Earlier this year, Wizards of the Coast unveiled the brand-new Dungeons & Dragons starter set, Heroes of the Borderlands. This new take on the starter set is, like much of the 2025 roadmap, a twist on what fans have come to expect. Not only will it utilize the 2024 revised rules for 5e, but it also takes a more board-game style approach to teaching players how to play D&D. Now, the new starter set has been fully revealed alongside pre-orders on D&D Beyond.
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When I had the pleasure of chatting with the Dungeons & Dragons team in January, the tactile experience offered in Heroes of the Borderlands caught my attention. But at that time, Wizards wasn’t ready to reveal the full details of exactly what would be included in the set. Now, however, we’ve got a full product description on D&D Beyond, giving more insight into what we can expect from this latest twist on the D&D Starter Set.
Heroes of the Borderlands comes out on September 16th. But, pre-orders are now live alongside the pre-order campaign for Eberron: Forge of the Artificer. Like many D&D products these days, the starter set will have a Digital + Physical Bundle, Digital only, and Physical Only option. Personally, I think physical is the way to go here since the board game style is the big highlight here. But, those who enjoy a good virtual tabletop may prefer the digital pack, which comes with pre-made maps using the D&D Beyond Maps virtual tabletop.
What’s Included in the Heroes of the Borderlands Starter Set
The Heroes of the Borderlands starter set is a board game designed to introduce new players to the rules of Dungeons & Dragons 5e. It offers 40-60 hours of TTRPG gameplay, with physical game cards and tokens to help represent abstract concepts like spells, magic items, equipment, and more. Here’s everything included with the physical edition, as listed on D&D Beyond:
- A Quick-Start Guide to start playing in minutes
- 1 play guide and 3 adventure booklets for Dungeon Masters
- 4 iconic D&D classes for players to choose from: Cleric, Rogue, Wizard, and Fighter
- Over 200 game cards for backgrounds, species, spells, equipment, magic items, monsters, NPCs, and more
- 18 maps for the Caves of Chaos Valley, the Keep on the Borderlands, and the Wilderness
- Over 200 tokens, including resources, monsters, and terrain
- Combat Tracker that teaches new Dungeon Masters how to track initiative effectively
- Set of 11 dice
Honestly, this set looks like one of the best products Wizards has lined up for 2025, at least where new players and DMs are concerned. The big highlight here is that it doesn’t have pre-generated character sheets like prior sets, but rather will walk players through creating their own characters from the included classes. On top of that, having cards and tokens to keep track of things will help make it easier to learn the game, and those pre-made maps will come in handy for a first-time DM as well. And speaking from experience here, I don’t know how our party ever managed before we got a combat tracker, so that’s a nice addition to see here.
For those hoping to introduce new players to the game or try to learn it for the first time without veterans present, the new Heroes of the Borderlands starter set certainly offers more tools than prior editions. For seasoned players, it might be a bit basic, but I wouldn’t say no to some equipment and spell cards to keep track of things myself.
The Physical-only version of the Heroes of the Borderlands starter set costs $49.99. The Digital version is only available for Master Tier subscribers on D&D Beyond and is designed to integrate with Maps. It costs $14.99. If you want both options, the Ultimate Bundle combines them for the discounted price of $54.99. The bundle also includes a bonus digital dice set.
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