so as mentioned in the title which of these two is better for new DM's? I know LMOP goes 1-5 and DOSWI 1-3 so figured the latter might be a little easier so as to not get too worried about players having spells a lil too complicated to learn as admittedly haven't played all classes, wizard and sorcerer the only ones I haven't touched. To you experienced DM's/one's who have run these two module's would you say DOSWI is easier to learn DMing? also probably a dumb question but do the modules have the monster tokens or do u need monster manual for those too?
Having run both I preferred Lost Mines, which was also the first campaign I ran. Despite the two covering a similar level range Dragons feels more like a one or two shot rather than a campaign, where as Lost Mines feels more fleshed out and complete and offers a better range of things for both you as DM and your players to experience. I wouldn't worry to much about the spells thing, it's the players jobs to know what they've got and if they use one you aren't familiar with you can just ask them to read it out
thnx 4 feedback, admittedly with DOSWI only being lvl 1-3 and still being the same price as LMOP which goes to 1-5 seems a bit steep tbh, and again, I'm guessin the module's give u the tokens for the enemies for the module but wanna be 100% sure before buying, as imagine the Monster Manual is there for putting tokens in custom games? not considering the othr version of LMOP as heard bad things about it
Not sure about VTT tokens as I ran them in person but both included full stat blocks for any relevant monsters in the book so they were ready to play out the box without needing the Monster Manual
Yes, in DoSWI you do get tokens to use in the maps vtt without needing to also get the MM. Not just monsters but PCs and some NPCs also. Some are very generic looking and one main NPC token only exists in 1 of the 2 forms you need for them. My work-around for that was to just create a PC in the character builder and add to my campaign.
I can't speak for LMoP though, but I would expect the same is true for the most part.
For new DMs, I'd actually suggest Dragon of Icespire Peak/Essentials Kit.
Lost Mine of Phandelver and Dragons of Stormwreck Isle are more aimed toward new players than they are toward new DMs. They don't really provide as much support for the DM as Icespire Peak does. It does a good job of 'modelling' as teachers would say. Phandelver and Stormwreck are just better as intros if you are entirely new to D&D 5e.
eh, personally even as a new DM in regards to DOISP I was not the biggest fan of the "go to quest board pick up quests, return to Harbin Wester, grab quests from board" rinse and repeat.
eh, personally even as a new DM in regards to DOISP I was not the biggest fan of the "go to quest board pick up quests, return to Harbin Wester, grab quests from board" rinse and repeat.
Oh don't misunderstand, for new players DoIP is a bit 'meh'. But then all three of the 'starter' adventures are pretty much the same. They aren't terribly satisfying conclusions. Nezznar in LMoP for example is just way to simple an enemy to be a big bad, and is easily overcome even if the party attempt Wave Echo Cave wiht no long rests. DoSI on the other hand I think was designed solely with the pre-gen characters in mind. The second you introduce anything from outside those pregen, it too becomes a walkover.
In an ideal world, I'd suggest playing through Dragons of Stormwreck isle with basic pre-gen characters, LMoP as a player with full PHB characters, then moving onto DoIP as a DM so that you get to experience two types of adventure style. You get the self-contained linear adventure that is LMoP and you get to experience a more sandbox style adventure in DoIP. I actually think those two compliment each other really well. From these DoIP works as a launching off point to mix in your own quests and adventures. The reason I tend to suggest this is that it works well as a good taster.
Though, I started way back when in the aD&D era and to be frank most of the time we never bothered with the 'official' adventures and so much of it was homebrewed worlds and adventures in pure theatre of the mind style. We did it the more difficult way for sure. I'm sure those of us that started with our homebrews will recognise that our first worlds and adventures were really not great. I've always been a little envious of the DMs who can start off with some form of structure as a model to work from. I think that's what the three starters offer and each in their own way. They offer a model of three different styles of adventure...albeit on a small scale.
so as mentioned in the title which of these two is better for new DM's? I know LMOP goes 1-5 and DOSWI 1-3 so figured the latter might be a little easier so as to not get too worried about players having spells a lil too complicated to learn as admittedly haven't played all classes, wizard and sorcerer the only ones I haven't touched. To you experienced DM's/one's who have run these two module's would you say DOSWI is easier to learn DMing? also probably a dumb question but do the modules have the monster tokens or do u need monster manual for those too?
