[JackVII]

I really wish we could have gotten that private Shadowrun 5 dice thing off the ground, because the example versions of those really looked nice. It's a shame the dice in the box aren't similar to that design.

Those dice were awesome. If anyone missed them, here's the post with the mockups.

[jonathanc]

That box is for people who have never tried SR but would like a taste of it. It's meant to be less covering than the CRB. I bought the PDFs and thought that for its purpose it was a pretty good product. The characters are interesting, their stories good and the missions quite good.

Sucks about the quality of the dice however.

As I said in the review, the box is a poor value (I paid ~$20) even for new players, IMO. It contains one actual "adventure" (Food Fight is really just one scene) and a solo adventure for Ms. Myth. Compare that to the Pathfinder Beginner Box, which contains an entire starter dungeon (complete with map and character pawns for players and several monsters), or the D&D5e Starter Set, which contains a mini-campaign that takes you through several levels. If I was going to introduce a new person to the hobby, this is not the box I would choose, and if I specifically wanted to introduce them to Shadowrun, I think the $20 would be better spent on a PDF of the core rulebook, which contains all of the info in this box, and a ton more. Or just spend nothing, and send them a PDF of the Quick Play Rules from the website (which contains the same "adventure", plus starter characters).

Given how long we've been waiting for these box sets to hit stores (this was first announced in 2012, right?), this is shockingly bad.

[Namikaze]

I consider myself REALLY lucky that I was able to get a couple of tins of the Pegasus Spiele dice for Shadowrun.  They are absolutely fantastic.  I would love to see some Shadowrun-specific dice for sale, and I think Catalyst could make a killing if they just sold them separately.  I paid about $15 per tin of the German dice, and I would imagine that around $10 for 6 dice would be a reasonable price point.  Considering that in bulk these dice would cost approximately $3 to make and sell them to retailers for $6, that's a $3 profit for Catalyst and a $4 profit for vendors.  Not bad.

Note to self: spend less time on Kickstarter researching entrepreneurial dice manufacturers.

[AJCarrington]

CGL do offer dice during the con season, but they're pretty uninspired...never picked any up despite loving dice.

[Critias]

I'm having trouble forging a reasonable response to this that's both sympathetic (because it's shitty your dice were in bad shape, for instance), but also I can't help but feel a little defensive (because complaining about them not being custom logo-branded dice feels weird, since as far as I can tell that's not what was advertised, for instance).

You don't like that you just got a little solo adventure for just Ms. Myth, but that's just what's on the Amazon description ("Allows for a gamemaster and one person to run a solo adventure").  You don't like that the intro adventure is short, but that's just what's on the Amazon description ("Fast rules and a quick adventure to whet your appetite for more"). 

If you're unhappy with the content, I'm unhappy for you.  I am.  I wrote lots of what was in here (fiction, all the new characters and their booklets and adventures, etc).  I'm not trying to ignore or brush off your criticism.  But some of your complaint -- maybe not all of it, maybe not even most of it, I don't mean to misinterpret you, here, or misunderstand your position -- is that you only got...well...what we said you'd get.  You keep comparing it to other starter boxes, when plainly this isn't an exactly comparable product (it was going to be, but it got split into two boxes, because we were piling too much stuff in for just one boxed set). 

In short, it sounds like you popped open the Beginner Box, while you were expecting the Alphaware Toolkit.

But anyways, I'm bummed that you're not happy.  If you're really not happy, PM me and I'll PayPal you what you think would be a fair refund, myself, because I wrote lots of the new content and I want people to be happy with things they buy that have my name on them.  If you think that the new content was lacking, or that you didn't get what was promised on the outside of the box, let me know.

[AJCarrington]

If I could exalt ya Critias, I would.

For what it's worth, I don't think you owe anyone anything (and I seriously doubt anyone wants anything). This is one of the bizarre things about this community...despite the frustration I sometimes feel re TPTB, the passion and commitment of the freelancers (and fans) always keep me close.

[jonathanc]

I appreciate the response, and if the tone of my criticism made you personally defensive, Critias, I apologize. It wasn't my intent to cast any aspersions on the quality of the writing. Let me try again, a bit calmer this time:

1. It's true that the dice were not advertised as "shadowrun dice". They weren't shown on the box at all, unlike the other materials. That they were normal dice is one thing; that, in this case, they were poorly painted and even chipped, is something else. The issue here is that the quality of the physical materials seems rather poor. The box itself is fairly flimsy cardstock with top/bottom flaps, rather than the sturdier two-piece boxes that most starter sets use. IMO, this makes it look chintzy compared to its competition. And clearly, you had nothing to do with that.

