Lost Mine of Phandelver for beginners?

[Petrocorus]

I'm beginning to DM the 5E, and i thinking about trying to send my PC on the ost Mine of Phandelver from the starter set.
But i'm a bit concerned and i'd like you advices.
First, what do you think of this campaign? Is it good according to you?
Two, Is it OK for beginners, i mean real beginners who never play a tabletop RPG?
Three, how long do you think it take to make it? I mean in terms of hours of play?
Any additional advice will be welcome.

Thank you.

[eastmabl]

I'm beginning to DM the 5E, and i thinking about trying to send my PC on the ost Mine of Phandelver from the starter set.
But i'm a bit concerned and i'd like you advices.
First, what do you think of this campaign? Is it good according to you?
Two, Is it OK for beginners, i mean real beginners who never play a tabletop RPG?
Three, how long do you think it take to make it? I mean in terms of hours of play?
Any additional advice will be welcome.

Thank you.

1. I like the adventure a lot. It's adventure that I recommend to new DMs.

2. The adventure was written in a way to teach DMs and players the mechanics of 5e and roleplaying. I've used it for many new players.

3. You should be able to get about 20-30 hours of game play in from the adventure.

All in all, two thumbs up.

[Shining Wrath]

For new people, it is somewhat free-form; the party can go where they like, including places that they shouldn't go. As DM, you should read through the adventure carefully, and guide the party away from some of the more dangerous encounters - the dragon on the cover in particular is instant death for a party of 4 L1 or L2 characters, and even for 4 L4 characters represents an encounter that should only be attempted when fully rested and well-equipped.

It's a good adventure otherwise that will last you several sessions. The exact number will depend upon your players and how quickly they learn mechanics.

[GWJ_DanyBoy]

I cut my teeth on LMoP. I'd never played a tabletop RPG before, let alone DM'd one. Some of my players were as new as me, and a few were RPG veterans. I learned a lot, and we all had some fun.

I think both 5e and the Starter Set itself are excellent starting points.

[ChelseaNH]

My group meets twice a month for about 3 hours; we've been doing LMoP since New Years 2015 and we haven't quite finished. If you have longer or more regular sessions, you'll be able to make better progress.

Advice:
Watch out for the opening ambush; first level characters are delicate. Think about how to apply the stealth/perception and surprise rules.

Feel free to tweak the story and NPCs to suit yourself and your group -- do you want grimdark? heroic fantasy? political intrigue? You can add flavor to your own taste.

[Petrocorus]

My group meets twice a month for about 3 hours; we've been doing LMoP since New Years 2015 and we haven't quite finished. If you have longer or more regular sessions, you'll be able to make better progress.

That's 78 hours of play! Eastmabl said it could be done in 30. This is concerning to me because i'm going to play for 3 hours every two weeks like you, minus the summer holiday, and i must finish before the end of the year.



Advice:
Watch out for the opening ambush; first level characters are delicate. Think about how to apply the stealth/perception and surprise rules.

Thanks.


Feel free to tweak the story and NPCs to suit yourself and your group -- do you want grimdark? heroic fantasy? political intrigue? You can add flavor to your own taste.
Pure heroic fantasy. I'm doing this with teenage beginners.

[Mhl7]

It is a great module, both for beginners and seasoned players.

The time depends on the DM. I run it in at most 30 hours, but a friend of mine is taking ages. It is his fault: he doesn't keep a good pace and likes to add extra staff.

One example: Both my and his players killed the boss of a dungeon before encountering anything else inside the same dungeon. I ruled that the minion fled when the boss died because it was just useless mooks chooping otherwise.
This friend of mine ruled that the minion reassembled and created a new leadership, so the player had to clear up all the dungeon.

I really think it is up to you how much time you will take. Also, it is quite sanbox-ish, so that you can rule out something is you are taking too much, without hampering the overarching story. E.g. there is a whole village that you must visit only if you want to take on a couple of side quests.

SPOILER:
If you run it, I suggest you add a strong tie between the characters and the dwarf brothers. Otherwise they might not want to go around to search for them. They might decide they have better priorities and wonder around aimlessly.

[charlesk]

I ran this and it was pretty good. Be careful with the very first encounter, which seems minor but can be deadly to a group of newbie players with newbie (level 1) characters.

