I found Solasta does an excellent job teaching you its rules. I never play the recommended party in the initial playthrough of a game, and for my first playthrough went with a paladin, ranger, rogue, and cleric for my party. While this is only a portion of the 5th edition’s classes and races, I feel there are enough choices that I could (and probably will) replay it a second time and have a different enough party to make another playthrough interesting. The Crown of the Magister currently features six classes, each with 3 specialties and 4 races, each with 2 subraces. Solasta is my first experience with the 5th edition of Dungeons and Dragons. It’s just that those activities present you with an occasional change of pace from your main task, which is exploring and fighting your way through various dungeons, ruins, caverns, and other exotic locations.

You do have a hub, chat with NPCs, get an occasional side quest, can periodically talk yourself out of a conflict, and are rewarded for carefully combing maps. In that way its much more like the aforementioned Temple of Elemental Evil or Icewind Dale. Its much more a linear quest that focuses primarily on dungeon crawling and combat. There’s no big open world, there aren’t tons of quests waiting around every corner, and there are no memorable companions for you to recruit. What Solasta isn’t, and what could potentially disappoint some players, is a Baldur’s Gate. It does an excellent job of giving you the feel of a tabletop game, even actively rolling dice on screen each time your characters make an attack roll or attempt a persuasion check. Solasta: The Crown of Magister is definitely more of the former. Since then I have been a huge fan of games which try to capture the feeling of a Dungeons and Dragons tabletop game, whether it is something pretty close to the original experience, like Temple of Elemental Evil or something more derivative like Pillars of Eternity.

I started playing RPGs on the tabletop, and I can still remember my uncle surprised us years ago when he brought the D&D starter box with him on a visit.

Solasta crown of the magister story