Essentials Kit

Dungeons & Dragons, 5th Edition

by Wizards of the Coast

Everything you need to create characters and play the new adventures in this introduction to the world's greatest roleplaying game. Designed for 2-6 players.

"The Dungeons & Dragons Essentials Kit is the perfect introduction to the legendary role-playing game." --Forbes

"Truly excellent."--Paste

- Take your first step into the world of Dungeons & Dragons, or get a more expansive D&D experience after playing the Starter Set.
- Play with groups as small as two players (one Dungeon Master & one adventurer) for the first time in D&D fifth edition with the introduction of "sidekicks."
- Battle and plunder your way through Phandalin in the all new D&D adventure, Dragon of Icespire Peak.
- Experience the thrill of being a Dungeon Master behind a four-panel DM screen with at-a-glance game rules for quick and easy reference.
- Continue your Dungeons & Dragons journey with codes to unlock content on D&D Beyond, the official digital toolset for D&D.

Components: (1) rulebook, (1) Dragon of Icespire Peak introductory adventure, (6) blank character sheets, (11 ) dice, (1) 33" � 8.5" Dungeon Master's screen, (81) cards for magic items, sidekicks and more, (1) 21" x 15" double-sided poster map for use with the adventure, (1) code for 50% the digital version of the Player's Handbook, access to supplementary content, including additional adventure materials to continue the story into higher levels of play.

Genres: Dungeons and Dragons, Fantasy, Role Playing Games, Gaming, Games, Reference, Fiction

128 pages, Unbound

First published September 3, 2019

About the author

Wizards of the Coast LLC (often referred to as WotC /ˈwɒtˌsiː/ or simply Wizards) is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for games. Originally a basement-run role-playing game publisher, the company popularized the collectible card game genre with Magic: The Gathering in the mid-1990s, acquired the popular Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game by purchasing the failing company TSR, and experienced tremendous success by publishing the licensed Pokémon Trading Card Game. The company's corporate headquarters are located in Renton, Washington in the United States.[1]

Wizards of the Coast publishes role-playing games, board games, and collectible card games. They have received numerous awards, including several Origins Awards. The company has been a subsidiary of Hasbro since 1999. All Wizards of the Coast stores were closed in 2004.

Reviews

[Diz · Rating 5 out of 5]

This Dungeons and Dragons set is nicer that the starter set that was released earlier. This includes rules for character creation, a better dice set, and a DM screen. The addition of sidekick rules is a nice bonus, especially if you are playing with a smaller group (you can even play with only one player other than the DM). The only downside is that the adventure included in the starter set is better than the adventure in this set.

[Vanessa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Now that I've played this module once (Or at least part of it) I feel like I can give a better review on this and I'll have to adjust my review accordingly. For full transparency I own the German translation of this set. I am not sure if there are any differences due to that, but just in case I thought it just fair to mention.

I would not recommend this set to other new players of DnD. I don't entirely regret buying the kit, since some of the included material I will use in future games such as the dice, some of the cards and the DM screen (more as a physical divide rather than for the printed information. The information on it can be hard to read from a regular sitting position and it was quicker to look things up online instead) but the actual content was disappointing.

Firstly I think the rules are not explained well. I was not entirely new to the game (I have played in a few games and have watched some DnD campaigns online) but I still found the rules hard to understand and quite convoluted. Oftentimes I would find myself looking up rules online instead or watching youtube videos on them.
Same can be said about the character creation. My players mostly had even less experience and less of an understanding of the rules than I had, so I ended up providing a lot of help (if not even in some cases creating the entire character), and most of them has to use online guides and use the dnd beyond character creator for help. Especially spells were confusing.

