My party and I are currently in the midst of our first (first EVER for most of us - only one person has played before) campaign; a homebrew courtesy of our DM. We're all on level 3 at the moment and have no idea how long a campaign it'll be, but it's a good bet that by the time it's over the party will have gone well beyond the challenge of something like DoIP - if we survive the aggressively French demon goat who has us under his yolk (long story).
I'm planning to DM a campaign myself in the near future. I'm considering a homebrew campaign, but another option is revamping DoIP for a more experienced party, with the first step being having Gnomengarde be the first place they arrive at, and the case of the mad king being the result of a deliberate attack - part of a conspiracy, probably involving the Zhentarim and the illegitimate Lord Protector of Neverwinter among others.
As this will be my first attempt at DM'ing, does anyone have any tips for levelling up a starter campaign like this? Is it as simple as making the enemies a little tougher or multiplying their numbers? Has anyone else here run or played a higher-level version of DoIP? Did it hold the party's interest? I've seen quite a few complaints; it doesn't seem to be highly regarded as a first campaign.
It's great that you're looking at taking on the Dm mantle. My big question is, why would you re-play the same adventure. I realize this one is homebrewed, but I'm guessing the overall shape of the adventure is staying close to what's published. Why not just try something completely new?
Unless you mean to continue using the same characters. In that case, you might look at Storm King's Thunder, which is designed to be able to start with level 5 characters if you like.
Not the same adventure; we're not playing Dragon of Icespire Peak now. The campaign our current DM has us playing is entirely homebrew, not connected to DoIp at all, or in the same geographical region.
One of the options I'm considering when I DM is DoIP, but my concerns are that a) after the current campaign the party will be too high-level and the challenge will need to be drastically increased, and b) I don't know that the module as written will really hold their interest. Most of the quests in DoIP are "There and back again" jaunts to and from Phandalin, designed to ease a party into the mechanic and with what seems quite a barebones story.
But the Gnomengarde quest could provide a good jumping off point for something bigger. In the module one of the kings of Gnomengarde has simply been driven mad after a near-death experience with a Mimic, but I'd like to write that as being not a random attack, but part of a power play.
In Phandalin the module briefly mentions the presence of a Zhentarim agent there to gain power over the region. Neverwinter is also on the map, but at no point in the module does the party go there. So I had it in mind to make either the Zhent, the Lord Protector of Neverwinter, or both, responsible for the attack on the king. After the first quest in Gnomengarde, the party would go to Neverwinter, and from there the conspiracy would begin to unfold.
I'd use all the locations and many of the major players from the official module, but with a very different (and hopefully much more epic) overarching story.
If you have a gauge on player skill and optimization…it could be as simple as adding in a cr2 or cr3 creature to the listed creatures. If the party is comprised of power gamers include some casters with the mobs. Even at level 3 motivated parties start punching above their collective levels.
Are you asking fir advice on how to increase the challenge of existing adventures or of DoIP in specific? Because if it is the second you might want to pick up "A Tale of Two Dragons" in Dungeon Masters Guild, which is about how to convert both Lost Mine of Phandelver and Dragon of Icespyre Peak to Tier 2 (levels 5-10).
Sounds like exactly what I need, thanks. In terms of juicing up the story I might still go with my plan to keep the major players while starting things off in Gnomengarde with my conspiracy plotline, but the book will be a big help with the general work of upping the encounter stakes 👍
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My party and I are currently in the midst of our first (first EVER for most of us - only one person has played before) campaign; a homebrew courtesy of our DM. We're all on level 3 at the moment and have no idea how long a campaign it'll be, but it's a good bet that by the time it's over the party will have gone well beyond the challenge of something like DoIP - if we survive the aggressively French demon goat who has us under his yolk (long story).
I'm planning to DM a campaign myself in the near future. I'm considering a homebrew campaign, but another option is revamping DoIP for a more experienced party, with the first step being having Gnomengarde be the first place they arrive at, and the case of the mad king being the result of a deliberate attack - part of a conspiracy, probably involving the Zhentarim and the illegitimate Lord Protector of Neverwinter among others.
As this will be my first attempt at DM'ing, does anyone have any tips for levelling up a starter campaign like this? Is it as simple as making the enemies a little tougher or multiplying their numbers? Has anyone else here run or played a higher-level version of DoIP? Did it hold the party's interest? I've seen quite a few complaints; it doesn't seem to be highly regarded as a first campaign.
It's great that you're looking at taking on the Dm mantle. My big question is, why would you re-play the same adventure. I realize this one is homebrewed, but I'm guessing the overall shape of the adventure is staying close to what's published. Why not just try something completely new?
Unless you mean to continue using the same characters. In that case, you might look at Storm King's Thunder, which is designed to be able to start with level 5 characters if you like.
Not the same adventure; we're not playing Dragon of Icespire Peak now. The campaign our current DM has us playing is entirely homebrew, not connected to DoIp at all, or in the same geographical region.
One of the options I'm considering when I DM is DoIP, but my concerns are that a) after the current campaign the party will be too high-level and the challenge will need to be drastically increased, and b) I don't know that the module as written will really hold their interest. Most of the quests in DoIP are "There and back again" jaunts to and from Phandalin, designed to ease a party into the mechanic and with what seems quite a barebones story.
But the Gnomengarde quest could provide a good jumping off point for something bigger. In the module one of the kings of Gnomengarde has simply been driven mad after a near-death experience with a Mimic, but I'd like to write that as being not a random attack, but part of a power play.
In Phandalin the module briefly mentions the presence of a Zhentarim agent there to gain power over the region. Neverwinter is also on the map, but at no point in the module does the party go there. So I had it in mind to make either the Zhent, the Lord Protector of Neverwinter, or both, responsible for the attack on the king. After the first quest in Gnomengarde, the party would go to Neverwinter, and from there the conspiracy would begin to unfold.
I'd use all the locations and many of the major players from the official module, but with a very different (and hopefully much more epic) overarching story.
If you have a gauge on player skill and optimization…it could be as simple as adding in a cr2 or cr3 creature to the listed creatures. If the party is comprised of power gamers include some casters with the mobs. Even at level 3 motivated parties start punching above their collective levels.
Are you asking fir advice on how to increase the challenge of existing adventures or of DoIP in specific? Because if it is the second you might want to pick up "A Tale of Two Dragons" in Dungeon Masters Guild, which is about how to convert both Lost Mine of Phandelver and Dragon of Icespyre Peak to Tier 2 (levels 5-10).
Sounds like exactly what I need, thanks. In terms of juicing up the story I might still go with my plan to keep the major players while starting things off in Gnomengarde with my conspiracy plotline, but the book will be a big help with the general work of upping the encounter stakes 👍