2. I did forget to mention the writeup on Ms. Myth. The thing is, that writeup, and the short fiction at the start of the booklet comprise the entirety of original material in this box set. That's a bit of a problem. The issue here is that if CGL had released this fairly basic box set back in 2012 when we were all still waiting for a Core rulebook, it would have been an okay introduction to the game for new players. As it is now, the bulk of the material is available for free (in the QSR) or at a better value (in the Core rulebook). This is a box set that will entertain new players for a few hours at most, since Food Fight is basically just one fight scene. The 5e Starter Set includes a mini-campaign (Lost Mine of Phandelver) which will keep new players busy for multiple sessions, and costs the same amount.

It's on me for spending $20 on the box set, so no refund is necessary. The dice are damaged, so if there's an RMA process via CGL I might be willing to do that, but there's no need for Crit or any of the other freelancers to pay for CGL's mistakes here. I'm just saddened, disappointed, and perhaps a little angry that such a great opportunity to sell Shadowrun to a new audience was squandered.

[Agonar]

I was really hoping that the dice would be custom dice of some sort.  I was ready to pick up 2-3 boxes, just for the dice, if they were anything like what the Pegasus dice were.  Was really hoping.

As it is, I will probably pick up one of these.  I liked the PDF, but I would rather save some ink and buy the physical product instead of printing out all that color.

[AJCarrington]

An aside...if you'd like to check out some slick 6-sided dice, Ulfsark has machined aluminum...not cheap, but looking very nice. Haven't pulled the trigger on any of these yet, but VERY tempted...

[The Tekwych]

Wood, Metal, Natural materials like Bone or Stone and the like do not roll evenly and are not allowed at our table in game. Our GM won't even use an app as a computer can not generate an actual random number. A truly unique and very fun option are dice rings. The ones I've linked to work very well and are a fun piece to start conversations or get noticed at a con but are not practical for Shadowrun (to many dice at once to use rings)

[Jamelfr]

A truly unique and very fun option are dice rings. The ones I've linked to work very well and are a fun piece to start conversations or get noticed at a con but are not practical for Shadowrun (to many dice at once to use rings)

Really nice! My Geek-Totem wants to squeal; my Credit-Card-Totem is frowning at me. Oh well... Too much PDF's to buy soon, so I will let this one go.    Thanks for the share, maybe one day I'll buy one.

[Jamelfr]

[...]  I wrote lots of what was in here (fiction, all the new characters and their booklets and adventures, etc). [...]

I did not know you wrote that item. Then, I'll add the Beginner Box Set to my (already too long) pdf's-to-buy-for-christmas-list.

Besides, maybe it'll be useful to get my wife in the game: I do not have the time right now to go through the 5th edition rulebook (I have the 20th anniversary edition).

[AJCarrington]

A truly unique and very fun option are dice rings. The ones I've linked to work very well and are a fun piece to start conversations or get noticed at a con but are not practical for Shadowrun (to many dice at once to use rings)

Thanks for this...vaguely remember their KS, but lost track. Always liked the concept, but your point re dice pools is pretty solid. Still, suspect his would look good in my collection at some point.

An aside, not sure I agree with your GM's assessment of the metal dice. If they're cast, yep, but most examples I've seen recently are all milled/machined from billets...pretty fine tolerances there, which should provide excellent consistency. For natural materials, definitely a possibility though. I'm kinda looking forward to Lou Z getting GS up and going again...would love to get a brick of six-sided precision dice someday.

[Michael Chandra]

[...]  I wrote lots of what was in here (fiction, all the new characters and their booklets and adventures, etc). [...]

I did not know you wrote that item. Then, I'll add the Beginner Box Set to my (already too long) pdf's-to-buy-for-christmas-list.

To be exact, the pdf-set would be the Digital Tools Box which is a digital version of Beginner+Alphaware.

[Frankie the Fomori]

Hello all and cheers, I would like to add my experience with the intro box I picked up at pax prime while having the honor of being a demo agent. Three times sense then at my local cafe I have struck up conversations with individuals about SR and was able to pull out the box (twice at the exact time once a few days later)  and run them on little missions to introduce the setting. In this experience it works exactly as planned..... Ms Smyth Is a beautiful launching off point for SR, she show cases how SR is such a diverse setting by offering a Troll face. I do also have alpha and have run the other members of that group latter on to provide different archetype experience. Also twice now we have brought runners into our group and one of wich chose to play MS S as there pc for the run seeing if they wanted to then go back a take a crack at building there own runner.....the role playing experience was amazing and he loved the booklet which allowed him to dive into her background. The best thing is the gentleman in question play tested the original SR for FASA and now we have him back so many years later loving the SE experience. I hope the holiday season gives you the opportunity to have more time to enjoy some SR and take care all, Frankie...... Who is waiting on run faster to be a Formori again