I do like the modular approach to the story itself. The separate quests can almost act like one-shots, and the hurdle for new players is less, than getting invested in a longer campaign. But the details of those separate quests are a bit lacking. My players selected the dwarven mine quest so my experience lies within this one, but it was very generic. Looking up the stats for the monsters in there I could have easily thrown together something similar without a lot of prep involved. There were a lot of rooms in the mines that were absolutely useless unless you as a DM invented something on the fly. It was one of the things my players also mentioned, that they would have enjoyed exploring the different rooms more of there was some incentive, be it some traps or puzzles or rewards beyond some dusty statues.
Generally it seemed that as a DM I had to invent a lot of things on the fly. Which I understand is part of being a DM and I think that perfectly fine, but given that this is as I mentioned before geared towards beginners, many who will have even less experience than I do, it does seem a lot to put on a new DM and the manual could have included some guidance on how to deal with it.

All in all I did have a lot of fun playing it, but it was more so fun in spite of what the kit provided rather than because of the kit. Beginners would be much more advised in my opinion to read the free basic guide to DnD online, buy some dice and find another more engaging one shot online to play.
While some of the material included was nice enough it doesn't outshine the flaws with the module itself.

[D · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my first foray into D&D... and I'm the DM on top. While the game play is super fun (5 stars), the rule book isn't my favourite. As far as I understand, this is the "dumbed down" version of D&D, but as a beginner (I've played one other RPG 20 years ago) I still find it too complex. It would've been better to further simplify the rules. I also find that the rules aren't well explained. Half the time I'm watching YT videos or googling stuff to understand what's supposed to happen. For example, I couldn't make heads nor tails of the explanations regarding armour class or damage calculation. I shouldn't have to google this.
That aside, the game is fun to play with a group of friends. I also find that the individual quests are fairly well explained and the book provides useful maps.

EDIT:

I've plyed through the whole set with my friends. Once we got over the initial hickups things got easier. We had heaps of fun. Having played in several campaigns since, this remains one of my favourites.

[Jasmine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good introductory adventure! I like the modular nature, and the cards for items and sidekick rules I can see aiding play quite a bit.

Lost stars for the really problematic mental health depictions in the rock gnome adventure, especially because that could have easily been fixed by swapping “madness” with “paranoia” and “deranged” with “sleeplessness has made her erratic”. Come on, folks. Also only one nod to LGBTQIA representation, and it’s in the madness chapter? This feels dated, and not in a good way.

[James Bowman · Rating 4 out of 5]

The sequel to the 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set, this set provides another on-ramp for new D&D players. The two are comparable, but there are some noticeable differences between their approaches.

Overall: The Essentials Kit includes much the same material as the Starter Set, but more so: a bigger rulebook and more dice, plus extras like a miniature DM screen, reference cards, a poster map, and blank character sheets. The physical extras can be particularly useful for onboarding new players and DMs. The philosophy of the Kit is also a bit different - the Starter Set expected you to use pregens in an "adventure path", while Essentials expects you to create your own characters and follow your own path. (They even expect most or all of the first session to focus on character creation.)

The rulebook: Although it only covers a slightly larger level range (levels 1-6, rather than 1-5), the Essentials rulebook provides significantly more information than the Starter Set rulebook. It's much closer to being a condensed Player's Handbook, and it would certainly be possible to run a complete campaign with it (as long as you don't mind stopping at level 6). The only downside is that the higher level of detail makes it harder to parse, and likely more intimidating for beginners.

Regarding specific options, this includes full-fledged rules for four races (dwarves, elves, halflings, humans), with two subraces each (excepting humans); five classes (bard, cleric, fighter, rogue, wizard), with two subclasses each; five backgrounds; a small selection of low-level magic items (mostly from Xanathar's Guide to Everything); and a new innovation, sidekicks, NPCs with limited classes (expert, spellcaster, warrior) that level up alongside the PCs. They're meant for single-player games, but can be used generally as well.

The adventure: Dragon of Icespire Peak, unlike the now-iconic Lost Mine of Phandelver, is basically a sandbox environment. The players set up shop in Phandalin, and seek out quests to complete. While there is an overarching story with the titular dragon, the characters will spend nearly all of their time on these smaller quests. Leveling is even based on completing certain quests, rather than collecting XP (though the idea of XP is acknowledged).

Conceptually, this is refreshing, considering how much the 5th Edition line focuses on "adventure paths" - it's certainly nice to teach new players another approach. It's also highly customizable and adds a lot of replay value. The loose, quest-focused structure also likely works well for easing in players familiar with modern video-game RPGs.

