I am DMing a campaign for my wife and son, the Lost Mines of Phandelver. They are beginner DND players and I have been playing for many years. What do you think would be the best second campaign for them, both 1. If they keep the same characters (assuming they survive) and 2. Rolling up new characters, and any content is allowed. What do you think? What is the next best adventure for beginning players, I want to keep them hooked! I’ve mainly been a player in the past but I’m really enjoying becoming a DM -
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A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.
Storm King's Thunder is a pretty good sequel for Lost Mines. Skip the first part which is designed to be an into and to get players up to level 5, which they should be by the time they finish Lost Mines anyway. Just curious, but how are you finding running the module with just two players?
Just be careful about SKT, there is a large sandbox in the campaign that even experienced players sometimes have trouble with. But it's a good choice if you don't let them get mired in it.
Yeah absolutely. I would argue it's not great as a second adventure to run but it's a great sequel story-wise to LMP. What I did after LMP is start a new adventure and have the players roll new characters and when we finished a few adventures we went back to their characters from LMP and went into SKT.
If you're a new DM who just finished LMP my recommendation for a second module to run would be Dragon of Icepire Peak from the Essential Kit. It also has three follow-up adventures here on DDB when you're done. But it also has a big Phandalin component so if your players are bored of that town, it might be an issue. It also has sidekick rules though which would be great for your table since you only have two players.
Yes, that sounds great. They are running 2 characters each out of necessity. Kind of like I did when I was first learning in the 80s. :) Perhaps things will change and we can get more players when this darn pandemic ends and friends can come over, etc.
Icespire sounds good. Another one that I was thinking of was the Sunless Citadel? I haven't played it. Any other thoughts? I can't wait to run Strahd for them but my son isn't old enough yet. :P
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A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.
Sunless Citadel is a great first adventure, but it's balanced for level 1 characters, so if you want to run it I would advise you to have them reroll their characters.
I transitioned our group (my wife and daughter) into Horde of the Dragon Queen. We are enjoying it, but it is definitely more work than LMoP. I presented the events and information from chapters 1-4 as reports and intelligence through the various factions in Phandalin (Sildar, Daran and Sister Garaele), and brought them into the adventure in chapter 5 as an assignment from the Lords Alliance.
They were level 5 at the end of LMoP. I let them play out several months of downtime as they received intelligence on the events of chapters 1-4. They met up with the cultists in Waterdeep, joining the wagon train there and skipping most of the caravan bits.
Just be careful about SKT, there is a large sandbox in the campaign that even experienced players sometimes have trouble with. But it's a good choice if you don't let them get mired in it.
Yeah absolutely. I would argue it's not great as a second adventure to run but it's a great sequel story-wise to LMP. What I did after LMP is start a new adventure and have the players roll new characters and when we finished a few adventures we went back to their characters from LMP and went into SKT.
If you're a new DM who just finished LMP my recommendation for a second module to run would be Dragon of Icepire Peak from the Essential Kit. It also has three follow-up adventures here on DDB when you're done. But it also has a big Phandalin component so if your players are bored of that town, it might be an issue. It also has sidekick rules though which would be great for your table since you only have two players.
The one thing to mention here is that Ice Spire Peak is also designed to take players from levels 1-6 so you may need to beef up the encounters if they are coming into it at level 5, it also is a pure milestone campaign, no XP, so you will need to work with that. However where a LMOP is largely a railroad with a few offshoots, ISP allows a gentle introduction into the idea of sandboxing. It is a good intro for a new DM as well as there is a lot of space in the text and between the encounters that can be filled. You could also use it as the start of a homebrew, take some of the plot hooks from lost mines, use the encounters in Icespire to inspire some of the things the party might have to deal with. Feed in the idea that the Dragon has arrived in the area into the end of lost mines. Maybe have the weather start to change slightly as the effects of a white dragon pull the temperature down, or have the party come across a half devoured corpse of a large predator animal. Have them overhear someone in an inn mention they saw a large shape in the sky.
As they conclude lost mines they can then start to explore some more of the surrounding area and you can slowly weave in the various plots you come up with for them to explore.
Thank you for all of the wonderful suggestions! I’m playing several play by post games here on this forum but also trying to get a feel of what would be a great next step for them to continue their interest, a suspenseful campaign that can be run by an experienced player but a beginning DM.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.
