I started a campaign with some family that takes their PC's through Lost Mine of Phandelver. They are loving it so naturally, we are going to continue to more campaigns.
My one PC has a backstory in the Fey tied into Wild Beyond the Witchlight. The PC is a Harengon Rogue based on Peter Rabbit who came to Faerun is search of his father. His father is a member of Valor's Call (unknown to the PC) and went missing as he went on a quest to Faerun in search of an artifact to stop the Hourglass Coven. However after returning to Prismeer was a bit too late and became frozen along with the rest of Valor's Call in Prismeer. Since the Hourglass Coven has closed of all fey lines from Faerun to Prismeer besides the one found in the Withlight Carnival (aka Backdoor). I tied into LmoP to the Ruins of Conyberry. Conyberry used to host the Witchlight Carnival back in the day however since the destruction the fey lines/connection is weak therefore it no longer comes to town. The side quest for this PC involves taking a trip to a shortened version of Propherios's Garden from Beyond the Crystal Cave to reestablish the fey connection to Conyberry and thus the return of the Witchlight Carnival in due time.
I have another PC who wants to become a Dhampir as it is somewhat eluded to in a backstory prophecy for their PC. "To defeat one's enemy is to become the enemy" sort of thing. I've homebrewed a tie in with the Nothic in the Redbrand Hideout and the rift being an opening to Shadowfell and Barovia so perfect tie in to Curse of Strahd where the PC becomes a Dhampir. The Nothic was a family member of the Tresandor family who took it too far with exploring magic and using the forge of spells and created the rift. Could also foreshadow the fate of Iarno "Glasstaff" Albrek of what could happen if he continued down the path he was going with his thirst for forbidden arcane knowledge.
Still working on how the Mind Flayers and the Obelisk tie in to complete Phandelver and Below , or maybe they don't and it's just another consequence of the unlocking wave echo cave and locating the forge of spells (actions) done in Phandelver which inturn brings another party to the table in search of the shattered obelisk. One idea is to leverage the one PC's backstory. She comes from Sundabar and her family owns the temples to Moradin. Her parents are greedy and milking profits through the "church". Perhaps they are influenced by the Mind Flayers?...
Finally to wrap up this party's adventures, we go through Out of the Abyss. the BBEG in Lost Mine is Nezznar (reimagined as a Female Drow Arachnomancer) was chosen by House Baenre and trained by Gromph Baenre in Menzoberranzan to fulfill Lolth's plans. Nezznar's goal is to locate the forge of spells, use it to forge a spider staff with an obelisk shard and return it to the Underdark to be used in a ritual. That ritual is done by Gromph Baenre to summon the demon lords of the abyss in "Out of the Abyss". Lolth orchestrated the summoning of the demon lords as a grand distraction, while her true plan involves the use of one or more Obelisks to be used as conduits to channel vast amounts of arcane energy. Lolth is planning to use this energy to weave a new reality where she has control over more realms. This could involve altering the fabric of the existing planes of existence, creating entirely new planes under her control, or even rewriting the laws of magic itself. The demon lords serve as the perfect distraction, keeping the other deities, powerful beings, and adventurers occupied while Lolth executes her true plan.
So now that I got all the tie-ins and everything mostly planned out, I am looking at how to manage the PC levels while keeping the encounters balanced. I am doing milestone so I do not need to worry about balancing XP. I'm open to removing chapters in these campaigns to shorten them and potentially even starting one during another (aka: Phandelver and Below, travelling to the Underdark to be caught by the Drow). I should mention my PC's have been absolutely steam rolling through Lost Mine of Phandelver with barely taking damage (like a video game set on Very Easy) which is okay as they are enjoying the storyline.
As per the modules; Lost Mine of Phandelver (Levels 1-4) , Phandelver and Below (Levels 1-12) , Curse of Strahd (Levels 1-10) , Wild Beyond the Witchlight (Levels 1-8) , Out of the Abyss (Levels 1-15)
Ideally, I would like to keep it in "Easy Mode" for LmoP, WbtW and CoS then slowly increase the difficulty PaB and obviously OoTA.
Also, if anyone has ideas to tie in the Shattered Obelisk more to Out of the Abyss, I'm all ears. Was thinking that it would be additional focal point to used in the ritual to bring internal darkness to the surface world so that the demon lords could surface upwards. But then got to thinking other gods and deities would be highly likely to step in on that one. Underdark is one thing to unleash the Abyss upon, surface of Toril, completely different perhaps...
Hi community,
I started a campaign with some family that takes their PC's through Lost Mine of Phandelver. They are loving it so naturally, we are going to continue to more campaigns.
So now that I got all the tie-ins and everything mostly planned out, I am looking at how to manage the PC levels while keeping the encounters balanced. I am doing milestone so I do not need to worry about balancing XP. I'm open to removing chapters in these campaigns to shorten them and potentially even starting one during another (aka: Phandelver and Below, travelling to the Underdark to be caught by the Drow). I should mention my PC's have been absolutely steam rolling through Lost Mine of Phandelver with barely taking damage (like a video game set on Very Easy) which is okay as they are enjoying the storyline.
As per the modules; Lost Mine of Phandelver (Levels 1-4) , Phandelver and Below (Levels 1-12) , Curse of Strahd (Levels 1-10) , Wild Beyond the Witchlight (Levels 1-8) , Out of the Abyss (Levels 1-15)
Ideally, I would like to keep it in "Easy Mode" for LmoP, WbtW and CoS then slowly increase the difficulty PaB and obviously OoTA.
Also, if anyone has ideas to tie in the Shattered Obelisk more to Out of the Abyss, I'm all ears. Was thinking that it would be additional focal point to used in the ritual to bring internal darkness to the surface world so that the demon lords could surface upwards. But then got to thinking other gods and deities would be highly likely to step in on that one. Underdark is one thing to unleash the Abyss upon, surface of Toril, completely different perhaps...
Thanks!