The catch is that the connections between the quests and the dragon big bad is kind of thin, which doesn't make the finale seem very special. In addition, many of the quests could use more substance (one is basically just a monster fight then "talk to NPC"). There are definitely good things in here (an optional quest at a corrupted lighthouse stands out, and certain NPCs will surely be player favorites), but the overall result is just a bit less satisfying than Phandelver.

Conclusion: The Essentials Kit surpasses the Starter Set as a condensed version of D&D 5th Edition, with more than enough material to run one or more campaigns. But the Starter Set still likely beats it in accessibility, and has a more memorable adventure. Both are great, and neither is really an obvious superior as an entry point for new players, just different methods. Using them together, however, could be very interesting... (A-)

[Matthew J. · Rating 2 out of 5]

It absolutely kills me that D&D is the game most people are introduced to when it comes to tabletop roleplaying. How that is true and the hobby continues to draw in more and more fans is beyond my comprehension.
Take this with a grain of salt, because I've never liked D&D. I've always found it's rules to be clunky, awkward, and frankly detrimental to fun & creativity. I've always found that games of D&D (I've played the original, AD&D 2nd Ed., 3rd Ed., and now 5th Ed.) are good in spite of the game itself, not because of it. And I truly believe I'd have given up on the hobby when I was 12 or 13 if D&D were the first game I'd played.
All that said, I think this is a pretty bad product. First, let me say that there is good stuff in it. The components are nice. I could see how the cards could be handy. It's got a nice map and an acceptable screen. The adventure provided seems like it could be pretty useful and provide quite a bit of real-time gaming opportunity. In fact, I'll probably be holding onto it and using it in some other, functional rules system.
But then we come to the rules. Getting beyond what I find to be a cumbersome game mechanic with overly complicated rules that are counter intuitive more than they're not, there's the actual presentation of the rules in this boxed set.
Who organized it? I joked when I first started reading it that it was like a William S. Burroughs "cut-ups" project. At best, I imagine it might function as a reference book to someone who already knows the game's rules. But as someone trying to get a handle on them, it seemed to be perfectly obtuse. Starting with character generation, it spent much of its time telling you to do stuff for reasons that would make sense later. I don't know if it ever explicitly explains the core mechanic. If it did, I was already having a hard time concentrating. It's talking about bonus and penalty dice before explaining what they're a bonus and penalty to.
So, would I recommend this to people looking to get into the hobby? Hell no.
I wouldn't recommend D&D in any form, but I would definitely advise against this.
Try the Call of Cthulhu Starter Kit or the Alien Starter Set. If you're dead-set on Fantasy, there's a RunesQuest starter kit coming soon, and it's a better game in every way. There are almost certainly better places to start with the hobby.

[Wilson Tun · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this Essential Kit like 5 years ago (Yes, THAT long) but I have never once got an opportunity to play it because my friends were too busy or couldn’t get invested to it.

Yesterday, I finally got to open this huge box and started playing and rolling. Since all of us are amateurs, I made my own bare strip home brew version of DnD 5e and focused specifically on narrative story rather than a RPG game which turned out to create one of the most comedic adventure in my opinion.

I played with 3 friends of mine, a group of misfits, 2 is criminals and 1 is a conman. A rogue, a wizard, and a bard. They stumbled upon Sword Coast to pursue a quest about a Dragon terrorizing the cities and their intention to take it down, turning a story of misfits accidentally turned heroes due to their greed. Even though I was a DM, it was so engaging to play along with different NPC’s voices and noises. My friends played along and even made their own background noises during the combat to make it even more funny and interesting.

I’m planning to introduce my friends to more complex rules and details in the future. I might need to read up more on DnD books now.

[Tabetha Taifalos-Ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

defs worth it 👌

[Dom Mooney · Rating 5 out of 5]

TL;DR: this is the one to buy the kid who has read up on D&D and wants to get into it. AKA me in 1983. At £20 (street), it fills a great niche between the £90 for the core D&D rules and the £15 for Starter Set. You get a lot for your money.

