A little more than a week ago I purchased two Dungeons & Dragons: Battle for the Underdark Master Sets from one of the sponsors of this site. After digging into the box and looking through all the figures, terrain, and other materials, I’ve decided to sit down and write a review for those thinking of purchasing one. This review will be broken into three parts: The Terrain, The Figures, and Miscellaneous Materials. Now, finally, part three…
Miscellaneous Materials
First, let me say I wasn’t quite sure what to call this section. It’s about the extras – the other stuff that comes in the box.
With each new master set we get new Order Markers. The order markers in the new set are dark purple in color. Somebody predicted that eventually we will have colored order markers for each Valkyrie General. If that’s true, I guess, Einar, this one’s for you. Only two sets of order markers come with MS3. I figure it’s mainly because the dungeon crawl game type is geared for two players, not because WotC is chincy.
Dice – can’t play without dice. This is where Wizards does get chincy, or as some put it – “economical.” All the other sets, even the Marvel had 12 dice; D&D MS3 – only eight! I mean, how much could it cost the throw in four more dice? Othkurik’s lurking ambush would require seven, not including any additional bonuses. Did I mention they didn’t even include a black Round Marker?
Now I’m not going to say everything WotC does is cheap. The manual is first rate. Nice, thick, glossy paper; not like previous master sets at all. Wizards have been printing gaming literature for decades so it’s no wonder the new manual looks so good. There is also something new in it – a glossary! This is a very nice feature. Fuzzy language (i.e. clear-sight vs. line-of-sight) is clearly explained. I counted 54 terms defined. That’s cool.
There is one thing that irks me about the new manual, though. It’s the pictures of the Army Cards. They all have these ugly wide borders. You know, the way the cards look before they’ve been cut. We saw some examples of this when the Wave 9 previews were on the front page. It just bugs me to no end. Other than that the manual is great.
Ugly Wide Bordered Cards
Now, I haven’t yet played all four rooms of the included campaign but so far they seem fun and challenging enough. I found it troubling however that in Room #3: The Portal the placement of the Feral Troll is impossible. He’s shown placed on two uneven spaces in the build instructions. Oops. Wasn’t the map playtested? Or, did someone just forget to fix that?
Miscellaneous Materials
First, let me say I wasn’t quite sure what to call this section. It’s about the extras – the other stuff that comes in the box.
With each new master set we get new Order Markers. The order markers in the new set are dark purple in color. Somebody predicted that eventually we will have colored order markers for each Valkyrie General. If that’s true, I guess, Einar, this one’s for you. Only two sets of order markers come with MS3. I figure it’s mainly because the dungeon crawl game type is geared for two players, not because WotC is chincy.
Dice – can’t play without dice. This is where Wizards does get chincy, or as some put it – “economical.” All the other sets, even the Marvel had 12 dice; D&D MS3 – only eight! I mean, how much could it cost the throw in four more dice? Othkurik’s lurking ambush would require seven, not including any additional bonuses. Did I mention they didn’t even include a black Round Marker?
Now I’m not going to say everything WotC does is cheap. The manual is first rate. Nice, thick, glossy paper; not like previous master sets at all. Wizards have been printing gaming literature for decades so it’s no wonder the new manual looks so good. There is also something new in it – a glossary! This is a very nice feature. Fuzzy language (i.e. clear-sight vs. line-of-sight) is clearly explained. I counted 54 terms defined. That’s cool.
There is one thing that irks me about the new manual, though. It’s the pictures of the Army Cards. They all have these ugly wide borders. You know, the way the cards look before they’ve been cut. We saw some examples of this when the Wave 9 previews were on the front page. It just bugs me to no end. Other than that the manual is great.
Ugly Wide Bordered Cards
Now, I haven’t yet played all four rooms of the included campaign but so far they seem fun and challenging enough. I found it troubling however that in Room #3: The Portal the placement of the Feral Troll is impossible. He’s shown placed on two uneven spaces in the build instructions. Oops. Wasn’t the map playtested? Or, did someone just forget to fix that?
Materials Verdict: Hey, my box is missing stuff!
Schweet manual, but somebody should have
looked it over before it hit the presses.
Schweet manual, but somebody should have
looked it over before it hit the presses.
[ B- ]
D&D MS3 Final Verdict:
Only an expansion’s worth of mildly interesting terrain, a small handful of poorly put together figures, but a beautiful high-gloss manual. All this adds up to a disturbing business model. And with at least two more D&D only expansions coming, it makes me wonder if I should even invest more of my hard earned money. Not a great start. Wizards,
please try a little harder next time.
Only an expansion’s worth of mildly interesting terrain, a small handful of poorly put together figures, but a beautiful high-gloss manual. All this adds up to a disturbing business model. And with at least two more D&D only expansions coming, it makes me wonder if I should even invest more of my hard earned money. Not a great start. Wizards,
please try a little harder next time.
[ C ]
