I'm back and DEEP into playing again after 25 years away. I love the new 5E rules and I'm digging the content that's out there. Love this site/app and can't wait to see where it goes from here!
Here are my questions.
1) If you've run Phandelver do you have any tips, do's and don'ts or things you tweaked that worked out well? At this point the standard 4 person party is deep into the ruins of Tresendar Manor and about to finish it before moving on to some of the side quests in chapter 3. They still don't know where Cragmaw Castle is yet but they were told that the Druid Ruidoth might know where it was...
2)Everyone is loving it so far and I'm looking for a good transition to take the party who will likely be 5th level into another campaign after. I purchased the upcoming Tales from the Yawning Portal but I'm unsure which of those might fit the bill. We will likely play every two weeks. Storm Kings seems like it might take forever or been a little too involved for the casual players...thoughts?
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So the middle of the adventure with all the side plots from town - the pre-gen characters that go with the adventure all have plot hooks tied back to different side quests. Alot of groups find that without the backstories, a lot of players found they had no drive to chase after this side quests. Maybe pick a few that you want to drop in, or ensure that you make it easy enough for them to get the quests as without the background drivers, it sometimes is hard for them to want to even go and talk to some of the NPCs.
So 5th level - you have numerous choices if you don't want o do your own adventures, You can go to the TftYP route, Throw them into PotA or SKT. The other thing you could look at is some of the Adventurer's League content from the different seasons. Majority take place around the moonsea area, however there are ways of getting them there or some of the one shots that are a little closer to the Neverwinter side of the world.
yeah, i like the published adventures, but I don't always want to start a whole new lvl 1 party to use it, so I just find the level appropriate parts (or adjust as needed) from them.
I am currently wrapping up LMoP for a group of new players and am transitioning into Hoard of the Dragon Queen starting in chapter 5. If you tweek the story a bit, it is fairly easy to connect the two adventures. For my game, I just had the big bad in LMoP working for the big bad in HotDQ, so the transition from one to the next goes pretty smoothly. To be honest, I don't think HotDQ has the strongest story out of the pregen adventures, but it is pretty straight forward and tailored for newer players.
I am currently wrapping up LMoP for a group of new players and am transitioning into Hoard of the Dragon Queen starting in chapter 5. If you tweek the story a bit, it is fairly easy to connect the two adventures. For my game, I just had the big bad in LMoP working for the big bad in HotDQ, so the transition from one to the next goes pretty smoothly. To be honest, I don't think HotDQ has the strongest story out of the pregen adventures, but it is pretty straight forward and tailored for newer players.
Very interesting professor. Very interesting indeed. Do you mind if I pick your brain a little on how LMoP went. I'd love to compare notes with you.
Assuming your players have created their own characters - work the main plot / side plots into their background, to make the story more personal for them. As an example, my party of 4 all decided to be Dwarves, so it made it pretty easy to say that the three Rockseeker brothers were the uncles of a couple of the characters (and extended family for the others).
Some of the "dungeons" can be pretty dangerous, so encourage the players to investigate and have plans, rather than just walk in. You can easily use a variety of the npcs to ask them, "How do you plan to approach this?" to get them to think it through. Also consider what information the players may be able to find out before entering and reward clever ideas with information. When you think about it, it's surprising how much information would be available with a good Survival roll near the dungeon (types of creatures that come and go - maybe rough numbers, that supplies were dragged in recently, impact on the local wildlife etc).
There's a few handouts that work well if prepared beforehand. If they've not reached Glass Staff's office yet, consider writing out / printing the paperwork they get from his desk.
There's a few handouts that work well if prepared beforehand. If they've not reached Glass Staff's office yet, consider writing out / printing the paperwork they get from his desk.
Assuming your players have created their own characters - work the main plot / side plots into their background, to make the story more personal for them. As an example, my party of 4 all decided to be Dwarves, so it made it pretty easy to say that the three Rockseeker brothers were the uncles of a couple of the characters (and extended family for the others).
Some of the "dungeons" can be pretty dangerous, so encourage the players to investigate and have plans, rather than just walk in. You can easily use a variety of the npcs to ask them, "How do you plan to approach this?" to get them to think it through. Also consider what information the players may be able to find out before entering and reward clever ideas with information. When you think about it, it's surprising how much information would be available with a good Survival roll near the dungeon (types of creatures that come and go - maybe rough numbers, that supplies were dragged in recently, impact on the local wildlife etc).
There's a few handouts that work well if prepared beforehand. If they've not reached Glass Staff's office yet, consider writing out / printing the paperwork they get from his desk.
There's a few handouts that work well if prepared beforehand. If they've not reached Glass Staff's office yet, consider writing out / printing the paperwork they get from his desk.
I'm getting back into D&D after a 40-year absence (whitebox/ad&d). I like the change from "pure dungeon crawls" to "open-world with some roleplay mixed in." But I am noticing that players are approaching the game as if it were an MMO...where they can basically charge into any situation with 99% expectation of surviving/winning. D&D doesn't work that way, even 40 years ago.
