Hello dungeon masters. My group is currently playing through the lost mine of phandelver adventure. The pcs have recently been on more side quests / adventures related to their backstory and such for a few sessions and I want to keep the threat of the villian for the campaign, in this case the black spider.
How would I go about doing this as I am quite unsure. My players haven't encountered him or his minions directly bar the cragmaw goblins and dont know a huge amount about him. (The last campaign thing the characters did was visit thundertree for those of you familiar with the campaign but that was a few sessions ago).
All help would be greatly appreciated and thanks to all those who respond.
I recently had the same issue with my players and LMOP, they were planning on going off on a bunch of side stuff and not dealing with the redbrands for a while and not in any hurry to rescue gundren. I basically had Sildar come to them and be like “so, uh, gundren has been prisoner for like a week now, and mirna dendrar and her kids have been prisoners of the redbrands for a couple weeks now, so you think you could maybe rescue them sometime soon so they aren’t languishing in some cells forever?” And that seemed to work lol
The next time the party rests, they wake up to find a body near the place they stay. It will be Nundro Rockseeker, one of the three Rockseeker brothers. On his corpse will be the note "Tharden shall be next if you do not leave. As soon as your patron is brought before me, he shall suffer Nundro's fate! - The Black Spider."
The first goal behind this is that a villain telling the player characters can't or shouldn't do something makes them want to do it, that it's a challenge to rescue Tharden before it's too late. The second goal behind this is to remind the players that it's their patron who is going to make them rich. If Gundren dies, so does the party's share of the mine's profits and use of its magical properties. Appeal to their sense of greed, if the sense of adventure doesn't quite entice them.
Other suggestions could be that a favourite NPC went to chase off some raiding goblins/hobgoblins led by orcs and bugbears, or that a mysterious figure came to town selling exotic wares that appeared to be cursed but went "thataway!"
Finally, and you can only ever do this once because the magic is lost a second time: steal from the party. No checks required from the thieves, and any checks to spot them will automatically fail. However, the thieves leave a trail: light foot prints, and if they're not successfully found, the party can follow a small trail of treasure to the location you want them to go. Failing that, local people might have a chuckle at the party's misfortune but will tell them they spotted suspicious figures heading toward the direction you want them to go.
I wish you luck, it's interesting to see the chronicling of you and your players' time in Phandelver! ^^
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Zero is the most important number in D&D: Session Zero sets the boundaries and the tone; Rule Zero dictates the Dungeon Master (DM) is the final arbiter; and Zero D&D is better than Bad D&D.
"Let us speak plainly now, and in earnest, for words mean little without the weight of conviction."
- The Assemblage of Houses, World of Warcraft
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Hello dungeon masters. My group is currently playing through the lost mine of phandelver adventure. The pcs have recently been on more side quests / adventures related to their backstory and such for a few sessions and I want to keep the threat of the villian for the campaign, in this case the black spider.
How would I go about doing this as I am quite unsure. My players haven't encountered him or his minions directly bar the cragmaw goblins and dont know a huge amount about him. (The last campaign thing the characters did was visit thundertree for those of you familiar with the campaign but that was a few sessions ago).
All help would be greatly appreciated and thanks to all those who respond.
Have a group of Red Cloaks or other minions ambush the party, with a note or other clue to lead them back on track.
I recently had the same issue with my players and LMOP, they were planning on going off on a bunch of side stuff and not dealing with the redbrands for a while and not in any hurry to rescue gundren. I basically had Sildar come to them and be like “so, uh, gundren has been prisoner for like a week now, and mirna dendrar and her kids have been prisoners of the redbrands for a couple weeks now, so you think you could maybe rescue them sometime soon so they aren’t languishing in some cells forever?” And that seemed to work lol
The next time the party rests, they wake up to find a body near the place they stay. It will be Nundro Rockseeker, one of the three Rockseeker brothers. On his corpse will be the note "Tharden shall be next if you do not leave. As soon as your patron is brought before me, he shall suffer Nundro's fate! - The Black Spider."
The first goal behind this is that a villain telling the player characters can't or shouldn't do something makes them want to do it, that it's a challenge to rescue Tharden before it's too late. The second goal behind this is to remind the players that it's their patron who is going to make them rich. If Gundren dies, so does the party's share of the mine's profits and use of its magical properties. Appeal to their sense of greed, if the sense of adventure doesn't quite entice them.
Other suggestions could be that a favourite NPC went to chase off some raiding goblins/hobgoblins led by orcs and bugbears, or that a mysterious figure came to town selling exotic wares that appeared to be cursed but went "thataway!"
Finally, and you can only ever do this once because the magic is lost a second time: steal from the party. No checks required from the thieves, and any checks to spot them will automatically fail. However, the thieves leave a trail: light foot prints, and if they're not successfully found, the party can follow a small trail of treasure to the location you want them to go. Failing that, local people might have a chuckle at the party's misfortune but will tell them they spotted suspicious figures heading toward the direction you want them to go.
I wish you luck, it's interesting to see the chronicling of you and your players' time in Phandelver! ^^
Zero is the most important number in D&D: Session Zero sets the boundaries and the tone; Rule Zero dictates the Dungeon Master (DM) is the final arbiter; and Zero D&D is better than Bad D&D.
"Let us speak plainly now, and in earnest, for words mean little without the weight of conviction."
- The Assemblage of Houses, World of Warcraft