With the Ghosts of Saltmarsh adventure book coming out this week in the UK (and for the rest of the world as well I would assume) and the imminent arrival of the Stranger Things Dungeons and Dragons Starter Set.

WotC are holding a big D&D weekend event currently over in the states to celebrate all things D&D and more importantly announce new and upcoming products for D&D.

But before I talk about that event and the announcements so far. Let me sell you on Ghosts of Saltmarsh and the Stranger Things Starter Set.

With Ghosts of Saltmarsh you get 3 classic first edition adventures plus 4 Dragon magazine adventures based in and around Saltmarsh updated to fifth edition. You also get “details on the port town of Saltmarsh, as well as plenty of hooks to kick-off each adventure.”

So you get everything here to run a nautical themed campaign to take adventurers from level 1 to 12.

Not only that there is more included! “The appendices also cover mechanics for ship-to-ship combat, new magic items, monsters, and more!” This bit is probably the bit I’ll use most for my first ever campaign as a DM.

Fans of the Netflix hit Stranger Things will have seen the kids of the show playing D&D in their bedroom/basement. Now WotC and Netflix have teamed up to allow you to play the very same adventure as the one in the show. Which they have kindly packaged up in a handy starter set that gives you basically everything you need to start playing D&D using the Stranger Thing Adventure, including 2 demogorgan minis.

A great way for fans of the show to be even more immersed in the show, and get into D&D.

Back to this big D&D weekend that’s going on.

So as I write this post D&D Live has been streaming on twitch live and then putting stuff up on YouTube afterwards.

Apart from watching famous, semi famous and internet famous people play D&D (which is a thing these days) we got some product announcements from WotC for D&D.

First up and the thing that has themed this live event is the big announcement of the new storyline for D&D.

Basically it boils down to the fact we get a new campaign book in September titled Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus.

This adventure sees adventurers descending to the first level of hell called Avernus, experience something called the Blood War that apparently is a war between demons and devils. It sounds interesting but the theme may make it hard for my good friend to play the campaign.

The campaign itself will cover adventurer levels 1 – 13 apparently.

There is also a dice set that will be coming out along side this. From the live stream it looks better than the Guildmasters’ Guide to Ravnica dice set. The box also turns into a dice tray for starters, plus there is a world map and other bits. But I’m sure WotC will put a premium price on this little dice set.

Next and this really got me excited. WotC are producing a follow up to the Starter Set! This set is called the Essentials Kit.

The box includes a 64-page rulebook that helps players create characters of levels 1 to 6. Classes you will be able to create from will be the cleric, fighter, rogue, wizard and the bard. “It also includes a new adventure written by Chris Perkins entitled Dragon of Icespire Peak, which contains enough adventure to bring a new D&D party from level 1 to 6. This adventure comes complete with a poster map of Phandalin (the adventure’s setting) and the surrounding environs, as well as an entire deck of magic items, conditions, quests, creatures, and so forth that appear in the adventure, as well as combat cheat sheets. A DM screen with brand-new art, as well as a set of “cherry lozenge red” dice, complete with two d20s and four d6s for rolling stats (and casting guiding bolt and making sneak attacks). “

I liked the look of this a lot. The new adventure excited me. I enjoyed The Lost Mines of Phandalin adventure included in the Starter Set. So to have more set in that area, brilliant. The poster map a long overdue omission from the Starter. The deck of cards, yes, amazing addition. The DM screen did look a bit flimsy on the stream. And will be interesting to see how information wise it compares with the DM Screen Reincarnated. It’s meant to be a generic screen that can be used with any campaign. And the dice with multiples of certain ones a nice touch.

I thought this bit about the adventure was interesting. “Notably, the adventure also includes a new “1-on-1 rules variant,” which transforms D&D into a single-player adventure with just you and your DM. By using “Sidekick Rules” first introduced in Unearthed Arcana, a single player can control their own character, plus one or several sidekicks. ” That’s right, 2 people can go through this campaign, one as the DM and the other as an adventurer with sidekicks. I wonder how many couples will buy this? Or just a couple of mates. This could be huge.

So in a way we now have the 5e versions of the Basic and Expert kits back from the early days. And I love how they seem to be such a great fit for each other. The Starter Set is all about getting to play as quick as possible and learn the basic rules. Whilst the Essentials is about from the looks of it creating your own characters and still learning the basics.

Both the Essentials and Descent into Avernus are out in September. But it does look like Target has an exclusive window for selling it from June. So I may or may not ask a mate in the US to pick a copy up for me and ship it over.

They did also announce a Rick and Morty Starter Set cross over that has little interest for me (although I know one person who will be excited by this news). Plus there was no release date either. On an aside this may be the first good Rick and Morty themed game to be released!

You can get better details HERE.