I'm about to start a campaign for a bunch of newcomers who are all eager to get their game on. I was planning to run them through the Lost Mines Of Phandelver. Alas, I found out one of the players has the Essentials box, and thus that adventure, so a change of plans is in order. Do any of you know of any adventures I could buy online that are a good tutorial for inexperienced players? It doesn't matter the setting, I can make it fit into my world. If any of you can help me, I will give you... a shrubbery!
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Don't be afraid of the dark, be afraid of what's in the dark.
My first game in 5e was Out Of The Abyss, or very heavily inspired by it, I believe. Felt like a great start for me.
If they are new players and you want to give them a little bit of an easier time, you can always slightly mod the encounters. One less creature here, one creature with less hp there, a helpful NPC for a short time, etc, and you can rework anything into being fitting for a new group.
The lost mines can still be a good run. My current groups previous DM ran us through it knowing that I had run it for my previous group and that another player had it and was busy making large battle maps. We were 1 very experienced player (who had never seen lost mines), 1 experienced player (myself) and the other 4 were all newcomers. Otherwise, there are the other starter sets, both of which have good basic starting points for new players.
I blended LMoP and DoIP and it seemed to flow pretty well. Also helps in the event someone in your group knows one module but not the other. ;)
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#OpenD&D #ORC
"...or you can find the secret tunnel that leads to the Vault of Dickish DM which is filled with 10,000,000 copper coins and a 5,000 pound solid gold statue of a middle finger that is too big to fit through the door."
The players can read about a D&D published story, adventure, characters, maps from beginning to end by verbatim.
That does not mean the DM cannot change up the game elements contrary to the player's expectations.
This is where the dungeon screen, the D&D Monster Manual, Dungeon Master's Guide and Challenge Rating comes into play.
Inside the Dungeon Master's Guide, Appendix B: Monster Lists, pages 302 - 309 becomes very useful.
'Lost Mines of Phandelver' is excellent because from the hidden DM screen can throw a random monster(s) of a Challenge Rating equal to or better against the adventuring party where they would least expect.
There is a young green dragon in 'Lost Mines' but what if the DM places a young red dragon in that location instead?
I'm confused, what has the Essentials Kit got to do with anything? The adventure in the EK is Dragon of Icespire Peak. I don't remember any times it even references TLMoP, so why is that an issue? We did DoIP (our first D&D adventure) then our third adventure was LMoP. No problems, other than the problems inherent ro LMoP (although, it not being our first adventure, perhaps we were more aware of the problems).
Or do you mean they've got the Starter Set? If so, ensure that it's the old one that they have. The adventure was swapped out for Dragons of Stormwreck Isle last year, so make sure that they don't have the new one - no need to freak if they do.
Assuming the worst case scenario that they have played LMoP. It's hardly a riveting mystery where all the fun will be sucked out by spoilers, nor is the gameplay dependent on mystery where knowing the solution makes the game too easy. From a gameplay point of view...it doesn't matter if they've played it before. Ok, it's not ideal that someone is replaying the same adventure...on the other hand, it's a very short adventure, only L1-5. They can suck it up while you learn. If it were L1-10 I'd be more concerned, but it's only like a few weeks long, so they can deal with it and even use their experience to help you.
If they can't deal with it, then presumably they don't have the Essentials Kit, so I'd recommend the adventure from there, Dragon of Icespire Peak. The narrative is much less present (although, given the serious problem that LMoP has with its narrative and the lack of foresight on the writer's part, perhaps pushing the party to create their own narrative isn't necessarily a bad thing), but it is actually substantially more supportive of new DMs, giving guidance on how to adjust encounters for parties as well as giving sidekicks and so forth. If you can get the old version, it has codes for DDB to get the digital version for free, plus and extension trilogy that will almost double the length of your adventure it's really good value, but they recently stopped including the codes...I'm not a fan of it without the codes.
If you want a full-on adventure...I'm not sure. I'd stay away from Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, since it is apparently quite complex with a ton of NPCs, not ideal for a new DM. Other than that...I haven't come across one that particularly stands out as good for new DMs. Maybe The Wild Beyond the Witchlight? It's fairly linear, so less to track and worry about. It touches on a variety of mechanics, so it introduces you to different ideas without getting too complicated and allows the party to solve all the problems with at least two options. I have it, but haven't played it - so it's possible that in actual gameplay it comes out different, but it seemed alright.
Otherwise, I can't help, I'm sorry. But one of those options should be suitable.
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If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
I'm about to start a campaign for a bunch of newcomers who are all eager to get their game on. I was planning to run them through the Lost Mines Of Phandelver. Alas, I found out one of the players has the Essentials box, and thus that adventure, so a change of plans is in order. Do any of you know of any adventures I could buy online that are a good tutorial for inexperienced players? It doesn't matter the setting, I can make it fit into my world. If any of you can help me, I will give you... a shrubbery!
Don't be afraid of the dark, be afraid of what's in the dark.
My first game in 5e was Out Of The Abyss, or very heavily inspired by it, I believe. Felt like a great start for me.
If they are new players and you want to give them a little bit of an easier time, you can always slightly mod the encounters. One less creature here, one creature with less hp there, a helpful NPC for a short time, etc, and you can rework anything into being fitting for a new group.
The lost mines can still be a good run. My current groups previous DM ran us through it knowing that I had run it for my previous group and that another player had it and was busy making large battle maps. We were 1 very experienced player (who had never seen lost mines), 1 experienced player (myself) and the other 4 were all newcomers.
Otherwise, there are the other starter sets, both of which have good basic starting points for new players.
I blended LMoP and DoIP and it seemed to flow pretty well. Also helps in the event someone in your group knows one module but not the other. ;)
#OpenD&D #ORC
"...or you can find the secret tunnel that leads to the Vault of Dickish DM which is filled with 10,000,000 copper coins and a 5,000 pound solid gold statue of a middle finger that is too big to fit through the door."
Are you sure they read it? Or can they pretend like they didn’t?
I mean, it’s on here for free, too. Everyone will have access to it, so it’s going to be a bit of honor system no matter what.
The players can read about a D&D published story, adventure, characters, maps from beginning to end by verbatim.
That does not mean the DM cannot change up the game elements contrary to the player's expectations.
This is where the dungeon screen, the D&D Monster Manual, Dungeon Master's Guide and Challenge Rating comes into play.
Inside the Dungeon Master's Guide, Appendix B: Monster Lists, pages 302 - 309 becomes very useful.
'Lost Mines of Phandelver' is excellent because from the hidden DM screen can throw a random monster(s) of a Challenge Rating equal to or better against the adventuring party where they would least expect.
There is a young green dragon in 'Lost Mines' but what if the DM places a young red dragon in that location instead?
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
Honestly I would start by asking them if they have read the adventure. If they say no, then say "don't!", and run the game.
If you run the game and they start having meta knowledge, assume they have read it and start changing things.
focus on having fun and learning the game, and if one player has the adventure and seems to act on their knowledge, then switch it up!
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Notable 5E starter set adventures include Lost Mine of Phandelver, Dragon of Icespire Peak and Dragons of Stormwreck Isle.