D&D Starter Set

Well, I went ahead and pre-ordered the Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set from Amazon today, and that will be coming in about two weeks. I'm guessing this won't be too fundamentally different than the play-test packets, though it will be the "official" release with all the nuts and bolts in place.

Personally, I'm more interested in what they are doing with the D&D universe for the most part. Will this be a reboot? Will we jump ahead in time another 50-100 years? I have no idea, but personally I'd love a reboot along the lines of what Hollywood is doing with remakes.

That cover is so dark. Look at the amount of black used, and it is markedly different than most of what we saw in the 4th Edition (comic book-ish), and 3rd Edition (tomes of power). This is dark, it is black, and it feels a lot less heroic than 4th Edition. That hero, he is nearly a wad of black paint. It's almost Noir. This is a major style change, and I wonder if it reflected in the rules and world designs coming up.

Still, there is a lot of contrast in the cover, as there are pure white areas, and I wonder if that "good versus evil" or "black versus white" feeling is present in the worlds and rules too. Seriously, it looks like a fantasy painting in Photoshop with the contrast filter turned up to eleven. I'm wondering if this isn't another subtle style hint in the cover that we will see in the game.

It's an interesting cover, and also markedly different than the Pathfinder style of fantasy artwork we're used to. It feels less heroic, more dangerous, less four-color comic book, and darker themed. Is this just cover art and a theme not reflected in the game, or do they carry through the cover's philosophy to the design?

We'll see in two weeks.