My party will be starting the lost mines of phandelver adventure in a few weeks. I'm putting together some side adventures, random encounters, npcs etc and then it occurred to me that there might already be some supplementary stuff out there already!
If you know of any extra material that links to TLMOP it would be really appreciated!!
It's a great adventure and there's a lot of advice around if you search via google. A few specifics:
Don't ignore the wilderness encounters in Chapter 3 - to get the most from them, don't just roll random encounters - use the wilderness encounters listed and pick the ones you want to use and where, then add a bit more detail around it. Play the wilderness travel as part of the game, rather than gloss over it.
Handouts - there are several within the module that are cool to print out and hand the player a piece of paper. Mostly letters, such as the one on GlassStaff's desk or maps.
Maps - again take a look via google and you'll find some useful resources.
My players are partway through the campaign. It's been great fun - you'll enjoy it!
I like Stormknight's suggestion about using the wilderness as significant part of the game. Depending on how experienced and efficient your players are, there are quite a few chances for recurring NPC appearances. Making sure that a goblin escapes to return and afflict the party during their journeys could be a great way to get bonus usage out of the existing materials. Or if the monster-survivors gather and threaten Phandalin itself? Developing that sort of history with the NPCs can make it extra satisfying when they finally corner the cowardly goblin and put him down.
Yeah I'm taking a party through now. They are on the last 1/3 of it. It's been great. I home brewed some stuff and started mixing pieces from Hoard of the Dragon queen so it could transition perfectly from the end of the adventure. Another DM here on the boards gave me the idea, we've been chatting back and forth since then. He rewrote the Glasstaff note to help the transition and I took his cue and did a doc in Word that looked hand written and I printed it out. I'm also working on a copy of Gundren's map of where Wave Echo Cave is too....I'll do that as a printout as well.
I agree with Stormknight as well. I took the Wyvern Tor orc encounter and home-brewed it to a tomb near Thunder Tree of the "Hero of Thundertree" who has a statue in town, his statue is leaning a bit, So I put a ring inside it that opens a secret door on his tomb. I also had all the orcs in there defiling his tomb because he was a famous orc slayer. When the party snuck in I had them witness an orc killed by a trapped door, then had the orcs arguing about what they wanted to do next. It was a fun side quest.
Similar to the advice given above, I think adding small details that allow later elements to be tied in is really great! Or planning that seed, if you don't already have the story ideas for later. In my own campaign, I have the group's discovery of Wave Echo Cave be what draws the attention of a powerful wizard who wants them to go looking for other, similar locations.
I've been running our group through this adventure too as The Neverwinter Nine (as seen on my blog.) It's been a real hoot - everybody - including yours truly - has been having a blast! I agree with Stormknight that instead of random encounters, use the wilderness encounters in Chapter 3 ... they are freakin' great!
Be careful in how you describe things. Our group's DM led us to believe that the keep was the most immediate threat, so we tackled it at 2nd lvl. It's designed for a lvl 4 party I believe. We barely got away by the skin of our teeth.
I try to tie previous characters back into the story later. For example, My party just finished the first chapter, Cragmaw Hideout. There's a Goblin, Yeemik, who wants to be the leader of the gobin group there. He also tries to ransom Sildar back to the party.
The party let him live in exchange for help. Later, they're going to bump into a traveling salesmen in a long coat named Hue Mee. It'll be Yeemik and his friend "legs" (the only survivors aside from Klarg) They've decided they'd like to work with Humans ("hu-mees" as I had Yeemik call them) and they've partnered with Lionshield Coster in Phalandrin.
I want my party to affect characters and the world and then see their actions play out.
My wife is obsessed with Yeemik. It must be how I role played him. She's a Ranger that befriended two wolves in Cragmaw hideout, the party let Yeemik live. Little did they know Yeemik snuck into Phandalin when they stayed there the first night. He took one of her wolves, no one knew this until way later of course. But my wife was crazy about finding that wolf again. The party kept talking about Yeemik and how sweet he was and they hoped they would see him again, so I knew I was going to bring him back big. I locked him in a cage with her wolf in Cragmaw Castle a traitor and prisoner of King Grohl. You should have seen her face when they found him. They rescued him and he became an NPC who is going to go have some adventures with the Ranger's 1st level Cleric sister. She brings up Yeemik every day and can't wait to start another adventure with her sister (her other character) to play him. She's also informed me that if Yeemik ever dies she will probably quit playing. LOL.
Just a question about some of the loot? The Glass staff from Iarno Albreck and the Spider Staff from Nezzar are not in D&D Beyond's item list despite being an official AD&D campaign? Will this "New-ish" content be added at launch? Or will it just remain in the homebrew sections & I'll have to copy it in?