I picked up the D&D Essentials Kit when it was announced, and I'm glad I did. It comes in a similar box the Starter Kit, but this one is full of material. It reminds me very much of the Holmes Basic D&D kit that I started with many years ago, except that it has dice, not chits.

This is a full game; unlike the Starter Kit, the Essentials Kit includes character generation rules. The core rules are 64 pages long, full colour and perfect bound; a cut down from the Player's Handbook. You can play one of four races (dwarf, halfling, elf, human) and one of five classes (bard, cleric, fighter, rogue, wizard) and the rules cover up to 6th level. So it's covering a similar span to the Starter Kit in character development, except you get blank character sheets here. The number of available backgrounds is cut down to five. The back of the book has a summary of the conditions. There are new rules for sidekicks, effectively henchpeople for when you have a solo player or a low number of characters. There's no index but a comprehensive table of contents.

The second book in the box is also 64 pages long and is the Dragon of Icespire Peak campaign. More on the contents later. I've covered both books with library grade slip-on covers, but I do that with most roleplaying books.

We also have a better set of polyhedral dice, and a small but surprisingly useful DM's screen. It's flimsy compared the official screen but will be fine if it lives in the box. We've also got loads of cards.

The cards come on punched sheets so you need to separate them, and also assemble the deck box for them. There are cards for sidekicks to hire, for the conditions a character suffers (so you can hand it to them), reference cards for combat, initiative order cards and magic item cards. Finally, there are quest cards tied to the quests in the campaign.

The final item in the box is a sheet with codes to unlock the campaign on dndbeyond.com; this also unlocks additional content to allow you to take the game beyond 6th level with more adventures. There's a code to purchase the full Player's Handbook digitally for 50% less (so $15).

The 'Dragon of Icespire Peak' campaign shares the same base as 'Lost Mines of Phandelver' in the Starter Kit, set as it is around the town on Phandalin on the Sword Coast and deals with the consequences of the arrival of a dragon in the region. It opens with guidance on character generation and how to use sidekicks and discusses the adventure structures used and how to approach them. The whole set up is very reminiscent of a MMORPG; sometimes it made me thing of my lost hours playing 'Torchlight' on the Mac. You start off with three quests available which the townmaster will pay for adventurers ad ne'er-do-wells to complete. When you complete two, you unlock an additional three quests. When you unlock two of the next set, you unlock a final three sets of quests. Working through these should mean that the characters have a fighting chance to deal with the White Dragon at the heart of the adventure. The scenarios can also point you at each other encounters and adventures. There are fourteen different locations detailed. The dragon's lair is not a quest that is handed out; the players can decide if they want to hunt the beast out.

Each location has a map for the DM, but no player maps (not even digitally). There’s a large separate colour map of the Sword Coast and Phandalin. The locations have short descriptions and there is not much scope for waffle and unnecessary text. Tactics and responses from the opposition are covered. The level of guidance is lower than that given with the Starter Set's campaign, but it's a definite step up from B2 The Keep on the Borderlands. The campaign will reveal itself as the players explore the frontier region.

You could easily integrate the campaigns from the Starter Set and Essentials Kit together, and it would be pretty awesome to do so.

This is a fantastic introductory set; it retails for £5 more than the Starter Set and it feels so much more value for money. As a starting DM, I'd want this set, not the Starter Set, because it is more flexible and has everything I'd need; a decent number of dice, screen, cards, much more comprehensive rules. You could use this set with one of the core adventure books if you wanted to. This is the set to give to a kid who wants to get into D&D and has read a bit about it. This is Basic D&D for the new millennium.

That said, the voice and arc of the 'Lost Mines of Phandelver' is stronger than the 'Dragon of Icespire Peak'. That's because Icespire is a true sandbox with points of interest and the journey to the conclusion of the campaign is far more player-led than Phandelver. I'd want to use both sets together though.

Highly recommended.

