so I’m about to start my session 0 for my campaign in 2 hours. I am prepared up until the entrance to Craigmaw hideout. But if they enter the cave I will not be prepared.
Our session is 4 hours and 3 out of 5 players are brand new. Do you think I am prepared far enough ahead for 4 hours of face to face game time for them to make their characters, go over game rules and guide lines and prepared far enough Incase they are ready to start tonight. I also have Phandalin ready Incase they go that way before the hideout too. We will be playing with battle maps I made myself and minis, so I’m counting on the 2 battles up to that point to eat up a lot of time teaching battle mechanics after the intro if they happen to get that far.
I don't personally have experience with LMoP, but when playing with new players, character creation and rule explanation is gone take up the first hour and a half at least. If they go further than you had anticipated, I would try to wing it as best you can. As long as you say everything with a straight face, most new players will not realise that it wasn't prepared. most veteran players won't either.
Besides that I think 2 battles are plenty. My battles do tend to be a little drawn out but still, in a scenario with 3 new players who still had to create characters, I would probably count on being able to finish one of those encounters.
As a last note, If you're no longer comfortable with the amount of preparation you have, feel free to call the end of the session there. Noone can force you to continue, and if you need more time to flesh out more of the environment and prepare, then do it.
Yea that was my plan to cut it short if they got that far.
Sonce it is a session 0 and that was bonus if they are ready enough to start. It’s just I haven’t made the custom made battle mats I’m using for the fights inside the first dungeon. I could always switch to theater of the mind if they get that far but I prefer not to. Plus the end of the cave is where they level to level 2 and I don’t expect them to get that far with creating characters and teaching mechanics and things to newer players in these first 2 encounters.
the dungeon has anywhere from 3 to 5 encounters depending on their decisions and I figured that would be the whole 2nd session. And the town after that is prepared Incase they went that way before the dungeon.
Depends partially on how descriptive you are and how much inter-party roleplaying your party does, but having run through the start of LMOP twice now, with character creation, introduction and new players on top of that, I'd say you've prepared more than enough for the first session!
No need to worry. You know how the cave kinda sorta works so just wing it. There is a good chance they will not even get there. It might be possible they just get to the entrance.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
Well it went ok but we were at a busy hobby store for tabletop gaming on dnd pick up and play night. And I had a random player walk up and asked to join. I said ok because they were experienced it seemed and I thought they would help the party learn. I explained it was a session 0 but she pushed us to start before he new players finishes building their characters and they were antsy to get started so I went with it. Unfortunately she was a pushy player criticizing all their decisions and a murder hobo that had zero interest in roleplay and only cared for combat. They made it up to the ambush scene and then we called it there after. But she ruined my intro and not picked every detail about the map and then proceeded to kill a goblin that got knocked unconscious so they couldn’t interrogate it later. And then mocked criticized my wife for chasing the fleeing goblin on the hidden trail. Was a head ache but lesson learned. Fight was apparently a little too easy except for the one hit I lied about and said the goblin miss because it would’ve one shorted the murder hobo in the first round. Rolled a nat 20 (crit) with a shortbow against the warlock that had 7 hp and just shot at it the round before blindly into the bushes it was hiding in. Found out later after the session she had mild case of autism. Was a rough night but my new players were getting antsy to start. Character creation was taking a long time because I only had one copy of the books and one me helping 3 of them. She had books but didn’t help any of them or share her books. Besides that it went smooth and they had fun but it would have been better without he walk up random that after I explained it’s a session 0 and there all new so making characters and explaining rules would take awhile. Unfortunately they didn’t learn the rules that well but they got a sample of me roleplaying the NPCs and combat action. But their character sheets were not done. Missing spells and not knowing what the ones they had actually did until I guided them through combat. One of my newbies tried casting dancing lights on a goblin in broad daylight lol. So I played that out as the goblin became mesmerized by the glowing swords hovering around him and became frightened and dropped his sword and shield and dove behind a rock in panic.
You should really prep for several sessions in advance, because you don't know if the players will skip something, do things out of order from what you intended, or just beg for an extra long session. After the initial fight with the goblins on the trail, my players didn't even want to go to Cragmaw, they wanted to go to Phandalin! I was only lightly prepped for Phandalin roleplaying so I told them that the cart they were bringing to Phandalin was requested by their employer, and their employer is missing, so which is more pressing? Are you big damn heroes or not!? I also introduced a DM-PC who I thought would give them more clear motivation, but she was only present for sessions 1, 2, 6, and 7... since I was afraid of them wiping on unbalanced encounters.