Just a question about some of the loot? The Glass staff from Iarno Albreck and the Spider Staff from Nezzar are not in D&D Beyond's item list despite being an official AD&D campaign? Will this "New-ish" content be added at launch? Or will it just remain in the homebrew sections & I'll have to copy it in?
For those that purchase Lost Mines of Phandelver in Beyond, you'll have the items. If you are in a campaign where the adventure's data is available, they can be added to your character.
If your players use the pregenerated characters, note the background info and the motivations of the characters, as they are not mentioned even a little in the campaign book. If you're not using the pregens, at least show them the backgrounds and bonds so people have ideas for how to tie themselves into the campaign. The threads are a little loose otherwise, and the strangest thing about the campaign setup is just how easy it is to squander the great tie-ins from the pregens (i.e., why the characters care about anything happening outside of getting the caravan from Neverwinter to Phandalin).
If there's a common Achilles Heel to all of the 5e books, it's the lack of motivation provided within the campaigns for why characters should care (or even ideas thereof). Work with your players to establish why they might care about Phandalin, ties to Gundren, etc. Because otherwise, they're just meandering about for little cause other than pocket change.
Instead of trying to tie it to other modules, I suggest you railroad them a bit but customize lost mines a bit more to get them involved. I know it turns into a sandbox in phandalin, but I’d control the flow for newer players a bit more.
im currently dm a game where two party members are halflings. When they reach phandalin, the red brands are visuously harrasing them and come to find out they have been kidnaping a family of halfings at the alderleaf farm where the last remaining halflings are held up. After a while they delve into the manor and rescue halvings in the prison with a final showdown in glass staffs laboratory where he is collecting blood of halflings and wants the two party members next. A great set up and peak.
also, there’s a Druid in the party so I made thunder tree focused on her with the green dragon capturing young druids and she must rescue them with the help of The Druid gnome at thunder tree. I held back her 2 level ability to transform until she met him and he is teaching her the ways of the Druid. They need to go out in the wilderness and find the animals she can transform into.
Just customiZe the module to work with the characters more. Honestly, if you bring this stuff to the table, it’s much easier to get them invested then the module character backstories.
Seed a few hooks for down the road - perhaps grisly murders are taking place outside town by some serial killer? Good hooks are ones that seem like a throwaway sort of description but are actually relevant about 2 sessions later!
My players also want Thundertree to be rebuilt and with the share in the mine the can probably do that over time.
My DM had Venomfang return to threaten Phandalin, ended up having to fight the green bean six times in total because he had a habit of flying away into the sunset every time we got him low on HP.
My lot have face him resurrected and then re-incarnated/shapeshifted into one of the party as a spy. He still had a big scar around his neck from where they cut off his head the first and 2nd time around!!
Hi,
My party will be starting the lost mines of phandelver adventure in a few weeks. I'm putting together some side adventures, random encounters, npcs etc and then it occurred to me that there might already be some supplementary stuff out there already!
If you know of any extra material that links to TLMOP it would be really appreciated!!
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D&D Beyond FoundersIt's a great adventure and there's a lot of advice around if you search via google. A few specifics:
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My players are partway through the campaign. It's been great fun - you'll enjoy it!
I like Stormknight's suggestion about using the wilderness as significant part of the game. Depending on how experienced and efficient your players are, there are quite a few chances for recurring NPC appearances. Making sure that a goblin escapes to return and afflict the party during their journeys could be a great way to get bonus usage out of the existing materials. Or if the monster-survivors gather and threaten Phandalin itself? Developing that sort of history with the NPCs can make it extra satisfying when they finally corner the cowardly goblin and put him down.
Chandelierianism: Not just for interns anymore.
Yeah I'm taking a party through now. They are on the last 1/3 of it. It's been great. I home brewed some stuff and started mixing pieces from Hoard of the Dragon queen so it could transition perfectly from the end of the adventure. Another DM here on the boards gave me the idea, we've been chatting back and forth since then. He rewrote the Glasstaff note to help the transition and I took his cue and did a doc in Word that looked hand written and I printed it out. I'm also working on a copy of Gundren's map of where Wave Echo Cave is too....I'll do that as a printout as well.
I agree with Stormknight as well. I took the Wyvern Tor orc encounter and home-brewed it to a tomb near Thunder Tree of the "Hero of Thundertree" who has a statue in town, his statue is leaning a bit, So I put a ring inside it that opens a secret door on his tomb. I also had all the orcs in there defiling his tomb because he was a famous orc slayer. When the party snuck in I had them witness an orc killed by a trapped door, then had the orcs arguing about what they wanted to do next. It was a fun side quest.
Great idea on weaving those together! That's about where we're at, so I might copy that move, but with the Old Owl Well stuff. Thanks!
Chandelierianism: Not just for interns anymore.
PM if you have questions.
