The base game is extremely fun and easy to learn, even to teach to non gamers. I usually don't include expansions when introducing a base game to someone new on a first playthrough, but with this game I absolutely make an exception. This expansion does SO much to enrich the already great experience of the base game, that I would say it is completely necessary to play with the main game. If you have never played lords of waterdeep, you need to, so go buy the main game now! If you have lords of waterdeep, then you probably already have this in your collection.