[ChelseaNH]

That's 78 hours of play! Eastmabl said it could be done in 30. This is concerning to me because i'm going to play for 3 hours every two weeks like you, minus the summer holiday, and i must finish before the end of the year.

I have 6-7 players who are very sociable, so we're slow.

If you're worried about time, I second the suggestion to skip the trip to Thundertree. You can always go back to it as a bonus round if you finish early. Let them wander east on the side quests hoping to run into the druid out that-a-ways.

With two weeks between games, you'll probably need to remind them regularly about plot threads and NPCs. Or parcel them out one at a time, so they don't lose track of what's available.

[Quasikaze]

I'm currently in the process of dming it right now, they just entered the Wave Echo Cave, and I really like it. I think it's a fantastic. I actually started 5e with LMoP. I started with a group of three players and now have four as of last session. Each one of us was new to 5e and I was the only person that had prior D&D experience. I had played Pathfinder and 4th quite often beforehand. Each one of us take to it perfectly fine. It's wonderfully simplified and not in a bad way. I feel as if LMoP will take 30-40 hours to finish, YMMV.


The advice I have is

PCs can die EXTREMELY easy at early levels. IIRC, LMoP is designed around a party of five so if you have less than four players then remove a monster from each encounter. Cragmaw Hideout is very dangerous to low level characters. Klarg and his friends can wreak havoc, if your players don't plan well.
The dragon has the potential to one-shot pretty much any character with his poison breath (e.g. Failed save = 72 poison damage [max]) and it's conical, so it has the potential to TPK in the first round. It does have to recharge of 5/6, though. His Multiattack doesn't have to recharge and it can do 68 damage [max without Critting], which is a mix of piercing, slashing, & poison damage. It is not required to kill him or even attack him, so keep that in mind. I imagine they'll be somewhere ranging from high level 3 to low level 4 when they reach him and he's a CR 8.
For maps, if you're using roll20.net or something similar, then this guy (https://www.reddit.com/user/timdenee/submitted/) has posted high quality maps. He has one of each location that has a map in LMoP and one or two more that are mentioned but don't have a map in the book.

[Sigreid]

I ran it and I liked it. My party liked it. As DM of new players you should keep in mind that it is perfectly acceptable for a victorious enemy to not deathblow the unconcious players and leave them lying there in their shame un-looted. First one or two times it comes up, the enemies have somewhere else to be and don't have time for a slit and strip. I say this because in a party of experienced players we had at least one incap in most fights.

[Petrocorus]

Is there anything which is setting specific or i can easily use it in an homemade setting?

[Aelyn]

Is there anything which is setting specific or i can easily use it in an homemade setting?

Assuming you don't mind changing a couple of names, it's pretty setting-neutral. Officially it's Forgotten Realms, which is made apparent because it starts as the team leave Neverwinter and centres around a Drow's plan, but aside from that and a few generic group-of-interest hooks it would work just as well in pretty much any setting.

[Sigreid]

Is there anything which is setting specific or i can easily use it in an homemade setting?

I ripped it out of FR and dropped it in my own setting.

[Emongnome777]

+1 to what everyone else is posting. It's a solid adventure for new or seasoned. As mentioned previously, my biggest suggestion when DMing it is to read is thoroughly and get to know your party. When they get to the town, you'll need to decide if you want it more sandbox style or if the group needs to be railroaded a bit (nothing wrong with that). It's also easy enough to make generic setting-wise. The side-quests can get distracting, so do make sure they are motivated to complete the main quest.

No matter what, have fun!

[Estrillian]

Is there anything which is setting specific or i can easily use it in an homemade setting?

Its easy to move elsewhere. I kept it in the Forgotten Realms but moved it back a 100 years and replaced the Drow with a Body-possessing spider, and nothing suffered.

If you go away from the FR entirely you might want to think about replacements for the various factions, but the adventure won't really suffer if you just don't have them in the first place. They are there to help tie the PCs into larger organisations (and also Adventurer's League events) but they are also a weird shoehorn (does every town in the entire world have one of each faction in it? You'd think so from the published adventures) and they won't miss them.

