I will be running Lost Mine of Phandelver as my first experience of DM'ing in a few weeks and I am a little unsure on what information to give to the players as they start creating their characters. I am going to try planting parts of the pre-generated backstories into their own, and I plan on having the campaign start by the book on the high-road (as I am apprehensive that the party will run off through Neverwinter at the very start if I begin in a Tavern and I am not sure how to prep for that exactly) and I will run it by the book as much as I can.
My question is: What information should I give to the players ahead of the start of the campaign? Information about the forgotten realms, should I mention Gundren and ask them to think of how they know him at this stage? I would appreciate any advice :) . So excited!
What I did was starting in the Fallen Tower Tavern in the River District in Neverwinter, where they meet Gundren Rockseeker and Sildar Hallwinter. Gundren is looking on his map, but stows it away when the party enters the tavern (info of the map and Wave Echo Cave is unknown to them). Here you can insert the Meet me at Phandalin hook and begin telling to escort some provisions to Barthen's Provision and that they rendezvous the next morning at the gate. This gives the players to introduce themselves towards each other and the NPC's. After, you start the following morning at the South Gate on the High Road where Sildar and Gundren tell they ride ahead to take care of things on the road ahead and in Phandalin.
This way the party was already engaged in some RP, as it takes them a few days (in game) before they are at the Tri-boar trail and the Goblin Ambush.
I would definitely give every player some kind of quest (as are provided in the pre-made characters for inspiration) or target. This will shift during you are playing the game, but it gives them a little bit of a reason and a push into the direction of Phandalin.
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"Time, like hope, is an illusion" - Lumalee "Time is relative" - Albert Einstein "It's a joke. It's all a joke. Mother forgive me" - Edward 'The Comedian' Blake "Do I look like the kind of clown that can start a movement?" - Arthur Fleck
And what you can share as a narrative and to immerse the players into the world is just telling the part at Introduction --> Forgotten Realms. There you don't spoil anything of the story, just a narrative of the world. This can be accompanied by the regional map for players.
Eventually when the players get the chance to free Sildar, via a History check at Barthen's, the dwarvish Tome in the Redbrand Hideout (11. Wizard's Workshop), when questioning Glasstaff, asking Agatha about it or when Gundren is freed from Cragmaw Castle they get the information about the Phandelver Pact written under the Background section (first two paragraphs). Even Reidoth could tell them about Wave Echo Cave and the Phandelver Pact after they have slain the dragon.
"Time, like hope, is an illusion" - Lumalee "Time is relative" - Albert Einstein "It's a joke. It's all a joke. Mother forgive me" - Edward 'The Comedian' Blake "Do I look like the kind of clown that can start a movement?" - Arthur Fleck
I've DMd this campaign twice now, once for adults and the second time for young teens, and both times I've given about the same amount of background.I tell them it's in the north of Sword Coast, give them a regional map and a full map of the Sword Coast and point them towards wikis for history if they care. I've found from this and other campaigns some players want to know everything possible while others couldn't care less so there's no point trying to give the same info to both groups. You can also suggest the Honour Among Thieves film as it's both very good and set in and around Neverwinter so gives a nice flavour for the setting if players are new to Forgotten Realms.
I've started in a tavern meeting Gundren and Sildar to hire the party, you can easily just tell your players this is a prologue and they can't leave to explore Neverwinter, and tell them only that the job is just to escort some mining and food supplies to Phandalin. No need at the beginning to tell them about Wave Echo Cave or any of that. After that I skipped straight to a week later with them turning off the trail and being ambushed by goblins. The free newspaper Gino linked is a great resource that I gave the kids (it wasn't out when I did the adult campaign) once they reached Phandalin, I just had it on the bar of the Stonehill Inn for them to pick up, that then allows you to start expanding with a bit more information. Both times I've had Sildar reluctantly admit they've been looking for Wave Echo Cave and why it's important and then give information based upon what the players ask about and what they seem interested in. Again, no point info dumping on players unless they care because they'll just forget anything they don't think is important.
Most important thing to remember if it's your first time is to have fun and accept you'll make mistakes. Your players (hopefully) are rooting for you to do well and will accept if you make a misstep. Don't be afraid to call a five minute break for snacks and toilet trips if something comes up you didn't prepare while you quickly read the campaign or look up rules and retconning things is perfectly fine if you need to. I've been DMing for a few years now and still after last night's session I had to put a message in our Discord chat saying "I know I said X but I meant Y so can we pretend I always said that"
I will be running Lost Mine of Phandelver as my first experience of DM'ing in a few weeks and I am a little unsure on what information to give to the players as they start creating their characters. I am going to try planting parts of the pre-generated backstories into their own, and I plan on having the campaign start by the book on the high-road (as I am apprehensive that the party will run off through Neverwinter at the very start if I begin in a Tavern and I am not sure how to prep for that exactly) and I will run it by the book as much as I can.
