Dragons of Stormwreck Isle Features A Nod To The Saturday Morning Cartoon And More- D&D Interview With Natalie Egan and Shelley Mazzanoble

Part of the secret to D&D’s longevity in pop culture has always been a steady flow of new players- every year another child learns it’s much cooler to be an elf and picks up the iconic Table RPG with their friends to begin their forays into fantasy.

One of the best ways to do this is with a D&D Starter set– these have historically cut down on the amount of prep work you’d need to run your own D&D Adventure, and is great for giving you and your friends a way to cut to the most fun part- actually living your adventure.

Last week, Wizards of the Coast announced a new starter set for the game’s 5th edition. Combining the contents of a regular starter set with digital resources, it’s the most modern way to get your friends rolling for initiative.

We spoke to Natalie Egan, Product Manager in the D&D Studio as well as Shelley Mazzanoble, Senior Brand Manager about how easy it is to dive into a new world of fantasy.

“It’s for people that want to know maybe what a saving throw is, what are all the different abilities, how do I read all these numbers on my characters. We have video tutorials we’re creating to guide players, it’ll be fun, they’re informative”, says Shelley Mazzanoble, Senior Brand Manager for D&D about the digital resources.

They also talked about their plan to get more schoolkids into D&D- a great way to build a new generation of storytellers.

“And when they get more excited about D&D hopefully they will go to their school library and see a cool poster hanging up saying “Wanna join the D&D club?” ,because we’re also re-launching our D&D after school club kits”, Shelley says. “So when a library or after school programme wants to start a D&D club, we can provide them with kits to give them everything they need to get that club going and keep it sustained, including copies of the new starter set, instruction materials and cool posters of course”.

Could you talk a bit about the online resources for new players?

Shelley: Yes, we are going to launch are new player hub in time for the launch of the new starter set. And we will be providing a suite of resources for new players and dungeon masters. Whether you are coming to D&D through the new starter set or through something else, we are going to provide you with all the tools you need to help get you started on your D&D journey.

Right there in the rulebook, there’s a QR code and link that will say “hey, you need a little extra guidance, come over to this new player hub”. It’s for people that want to know maybe what a saving throw is, what are all the different abilities, how do I read all these numbers on my characters. We have video tutorials we’re creating to guide players, it’ll be fun, they’re informative.

We’re also creating an interactive demo experience where you can learn the fundamentals of D&D in under 15 minutes. You’ll have a really fun experience guided, you’ll get to make different choices, you get try out different classes and try out a little roleplay, exploration and it’s a great way to get people to understand what this game really is. It’s also a great opportunity for our older players to take a seat behind the screen and try dungeon mastering for the first time so we want to make sure we have support for those new dungeon masters whether they’re previous players or not.

All of these tools will be localised on the languages the starter set comes out in.

What about the tools you have to help people become a DM in the starter set?

Shelley: We are creating video tutorials that are in development now. What we really want to do is guide those Dungeon Masters through what an encounter even looks like. What do you do, step by step and we’re going to use content from the starter set so they have the adventure in hand and they can watch a video that says “Deep breaths DM! Here’s what happens, players are going to arrive on the shores of this locations, if they choose this option, this is what you do”.

As a collaborative story, you are the DM, it’s up to you. The whole idea here is make sure the things we now are more are most challenging for dungeon masters are explained in a easy to learn way, just help them and built up their confidence so when they get behind the screen for the first time, it’s as seamless as possible.

Natalie: The adventure was written with first time dungeon masters in mind. The dungeons were written with minimal prep work so it’s less intimidating for a brand new DM.

Shelley: We will also have tutorials on how to read stat blocks since they can be difficult for newcomers.

What’s the core philosophy of this starter set, especially compared to other previously released sets?

Natalie: From the inception of this product, our goal was to create a introductory experience, suitable for folks playing and DMing for the first time. We’ve had 8 years of fan feedback of the lost mines starter set. We tried to out all of that feedback into making this starter set less intimidating and make it just as easy as possible to get started playing.

Shelley: And there’s lots of Dragons!

Those box art characters look an awful lot like the characters from the 80s cartoon. Are they finally being made canon?

Natalie: I can’t speak on that but I can tell you that you are correct, all of the artwork in this starter set was inspired by our wonderful 1980s cartoon characters. they‘ve been aged up a little bit and they’re really serving as fun inspiration for our new generation of adventurers.

This seems like a good time to release a new start set considering everyone seems to be getting into tabletop gaming after being locked inside for two years. How do you guys feel about that knowing that so many people are getting into the game that you love.

Natalie: Well D&D kinda changed my life so I’m so excited to share that with everyone. D&D is for everyone and this starter set with definitely help spread the love to the masses.

Shelley: I second all of that. I don’t like the circumstances that drove people to having two years at home however I am honoured and I am love that D&D has brought people the connection we need.

I agree with Natalie, D&D is for everyone and D&D changed my life. I heard so many stories from people about how these games have helped them so as far as we’re concerned the more people playing the better of we all are.

What else are you guys doing to get more people into D&D?

Shelley: I would like to tell about a new acquisition that we are rolling out this fall. In the US, we are rolling our D&D curriculum for grades 4-6 and 7-8 and this is very much a personal and professional passion of mine and Natalie’s. We are really excited to introduce D&D to the next generation by just allowing them to “learn” through the exciting game of D&D.

All our curriculum material is really focused on creating the next generation of story tellers and getting them excited at working together as a team and world building their own stories as well. So again, that’s going to be rolling out this fall. Our educators have already been working D&D their curriculum so it’s a great way for us to introduce DnD to a larger audience and get these kids excited about learning more about D&D.

And when they get more excited about D&D hopefully they will go to their school library and see a cool poster hanging up saying “wanna join the D&D club” because we’re also re-launching our D&D after school club kits so when a library or after school programme wants to start a D&D club, we can provide them with kits to give them everything they need to get that club going and keep it sustained, including copies of the new starter set, instruction materials and cool posters of course.

Very excited to our younger generation is also going to be exposed to this wonderful game and all the educational and social benefits that come with it.

What kind of age ranges are you looking at for this?

Shelley: 4-6 grade which is like 10-12 and then 7-8 which is 13-15. The curriculum materials will be a bit different depending on the age group.

There’s lots to love with the new D&D starter set- it bypasses a lot of the tedious parts by giving players pre-made characters, as well as pre-made adventures to get you right into the action.  We can’t wait to see what happens next