[charcoalninja]

My recommendation is to remove the Scroll of Fireball from Glass Staff's treasure entirely. It has no business being there at the level the PCs will encounter him. The module has him grabbing his gear and trying to escape, but if the PCs pursue him effectively enough he could concievably be pressed and desperate enough to USE it against the party. I almost has a TPK my second session because that insane item was there. Get rid of it.

[Sigreid]

My recommendation is to remove the Scroll of Fireball from Glass Staff's treasure entirely. It has no business being there at the level the PCs will encounter him. The module has him grabbing his gear and trying to escape, but if the PCs pursue him effectively enough he could concievably be pressed and desperate enough to USE it against the party. I almost has a TPK my second session because that insane item was there. Get rid of it.

Said scroll was the only thing that gave my players a chance against the dragon.

[Petrocorus]

Thank you all for your replies.

I yet need a little help on some names.
Would "Wave Echo Cave" mean something else that "Echo Cave", because it's quite weird once translated in French.
Does "Thornton" actually means "a ton of thorns" or rather "a town of thorns"?
What "Conyberry" and "Hotenow" mean?
Is there really never a winter in Neverwinter?

[Estrillian]

My recommendation is to remove the Scroll of Fireball from Glass Staff's treasure entirely. It has no business being there at the level the PCs will encounter him. The module has him grabbing his gear and trying to escape, but if the PCs pursue him effectively enough he could concievably be pressed and desperate enough to USE it against the party. I almost has a TPK my second session because that insane item was there. Get rid of it.

My players used it on the Orcs. On the other hand I persuaded them that Glass Staff's lab was filled with invisible Invisibility potions that they mistook for empty bottles (and set fire to). They are very sad about this.

[Estrillian]

Thank you all for your replies.

I yet need a little help on some names.
Would "Wave Echo Cave" mean something else that "Echo Cave", because it's quite weird once translated in French.
Does "Thornton" actually means "a ton of thorns" or rather "a town of thorns"?
What "Conyberry" and "Hotenow" mean?
Is there really never a winter in Neverwinter?


Wave Echo Cave is a silly name. It is supposed to be because it is filled with the sound of echoing wave-crashes. I call it the Lost Mine, or the Phandelver Mine, or the Pact Mine.
Thornton does indeed mean "Thorn Town", it's a common type of abbreviation in town names
Conyberry doesn't mean anything (though you could assume that it mean something to do with deer and fruit), I think it is just meant to sound rustic
Hotenow doesn't mean anything either, but it could be taken as a pun name for a Volcano ('hot - enough' or 'hot - enow')
Neverwinter sits on a coast that regularly freezes and is covered in snow, but the river that runs through it is supposed to be hot, because it runs from the volcano, and therefore the river doesn't freeze (and the town is warmer than it should be), hence 'Never-winter'. Geologically this is totally suspect, but the water is supposed to be heated by a Fiery Primordial chained beneath the mountain, so I guess it makes magical sense.

[Caskwell]

Thank you all for your replies.

I yet need a little help on some names.
Would "Wave Echo Cave" mean something else that "Echo Cave", because it's quite weird once translated in French.
Does "Thornton" actually means "a ton of thorns" or rather "a town of thorns"?
What "Conyberry" and "Hotenow" mean?
Is there really never a winter in Neverwinter?

Wave Echo Cave = Cave that has waves echoing in it. So Sea Side Cave or Cave of Echos from babelfish: Grotte des échos
Thornton = closer to town of thorns, but more likely its a town named after a Mr. Thorn rather than a literal meaning.
Conyberry and Hotenow = Same situation, they're just names that don't really mean anything. You could easily pick a common French village name to substitute.
Neverwinter: From Wikipedia: "The name of the city has its origin in that even though the town is situated in the cold north of Faerûn, the Neverwinter river that flows through it is heated by fire elementals living under the nearby Mount Hotenow in the Neverwinter Wood. The heat given off from the river creates a permanent warm climate in the immediate area; without the elementals, the river, and subsequently the city's water supply, would freeze over."

[Sigreid]

Thank you all for your replies.

I yet need a little help on some names.
Would "Wave Echo Cave" mean something else that "Echo Cave", because it's quite weird once translated in French.


You could steal from the 13th Warrior and call it Thunder Mine due to the thunder like sound made by the waves breaking on shore. Added bonus because it might make the party completely misinterpret what they are going to find there.

[Petrocorus]

Thank you all.