Official Maps if you feel like it. - http://prints.mikeschley.com/p856083253
Similar to the advice given above, I think adding small details that allow later elements to be tied in is really great! Or planning that seed, if you don't already have the story ideas for later. In my own campaign, I have the group's discovery of Wave Echo Cave be what draws the attention of a powerful wizard who wants them to go looking for other, similar locations.
I've been running our group through this adventure too as The Neverwinter Nine (as seen on my blog.)
It's been a real hoot - everybody - including yours truly - has been having a blast!
I agree with Stormknight that instead of random encounters, use the wilderness encounters in Chapter 3 ... they are freakin' great!
Be careful in how you describe things. Our group's DM led us to believe that the keep was the most immediate threat, so we tackled it at 2nd lvl. It's designed for a lvl 4 party I believe. We barely got away by the skin of our teeth.
I try to tie previous characters back into the story later. For example, My party just finished the first chapter, Cragmaw Hideout. There's a Goblin, Yeemik, who wants to be the leader of the gobin group there. He also tries to ransom Sildar back to the party.
The party let him live in exchange for help. Later, they're going to bump into a traveling salesmen in a long coat named Hue Mee. It'll be Yeemik and his friend "legs" (the only survivors aside from Klarg) They've decided they'd like to work with Humans ("hu-mees" as I had Yeemik call them) and they've partnered with Lionshield Coster in Phalandrin.
I want my party to affect characters and the world and then see their actions play out.
My wife is obsessed with Yeemik. It must be how I role played him. She's a Ranger that befriended two wolves in Cragmaw hideout, the party let Yeemik live. Little did they know Yeemik snuck into Phandalin when they stayed there the first night. He took one of her wolves, no one knew this until way later of course. But my wife was crazy about finding that wolf again. The party kept talking about Yeemik and how sweet he was and they hoped they would see him again, so I knew I was going to bring him back big. I locked him in a cage with her wolf in Cragmaw Castle a traitor and prisoner of King Grohl. You should have seen her face when they found him. They rescued him and he became an NPC who is going to go have some adventures with the Ranger's 1st level Cleric sister. She brings up Yeemik every day and can't wait to start another adventure with her sister (her other character) to play him. She's also informed me that if Yeemik ever dies she will probably quit playing. LOL.
Just a question about some of the loot? The Glass staff from Iarno Albreck and the Spider Staff from Nezzar are not in D&D Beyond's item list despite being an official AD&D campaign?
Will this "New-ish" content be added at launch? Or will it just remain in the homebrew sections & I'll have to copy it in?
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If your players use the pregenerated characters, note the background info and the motivations of the characters, as they are not mentioned even a little in the campaign book. If you're not using the pregens, at least show them the backgrounds and bonds so people have ideas for how to tie themselves into the campaign. The threads are a little loose otherwise, and the strangest thing about the campaign setup is just how easy it is to squander the great tie-ins from the pregens (i.e., why the characters care about anything happening outside of getting the caravan from Neverwinter to Phandalin).
If there's a common Achilles Heel to all of the 5e books, it's the lack of motivation provided within the campaigns for why characters should care (or even ideas thereof). Work with your players to establish why they might care about Phandalin, ties to Gundren, etc. Because otherwise, they're just meandering about for little cause other than pocket change.
Edit: took out a small campaign spoiler.
Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in awhile.
Instead of trying to tie it to other modules, I suggest you railroad them a bit but customize lost mines a bit more to get them involved. I know it turns into a sandbox in phandalin, but I’d control the flow for newer players a bit more.
im currently dm a game where two party members are halflings. When they reach phandalin, the red brands are visuously harrasing them and come to find out they have been kidnaping a family of halfings at the alderleaf farm where the last remaining halflings are held up. After a while they delve into the manor and rescue halvings in the prison with a final showdown in glass staffs laboratory where he is collecting blood of halflings and wants the two party members next. A great set up and peak.
also, there’s a Druid in the party so I made thunder tree focused on her with the green dragon capturing young druids and she must rescue them with the help of The Druid gnome at thunder tree. I held back her 2 level ability to transform until she met him and he is teaching her the ways of the Druid. They need to go out in the wilderness and find the animals she can transform into.
Just customiZe the module to work with the characters more. Honestly, if you bring this stuff to the table, it’s much easier to get them invested then the module character backstories.
Seed a few hooks for down the road - perhaps grisly murders are taking place outside town by some serial killer? Good hooks are ones that seem like a throwaway sort of description but are actually relevant about 2 sessions later!
My players also want Thundertree to be rebuilt and with the share in the mine the can probably do that over time.
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My YouTube (C&C Welcome!)
My lot have face him resurrected and then re-incarnated/shapeshifted into one of the party as a spy. He still had a big scar around his neck from where they cut off his head the first and 2nd time around!!
Southampton Guild of Roleplayers
My YouTube (C&C Welcome!)