Dungeons & Dragons Adventurer Partwork - A Deeper Delve

I've had time to read through the first issue of Adventurer, so here's a more in depth review. I'll talk about the contents and add my thoughts, both about this issue and future issues, as far as can be determined. I'm trying to work out if it's worth getting more issues.  You might want to check out my initial look at the magazine here.

And a warning, there will be some spoilers for the adventure, so I'll look at that right at the end.

The Magazine

The magazine consists of fourteen pages (28 sides) designed to be separated and placed in ring binders. This is the same system Hachette have used in their Games Workshop part works. The different sections and sub sections build up over the weeks, presumably to make up a complete set of rules, along with background for the Forgotten Realms and a series of adventures.

The first page is just the cover, with contents on the inside. The cover art is very good, showing four adventurers fighting a bunch of skeletons. 

The next four pages are Sage Advice, split between three pages of Overview, giving a bit of background and history of the game, the difference between DMs and Players, the scope of the game, the general structure of play and how to use the dice. There is then one page of sub section B, The DM, giving a brief idea of what the DM's role requires.

There's a surprising amount of information in here, the basic sequence of play for instance (DM describes the situation, players decide what their characters want to try to do, DM describes the outcome. Repeat).  I'm not sure it's necessarily presented in the best order, and I do have some issues with some of the information (they missed a great opportunity to describe the 'checklist' all DMs should go through - can it fail? If not just narrate success. Can it succeed? If not just narrate failure. In all other cases determine what character abilities are relevant). But suspect that newcomers will find this interesting/useful. 

Character Creation gives an overview of abilities, species,  background and class. We are introduced to the four pre-generated characters (Crantor Thranax, human rogue, Eirina Illoris, elf fighter, Reizagar Stormhelm, dwarf cleric and Merovich Farfoot, halfling wizard). 

Ability scores, modifiers and proficiency bonus are next, then Species, with a focus on those of the Pre-gens. Character class is next, with information tailored to the starting characters, and finally a page on equipment, with nice illustrations of some of the equipment packs.

Some useful stuff, indeed I've used the illustrations for my online group already.  The big omission here is a guide to creating your own characters, but there is mention that this will be dealt with in future issues, and if the idea is to get people playing as quickly as possible then pre-gens are the way to go.  There's also frequent mention of D&D Beyond throughout the magazine, so I guess they are providing a way for the curious to find out more.  

Lore gives a very brief introduction to Phandalin. 

A predictable choice, given it's importance in the old Lost Mine starter set, the Dragon of Icefire Peak set and the recent Shattered Obelisk book.  Still, it's always useful to have a well developed town as a home for adventurers, and Phandolin is great for that.

Finally there is a six page Encounter. It looks like the magazine will feature a series of Encounters that build into Adventures.  Each Adventure is colour coded, and has a matching set of dice!  I gather that the Adventures take a party from first level to fifth and I gather that the early Adventures at least are using milestone experience rather than awarding it for monsters killed and quests completed.

In case you are ever a player in this, I'll give more details in a separate section near the end of this post, so you can skip it to avoid too much prior knowledge.

The Dice Tin

A tin. With dice.

Seriously, it's a nice set of dice, black plastic with red numbers, and they come in a foam insert in a tin with the Adventurer logo on the lid. As I said previously, this justifies the purchase on it's own. Amazon have sets of dice that work out slightly cheaper, but consist of multiple sets of seven, and they come in a cloth bag rather than a tin.  The foam insert even means that your dice don't rattle, though you'll have to lose this if you want to add any more dice.

The only downside I can see is how to pick out your Adventurer dice tin out from everyone elses at the table top.

The Combat Guide

This booklet is half page size, and has staples designed to fit in a ring binder. It covers the combat sequence, lists most (though not all) common options, explains hit points, damage and death saving throws and gives an example using the pre-generated characters.

This is a useful booklet, and I plan on sharing it with my players.  Not every option is covered, Dodge, for example is missing, but both Help and Disengage, important to encourage players to do more than just stand there and swing at opponents, are covered.

The Character Sheets

There are four pre-generated characters, already introduced in the Character Generation section and illustrated on the cover.  The sheets are well designed and clear to read, though the text is perhaps a little small for aging eyes in places. 

While there are no surprises in the choice of human, elf, dwarf and halfling, or rogue, fighter, cleric and wizard, they are avoiding the stereotypes of halfling rogue and elf wizard.  

These are nice character sheets, and I hope we will get some blank ones. Mention is made of D&D Beyond again for more character sheets.  

I do struggle to read some of the smaller type though.

Extras

While the various flyers don't add to the collection, they do allow us to see some of what is in store in future issues.

Subscriber Bonus

Subscribers get a free issue, a dice tray, a DMs screen (with new artwork), a free binder (though you'll need to buy more if you collect the whole set) and a dice jail.

Subscribers get free postage, so if you are seriously collecting all, or even a lot of issues, it's probably worth doing, and the bonus items are generally useful.

Looking Ahead

Those flyers reveal that future issues will also have sections covering Spellcasting and Combat (the Combat Guide is, I suppose, the start of this?).  The Encounters build up into Adventures, the included Encounter is coded Adventure 1/Encounter 1, so presumably it continues in issue 2. 

Issue 2 also introduces Spellcasting, Advantage and Disadvantage and talks about running a rogue.  The Freebies are another set of seven dice, gold this time, and an adventure map, which I assume is some from of floor plans.

