Hello, I am a new DM for a passel of new PC's. We just started LMoP, I added some additional baddies (thank you Kobold Fight club) because our party is oversized. The ambush went well, considering more than half the party has never played before.
So my players are at the Bridge in Cragmaw Hideout, they ignored the wolves (and added dire wolf) with stealth and the help of our druids amazing animal handling roll. They all made it through both floods. They have ignored the escarpment that leads to the goblin den, opting not to explore down that area and are now standing below the bridge, two are on the bridge (that's where we stopped for the evening).
It looks like they are heading straight to the Twin Pools cave, is it reasonable to send some of the goblins from the Den to the twin pools section as a surprise attack behind them, saying they heard the floods? Are there consequences to them not interacting with the wolves? Do any goblins go get the wolves? or should I see if Klarg escapes and makes it down the shaft to release the wolves?
If I remember that part of the adventure, it does say in the notes that if the floods are triggered, the goblins know something is up. I think it'd also be reasonable that if the goblins think someone is in the cave that they would release the wolves to go find out.
My group completely skipped the hideout and chose to go to Phandalin instead, so I never got to run that part of the adventure.
It all depends on how you think the goblins would react. I had an oversized party that had 3 wolves and 3 goblins that were engaged, one climbed up the chute between Klarg's area and the wolf pen. I figured that Klarg probably didn't care about the others and prepared a trap for the PCs. It sounded like Yeemik didn't have any loyalty for Klarg, plus they were far enough away that they could conceivably not be paying attention to the cavern noises, especially if they were arguing over who got to eat Sildar Hallwinter. If someone at the bridge ran to tell them, then that could be inspiration enough for the goblins to sneak down, release the wolves and attack the party once they've engaged the forces in the twin pools room or Klarg.
The important part is just put yourself in the goblins heads and figure out what their motives would be, whether they do actually hate or like each other, and what would inspire them to work together despite differences or to not lend aid despite liking each other. How cautious are they, how tactically do they think, and how much are they paying attention? These questions might inspire other questions that will inform actions, are they afraid of Klarg and any other Bugbears or Hobgoblins at the hideout and will that prevent retreat/surrender until those goblinoids are dead? Who would they attack first and why would they attack that person? Since you've added numbers to increase the difficulty, would that include a raiding party or a messenger escort? Has Klarg pissed off another lieutenant who decided to come fight the goblins here and would they sit back and watch, turn around and leave, join the party in the fight, join Klarg in the fight, or react in some other way.
Tl; dr put yourself in the goblins place and figure out what you would do.
Thank you, this gives me some direction to plan. I am fortunate that we had to stop for the evening and now I have more planning time.
I think ill plan an ambush that strikes before they all climb up the rope to the bridge (which was giving them a lot of trouble due to poor rolls) and use the twin pool goblins, Klarg and Ripper (upgraded to a worg) with the extra goblin that will try to sneak down the chute to release the wolves (and on 1 dire wolf) as soon as they kill Klarg or Ripper.
I think the Yeemik is a prat as are his minions so he will stay put in the den but will set up some traps down the passageway. So no one would get a surprise attack in the den but Yeemik won't know they already killed Karg, so the dialogue won't need to change unless a party member spills the beans.
I did adjust the map to make the rooms and halls a little larger so they can maneuver a little better and everyone gets a chance to take an action in battle. I likely won't do this later in the game when they're higher levels to force them to plan better.
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Hello, I am a new DM for a passel of new PC's. We just started LMoP, I added some additional baddies (thank you Kobold Fight club) because our party is oversized. The ambush went well, considering more than half the party has never played before.
So my players are at the Bridge in Cragmaw Hideout, they ignored the wolves (and added dire wolf) with stealth and the help of our druids amazing animal handling roll. They all made it through both floods. They have ignored the escarpment that leads to the goblin den, opting not to explore down that area and are now standing below the bridge, two are on the bridge (that's where we stopped for the evening).
It looks like they are heading straight to the Twin Pools cave, is it reasonable to send some of the goblins from the Den to the twin pools section as a surprise attack behind them, saying they heard the floods? Are there consequences to them not interacting with the wolves? Do any goblins go get the wolves? or should I see if Klarg escapes and makes it down the shaft to release the wolves?
If I remember that part of the adventure, it does say in the notes that if the floods are triggered, the goblins know something is up. I think it'd also be reasonable that if the goblins think someone is in the cave that they would release the wolves to go find out.
My group completely skipped the hideout and chose to go to Phandalin instead, so I never got to run that part of the adventure.
Thank you!
It all depends on how you think the goblins would react. I had an oversized party that had 3 wolves and 3 goblins that were engaged, one climbed up the chute between Klarg's area and the wolf pen. I figured that Klarg probably didn't care about the others and prepared a trap for the PCs. It sounded like Yeemik didn't have any loyalty for Klarg, plus they were far enough away that they could conceivably not be paying attention to the cavern noises, especially if they were arguing over who got to eat Sildar Hallwinter. If someone at the bridge ran to tell them, then that could be inspiration enough for the goblins to sneak down, release the wolves and attack the party once they've engaged the forces in the twin pools room or Klarg.
The important part is just put yourself in the goblins heads and figure out what their motives would be, whether they do actually hate or like each other, and what would inspire them to work together despite differences or to not lend aid despite liking each other. How cautious are they, how tactically do they think, and how much are they paying attention? These questions might inspire other questions that will inform actions, are they afraid of Klarg and any other Bugbears or Hobgoblins at the hideout and will that prevent retreat/surrender until those goblinoids are dead? Who would they attack first and why would they attack that person? Since you've added numbers to increase the difficulty, would that include a raiding party or a messenger escort? Has Klarg pissed off another lieutenant who decided to come fight the goblins here and would they sit back and watch, turn around and leave, join the party in the fight, join Klarg in the fight, or react in some other way.
Tl; dr put yourself in the goblins place and figure out what you would do.
Thank you, this gives me some direction to plan. I am fortunate that we had to stop for the evening and now I have more planning time.
I think ill plan an ambush that strikes before they all climb up the rope to the bridge (which was giving them a lot of trouble due to poor rolls) and use the twin pool goblins, Klarg and Ripper (upgraded to a worg) with the extra goblin that will try to sneak down the chute to release the wolves (and on 1 dire wolf) as soon as they kill Klarg or Ripper.
I think the Yeemik is a prat as are his minions so he will stay put in the den but will set up some traps down the passageway. So no one would get a surprise attack in the den but Yeemik won't know they already killed Karg, so the dialogue won't need to change unless a party member spills the beans.
I did adjust the map to make the rooms and halls a little larger so they can maneuver a little better and everyone gets a chance to take an action in battle. I likely won't do this later in the game when they're higher levels to force them to plan better.