New DnD Starter Set “Heroes of the Borderlands” (First Look)

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

In August of 2024, Dungeons & Dragons publisher Wizards of the Coast held their annual D&D Direct event, breaking out all of the various products coming down the pipeline over the next year. This included the announcement of a brand new DnD Starter Set coming in September 2025, which will be fully compatible with the rules presented in the new 2024 Player’s Handbook and 2024 Dungeon Master’s Guide. Like past starter sets, the goal of this new product will be to provide a solid introductory adventure that teaches both new players and Dungeon Masters the basic rules of the game.

More recently, we’ve learned that the starter set will also include a redesigned version of one of DnD’s most iconic adventure modules and will officially be known as Heroes of the Borderlands. It will also include a number of new components and support materials that haven’t appeared in any previous DnD products.

So just where will players end up when this introductory adventure arrives? Below, we break out everything we know so far.

What will be included in “Heroes of the Borderlands” DnD Starter Set?

At a January 2025 press event, Wizards of the Coast confirmed that the new Heroes of the Borderlands DnD starter set will indeed be a modern update of the classic 1979 DnD adventure module B2: Keep on the Borderlands, although they note that while the materials take place in the same area, “some time has passed” since the original adventure.

The new 2025 starter set will be split into three self-contained booklets: the Caves of Chaos, the Keep on the Borderlands and the Wilderness. Each booklet will include a short tutorial to help new and returning players learn as they go. Additionally, Wizards of the Coast will release a detailed how-to-play video with further instructions to support the new starter set.

The physical version of the starter set will also contain several new innovations designed to make playing DnD easier for beginners. This includes new “tiles” that players can mix and match to create new characters, which Wizards of the Coast describes as being incredibly fast and a solid introduction on how to make a DnD character. The Starter Set will also include support for having multiple DMs run the campaign, which is a first for a starter set.

In a post shared on the official D&D Beyond blog, Wizards of the Coast also revealed that Heroes of the Borderlands will include a quick-start guide that offers a high level overview of the new DnD 2024 rules, along with a modular, introductory adventure.

What is Keep on the Borderlands?

B2: The Keep on the Borderlands is a classic Dungeons & Dragons adventure module first published in 1979 by TSR. It was written by DnD co-creator Gary Gygax and designed to be an introductory adventure for both new players and Dungeon Masters. Over the years the module has become incredibly poplar in large part due to its straightforward, beginner-friendly design and flexibility. Notably, The Keep on the Borderlands has also seen multiple reprints and adaptations since it was first published, including an updated DnD 5e version from Goodman Games known as Into the Borderlands and Raging Swan’s Shadowed Keep on the Borderlands.

The original 1979 adventure is set in a remote wilderness area known as the Borderlands. The players begin their journey at the Keep, a small fortress that serves as a bastion of safety and a base of operations for their exploration. The primary objective is to investigate and neutralize the various threats emanating from the Caves of Chaos, a network of caverns that itself has become a classic setting itself over the years. The caves are inhabited by a variety of monstrous creatures, including goblins, orcs, and other classic DnD monsters. The module emphasizes exploration, combat and problem-solving, offering a variety of challenges that can be approached by players in multiple ways.

What was included in the previous DnD 5e starter Sets?

Over the past decade, Wizards of the Coast has released several starter sets for the fifth edition of Dungeons & Dragons that are meant to provide players with a basic rules framework, introductory adventure and dice. This includes the following three products:

• Starter Set (2014): This DnD box set was actually released several months before the official DnD 5e Player’s Handbook was published. It included a 32-page rulebook, along with a set of dice and five pre-generated characters. It also included a 64-page adventure module known as The Lost Mine of Phandelver, which is set in the Forgotten Realms and takes players from Levels 1 to 5. Notably, the popular adventure would later be updated and expanded in the Phandelver & Below: The Shattered Obelisk campaign in late 2023.
• Essentials Kit (2019): This is basically an enhanced version of the 2014 DnD 5e Starter Set and contains a 64-page rulebook, dice, character sheets, 81 game cards and the adventure Dragon of Icespire Peak, which is designed to take players from Levels 1 to 6. The box set also included a code that unlocked additional digital-only adventures on D&D Beyond which continued the campaign narrative. These included the adventure Storm Lord’s Wrath (for Levels 7–9), Sleeping Dragon’s Wake (for Levels 9–11), and Divine Contention (for Levels 11–13).
• Starter Set (2022): This box set includes five pre-generated character sheets, a rulebook, dice and the introductory adventure Dragons of Stormwreck Isle, which is designed to take characters from Levels 1 to 3, and takes place on a remote island off the Sword Coast in the Forgotten Realms.

When will the new “Heroes of the Borderlands” DnD Starter Set be released?

Currently, the new DnD Starter is scheduled for release on September 16th, 2025. As with other Wizards of the Coast products, however, you will likely be able to pre-order the digital and physical bundle via D&D Beyond, which means you’ll be able to access the digital version several weeks earlier,

You’ll also likely be able to get the box set several weeks early if you pre-order it from any local game stores who are participating in Wizards of the Coast’s early access program.

How much is the new “Heroes of the Borderlands” DnD Starter Set?

Wizards of the Coast has not yet confirmed a price for the new DnD starter set, but it will likely retail for around $50 USD (which is comparable in price to the 2022 DnD Starter Set, which has an MSRP of $45.95).

Wizards of the Coast has recently increased the price of their DnD 5e books, but does offer print and digital bundles as a pre-prder discount D&D Beyond. It’s also likely that digital-only versions will be available of both the rules and the Heroes of the Borderlands adventure.

What other tie-in products will be available?

Typically, WizKids releases a variety of monster and NPC miniatures that tie-in to DnD adventure supplements, so it’s possible we may see similar products with the 2025 DnD Starter Set. It’s also possible that there may be additional digital only adventures via D&D Beyond (something we saw with the 2019 Essentials Kit).

It’s also likely that the new box set will integrate with the new 2D Maps VTT via D&D Beyond, although it’s not yet clear if it will also be compatible with Project Sigil, the codename for upcoming 3D DnD virtual tabletop.

Final Thoughts

The Starter Set has been a mainstay of DnD for years, and it’s great to see that Wizards of the Coast is continuing the tradition with a new product that integrates fully with the new DnD 2024 rules. It’s also great to see WotC pull a page from the game’s rich history and update an old school adventure that will likely be of interest to both new and returning players.

We’ll be keeping a close eye on this story in the days ahead and will update this page with more information as it’s made available. In the meantime, below is the D&D Direct 2024 video, timestamped to the discussion of Heroes of the Borderlands.

See Our Complete D&D Book Coverage

Visit our D&D Books page for more reviews of the latest novels and game books.

*We are a member of the Amazon Affiliate marketing program, which provides us with a small commission on any sales at no additional cost to you the consumer.