BTW, does "Phandelver" means something?



Thornton = closer to town of thorns, but more likely its a town named after a Mr. Thorn rather than a literal meaning.


Oddly enough, one of my potential player's surname literally means "Ofthethorn", and it's not an uncommon name. I'm really thinking about just using the plural for the NPC.

[Shining Wrath]

Thank you all.

BTW, does "Phandelver" means something?



Oddly enough, one of my potential player's surname literally means "Ofthethorn", and it's not an uncommon name. I'm really thinking about just using the plural for the NPC.

Phandelver is probably a pun. Probably.

A "Fan" is one who roots for a team or otherwise is in favor of something. Misspell by substituting "ph" for "f", get Phan.
A "delver" is one who digs into things; someone who explores dungeons can be called a Dungeon Delver.

A Phandelver, then, is one who is in favor of dungeon exploration.

[JackPhoenix]

Thank you all for your replies.

I yet need a little help on some names.
Would "Wave Echo Cave" mean something else that "Echo Cave", because it's quite weird once translated in French.
Does "Thornton" actually means "a ton of thorns" or rather "a town of thorns"?
What "Conyberry" and "Hotenow" mean?
Is there really never a winter in Neverwinter?

I have the same problem in my language, alot of stuff is hard to translate, especially things created from two words english is so fond of (Neverwinter, Bladesinger, etc.)

With names, I don't bother with translations, it's just Neverwinter, not Nikdyzima, Bezzima, Letohrad (from the Neverwinter Nights official translation, lit. Summer Castle), or whatever.

[Petrocorus]

I have the same problem in my language, alot of stuff is hard to translate, especially things created from two words english is so fond of (Neverwinter, Bladesinger, etc.)

With names, I don't bother with translations, it's just Neverwinter, not Nikdyzima, Bezzima, Letohrad (from the Neverwinter Nights official translation, lit. Summer Castle), or whatever.

Czech? Polish?

For my French ears, Nikdyzima sound good, and exotic. Heck, i'm thinking i may use it.
The official translation from 3.0 is "Padhiver". But it sound weird. "Jamaisdhiver" ou "Sansiver" sound barely better.
If i was more literate, i'd probably go back to Greek or Latin words.

[eastmabl]

Phandelver is probably a pun. Probably.

A "Fan" is one who roots for a team or otherwise is in favor of something. Misspell by substituting "ph" for "f", get Phan.
A "delver" is one who digs into things; someone who explores dungeons can be called a Dungeon Delver.

A Phandelver, then, is one who is in favor of dungeon exploration.

IIRC, it's not a pun on the part of the adventure designer. Phandelver is noted in 2e AD&D material.

Whether Ed Greenwood is fond of puns is a whole other question. Given the lack of puns elsewhere in Realms names, I'd be inclined to believe that it's not intentionally a pun.

[JackPhoenix]

Czech? Polish?

For my French ears, Nikdyzima sound good, and exotic. Heck, i'm thinking i may use it.
The official translation from 3.0 is "Padhiver". But it sound weird. "Jamaisdhiver" ou "Sansiver" sound barely better.
If i was more literate, i'd probably go back to Greek or Latin words.

Czech. I admit, Nikdyzima (the most literal translation) sounds good to me too, other variants, not so much. And I like both Padhiver or Sansiver, propably because it's easy to say (czech pronounces words the same as they are written, so Jamaisdhiver is almost unpronounceable)...I guess I would pronounce it very differently from French, though.

Now I wonder how would Nikdyzima be pronounced in French.

[Petrocorus]

Czech. I admit, Nikdyzima (the most literal translation) sounds good to me too, other variants, not so much. And I like both Padhiver or Sansiver, propably because it's easy to say (czech pronounces words the same as they are written, so Jamaisdhiver is almost unpronounceable)...I guess I would pronounce it very differently from French, though.

Now I wonder how would Nikdyzima be pronounced in French.

You probably pronounce "Padiver" quite close, the "e" is pronounced like "eh" in English. "Jamaisdhiver" is pronounced like "Jamédiver" or "Jamehdiver", the "é" is more or less the same sound that the "-ay" of "way". It's quite easy.
"Sansiver" on the contrary may be tougher, since in French, putting a -n after a vowel nasalise it. So "-an-" is pronounced by roughly making a "a" resonate through your nose. Very difficult if your not a native French, Portuguese, or maybe German speaker. Patrick Stewart himself never was able to pronounce Jean-Luc Picard correctly. And the "s" is pronounced like a "z".