Thank you for all of the wonderful suggestions! I’m playing several play by post games here on this forum but also trying to get a feel of what would be a great next step for them to continue their interest, a suspenseful campaign that can be run by an experienced player but a beginning DM.
Have you considered trying your own homebrew? I will also say if you used the pre generated MOP characters then now the players have a feel for the rules etc it can be fun to start again with a fresh campaign and get them to roll up, have a go at creating back stories and trying something new.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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I am DMing a campaign for my wife and son, the Lost Mines of Phandelver. They are beginner DND players and I have been playing for many years. What do you think would be the best second campaign for them, both 1. If they keep the same characters (assuming they survive) and 2. Rolling up new characters, and any content is allowed. What do you think? What is the next best adventure for beginning players, I want to keep them hooked! I’ve mainly been a player in the past but I’m really enjoying becoming a DM -
A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.
Storm King's Thunder is a pretty good sequel for Lost Mines. Skip the first part which is designed to be an into and to get players up to level 5, which they should be by the time they finish Lost Mines anyway. Just curious, but how are you finding running the module with just two players?
Yeah absolutely. I would argue it's not great as a second adventure to run but it's a great sequel story-wise to LMP. What I did after LMP is start a new adventure and have the players roll new characters and when we finished a few adventures we went back to their characters from LMP and went into SKT.
If you're a new DM who just finished LMP my recommendation for a second module to run would be Dragon of Icepire Peak from the Essential Kit. It also has three follow-up adventures here on DDB when you're done. But it also has a big Phandalin component so if your players are bored of that town, it might be an issue. It also has sidekick rules though which would be great for your table since you only have two players.
Yes, that sounds great. They are running 2 characters each out of necessity. Kind of like I did when I was first learning in the 80s. :) Perhaps things will change and we can get more players when this darn pandemic ends and friends can come over, etc.
Icespire sounds good. Another one that I was thinking of was the Sunless Citadel? I haven't played it. Any other thoughts? I can't wait to run Strahd for them but my son isn't old enough yet. :P
A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.
Sunless Citadel is a great first adventure, but it's balanced for level 1 characters, so if you want to run it I would advise you to have them reroll their characters.
I transitioned our group (my wife and daughter) into Horde of the Dragon Queen. We are enjoying it, but it is definitely more work than LMoP. I presented the events and information from chapters 1-4 as reports and intelligence through the various factions in Phandalin (Sildar, Daran and Sister Garaele), and brought them into the adventure in chapter 5 as an assignment from the Lords Alliance.
So you brought them in as level 5? Sounds interesting.
A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.
They were level 5 at the end of LMoP. I let them play out several months of downtime as they received intelligence on the events of chapters 1-4. They met up with the cultists in Waterdeep, joining the wagon train there and skipping most of the caravan bits.
The one thing to mention here is that Ice Spire Peak is also designed to take players from levels 1-6 so you may need to beef up the encounters if they are coming into it at level 5, it also is a pure milestone campaign, no XP, so you will need to work with that. However where a LMOP is largely a railroad with a few offshoots, ISP allows a gentle introduction into the idea of sandboxing. It is a good intro for a new DM as well as there is a lot of space in the text and between the encounters that can be filled. You could also use it as the start of a homebrew, take some of the plot hooks from lost mines, use the encounters in Icespire to inspire some of the things the party might have to deal with. Feed in the idea that the Dragon has arrived in the area into the end of lost mines. Maybe have the weather start to change slightly as the effects of a white dragon pull the temperature down, or have the party come across a half devoured corpse of a large predator animal. Have them overhear someone in an inn mention they saw a large shape in the sky.
As they conclude lost mines they can then start to explore some more of the surrounding area and you can slowly weave in the various plots you come up with for them to explore.
Thank you for all of the wonderful suggestions! I’m playing several play by post games here on this forum but also trying to get a feel of what would be a great next step for them to continue their interest, a suspenseful campaign that can be run by an experienced player but a beginning DM.
A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.
Have you considered trying your own homebrew? I will also say if you used the pre generated MOP characters then now the players have a feel for the rules etc it can be fun to start again with a fresh campaign and get them to roll up, have a go at creating back stories and trying something new.