board games I think the cardboard components will drag it down.
The monster token box, imho, is amazing, but it was priced at $60, and that killed it.
 

Already been tried. The Gammaworld edition that came out under 4e introduced expansion random card booster packs for mutants and equipment. It did not go well. The customer backlash was intense. I don't think they will do that again.

looks at his beloved stack of Gamma World 4E cards
Well, seems like I didn't buy enough of those...

I'm a sucker for tactile components in TTRPGs and I think that if done right those cards could ease new players into learning and understanding the system. And 5E is really not a rules light system with all the different character features and such, so every help is appreciated. I'm definitely picking this set up, although I mainly play online these days.
 

looks at his beloved stack of Gamma World 4E cards
Well, seems like I didn't buy enough of those...

I'm a sucker for tactile components in TTRPGs and I think that if done right those cards could ease new players into learning and understanding the system. And 5E is really not a rules light system with all the different character features and such, so every help is appreciated. I'm definitely picking this set up, although I mainly play online these days.
I said earlier that I liked this new starter set. It's well-made and looks good. I'll grab a copy for sure.

What I don't like is random boosters. I worked in a hobby shop for several years and did not like what I saw: Booster addiction, card theft among players, teens who stole cards from younger kids on the street and tried to sell them to me at the store, and, worst of all, adults trying to con kids into unfair exchanges to get their grubby hands on rare cards.
 

I could see how it might change how people approach the game and what people expect from a game experience.

Though, if I can touch upon an idea I mentioned in a previous thread (for which I was called crazy,) I could see a scenario in which cards and components are part of the sales model going forward.

Perhaps even randomized card packs
I doubt randomized cards, but they did sell cards in 4E for powers, and we've had 5E spells and some class/racial ability cards put out.

I could see it being done, but beyond spell cards - they're not for me.
 

I doubt randomized cards, but they did sell cards in 4E for powers, and we've had 5E spells and some class/racial ability cards put out.

I could see it being done, but beyond spell cards - they're not for me.
Honestly I can't see it done. Like it almost seems like people ignoring what the actual content is.
 

Yeah Ive been thinking about card based character creation for a bit, then tend to leap to cardbased combat too - looks like a fun little set

I can't help but think that this is partly why the Backgrounds in 5.24 are structured the way they are. I'm against 'picking' a background - I think they should be 'woven' (personal choice, YMMV). Is it possible that the text is so sparse and the 'packages' so narrow in variety because they had the form factor of a card in mind? And perhaps this is why the custom backgrounds are in the DMG?
 

I can't help but think that this is partly why the Backgrounds in 5.24 are structured the way they are. I'm against 'picking' a background - I think they should be 'woven' (personal choice, YMMV). Is it possible that the text is so sparse and the 'packages' so narrow in variety because they had the form factor of a card in mind? And perhaps this is why the custom backgrounds are in the DMG?
Maybe the other way around: the simple packaged Backgrounds were to make character creation smoother, but the cards might have come from the simple format more likely than the other way around.
 

This kind of reminds me of Dragon Bane. The whole plug n play git to PLAYING now, not digging through rules to make characters thang. I already have the 3 DnD boxed sets- and The Starter kits come with pretty good pre-gen characters. So, I'll just go with those.

I do envy the big adventure maps, tho, lol. I'll have to look for used ones on Ebay after Christmas. (I'm cheap, and don't have the urge to give WOTC any more of my money)

Of course, I ALSO ought to crack open my DragonBane boxed set one of these days, lol.
 

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