So you're saying that "Nikdyzima" is more or less pronounced like "Nikdeezeema" would be pronounced in English?

[Sigreid]

Czech? Polish?

For my French ears, Nikdyzima sound good, and exotic. Heck, i'm thinking i may use it.
The official translation from 3.0 is "Padhiver". But it sound weird. "Jamaisdhiver" ou "Sansiver" sound barely better.
If i was more literate, i'd probably go back to Greek or Latin words.

Honestly, I'd just pick names you like instead of worrying about names that match up to what the writers picked. I don't speak French or I would try to help more on this.

[Dimers]

Conyberry doesn't mean anything (though you could assume that it mean something to do with deer and fruit), I think it is just meant to sound rustic

In the context of a town or region, "berry" is a corruption of "borough". And coney is an older term for a rabbit. So I would guess Conyberry is a localized way to say Rabbittown.

As for Hotenow, I have no frackin' idea. :smallsmile:

[JackPhoenix]

You probably pronounce "Padiver" quite close, the "e" is pronounced like "eh" in English. "Jamaisdhiver" is pronounced like "Jamédiver" or "Jamehdiver", the "é" is more or less the same sound that the "-ay" of "way". It's quite easy.
"Sansiver" on the contrary may be tougher, since in French, putting a -n after a vowel nasalise it. So "-an-" is pronounced by roughly making a "a" resonate through your nose. Very difficult if your not a native French, Portuguese, or maybe German speaker. Patrick Stewart himself never was able to pronounce Jean-Luc Picard correctly. And the "s" is pronounced like a "z".

So you're saying that "Nikdyzima" is more or less pronounced like "Nikdeezeema" would be pronounced in English?

Thanks! The correct pronounciation would be Nick-di-zi-ma, (google translate can actually pronounce it better then I can explain it, it's a combination of two words, nikdy (never) and zima (winter or cold))


In the context of a town or region, "berry" is a corruption of "borough". And coney is an older term for a rabbit. So I would guess Conyberry is a localized way to say Rabbittown.

As for Hotenow, I have no frackin' idea. :smallsmile:

Huh...I would've never guessed that...you learn something new every day.

Hotenow...the mountain being a volcano, I guess it's either hot-enough, or hot-now (or possibly hotter-ow!)

[Petrocorus]

Back on topic. How do players get short rest in dungeon crawls, i specifically think about the Tresendar castle and Cragmaw castle where any intrusion could be noticed and a raiding party could be forced to do the whole thing before getting any rest.
Do you let the NPC stay put in there intended room whatever the party do?

Other question, is the dragon not a bit too much? It's a difficult encounter for a party of 5 lvl 5 PC, a deadly one for anything smaller than this.


Thanks! The correct pronounciation would be Nick-di-zi-ma, (google translate can actually pronounce it better then I can explain it, it's a combination of two words, nikdy (never) and zima (winter or cold))


Weird. When i ask it to translate "never winter" from English, it does reply "nikdy zima". But when i ask to translate "jamais hiver" from French, it replies "zimě někdy".

[ChelseaNH]

If the party manages to pick off groups of the enemy without letting them spread the alarm, then they have an opportunity to have a short rest. There are a couple of places where they could hole up and not be noticed for an hour.

If you want to make things interesting, you could come up with a schedule for changing guards, and then see what happens based on what time of day your party ventures in.

But yes, it is possible for a party to wind up dealing with the entire dungeon. Hopefully they manage to learn something from the experience.

The dragon is a big deal for a party of 3rd level characters. The reason for them to go to Thundertree is to find the druid, who can tell them where Cragmaw Castle is. If you don't want to include the dragon, then put the druid somewhere else, or let them find Cragmaw Castle another way.

You might need to add more random encounters to make up for the XP. If they capture Glasstaff or some number of Redbrands, the Black Spider could send a raiding party the local jail trying to free them.

[JackPhoenix]

Weird. When i ask it to translate "never winter" from English, it does reply "nikdy zima". But when i ask to translate "jamais hiver" from French, it replies "zimě někdy".