When we began LMoP, we came from 2nd edition so already knew a lot of the rules. The party already had characters made. Each session we'd hang for 4 but only play for about 2 hours.
I prepped all of Act 1 before Session 1. We finished Act 1 by Session 2.
I prepped all of Act 2 before Session 2. We finished Act 2 by Session 5. The party didn't want to speak to over half of the NPCs, so you can be judiciuous here!
I prepped Act 3 (except Thundertree and Cragmaw Castle) by Session 4. The party completed Act 3 (except Thundertree and Cragmaw Castle) by Session 11.
I prepped Cragmaw Castle by Session 9. The party completed Cragmaw Castle by Session 14, at which point I realized I'd have to run Thundertree!
I prepped Thundertree by Session 15, and it looks like they are not even getting there until Session 19, but will finish by Session 20... I want to shorten the dungeon significantly so they can get to Act 4. A lot of the interim is the fall out from failing to rescue Gundren and resolving character arcs, as well as story arcs I introduced in town, which are not part of the campaign. You may have a bunch of this as well depending on how your players roleplay, so take this into account!
I estimate they'll get to Wave Echo Cave by Session 21, and will finish by Session 24... it appears to be a long dungeon!
I was prepped a session in advance. This was a session zero. And I had all of Phandalin prepped. Soooo idk. I just wasn’t expecting the walk up player that was a evil murder hobo criticizing the 3 brand new players with half done character sheets because she kept crying for us to start.
for instance I got my wife to try it and she had fun. She was the only one who came up with a backstory. Knocked one goblin unconscious with a punch to the face but the murder hobo walked up to knocked out goblin and Casted a spell in its face. And then she chased the last one down the trail by herself until she turned back when the murder hobo kept criticizing her for chasing it.
was so proud of her. She was showing the other two how to do things right without me giving her any guidance or advance plot narrative or stuff she should do. This was all in her own thought process /tear
so I’m about to start my session 0 for my campaign in 2 hours. I am prepared up until the entrance to Craigmaw hideout. But if they enter the cave I will not be prepared.
Our session is 4 hours and 3 out of 5 players are brand new. Do you think I am prepared far enough ahead for 4 hours of face to face game time for them to make their characters, go over game rules and guide lines and prepared far enough Incase they are ready to start tonight. I also have Phandalin ready Incase they go that way before the hideout too. We will be playing with battle maps I made myself and minis, so I’m counting on the 2 battles up to that point to eat up a lot of time teaching battle mechanics after the intro if they happen to get that far.
I don't personally have experience with LMoP, but when playing with new players, character creation and rule explanation is gone take up the first hour and a half at least. If they go further than you had anticipated, I would try to wing it as best you can. As long as you say everything with a straight face, most new players will not realise that it wasn't prepared. most veteran players won't either.
Besides that I think 2 battles are plenty. My battles do tend to be a little drawn out but still, in a scenario with 3 new players who still had to create characters, I would probably count on being able to finish one of those encounters.
As a last note, If you're no longer comfortable with the amount of preparation you have, feel free to call the end of the session there. Noone can force you to continue, and if you need more time to flesh out more of the environment and prepare, then do it.
Good luck!
Yea that was my plan to cut it short if they got that far.
Sonce it is a session 0 and that was bonus if they are ready enough to start. It’s just I haven’t made the custom made battle mats I’m using for the fights inside the first dungeon. I could always switch to theater of the mind if they get that far but I prefer not to. Plus the end of the cave is where they level to level 2 and I don’t expect them to get that far with creating characters and teaching mechanics and things to newer players in these first 2 encounters.
the dungeon has anywhere from 3 to 5 encounters depending on their decisions and I figured that would be the whole 2nd session. And the town after that is prepared Incase they went that way before the dungeon.
tbh I would be surprised if they made it to the end of the dungeon by the 2nd session. My players always take at least 3 sessions with my dungeons.
Then again that is my own experience, I haven't actually ran any modules, so I don't know how they flow.
The first dungeon only has 5 rooms, a passage way and a few traps and hidden tunnels in it. It’s not very large.
Depends partially on how descriptive you are and how much inter-party roleplaying your party does, but having run through the start of LMOP twice now, with character creation, introduction and new players on top of that, I'd say you've prepared more than enough for the first session!
No need to worry. You know how the cave kinda sorta works so just wing it. There is a good chance they will not even get there. It might be possible they just get to the entrance.
