A cleaner, tighter, more useable presentation of 5e D&D than the PHB, DMG, and MM
Of all the published 5e adventures, the Lost Mine of Phandelver and the Dragon of Icespire Peak are the best. They give you a world to explore and quest in, whereas the other 5e adventures give a railroad style campaign narrative or an overwhelming poorly organized jumble (Curse of Strahd is an exception - Curse of Strahd is great too).
For character creation, the Essentials Kit rules are great, especially for beginners or rules-light folks (like me!) - they give you the essential D&D character races, classes, backgrounds and spells, rather than the analysis-paralysis-inducing glut of character and spell options in the Player's Handbook. Spellcaster's spell lists are included in their class description, which I really like.
Likewise, the monsters in the Lost Mine of Phandelver and Dragon of Icespire Peak appendices are the quintessential D&D monsters - goblins, orcs, dragons, ogres, owlbears, centaurs, undead, cultists, mimics, stirges, with a smattering of exotic pretties like the doppleganger and nothic - you can run a lot of awesome D&D adventures with them alone, sans Monster Manual! The MM does have all those cool, adventure-inspiring monster write-ups, but I actually prefer the brief monster descriptions in these adventure books - the details aren't necessary when the monsters are already placed in an adventure, and I prefer to imagine up my own monster personalities/descriptions. (Although when it comes to moster tactics, there's no beating The Monsters Know What They're Doing - an essential book for any 5e DM).
For any DM who wants to really study the game and learn it, these are the products to do it: with a tight set of familiar spell, monster, magic item, and character archetypes and the core mechanics of the system, without the dizzying fluff of the DMG, MM, and PHB.Read full review
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