It works a little weird, however, if you try it the other way, it translates "nikdy zima" as "jamais hiver", "jamais d'hiver" is translated as "nikdy v zimě" (never in winter), closer to the original meaning..."zimě někdy" would mean "for/to (depending on the rest of the sentence if it would be used in one) winter sometimes"

Aaaaanyway, I haven't played LMoP and don't have any useful advice for it, so I shouldn't lead this thred off track with linguistic debate

[Sigreid]

Back on topic. How do players get short rest in dungeon crawls, i specifically think about the Tresendar castle and Cragmaw castle where any intrusion could be noticed and a raiding party could be forced to do the whole thing before getting any rest.
Do you let the NPC stay put in there intended room whatever the party do?



A good portion of the game is letting them figure that out. Let them surprise you.

[RaynorReynolds]

A good portion of the game is letting them figure that out. Let them surprise you.

I agree. It really depends on the circumstance. I did let my party take a short rest in Tresedar Manor since they managed to sneak in and kill Glasstaff relatively quickly.

[sotik]

I ran this and it was pretty good. Be careful with the very first encounter, which seems minor but can be deadly to a group of newbie players with newbie (level 1) characters.

I don't mean to necro a old thread, but the first ambush can't be deadly if following the book. It actually says in the book that instead of a TPK the goblins knock out the entire party and steal everything they have. So even if the first encounter goes badly, it shouldn't TPK. The dragon is easily handled as well since the Monster Manual says that a green dragon will rarely kill an entire party, but will kill 1 or 2 and then try and force the party to fear it. So really if you RP the dragon according to D&D lore, you shouldn't have a TPK with the dragon either. LMoP is made for very new players and DM's to D&D. Really if you follow the book there shouldn't be any TPK unless the dice rolls just go very badly.

Also names shouldn't really be a problem in translation. Neverwinter I assume would still be Neverwinter in any other language. It's like the United States, China, or any other real place, they are refereed to by the names in most languages I would assume.

[HolyDraconus]

Said scroll was the only thing that gave my players a chance against the dragon.

Following up on the necro. Currently running thru this campaign.
The Dragon isn't a threat unless the players are trying to kill it, and even then it has the means to flee 90% of the time. My group managed to get an Earth bind on it while it was still in the tower. Killed it. At level 3.line of sight won that fight. The bugbears fight in crag maw can be difficult unless the players noticed some extremely glaring tactical advantages. Like an owl bear that attacks the first thing it sees while the group just recently gotten vials of invisibility.
Glass staff can be surprised and slept extremely easily. The wizard planned to copy the fireball scroll at lvl 5.
Personally, if the party is new the absolute hardest fight is the ambush. Even if they fail and get knocked out they won't care for the adventure much. For a group of experienced players, getting to lvl 2 or 3 to start getting abilities online will steamroll this. Hell, black spider was forced to torch his spellbook round 2 due to the presence of the party wizard collecting them.
Familiar abuse is also available in this. From blindsight bat usage to prevent ambushes from crap like the cube to dark vision owl usage so there isn't a torch. Motivation wise, we dislike the dwarves. The payout feels far too small compared to the risk. Rogue has little to do outside combat.
My 3 cents

[Pex]

I've been playing it. It's fun. While we entered the mine and forced the drow to run away, we're about to enter the rest of the mine to clear out the undead that's there. We have faced some ghouls already.

1st level is swingy on players. The goblins are easy to take out but so can they take out a PC. Our group has managed well enough, but the need for healing is great and my cleric cannot do it all with spells. I don't bother with Cure Wounds, just casting the occasional Healing Word. Resting and potions have been our mainstay. I took Healer feat at 4th level to help out, but I wanted to take it for this character anyway.

We were able to make peace with the goblins fast to take out the Big Boss bugbear. When we encountered the two goblin guards in front of the cave we all beat them in initiative but by whatever means we attacked, weapon or saving throw spell, we all missed and the goblins survived to round 2. Our warlock managed to intimidate them anyway into surrendering, and that's how we found out about Little Boss wanting Big Boss gone. It was funny walking through the cavern being able to bypass all the goblins with our two guard escorts since we were taking out Big Boss. Hopefully your players will be able to ally with the goblins fast. It will be painful having to fight them all.