Forty years ago, the pamphets with the white box spoke to them being "guidelines" and not strict rules. Likewise, when running pre-built adventures, DMs should still be encouraged to "tweak/change" the adventures as needed. Some PC groups are well-suited to play the pre-builts "as is" with all the hard encounters. Whilst other groups would be TPK-ed after the second encounter...due to their outlook on gaming in general (run in, kill all, collect loot). The DM should always talk to any new group about what they expect from the game, what kind of games they like to play, etc...so the DM can adjust the game to stay a challenge but neither a Monte Haul nor a Captain Bligh game.
I am in a group which is going to start Phandelver...with a couple of total newbies to D&D. DMs should speak to the players with the lowest D&D experience...about it being a dangerous world. That isn't like Online Games where you survive 99% of encounters unless you do something totally stupid. That D&D is a living world where events happen around the PCs...not waiting for the PCs to make the events happen. This way, if the PCs ignore side quests...those quests & their rewards can be made plain via the NPCs' gains around them. Stories shared at the local tavern/gossip points in the game...can get the PCs motivated. The DMs can also use those instances as a way to relay the "difficulty" of those encounters...so the PCs can "modify" their opinions on survivability.
The other side-effect of the Internet is people will actively "meta" prior to any adventure...especially if the DM announces the name of the Adventure. Some players will look up all the aspects of the game, the monsters they'll encounter (and research those monsters' weaknesses), where & what the loot will be, min/max their starting characters to take advantage of loot to be gained, etc. Then when they come into the pre-built game, they seem to "know" just what to do when for maximum personal benefit.
IMHO: To this point, I would suggest that DMs *NEVER* announce the Name of the Adventure...and actively change names of NPCs, key plot points, and world areas...to circumvent meta-knowledge...which destroys the "fun-factor" for everyone involved.
Order of the Bug Hunters Apple ][+ MOSTech 6502 1.0 MHz • 64k Ram • Hercules 8k EGA video card • 300baud USR modem • 2 x 340k 5¼" floppy drives • Software Emulated Sound • Apple DOS 3.3 • Sony 13" TV monitor • Integrated Keyboard • No Mouse
I'm getting back into D&D after a 40-year absence (whitebox/ad&d). I like the change from "pure dungeon crawls" to "open-world with some roleplay mixed in." But I am noticing that players are approaching the game as if it were an MMO...where they can basically charge into any situation with 99% expectation of surviving/winning. D&D doesn't work that way, even 40 years ago.
Forty years ago, the pamphets with the white box spoke to them being "guidelines" and not strict rules. Likewise, when running pre-built adventures, DMs should still be encouraged to "tweak/change" the adventures as needed. Some PC groups are well-suited to play the pre-builts "as is" with all the hard encounters. Whilst other groups would be TPK-ed after the second encounter...due to their outlook on gaming in general (run in, kill all, collect loot). The DM should always talk to any new group about what they expect from the game, what kind of games they like to play, etc...so the DM can adjust the game to stay a challenge but neither a Monte Haul nor a Captain Bligh game.
I am in a group which is going to start Phandelver...with a couple of total newbies to D&D. DMs should speak to the players with the lowest D&D experience...about it being a dangerous world. That isn't like Online Games where you survive 99% of encounters unless you do something totally stupid. That D&D is a living world where events happen around the PCs...not waiting for the PCs to make the events happen. This way, if the PCs ignore side quests...those quests & their rewards can be made plain via the NPCs' gains around them. Stories shared at the local tavern/gossip points in the game...can get the PCs motivated. The DMs can also use those instances as a way to relay the "difficulty" of those encounters...so the PCs can "modify" their opinions on survivability.
The other side-effect of the Internet is people will actively "meta" prior to any adventure...especially if the DM announces the name of the Adventure. Some players will look up all the aspects of the game, the monsters they'll encounter (and research those monsters' weaknesses), where & what the loot will be, min/max their starting characters to take advantage of loot to be gained, etc. Then when they come into the pre-built game, they seem to "know" just what to do when for maximum personal benefit.
IMHO: To this point, I would suggest that DMs *NEVER* announce the Name of the Adventure...and actively change names of NPCs, key plot points, and world areas...to circumvent meta-knowledge...which destroys the "fun-factor" for everyone involved.
TQQdles™,
Dolnor Numbwit Eternal Newbie
While I agree with most of the first part, the last two paragraphs leave me wondering where you got this impression.
I try to play with people I know, and only recently started a campaign with people from the forums here and never had that kind of doubt come to my mind. The idea that someone could go look for "guides" on the adventure seems as counter-productive as it can be (to clarify: I am agreeing with you here) and I'd hope that people playing this game, or any P&P RPG understand this concept, and would not go look up the adventure beforehand, it defeats the very purpose of the game. A player might have personal knowledge of monsters, so much so that when they come to face those kind of monsters they are at an advantage and (hopefully unwillingly) meta the knowledge to their character (it can happen, we are humans), but most of the time I do not think there's malice in that. Going look the adventure is malice.