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am not entirely certain this product was needed. In a sense, it is the starter kit 2.0. Originally billed as a continuation of the original starter kit, it was to take characters from level 5 or 6 up to level 10 or so. Instead, it resets characters back to level 1 and is designed to progress them through Level 6.

This set does not have pre-generated characters like a starte set would but does give a few blank character sheets. It includes a nice map of the northern portion of the Sword Coast with a detailed map of Phandelin on the back. It includes numbered initiative cards to track turn order, one copy of all the conditions, and all the special items you can find throughout the adventure. There are also several pre-generated sidekicks, explained a bot more below. All of these are printed on card stock sheets that are perforated into nine cards each page. A flattened deck box is provided to store the cards once separated. This also come with a set of dice in what is now becoming more common to include a few extra of the standard 7-dice sets. A second d20 is available (for those dis/advantage rolls) and 3 extra d6's so you can actually roll a character up.

The presentation is different here as well. Instead of a sandbox like narrative that helps a new DM get their feet under them, this is a series of one-shot adventures usually laid out in 2 pages. It gives you the bare bones of what one needs to run them without the backstory the original starter did so well. There is a little bit of gatekeeping in that the higher adventures aren't presented until some of the lower ones are accomplished. The end goal, confronting the white dragon, is pretty much alluded to right off the bat instead of the mystery surrounding the Mine of Phandelver.

The most interesting aspect of this is the introduction of Side Kicks, allowing a smaller adventure party (and even just one player besides the DM) to bring on some simplified yet effective compatriots that can be easily controlled under a player. These sidekicks come in three basic varieties: Warrior, Spellcaster, and Expert, roughly translating to your fighter-class, wizard-class, and rogue-class. They can round out the party's needs and level up with them along the way. But even this concept was fully expanded and better executed in the most recent sourcebook, Tasha's Cauldron of Everything.

This set best fills in the gaps for those that want to level up characters for some of the printed adventures that would rather start your Player Characters at level 3-5 without giving you a better option in the book to get you there. Wizards of the Coast missed the boat by not having this pick up after Phandelver. While it is nice to add to the collection of official adventures with a couple hooks, "essential" it is not.

[Nadienne Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting follow-up and/or possible concurrent adventure with the D&D 5th Edition Starter Kit. Instead of pre-generated characters, this Kit allows you to make your own from limited choices (better for newer/newish players).

However, whereas the Starter Kit granted experiences per encounter as one normally would, the adventure in this Kit requests that the DM just have the characters level up after x number of missions.

Also, this "campaign" is set-up much less narratively than the one in the Starter Kit. The Lost Mine of Phandelver is a story-driven campaign to take characters from levels 1 to 5 with a clear beginning, middle, and end, and a chain/series of events which leads the characters through a story that can easily serve as the launching point of a campaign.

This one, The Dragon of Icespire Peak, is much more "video game" adventuring. There's a "Adventurer's Board" in town and the players are just supposed to choose their next mission, complete it, return, get reward, and repeat. The "climax" is the final confrontation with the Dragon - however, there's a mechanic where the Dragon can randomly appear at any site, so it's possible that the characters may have killed it out in the middle of nowhere sometime. And there's really no finale.

It's not bad...it's just more a book of adventure sites with a lot more magical gear to give away and much less reason to be.

I think that the two combined together, however, both the Starter Kit, and this Essentials Kit can actually form the basis of a very nice campaign. They both occur in the same location, and sort of fill in each other's blank spots.

I'm not saying I don't like this Set...because I do. I just feel that each Kit is lacking what the other provides. Were I a brand new person just getting into D&D, I think I would much rather like the Starter Kit as I'm a big story, narrative guy. However, I think most people would probably prefer the Essentials Kit due to its easier level of customization and, as each encounter is sort of its own entity, it'd be far easier to just go from site to site without wondering how they're linked.

[Quinn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pros:
- "Essentials" comes with more stuff than the "Starter Kit" (more dice, more table-top maps, etc)
- The included rulebook is more comprehensive than the one provided in the "starter set." It is no replacement for the Player's Handbook, though. Many classes are skipped over (Warlock, Paladin, etc), and many subclasses aren't mentioned. Also, classes on offer are only discussed up to level six.