As a funny side note, when we got rid of Big Boss and the goblins were leaving, the two guards who became our escorts asked to join us. They became NPC party members. One is our cook and the other is a fighter who has helped a lot in the further encounters, especially because he was able to translate goblinoid conversations. A new player is joining our group and has agreed to play the goblin fighter, so he's getting a promotion from NPC status. I don't know if the goblins joining us was a DM made up idea or a possible happenstance from the module, but it is so cool.

[Zyzzyva]

I'm running this, first time DM with a bunch of (mostly) first time players; we're having a lot of fun. Murderhoboes all the way, but eh, first timers, and the experienced players are RPing a bit to show them how much more fun that can be. I think it's going well, and I really like the module.

Main fun point so far: Sildar, the minor NPC who they rescue at the end of the first dungeon and points them to some middle-game sidequests, for some reason really pissed the party off. After the first two sessions of plotting his death I decided to just roll with it: I decided that the real Sildar had been killed by the goblin ambush before the module even started, and "Sildar" is actually one of the doppelgangers. I've already got the dramatic reveal all planned out. :smallbiggrin:

[Byke]

As other have already said, it's a great starting module and give you alot of room to expand and role play.

Some warning:

1- Opening ambush can be deadly
2- Opening cave encounter with the Hobgoblin is deadly - he can and will one shot players.
3- Staff of Defense - is an awesome item - whomever get this item in the party will be pretty much unhittable at low levels. You may want to limit the number of shields per day initially.

[Joe the Rat]

In the context of a town or region, "berry" is a corruption of "borough". And coney is an older term for a rabbit. So I would guess Conyberry is a localized way to say Rabbittown.

As for Hotenow, I have no frackin' idea. :smallsmile:I was thinking about Coneys there as well. Though if you go for the full bad joke, Conyberry --> Coney berry/bury --> Rabbit Borough --> Rabbit Burrow.
If you want it to be a groaner, work from that.

[HolyDraconus]

As other have already said, it's a great starting module and give you alot of room to expand and role play.

Some warning:

1- Opening ambush can be deadly
2- Opening cave encounter with the Hobgoblin is deadly - he can and will one shot players.
3- Staff of Defense - is an awesome item - whomever get this item in the party will be pretty much unhittable at low levels. You may want to limit the number of shields per day initially.

Agreed on that staff. It's straight up broken unless you cut charges down to half. B Spider honestly should of had it even if his thematically makes sense.

[Pex]

I'm running this, first time DM with a bunch of (mostly) first time players; we're having a lot of fun. Murderhoboes all the way, but eh, first timers, and the experienced players are RPing a bit to show them how much more fun that can be. I think it's going well, and I really like the module.

Main fun point so far: Sildar, the minor NPC who they rescue at the end of the first dungeon and points them to some middle-game sidequests, for some reason really pissed the party off. After the first two sessions of plotting his death I decided to just roll with it: I decided that the real Sildar had been killed by the goblin ambush before the module even started, and "Sildar" is actually one of the doppelgangers. I've already got the dramatic reveal all planned out. :smallbiggrin:

Excellent.

Our group befriended him. We befriended everyone we could, like those two goblins, including the banshee. Our group, and I include me, isn't very good at remembering all the names of the NPCs so we give them our own nicknames. Sildar is called "Dinner" because that's what he was to the goblins and our price demand to Little Boss goblin to take out Big Boss bugbear.

[BeefGood]

I was DM, new to 5e, had not played D&D for many years.
My players new to RPG.
I liked it (the Starter Set) a lot. I think it's a good product.
One thing in Spoiler box

There are two dopplegangers. Plan ahead to use them suitably (e.g., by whacking a character over the head and then impersonating that character.) I did not make any good plans for the dopplegangers so they were just another monster--waste of potential for fun.
I think next time I DM a doppleganger, I will pull a player aside secretly and tell him he's just been captured by a doppleganger, and now he gets to play a doppleganger impersonating his character. I think that will be fun, both for the captured player and for the other players who will gradually figure out that something strange is happening.

