As the title stated I'm new to DM'ing but have experience with DnD 2e and 3e. So I'm getting familiar with 5e and running LMoP with my home group, just to get our feet wet so to speak. But looking ahead I'm trying to decide where we should start our next adventure. It's my impression the group wants to stay in the forgotten realms type setting. In saying all this I'm having a difficult time picking between the adventure books in that setting. I thought about running the W:DH and W:DotMM with TftYP or maybe RotFM with CM. I'm unsure about running BG:DiA because I don't think the group would care much for a "mad max" type of vibe.
The only two adventures I have ever done (I always homebrew when DMing, but a friend wanted me to join their group) are Frostmaiden and Descent into Avernus. Both were awful and I would not recommend them.
For Frostmaiden, the setting itself is fine, and it would be useful to get the book to do a homebrew set in Icewind Dale, but, as a campaign, it has a LOT of flaws--poorly articulated characters, a villain that Wizards admit they forgot to add personality to, and a campaign that finishes halfway through the plot, then goes off on an unrelated secondary quest after you defeat the BBEG. The entire campaign felt like Wizards spent a lot of time trying to make a world, then went "whoops, we finished the campaign really quickly and need to add some filler at the end."
BG:DiA is also pretty bad. I am not a fan of the Mad Max play personally, but it was the general story that made things worse--it felt a lot like a glorified fetch quest. It probably did not help that I was in a playgroup with a husband-wife pair that both had main character syndrome and neither were capable of really handling a hellish setting. Not a great campaign all around and we thankfully never finished, so it is possible it gets better in the third act.
So in this forum, I'd say if your players want to continue with their current characters, give Storm King's Thunder a look. There's a lot to do there and it even provides an appendix coaching you how to link it to LMoP and also link it to some other modules like Out of the Abyss.
I think actually if I wanted a sort of sandbox with plots to follow or not, I think you could run a good followup to LMoP with SKT and OoA combined and just let the players choose how they want to interact with the conflicts and plots posed in those two books (and again SKT gives some guidance on weaving all that).
I actually liked BG: DiA as a book and have made a lot of use of it, but never really ran the book as a play through. You're not interested in BG: DiA anyway, but I'll say the same about RotFM.
As the title stated I'm new to DM'ing but have experience with DnD 2e and 3e. So I'm getting familiar with 5e and running LMoP with my home group, just to get our feet wet so to speak. But looking ahead I'm trying to decide where we should start our next adventure. It's my impression the group wants to stay in the forgotten realms type setting. In saying all this I'm having a difficult time picking between the adventure books in that setting. I thought about running the W:DH and W:DotMM with TftYP or maybe RotFM with CM. I'm unsure about running BG:DiA because I don't think the group would care much for a "mad max" type of vibe.
Don't go with dungeon of the made mage, theirs not much RP at all in it. Mostly just combat. It does have some interesting ideas though.
So in this forum, I'd say if your players want to continue with their current characters, give Storm King's Thunder a look. There's a lot to do there and it even provides an appendix coaching you how to link it to LMoP and also link it to some other modules like Out of the Abyss.
I think actually if I wanted a sort of sandbox with plots to follow or not, I think you could run a good followup to LMoP with SKT and OoA combined and just let the players choose how they want to interact with the conflicts and plots posed in those two books (and again SKT gives some guidance on weaving all that).
I actually liked BG: DiA as a book and have made a lot of use of it, but never really ran the book as a play through. You're not interested in BG: DiA anyway, but I'll say the same about RotFM.
Continuing the campaign with Storm Kings Thunder is a viable option, but the chapter you'de be starting with is a mess, and a lot of the encounters in the latter half of the adventures are pretty hard.
Other ways of keeping your campaign going, you could also start at level 1 with all of these:
Candlekeep mysteries: a collection of 17 different adventures that take a level or so each and include a good mix of RP & exploration & combat (personally, I like this one).
Tales from the yawning portal would require a few difficulty adjustments but would ultimately workout.
Journeys through the radiant citadel: is similar to CM and it can take characters up to level 14 (it's not out yet though).
I'm not sure about ghosts of saltmarsh, I dont have the book.
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Maybe you could go with the follow up adventures/expansions for Dragon of Icespire Peak? They happen around the same area. That said, I haven't played nor dm'd them yet, so I can't attest to how good they are.
-It will have the same kind of feel as lost mines unlike other adventures that feel very specific in theme, like city intrigue, dungeon crawl, going to hell, going to ice land. -It will continue exploring the same section of faerune only on a much larger scale -You can start at SKT at level 5, there are notes in the module of how to do it
All official adventures tend to need some customization but from what I've seen this is what works most seamlessly to continue a lost mines game into higher levels
I appreciate everyone taking the time to give some insight and advice. I believe I'll continue on with SKT since it seems to review well and it has easy tie ins to LMoP. I think I'll do the simple suggestion from the book and tie some rumors and the triboar trail section more into the giants from SKT. Thanks again everyone.
You could grab old modules convert them to 5e. I was thinking about taking my last LMoP group into "Ruins of Adventure" which is notable for being basically the game Pool of Radiance (which is set in the city of Phlan-- Phlan, Phandelver, eh? eh?) It's not especially hard to convert them over these days.
