Starter Set: Dragons of Stormwreck Isle

Dungeons & Dragons, 5th Edition

by Wizards of the Coast, Jeremy Crawford

EXPLORE A MAGICAL WORLD
Everything you need to start playing the world’s greatest roleplaying game.
The Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set: Dragons of Stormwreck Isle is your gateway to action-packed adventures in the cooperative storytelling game Dungeons & Dragons, where heroes battle monsters, find treasure, and undertake epic quests.

This box contains the essential rules of the game plus everything you need to play heroic characters caught up in an ancient war among dragons as they explore the secrets of Stormwreck Isle.

Genres: Dungeons and Dragons, Gaming, Fantasy, Role Playing Games, Reference, Adventure, Forgotten Realms

80 pages, Boxed Set

First published January 1, 2022

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

[Spencer Bywater · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not your typical sort of book but dangit I’ve spent a lot of time preparing this campaign so I feel like I’ve earned at least some Goodreads credit :)

[Taddow · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of the better starter sets for the Dungeon & Dragons (5th edition) game, one that I believe offers a better adventure and play-style opportunity than the Stanger Things and Rick and Morty sets, which I found a little lacking. The included rulebook is clear and easy to read (this is pretty much the same rulebook format found in all the starter sets) and it does its intended job well for new players and Dungeon Masters (DM).

The included adventure, the Dragons of Stromwreck Isle, makes for a good starting adventure. It’s a contained location (an island) with various points of interest that the player characters can explore and battle foes. Some historical and supernatural background is provided to make the location intriguing and the adventure offers a sandbox-light style of play where the characters can explore different locations, which are seeded by talking to various non-player characters at the main community locale. Direction is provided to the DM to try to steer the characters toward certain locations before others, but if the characters explore a location before previously exploring another, the adventure presents rules for increasing the challenge of the encounter if the characters are higher level when they go to the locale. Additionally, the adventure offers some option encounters for the island and ideas on expanding the adventure further (new locations to explore and enemies to fight, both new and reoccurring).

The set also includes five pre-generated characters, and each has a reason for wanting to come to Stormwreck Isle, which I thought would be helpful for a new group of adventures. These reasons could be reappropriated for players that want to make their own characters. The adventure also offers a simple leveling system where the characters level up after completing each adventure locale.

Overall, a decent introduction to the game system for new players and Dungeon Masters. Without going into details, so as not to spoil some of the adventure, there were some aspects I did not care for. The fail forward feature offered was too much and I could see how this might become abused if it becomes a constant escape hatch for reckless characters. There could have been more intrigue and social roleplaying options presented, especially in the main community area. Stormwreck Isle was presented as mythical place where people come to self-reflect, look for guidance, etc. and some of the characters have these reasons for their trip to the island, but there is very little guidance or focus on this aspect. There is a nice adventure skeleton here to expand upon and I plan on running this, with some changes, for some new players.

[Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read this booklet front-to-back four times as we run our annual D&D summer campaign with my family. It is really solid - the opportunities for all three legs of the stool are really strong, and it does a great job of separating D&D from the traditional, Tolkien-esque setting of fantasy. This opens up a great deal of interest for new players turned off by the older style.
The dungeons, especially the Compass Rose, are well-designed and include fun additions for players - much stronger than those in LMoP.
However, I am disappointed in the depth of roleplay opportunities in Dragon's Rest itself, and I am especially disappointed that the set is reduced from levels 1-5 to levels 1-3. I wish there was more value for the price point. However, as with all D&D, a $30 set has given way to dozens of hours of fun time to bond with family - still a better value than pretty much anything else.

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

defs worth it, especially when comparing to the essentials kit

[Angel Guerrero · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amé. Esta es mi primera introducción al mundo de D&D y he de decir que quedé encantado, espero poder explorar muchísimas más aventuras a futuro. Es muy divertido de planear, imaginar y de experimentar con amigos, que belleza de juego de rol.
Su construcción de mundo no tiene precedentes, es sinceramente una de las mejores que he visto y muy amplia, extendiéndose sin límite alguno más que tu propia imaginación, su reglamento es muy detallado, claro y conciso, admiro enormemente el orden y el empeño que se le dedica a este producto, se ve hecho con cariño.
En cuanto a la aventura por si sola es fascinante, tiene de todo, combate, desarrollos de personaje, misiones secundarias que no son aburridas o te encomiendan buscar un objetivo en particular sino que genuinamente la exploración y el descubrimiento de este terreno es fenomenal.
Sostiene excelentes personajes muy bien definidos que te permiten partir de su personalidad para lograr cosas muy divertidas dependiendo de lo que tu mesa elija hacer.
Es una trama que entrelaza locuazmente todas sus subtramas en un desenlace muy pero muy épico.
Para un amante de la fantasía y los juegos de mesa como yo, Dungeons and Dragons se ha convertido en automático en uno de mis lugares seguros.

