This update includes a fairly major overhaul of the content and layout. A good amount of artwork and stylistic improvements have been added to the text. The grayscale line art is particularly nice for a document which will be printed primarily on a home or office printer.
While previous versions of the Basic Rules separated the Player and Dungeon Master rules into two PDFs, the new document incorporates all the rules together. This is a big improvement... However, there is still a lot to be desired even with the combined rules document.
Wizards of the Coast has not addressed the organization of the monster stat blocks. Dragons are still not found under "D" and Giants are not found under "G". Instead of any categorization, there is literal alphabetization such as "Adult Red Dragon" appearing under "A" and "Young Green Dragon" appearing under "Y". These are also the only two dragons appearing in the entire document.
While I don't expect every monster in the SRD to appear in the Basic Rules, the fact that there are only two dragons contained in the Basic Rules is a massive failure. The name of the game is Dungeons & DRAGONS, for Pete's sake. The Basic Rules should at least contain some variety of dragon types -- a wyrmling or two, a couple examples of young dragons, a couple examples of adult dragons, at the least.
I'm really glad to see re-released, cleaner version of the Basic Rules that includes artwork, but the decision to overhaul the document without fixing the monster stat section and adding at least a few more selected creatures from the SRD has me scratching my head.
 |
| Warduke, by Richard Whitters (source: Basic Rules) |
- Add more dragons. Seriously. This is a no-brainer. I mean... C'mon. Perhaps also pick a few others creatures from the SRD not currently in the Basic Rules.
- Put a Print-On-Demand version of the Basic Rules (with a really cool cover) on the DM's Guild for a relatively low price point ($10 - $15 if possible).
Obviously, you would not want to put the Basic Rules into retail as this could cause consumer confusion and competition for the PHB, Monster Manual, etc. I get that. However, for D&D fans who want a cheap, introductory game to give to friends, a Print-On-Demand Basic Rules set (with a few more monsters) would make an amazing low-barrier-to-entry gift for non-gamers. I guarantee it would make enough money to be worth the minor amount of additional editing, and another great way to introduce new players.
Edit: For clarity, one thing to note is that the D&D Starter Set does not include the section on the Basic classes with the character generation rules, all the class features, and spells, etc. A PoD Basic would be a low-cost, portable and complete rule set with monsters stats.
Edit: For clarity, one thing to note is that the D&D Starter Set does not include the section on the Basic classes with the character generation rules, all the class features, and spells, etc. A PoD Basic would be a low-cost, portable and complete rule set with monsters stats.