[Pex]

I was DM, new to 5e, had not played D&D for many years.
My players new to RPG.
I liked it (the Starter Set) a lot. I think it's a good product.
One thing in Spoiler box

There are two dopplegangers. Plan ahead to use them suitably (e.g., by whacking a character over the head and then impersonating that character.) I did not make any good plans for the dopplegangers so they were just another monster--waste of potential for fun.
I think next time I DM a doppleganger, I will pull a player aside secretly and tell him he's just been captured by a doppleganger, and now he gets to play a doppleganger impersonating his character. I think that will be fun, both for the captured player and for the other players who will gradually figure out that something strange is happening.

I'd be wary to do that with players new to RPGs. You don't want to teach them secretly plotting against the other players to be DM approved appropriate behavior. That's Introduction To Be A Real Jerk Class 101. I'm wary of doing that at all even with experienced players has it's a poor way to start off a new campaign with DM imposed mistrust. An NPC they've already met with clues something is wrong is fine, not setting up the players to fight each other.

[The Vanishing Hitchhiker]

I was thinking about Coneys there as well. Though if you go for the full bad joke, Conyberry --> Coney berry/bury --> Rabbit Borough --> Rabbit Burrow.
If you want it to be a groaner, work from that.

My ex's last name was Cunningham, so I'm getting a kick out of this particular etymology discussion. Warren works too, and maybe Hutch.

One of my current DMs lifted a little from this after his homebrewed first encounter proved a bit too strong for the party. Due to the DM's changes, about all I can report is that the cave didn't prove too strong for us. Sildar's surname is now the brand of beer whose bottle cap served as his improvised token.

[Finback]

I ran it for a group of four to six (we varied as people's commitments changed, others heard about it and wanted to try D&D) players of varying experience - several totally new, a player who'd been in since 2e, another who was around for 3.5 and played 4e as well. (I played 2e a bit, then fell out until getting back in via 4e a few years ago).

Overall, it worked quite well - the new players got the swing of combat, mechanics, etc. very quickly and easily. The combats themselves ran nicely - even if they could be a little unbalanced at times (at one point, we had six players, sometimes in random encounters with only 3-4 low level enemies). There was plenty of space for character development and unusual plot twists*, and there were times you could simply stop and tell them, "you cannot fight this enemy and all survive"**.

There are times where, depending on the party build, you may feel close to a TPK or similar, especially if PCs are not fully aware of all their skills - I was forever having to remind the cleric they could actually *heal* people; I always strived for the cinematic, where possible - having a PC who would have been utterly killed by a bugbear's club being simply knocked across the room to fall unconscious.

Overall, I give it a solid B+. Lots of room for exploration and getting off the main story path for variety, good balance for the combats, and a fairly solid storyline.


* yeah, so the elf wizard decided to adopt Droop, the goblin lackey/slave of the bugbears. I'm letting her "teach" him some cantrips and they are both learning each others' languages.
** yeah, the dwarf bard decided to try to grab the magic axe, Hew, from the dragon's loot and attack it. Nat 1. Meanwhile, the others were huddling to rest in a creepy old inn - they heard the roaring. I took the elf wizard aside and explained the history of elves and green dragons, and how this was BAD. The others saw the dwarf barely walk away from a breath weapon, and I pointed out this thing wasn't even an adult. They wisely decided that discretion was the better part of valour.

[Finback]

oh, there's also room for some fun drama around the table, and you can easily add your own plot points.

I emphasised the creepy booming in the caves, by waiting until everyone was distracted, then smashing my fist onto the table. Whenever I did, it got bigger, and I emphasized this was louder and closer.. they were utterly terrified of whatever was lurking in the darkness. They had a real sense of relief and wonder when I described standing on a cliff overlooking a huge underground sea.

And the Spider? My original intent was to have him be taken alive, and then then taken away by guards for a trial. Only, later that day, the *real* guards show up - so who took him? And for what purpose? (It was going to be the Zhentarim, who could either recruit him (drama when the Zhentarim aligned player encounters him again) or kill him).

[JAL_1138]

The name "Lost Mine of Phandelver" is derived from the "Phandelver's Pact," an agreement between dwarves and gnomes in the area to share access and use of Wave Echo Cave. The word "Phandelver" itself probably means "Those who dig (or descend underground) near the town of Phandalin." "Phan" from Phandalin, "delver" as a noun form coming from "to delve;" delve meaning something like "to dig" or "to go underground" in this context.