My question is: What information should I give to the players ahead of the start of the campaign? Information about the forgotten realms, should I mention Gundren and ask them to think of how they know him at this stage? I would appreciate any advice :) . So excited!
For what is happening in and around Phandalin I would refer to the hand-out made when they released Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk: https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/1560-downloadable-handout-read-the-latest-edition-of
What I did was starting in the Fallen Tower Tavern in the River District in Neverwinter, where they meet Gundren Rockseeker and Sildar Hallwinter. Gundren is looking on his map, but stows it away when the party enters the tavern (info of the map and Wave Echo Cave is unknown to them). Here you can insert the Meet me at Phandalin hook and begin telling to escort some provisions to Barthen's Provision and that they rendezvous the next morning at the gate. This gives the players to introduce themselves towards each other and the NPC's.
After, you start the following morning at the South Gate on the High Road where Sildar and Gundren tell they ride ahead to take care of things on the road ahead and in Phandalin.
This way the party was already engaged in some RP, as it takes them a few days (in game) before they are at the Tri-boar trail and the Goblin Ambush.
I would definitely give every player some kind of quest (as are provided in the pre-made characters for inspiration) or target. This will shift during you are playing the game, but it gives them a little bit of a reason and a push into the direction of Phandalin.
"Time, like hope, is an illusion" - Lumalee
"Time is relative" - Albert Einstein
"It's a joke. It's all a joke. Mother forgive me" - Edward 'The Comedian' Blake
"Do I look like the kind of clown that can start a movement?" - Arthur Fleck
And what you can share as a narrative and to immerse the players into the world is just telling the part at Introduction --> Forgotten Realms. There you don't spoil anything of the story, just a narrative of the world. This can be accompanied by the regional map for players.
Eventually when the players get the chance to free Sildar, via a History check at Barthen's, the dwarvish Tome in the Redbrand Hideout (11. Wizard's Workshop), when questioning Glasstaff, asking Agatha about it or when Gundren is freed from Cragmaw Castle they get the information about the Phandelver Pact written under the Background section (first two paragraphs). Even Reidoth could tell them about Wave Echo Cave and the Phandelver Pact after they have slain the dragon.
"Time, like hope, is an illusion" - Lumalee
"Time is relative" - Albert Einstein
"It's a joke. It's all a joke. Mother forgive me" - Edward 'The Comedian' Blake
"Do I look like the kind of clown that can start a movement?" - Arthur Fleck
I've DMd this campaign twice now, once for adults and the second time for young teens, and both times I've given about the same amount of background.I tell them it's in the north of Sword Coast, give them a regional map and a full map of the Sword Coast and point them towards wikis for history if they care. I've found from this and other campaigns some players want to know everything possible while others couldn't care less so there's no point trying to give the same info to both groups. You can also suggest the Honour Among Thieves film as it's both very good and set in and around Neverwinter so gives a nice flavour for the setting if players are new to Forgotten Realms.
I've started in a tavern meeting Gundren and Sildar to hire the party, you can easily just tell your players this is a prologue and they can't leave to explore Neverwinter, and tell them only that the job is just to escort some mining and food supplies to Phandalin. No need at the beginning to tell them about Wave Echo Cave or any of that. After that I skipped straight to a week later with them turning off the trail and being ambushed by goblins. The free newspaper Gino linked is a great resource that I gave the kids (it wasn't out when I did the adult campaign) once they reached Phandalin, I just had it on the bar of the Stonehill Inn for them to pick up, that then allows you to start expanding with a bit more information. Both times I've had Sildar reluctantly admit they've been looking for Wave Echo Cave and why it's important and then give information based upon what the players ask about and what they seem interested in. Again, no point info dumping on players unless they care because they'll just forget anything they don't think is important.
Most important thing to remember if it's your first time is to have fun and accept you'll make mistakes. Your players (hopefully) are rooting for you to do well and will accept if you make a misstep. Don't be afraid to call a five minute break for snacks and toilet trips if something comes up you didn't prepare while you quickly read the campaign or look up rules and retconning things is perfectly fine if you need to. I've been DMing for a few years now and still after last night's session I had to put a message in our Discord chat saying "I know I said X but I meant Y so can we pretend I always said that"
Thank you so much both, really helpful :)