Adventurers! On your next run to pick up items for your journey, if your luck holds, you might just discover a rare treasure hidden on the dusty shelves: the new Dungeons & Dragons Essentials Kit from Wizards of the Coast. The box, which can currently only be found at Target stores, holds everything players need to get started in D&D. You don’t even need a full group—just find a Dungeon Master, and you’re ready to play! It’s never been easier to jump into your first game of Dungeons & Dragons.
The D&D Essentials Kit holds a surprising amount of information and helpful tools inside the box. There’s a scaled-down version of the Player’s Handbook with just enough details to create a human, dwarf, elf, or halfling character with a fleshed-out background, along with five character classes to choose from. (If players want to create other classes or races than the ones you find in the rulebook, you’ll need to turn to the good ol’ Handbook.) Of course, there are also character sheets and a full dice set, with eleven clear red dice for any adventurer’s budding collection.
For Dungeon Masters, there’s even more magic inside. (In fact, even veteran Dungeon Masters will be delighted with what they find and will likely add some of the components to long-running campaigns.) Quest cards, magic item cards, map, initiative trackers, a DM screen with vital details accessible in a pinch, and even the Dragon of Icespire Peak, an adventure written by Chris Perkins for one to five characters, are all stashed in the box.
That’s right, it’s a brand-new, unique ruleset for playing D&D one-on-one that’s made possible by the included sidekick characters in the kit. Without the need to find a full group, that friend you’ve always wanted to get into a game no longer has any excuses to sit down at a table with you.
And that’s just the tip of the Icespire. Pick up the D&D Essentials Kit now at Target, or at your friendly local game store beginning in September, for a retail price of just $24.99.
Images: Wizards of the Coast, Kelly Knox