Cons:
- My main complaint about this set is that it reads more like a collection of side-quests than a cohesive campaign; this is due, in large part, to the fact that many of the "quests" come from a "Quest Board." None of the quests are bad, but they lack the direction of the "Starter Kit."
- The books are printed on the same awful, glossy paper as the "Starter Kit"
- I'm disappointed by how little coverage "side-kicks" got (2 pages of 65 in the rulebook), but I am glad it was included as a mechanic.
- The spells section doesn't specify which classes can use which spells; that must be looked up in the "classes" section. There are also a few weird formatting choices (e.g. putting a sidebar where one isn't needed).

Conclusion:
I found the "Essentials Kit," a fun read. While it lacks some of the overarching structure of the "Starter Kit," it adds value by providing more content and pack-ins. If I could only pick one, I would pick the "Starter Kit." Given the price, though (around $15-20 USD), it may be worth it to pick up both.

See more reviews at Quinn's Curios.

[Pádraic]

I don't have the kit itself, but this is a placeholder to talk about the adventures contained within, as they don't have their own separate pages. My understanding is that Dragon of Icespire Peak comes with the kit, and then there's a code included to download the other three adventures.

Dragon of Icespire Peak
A simple sandbox that can function like an introduction to the game, similar to Lost Mine of Phandelver, or else as a sequel/expansion to that. But despite its increased amount of locations, they feel thin and insubstantial, and you'd have to manufacture a through-thread of your own. If you want a place to start, I reckon Phandelver's the better bet. Still, I can't be totally down on anything that includes a cursed lighthouse, and wererats.

Storm Lord's Wrath
D&D's gotten a lot of mileage out of cults huh. Anyway, much stronger stuff here. The encounters are meatier and funnel to a clear conclusion. The rebuilding of Leilon is a great anchor point for characters to get invested and make connections. Something that ought to be standard are the options included not just for running combat with less or more players, but also the details regarding what happens if they fail, and by how much, which is a fantastic idea. Even the dungeons are all of manageable size. And I am forced to admit that a storm cult is one of the cooler kinds of cults.

Sleeping Dragon's Wake
Another sandboxy adventure, functioning as a bridge between the previous one and the next, and seeing the return of the job board quest structure from Icespire Peak. Nothing horrendous, nothing extraordinary, and if you were running these last three as the trilogy they're designed to be, you could blend into this content straight from Storm Lord's Wrath probably without your players even noticing they're technically in a 'new' adventure.

Divine Contention
The smaller inbetween quests here aren't anything special to write home about, but the larger more central ones are. The attack on Leilon is gruelling (too many combats, too many rounds), but provides a great way to run an event-by-event larger battle like that, complete with handy flowchart.

I don't care about the lore of the Forgotten Realms or Drizzt, so none of those historical references do anything for me. I also think there's gotta be another way to handle the quest of going to Neverwinter to petition for aid, otherwise the players are going to want to start running around in a large location that you've prepared nothing for. Also, one of the climactic locations here is just a repeat from Sleeping Dragon's Wake, with barely any significant changes. Returning can be fun, but there needs to be some overhaul that's occurred since the last visit, like the return to the tavern in Storm Lord's Wrath. Here it just feels lazy.

Disregarding Icespire Peak, the latter trilogy comes together to be a solid, well-structured adventure, complete with interesting encounters and decisions to be made, and one that I'd be happy to either play or run, as it contains some of the best pieces I've encountered in the official releases thus far.

[Steven Poore · Rating 4 out of 5]

I checked this set out myself in advance of buying it as a present for my niece. What attracted me to it was the idea that with the inclusion of rules for sidekicks it would be more feasible to run an adventure with fewer players - bear in mind this was during Lockdown, and my niece would have been stuck at home with the rest of her family.

So, what do you get, and is it any good? As a starter kit, it evokes (good) memories of the old Red Basic box that I started out with. The rules are laid out clearly, and far better than the old Gygax editions used to be. It feels inclusive. The adventure book looks out for the novice DM and at the same time manages to keep the campaign sandboxy and modular. Of course everything is aimed at getting players into the main range of rulebooks and hardback adventures, but you really don't need to if you don't want to. This is a great introduction to the game.