Issue 3 looks at conditions and skills and has an article about the Red Wizards of Thay.  The Freebie is a set of character minis for the pre-gens.  These aren't 3D minis in the sense I'm used to, but full colour flats printed on transparent plastic.  Wizkids, among others, have produced these in the past, and I imagine that if the magazine regularly includes these then a new DM will soon have a decent collection.

I believe that issue 4 has a giant d20, but I'm not 100% sure.  I can't work out anything else about further issues.

*EDIT* the Hachette website gives more detail on future magazine contents, though nothing about the 'freebies'.

The minis from issue 3

The 'Freebies'

If you're familiar with Hachette's Warhammer 40K/Age of Sigmar part works you'll be used to seeing a load of 'free' plastic and paint.  I suspect that most people are buying these for the minis, not the magazine, but I could be wrong.

When they previewed Adventurer back in January the plan was to include dice with each issue. They have revised that, and now will also include adventure maps (floorplans?) Inspiration tokens and miniatures. These last appear to be the plastic figure flats that WizKids have brought out, judging from the picture of issue three above.  Whilst I'd have liked to have seen proper 3D minis, I'm certainly not short of them, and if this means that they can afford to include a good collection for new players and DM's, then that's a good thing. They don't need painting either, and are much easier to store.

Thoughts

What do I think of this?  Production values are high.  The artwork is good, with some nice new pieces, particularly featuring the pre-gen party.  Some artwork is reused from earlier WotC publications, but is used intelligently.

The gradual build up of rules may work well, but personally I'd find continual mentions of stuff being covered in future issues off-putting.  However, I'm a keen D&D player/DM who already possesses lots of rule books and scenarios.  I've been playing for 45 years more or less, so it's difficult for me to imagine what someone starting out might need.  This leads me to an important question...

Who is it for?

Honestly, I'm not sure. I can see the appeal of Hachette's various GW part works to players of the games. They consistently provide minis worth more than the cover price, as well as a set of rules, background and modelling and painting guides.  

But Adventurer magazine isn't really about the extras. While it's nice to have several sets of dice, there is, apparently, a limit to how many are useful at the table. Adventure maps, if they are floor plans, will be very useful, and the minis will hopefully build up into a comprehensive collection for new DMs and players.  It's all about the magazine building up a complete set of rules, a guide to the Forgotten Realms and a series of adventures.

Cost wise at £1.99 for the first issue, £4.99 for the second issue and £8.99 thereafter for a projected 80 issue run, that's £708.20 for the set. That's quite a few WotC hardback books.  However, it's a cheap buy-in if you just want to try a few games, and the intention is that you can play from issue one onwards.  I'm not sure in practice how well this works, there are some things I'd expect, such as a short example of play, that are missing.  Even the example in the Combat Guide simply states what each character is doing rather giving the player's comments as they interact with the Encounter.

I would imagine that players who begin this way might be rather frustrated if a particular option isn't covered for many issues. I suspect that a lot of people will start with Adventurer and move to the books or a starter set, and never forget that the fifth edition basic rules are currently available for free on the WotC website.  The roll out of options is, of course, controlled by the release schedule. This may not be too much of a problem for the players, especially if they are unaware of the possibilities they may be missing. It's more problematic for a DM wanting to design their own adventures, so perhaps the idea is that every DM runs the included Encounters/Adventures and nothing else?

Even when the collection is complete I don't think it will read well, certainly not like a rulebook (though the WotC rulebooks are disorganised and often dry).  I remember collecting the old Games Workshop Strategy Battle Games in Middle Earth part-work in the early 2000s, and that had the same issue.  The bulk of the rules were covered in the earlier issues, but remembering where to find particular rules could take ages.  Adventurer mitigates this with the loose leaf  format.

Another problem is that of edition. 2024 marks the fiftieth anniversary of Dungeons and Dragons. WotC are in the process of revamping the rules. The current fifth edition is to be replaced by OneD&D. They are playtesting new rules and have made it clear that they are work in progress. There are signs of the Adventure rules following the playtest, for instance, OneD&D uses the term Species rather than 5E using Race, as does Adventurer.

Conclusion

I really want this to succeed.  It has the potential to bring a lot of new players into the game, and the wider field of roleplaying (it would be great if there were mention of other games' systems, but obviously that isn't going to happen).

I don't think many people will follow it through to the end of the run.  I'm sure this is normal for many part-works anyway.  

It's certainly not aimed at me as a long time player, and I wouldn't recommend it to friends unless they were a group with no previous experience or access to an existing group.  My personal recommendation would still be Lost Mine of Phandelver and the free basic rules document, especially if you have access to a player or DM with some experience to guide play along. 

Failing that, Adventurer may just be the thing, a gradual build up of rules so there's no overload of information at the start.

And finally, ignore this if you don't want mild spoilers.

The Encounter

This looks fun and should provide a good introduction to the game.

It actually contains several possible combats, along with non combat interaction with NPCs (and an extra NPC to add to the Phandolin roster for future adventures) and some interesting treasure.

The choice of opponents, Cranium Rats, is an interesting one, especially with regards to the BBEG in The Shattered Obelisk.  The location, the Stonehill Inn in Phandolin is great. Given how useful it can be in future adventures, a full colour floor plan would have been nice, but perhaps this is coming in a later issue? The description of rooms is sparse, the DM will need to improvise the details.  

There are frequent box outs of advice to the new DM. I suspect they will phase these out over time, giving more room for a more complex Encounter.

There are some niggling errors, such as the location of the cellar entrance and where the stairs lead to (conflicting information in the room descriptions and the general information though it is obvious from the maps).  I also wonder if there are sufficient instructions to a new DM on how to run an adventure, but I've been playing for so long that I find it hard to judge such things.