Having run both I preferred Lost Mines, which was also the first campaign I ran. Despite the two covering a similar level range Dragons feels more like a one or two shot rather than a campaign, where as Lost Mines feels more fleshed out and complete and offers a better range of things for both you as DM and your players to experience. I wouldn't worry to much about the spells thing, it's the players jobs to know what they've got and if they use one you aren't familiar with you can just ask them to read it out
thnx 4 feedback, admittedly with DOSWI only being lvl 1-3 and still being the same price as LMOP which goes to 1-5 seems a bit steep tbh, and again, I'm guessin the module's give u the tokens for the enemies for the module but wanna be 100% sure before buying, as imagine the Monster Manual is there for putting tokens in custom games? not considering the othr version of LMOP as heard bad things about it
Not sure about VTT tokens as I ran them in person but both included full stat blocks for any relevant monsters in the book so they were ready to play out the box without needing the Monster Manual
Yes, in DoSWI you do get tokens to use in the maps vtt without needing to also get the MM. Not just monsters but PCs and some NPCs also. Some are very generic looking and one main NPC token only exists in 1 of the 2 forms you need for them. My work-around for that was to just create a PC in the character builder and add to my campaign.
I can't speak for LMoP though, but I would expect the same is true for the most part.
For new DMs, I'd actually suggest Dragon of Icespire Peak/Essentials Kit.
Lost Mine of Phandelver and Dragons of Stormwreck Isle are more aimed toward new players than they are toward new DMs. They don't really provide as much support for the DM as Icespire Peak does. It does a good job of 'modelling' as teachers would say. Phandelver and Stormwreck are just better as intros if you are entirely new to D&D 5e.
That's my opinion though.
DM session planning template - My version of maps for 'Lost Mine of Phandelver' - Send your party to The Circus - Other DM Resources - Maps, Tokens, Quests - 'Better' Player Character Injury Tables?
Actor, Writer, Director & Teacher by day - GM/DM in my off hours.
eh, personally even as a new DM in regards to DOISP I was not the biggest fan of the "go to quest board pick up quests, return to Harbin Wester, grab quests from board" rinse and repeat.
Oh don't misunderstand, for new players DoIP is a bit 'meh'. But then all three of the 'starter' adventures are pretty much the same. They aren't terribly satisfying conclusions. Nezznar in LMoP for example is just way to simple an enemy to be a big bad, and is easily overcome even if the party attempt Wave Echo Cave wiht no long rests. DoSI on the other hand I think was designed solely with the pre-gen characters in mind. The second you introduce anything from outside those pregen, it too becomes a walkover.
In an ideal world, I'd suggest playing through Dragons of Stormwreck isle with basic pre-gen characters, LMoP as a player with full PHB characters, then moving onto DoIP as a DM so that you get to experience two types of adventure style. You get the self-contained linear adventure that is LMoP and you get to experience a more sandbox style adventure in DoIP. I actually think those two compliment each other really well. From these DoIP works as a launching off point to mix in your own quests and adventures. The reason I tend to suggest this is that it works well as a good taster.
Though, I started way back when in the aD&D era and to be frank most of the time we never bothered with the 'official' adventures and so much of it was homebrewed worlds and adventures in pure theatre of the mind style. We did it the more difficult way for sure. I'm sure those of us that started with our homebrews will recognise that our first worlds and adventures were really not great. I've always been a little envious of the DMs who can start off with some form of structure as a model to work from. I think that's what the three starters offer and each in their own way. They offer a model of three different styles of adventure...albeit on a small scale.
DM session planning template - My version of maps for 'Lost Mine of Phandelver' - Send your party to The Circus - Other DM Resources - Maps, Tokens, Quests - 'Better' Player Character Injury Tables?
Actor, Writer, Director & Teacher by day - GM/DM in my off hours.
Eriously man thats hard for new DM's