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
-Ilyara Thundertale
Well it went ok but we were at a busy hobby store for tabletop gaming on dnd pick up and play night. And I had a random player walk up and asked to join. I said ok because they were experienced it seemed and I thought they would help the party learn. I explained it was a session 0 but she pushed us to start before he new players finishes building their characters and they were antsy to get started so I went with it. Unfortunately she was a pushy player criticizing all their decisions and a murder hobo that had zero interest in roleplay and only cared for combat. They made it up to the ambush scene and then we called it there after. But she ruined my intro and not picked every detail about the map and then proceeded to kill a goblin that got knocked unconscious so they couldn’t interrogate it later. And then mocked criticized my wife for chasing the fleeing goblin on the hidden trail. Was a head ache but lesson learned. Fight was apparently a little too easy except for the one hit I lied about and said the goblin miss because it would’ve one shorted the murder hobo in the first round. Rolled a nat 20 (crit) with a shortbow against the warlock that had 7 hp and just shot at it the round before blindly into the bushes it was hiding in. Found out later after the session she had mild case of autism. Was a rough night but my new players were getting antsy to start. Character creation was taking a long time because I only had one copy of the books and one me helping 3 of them. She had books but didn’t help any of them or share her books. Besides that it went smooth and they had fun but it would have been better without he walk up random that after I explained it’s a session 0 and there all new so making characters and explaining rules would take awhile. Unfortunately they didn’t learn the rules that well but they got a sample of me roleplaying the NPCs and combat action. But their character sheets were not done. Missing spells and not knowing what the ones they had actually did until I guided them through combat. One of my newbies tried casting dancing lights on a goblin in broad daylight lol. So I played that out as the goblin became mesmerized by the glowing swords hovering around him and became frightened and dropped his sword and shield and dove behind a rock in panic.
Over doesn't sound so bad. You know what you need to do and everybody learned a bit. If everybody mostly had fun it's a win win.
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
-Ilyara Thundertale
You should really prep for several sessions in advance, because you don't know if the players will skip something, do things out of order from what you intended, or just beg for an extra long session. After the initial fight with the goblins on the trail, my players didn't even want to go to Cragmaw, they wanted to go to Phandalin! I was only lightly prepped for Phandalin roleplaying so I told them that the cart they were bringing to Phandalin was requested by their employer, and their employer is missing, so which is more pressing? Are you big damn heroes or not!? I also introduced a DM-PC who I thought would give them more clear motivation, but she was only present for sessions 1, 2, 6, and 7... since I was afraid of them wiping on unbalanced encounters.
When we began LMoP, we came from 2nd edition so already knew a lot of the rules. The party already had characters made. Each session we'd hang for 4 but only play for about 2 hours.
I prepped all of Act 1 before Session 1. We finished Act 1 by Session 2.
I prepped all of Act 2 before Session 2. We finished Act 2 by Session 5. The party didn't want to speak to over half of the NPCs, so you can be judiciuous here!
I prepped Act 3 (except Thundertree and Cragmaw Castle) by Session 4. The party completed Act 3 (except Thundertree and Cragmaw Castle) by Session 11.
I prepped Cragmaw Castle by Session 9. The party completed Cragmaw Castle by Session 14, at which point I realized I'd have to run Thundertree!
I prepped Thundertree by Session 15, and it looks like they are not even getting there until Session 19, but will finish by Session 20... I want to shorten the dungeon significantly so they can get to Act 4. A lot of the interim is the fall out from failing to rescue Gundren and resolving character arcs, as well as story arcs I introduced in town, which are not part of the campaign. You may have a bunch of this as well depending on how your players roleplay, so take this into account!
I estimate they'll get to Wave Echo Cave by Session 21, and will finish by Session 24... it appears to be a long dungeon!
I was prepped a session in advance. This was a session zero. And I had all of Phandalin prepped. Soooo idk. I just wasn’t expecting the walk up player that was a evil murder hobo criticizing the 3 brand new players with half done character sheets because she kept crying for us to start.
for instance I got my wife to try it and she had fun. She was the only one who came up with a backstory. Knocked one goblin unconscious with a punch to the face but the murder hobo walked up to knocked out goblin and Casted a spell in its face. And then she chased the last one down the trail by herself until she turned back when the murder hobo kept criticizing her for chasing it.
was so proud of her. She was showing the other two how to do things right without me giving her any guidance or advance plot narrative or stuff she should do. This was all in her own thought process /tear