[Luz · Rating 5 out of 5]

My SO and I bought this so we could do a 2 player game because we missed playing and aren't sure when we'll be able to play with our group again. We've been playing for 3 years, but neither of us has ever DMed. My SO is the DM and said the adventure left a lot open to add details to the story and customize to the PC's backstory. The rulebook only has the common races and a few classes and subclasses, but you can play any.
I'm playing a Dwarf Forge Domain Cleric (from Xanathar's Guide to Everything )

[Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had heard of D&D for years before on of my friends convinced me to actually try it. Around the same time my son decided to buy this intro set. I read this while actively learning to play the game and it was an amazing journey. I'm a life-long RPG gamer and so recognized several D&D features in games I have been playing for years. As a fantasy novel fan I can really appreciate the efforts that went into making the skills and spells fair and balanced. All in all, if you have any interest in fantasy (books, TV, movies, games, etc.) it's worth at least skimming through this and reading the parts you're interested in. If you're new to D&D, this is a must have.

[Vivianne Morena · Rating 3 out of 5]

Before buying this exact kit I had looked up opinions on a few different ones - and this one had best reviews.

Now that I've read it - most of it - and used the materials inside to create two characters for myself here, what I think:
While I can't say anything about the adventure itself, that's the part I haven't really explored, but the rulebook is a great help even though it doesn't have everything & I had to check some things online (like how to calculate your passive perception for example) .
As for the adventure - I do hope I can find enough friends one day to actually experience playing it.

[Ricky Pruitt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I have not played this campaign nor D&D for that matter, but I plan on being a DM.

I read through all of the material including the campaign, and thought it was great. I did notice there was a lot more freedom than the starter campaign, and different creatures to encounter which is refreshing. I'm looking forward to helping others experience this story. If it is a let down (which I doubt), I'll return to adjust the rating.

[Toevolution · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dungeons & Dragons Essentials Kit is a cooperative storytelling game that taps your imagination and invites you to explore a fantastic world of adventures, where heroes fight monsters, find treasure, and complete missions.

D&D Essentials Kit (PDF-Online Reading-Download-Summary-Review): https://www.toevolution.com/blog/view...

[Richard Dabell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm already running a main D&D campaign.
I got this to play away from home, so wanted less books and a simplified setup. It works really well and I especially like the rules for playing with a single play with the DM.

[Mason · Rating 5 out of 5]

A perfect introduction for D&D, especially useful for a DM (which I am). I annotated the rulebook and took notes, which was an enjoyable experience. I’m especially surprised how easy it was to understand.

[Mike Bertrand · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent adventure that takes place in the Phandalin area levels 1-6. I would recommended using it in tandem with the starter set. Where the starter set has a more overarching story adventure in the Lost Mine of Phandelver, the Essentials Kit's Dragon of Icespire Peak serve more as side-quests.

[Bryan Borgman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent way to beat the COVID-19 pandemic blues... online D&D with your buddies!

[Phil Nicolle · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good addition to the starter kit, more like a series of loosely associated side quests than an actual full adventure.

[Brandon Williford · Rating 5 out of 5]

As with the Starter Kit, this introduction to D&D is smooth, easily readable, understandable, and an easy to use adventure for the DM to run their players through.

[Jason Donald Wenhold · Rating 3 out of 5]

The books are pretty great. But the company has made some serious mistakes as of late. Not sure I will be supporting them any longer. Pathfinder is a much superior product.

[Danielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally finished this campaign. Review to come

[Mary Price · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the best adventure but good for beginners

[Lasse Carlsson · Rating 5 out of 5]

The adventure is a very inspiring read full of exciting and quirky adventures and the rule book a quick and easy summation of the rules for new players (and rusty veterans 😅). Looking forward to running Icespire Peak a lot!

[Jonathan Harbour · Rating 5 out of 5]

this adventure story is an excellent starter for a new group.