D&D’s best campaign for newbies gets a lavish new boxed set from Beadle & Grimm’s

polygon.com:

A newbie Dungeon Master, I was attracted to Dungeons & Dragons by the opportunity to spend my free time making delightful experiences for my players. And delighted they were when I plopped a giant canvas map of the Sword Coast region onto my dining room table. I looked at my nephews and my wife, all with some TTRPG experience under their belts, and then to the odd man out: my nearly 70-year-old father who has zero previous experience with role-playing games.

But even with the disparity in their skill sets, it was the elegant prop map that pulled them in. While I’d done the work to prepare the scene, and brought everyone together with pizza, I didn’t make the map. Instead, it was an immaculate prop of Beadle & Grimm’s design that truly pulled the party together. Suddenly this imaginary nonsense I’d sold my dad on was a real place — with real roads and real goblins waiting in ambush.

The adventure was Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk, the new best starting point for those just getting into D&D. But I wasn’t just using the excellent campaign book published by Wizards of the Coast. I was also relying on a $350 box of maps and other props made by Beadle & Grimm’s, Matthew Lillard’s publishing company. Like its other boxed sets, this one is loaded with items to help you run a specific campaign.

There are monster cards that you can place on your DM screen that have the monster’s stat block on one side and gorgeous art for your players on the other. There are badge pins that the party can earn during the course of play, allowing them to show off their allegiance to the Harpers or the campaign’s other factions. There is a deck filled with magic item cards to help your players stay organized. And there’s even a custom DM screen loaded up with information on important NPCs and when your players are supposed to level up. But the most important part of the package — for player immersion, at least — are the maps.

My big, beautiful canvas map of the Sword Coast