What I am trying to say is: if you have the feeling you need to make so many changes to a published adventure because you feel the people you play with are going to look up stuff, you are better off either playing with other people, or come up with your own adventure altogether.
I'm back and DEEP into playing again after 25 years away. I love the new 5E rules and I'm digging the content that's out there. Love this site/app and can't wait to see where it goes from here!
Here are my questions.
1) If you've run Phandelver do you have any tips, do's and don'ts or things you tweaked that worked out well? At this point the standard 4 person party is deep into the ruins of Tresendar Manor and about to finish it before moving on to some of the side quests in chapter 3. They still don't know where Cragmaw Castle is yet but they were told that the Druid Ruidoth might know where it was...
2)Everyone is loving it so far and I'm looking for a good transition to take the party who will likely be 5th level into another campaign after. I purchased the upcoming Tales from the Yawning Portal but I'm unsure which of those might fit the bill. We will likely play every two weeks. Storm Kings seems like it might take forever or been a little too involved for the casual players...thoughts?
So the middle of the adventure with all the side plots from town - the pre-gen characters that go with the adventure all have plot hooks tied back to different side quests. Alot of groups find that without the backstories, a lot of players found they had no drive to chase after this side quests. Maybe pick a few that you want to drop in, or ensure that you make it easy enough for them to get the quests as without the background drivers, it sometimes is hard for them to want to even go and talk to some of the NPCs.
So 5th level - you have numerous choices if you don't want o do your own adventures, You can go to the TftYP route, Throw them into PotA or SKT. The other thing you could look at is some of the Adventurer's League content from the different seasons. Majority take place around the moonsea area, however there are ways of getting them there or some of the one shots that are a little closer to the Neverwinter side of the world.
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yeah, i like the published adventures, but I don't always want to start a whole new lvl 1 party to use it, so I just find the level appropriate parts (or adjust as needed) from them.
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I am currently wrapping up LMoP for a group of new players and am transitioning into Hoard of the Dragon Queen starting in chapter 5. If you tweek the story a bit, it is fairly easy to connect the two adventures. For my game, I just had the big bad in LMoP working for the big bad in HotDQ, so the transition from one to the next goes pretty smoothly. To be honest, I don't think HotDQ has the strongest story out of the pregen adventures, but it is pretty straight forward and tailored for newer players.
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I'm getting back into D&D after a 40-year absence (whitebox/ad&d). I like the change from "pure dungeon crawls" to "open-world with some roleplay mixed in." But I am noticing that players are approaching the game as if it were an MMO...where they can basically charge into any situation with 99% expectation of surviving/winning. D&D doesn't work that way, even 40 years ago.
Forty years ago, the pamphets with the white box spoke to them being "guidelines" and not strict rules. Likewise, when running pre-built adventures, DMs should still be encouraged to "tweak/change" the adventures as needed. Some PC groups are well-suited to play the pre-builts "as is" with all the hard encounters. Whilst other groups would be TPK-ed after the second encounter...due to their outlook on gaming in general (run in, kill all, collect loot). The DM should always talk to any new group about what they expect from the game, what kind of games they like to play, etc...so the DM can adjust the game to stay a challenge but neither a Monte Haul nor a Captain Bligh game.
I am in a group which is going to start Phandelver...with a couple of total newbies to D&D. DMs should speak to the players with the lowest D&D experience...about it being a dangerous world. That isn't like Online Games where you survive 99% of encounters unless you do something totally stupid. That D&D is a living world where events happen around the PCs...not waiting for the PCs to make the events happen. This way, if the PCs ignore side quests...those quests & their rewards can be made plain via the NPCs' gains around them. Stories shared at the local tavern/gossip points in the game...can get the PCs motivated. The DMs can also use those instances as a way to relay the "difficulty" of those encounters...so the PCs can "modify" their opinions on survivability.
The other side-effect of the Internet is people will actively "meta" prior to any adventure...especially if the DM announces the name of the Adventure. Some players will look up all the aspects of the game, the monsters they'll encounter (and research those monsters' weaknesses), where & what the loot will be, min/max their starting characters to take advantage of loot to be gained, etc. Then when they come into the pre-built game, they seem to "know" just what to do when for maximum personal benefit.
IMHO: To this point, I would suggest that DMs *NEVER* announce the Name of the Adventure...and actively change names of NPCs, key plot points, and world areas...to circumvent meta-knowledge...which destroys the "fun-factor" for everyone involved.
TQQdles™,
Dolnor Numbwit
Eternal Newbie
Order of the Bug Hunters
Apple ][+ MOSTech 6502 1.0 MHz • 64k Ram • Hercules 8k EGA video card • 300baud USR modem • 2 x 340k 5¼" floppy drives • Software Emulated Sound • Apple DOS 3.3 • Sony 13" TV monitor • Integrated Keyboard • No Mouse
Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games