As someone who ran SKT, I highly recommend patching it up. Justin Alexander at The Alexandrian has some advice in this regard, and I'm not sure he goes far enough but his ideas make sense. Mike Shea over at Sly Flourish also has written some good stuff about it, and he also recommends further sources.
We did have a good time with the adventure. I think, for better or worse, the work you'll need to put in is the secret sauce. In my version, I ended up having a whole time-travel plot, a child custody case between dragons, and a bunch of other nonsense tangled up in the main story. It was quite memorable.
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As the title stated I'm new to DM'ing but have experience with DnD 2e and 3e. So I'm getting familiar with 5e and running LMoP with my home group, just to get our feet wet so to speak. But looking ahead I'm trying to decide where we should start our next adventure. It's my impression the group wants to stay in the forgotten realms type setting. In saying all this I'm having a difficult time picking between the adventure books in that setting. I thought about running the W:DH and W:DotMM with TftYP or maybe RotFM with CM. I'm unsure about running BG:DiA because I don't think the group would care much for a "mad max" type of vibe.
The only two adventures I have ever done (I always homebrew when DMing, but a friend wanted me to join their group) are Frostmaiden and Descent into Avernus. Both were awful and I would not recommend them.
For Frostmaiden, the setting itself is fine, and it would be useful to get the book to do a homebrew set in Icewind Dale, but, as a campaign, it has a LOT of flaws--poorly articulated characters, a villain that Wizards admit they forgot to add personality to, and a campaign that finishes halfway through the plot, then goes off on an unrelated secondary quest after you defeat the BBEG. The entire campaign felt like Wizards spent a lot of time trying to make a world, then went "whoops, we finished the campaign really quickly and need to add some filler at the end."
BG:DiA is also pretty bad. I am not a fan of the Mad Max play personally, but it was the general story that made things worse--it felt a lot like a glorified fetch quest. It probably did not help that I was in a playgroup with a husband-wife pair that both had main character syndrome and neither were capable of really handling a hellish setting. Not a great campaign all around and we thankfully never finished, so it is possible it gets better in the third act.
[REDACTED]
So in this forum, I'd say if your players want to continue with their current characters, give Storm King's Thunder a look. There's a lot to do there and it even provides an appendix coaching you how to link it to LMoP and also link it to some other modules like Out of the Abyss.
I think actually if I wanted a sort of sandbox with plots to follow or not, I think you could run a good followup to LMoP with SKT and OoA combined and just let the players choose how they want to interact with the conflicts and plots posed in those two books (and again SKT gives some guidance on weaving all that).
I actually liked BG: DiA as a book and have made a lot of use of it, but never really ran the book as a play through. You're not interested in BG: DiA anyway, but I'll say the same about RotFM.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Don't go with dungeon of the made mage, theirs not much RP at all in it. Mostly just combat. It does have some interesting ideas though.
Continuing the campaign with Storm Kings Thunder is a viable option, but the chapter you'de be starting with is a mess, and a lot of the encounters in the latter half of the adventures are pretty hard.
Other ways of keeping your campaign going, you could also start at level 1 with all of these:
I'm not sure about ghosts of saltmarsh, I dont have the book.
BoringBard's long and tedious posts somehow manage to enrapture audiences. How? Because he used Charm Person, the #1 bard spell!
He/him pronouns. Call me Bard. PROUD NERD!
Ever wanted to talk about your parties' worst mistakes? Do so HERE. What's your favorite class, why? Share & explain
HERE.Maybe you could go with the follow up adventures/expansions for Dragon of Icespire Peak? They happen around the same area. That said, I haven't played nor dm'd them yet, so I can't attest to how good they are.
Storm kings thunder
-It will have the same kind of feel as lost mines unlike other adventures that feel very specific in theme, like city intrigue, dungeon crawl, going to hell, going to ice land.
-It will continue exploring the same section of faerune only on a much larger scale
-You can start at SKT at level 5, there are notes in the module of how to do it
All official adventures tend to need some customization but from what I've seen this is what works most seamlessly to continue a lost mines game into higher levels
I appreciate everyone taking the time to give some insight and advice. I believe I'll continue on with SKT since it seems to review well and it has easy tie ins to LMoP. I think I'll do the simple suggestion from the book and tie some rumors and the triboar trail section more into the giants from SKT. Thanks again everyone.
You could grab old modules convert them to 5e. I was thinking about taking my last LMoP group into "Ruins of Adventure" which is notable for being basically the game Pool of Radiance (which is set in the city of Phlan-- Phlan, Phandelver, eh? eh?) It's not especially hard to convert them over these days.
As someone who ran SKT, I highly recommend patching it up. Justin Alexander at The Alexandrian has some advice in this regard, and I'm not sure he goes far enough but his ideas make sense. Mike Shea over at Sly Flourish also has written some good stuff about it, and he also recommends further sources.
We did have a good time with the adventure. I think, for better or worse, the work you'll need to put in is the secret sauce. In my version, I ended up having a whole time-travel plot, a child custody case between dragons, and a bunch of other nonsense tangled up in the main story. It was quite memorable.