[Francisco · Rating 4 out of 5]

The new update to the Dungeons and Dragons starter set is a more streamlined adventure and rules booklet than that in the previous Lost Mine of Phandalin adventure. It have less variety and less "game", this new adventure only leading players to level 3 unlike the level 5 of the previous box.

What is also clear here is the fact that this is really an adventure where the players are supposed to use the pre-made characters included which have their own personal quests included in the main adventure.

This is both a good and a bad thing. Good because for new players this is a much friendlier box to just open up and play with, requiring little preparation and possible to conclude in a couple of game sessions, however it is also less easy to keep playing and connecting the adventure beyond the box's contents. However it's pretty much perfect as a starting box for new players who just want to know what it's all about, with an adventure that is strong in terms of roleplay and that can easily make starting players into true addicts.

[Sierra · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a bit confusing in the beginning but after several reads and attempts, we found a rhythm. It's a basic kit but by the end of it you feel far more confident in other campaigns.
As for the story it's interesting. Lots of different monsters and encounters. I think my favorite part was the Seagrown Caves. I found that just reading was a bit boring, I end up buy several miniatures and a map building kit (uses dry easer makers) it made it a lot more fun. Drawing locations and painting the figures has start an interesting new hobby along with the roleplaying for me and my sister. It's also given my sister a safe place to express herself (a little cursing here and there) and forcers her to read and focus a bit as well. It's a good game and story for kids or teens to experience.

[Andrea Marquez · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don’t know how to rate this because I have no point of comparison. What I can tell you is… the role of Dungeon Master is not to be take lightly.

Listen. I can’t believe I’m adding this to my list of books reads either. But this was a LOONG read. It has chapters. I had to pay attention. D&D is no joke and I get why people who play are so passionate about it because the amount of time I took to read through this merits me adding it here. And yes. I’m the dungeon master of my friends because let’s be real none of them would have taken the time to learn all the rules and build the story. Also. I have a long way to go in learning all of this but it is a very helpful guide to getting started.

[Serge · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my first time reading the rules and the adventure booklet as DM. I think it's served well as the Starter Set. Lots of information on how to run the game properly without overwhelming a new reader. As a newcomer, I will definitely rereading the content to better understand the rules. Besides, the story is also enjoyable. The Compass Rose chapter is my favorite.

[Craig Rotz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This starter set was very friendly to my players that were new to the game as well myself as a new DM. There were a lot of things that weren't mentioned however, leaving me to outsource and flesh out many story beats. While that is the point of D&D, it didn't do well at guiding a new DM on when this was necessary.

[Meg · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did not enjoy running this campaign. The book was so confusing to me. For example, I was so unsure how to start chapter 4 until I flipped back to chapter 1 and found a small paragraph about it. Why would that information be there?? Why not repeat it in the chapter it is relevant to?? Also why is there a scroll of hold person that can be found in chapter 4 with nobody to use it on? Come on

[Mira Berglund · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ikke the appendixes, men altså

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read it 5 times since I'm a brand new DM to a brand new group and absolutely loved how simple it was! Now on to the next adventure!

[Jenson Heaton · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit lackluster, feeling as though missing some oomf

[Kaleigh Gibbons · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a new DM working with mostly new players, I found this adventure pretty easy to run. My favorite encounter was definitely the Crystal Caves.

[James Hogg]

I need two more players to keep this going while everyone does their eurotrips

[Mike Bertrand · Rating 4 out of 5]

A decent starter adventure

[EthanMiddel]

Excellent book for beginners of dnd love it

[Aaron Lindahl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Beginner adventure, sparse on intrigue and pretty meh over all design. Moving to a two star after writing this.

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

très bon, quelques ajustements à faire pour améliorer l'expérience des PJ

[Roland Biesterveld]

A fantastic starting off point for DM's and players alike

[Me · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dang it. I had my hopes up. I picked up the starter set and thought I'd run it for my kids but the premise of the "module" (that's what we called it back in my avdDND (1st edition) days just...well...lame. The hook just wasn't there. The initial encounters were...lacking. The "cursed shipwreck," now that seemed pretty well done but the whole lead-in was...it would require, at least for me to be satisfied with it, would need a lot of re-working.

Still. This is DnD. I still love the game.

I think I'll lift the shipwreck write up and use it elsewhere.

Take what you can, leave the rest.

[D · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was a player in the campaign, read the rule book and skimmed through the adventure. Overall, I think this is a better choice for someone who's never played D&D before than the Essentials Kit, which excepts too much of first-time players.

The rule book is short, and there are pre-generated characters which helps a lot. The adventure is short and fun - we played through it in three 4-6 hour sessions. It takes characters from level 1 to level 3 and is a great introduction to the game.