Anyone have the Essentials Box?

[jaappleton]

So the Essentials Box is basically an updated Starter Set, new adventure, quest cards, sidekicks for small parties (or even single player parties), etc.

I’m just curious to anyone that has it:

I want to get it to run it for my 9 year old son. Is it actually viable to run with one player? Obviously he’ll need a sidekick or two, but is it possible to actually run it for one player?

Any suggestions?

[nickl_2000]

Can't answer the question you asked, but if you are looking for stuff to run for kids there is has a website with free adventures for kids that he wrote.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1180750442102143/?ref=bookmarks
or
http://dndadventuresforkids.com/

I've run one so far for my 10,7, and 6 year old and they loved it (begged me for another adventure that day). It could be easily done with a DM PC or side kick as a starter to see if the kids likes it.

[FelineArchmage]

Yes! We have it and my husband is DMing it for me. It is completely possible to run it for one player. The campaign has rules for adjusting encounters depending on how many PCs there are.

[Waterdeep Merch]

It's a bit less streamlined than Mines of Phandelver, but it really hits that vagabond hero mood well and the extras make running it a treat. I've been running it for a group of newbies, and they're having a blast.

For difficulty, an extremely clever, optimized veteran could probably solo the whole thing. Add a sidekick or two, and even a new player can absolutely get through it.

[Great Dragon]

I started my Sat group with Phandelver and they are now 5th level and have finished almost all of what it has.

I just picked up the Essentials Box and added the locations in Icespire to that area, and I love it !!

I believe today they are playing their 1st level PCs (mostly to help out any New Players) so I'll be using the new Quests as well as some Old Plots left over.

I think they are going to really enjoy it !!

[Tzun]

To OP, I was just thinking about doing the very same thing for my 8 yo son. I'd be interested in what everyone has to say too. I'm also going to give my son a side kick. Another thing I was thinking about doing to keep it simple was instead of using hit points just go with number of hits before going down. Give my son's character 3 points, side kick maybe 2 points, and the bad guys would work like minions and would just get 1 point unless it's a boss character. On level up, give another point to his character and the side kick. I was also thinking of throwing in some math word problems for traps or puzzles. If he gets it right he disarms the trap, otherwise he takes a point of damage. :biggrin:

[Tawmis]

So the Essentials Box is basically an updated Starter Set, new adventure, quest cards, sidekicks for small parties (or even single player parties), etc.
I’m just curious to anyone that has it:
I want to get it to run it for my 9 year old son. Is it actually viable to run with one player? Obviously he’ll need a sidekick or two, but is it possible to actually run it for one player?
Any suggestions?

I picked it up last week, because I am substituting for a DM who is running it; and rather than continuing the adventure, I am making side quests on my own to run the party through (first one this past Saturday) so when the DM returns, the players will have been operating out of the mining town (Phanadalin sp?) the entire time I am substituting. I got the Essentials so I don't do any adventures similar to what's already presented. Read through the adventure, because of that. And with the use of sidekicks and such, depending on how much the kiddo can maintain attention, it's definitely do-able as a solo person with side kicks. Also as the DM, you can always do what DM's do best - improvise - and change as needed, so the kiddo has the best time possible. Losing a fight to a monster? Just drop the monster's health in combat, they will never know.

[Safety Sword]

This Saturday I'll be breaking it out for three 11-year old girls (my daughter and 2 friends). They have decided to play 3 elven sisters.

I really like it as a DM so far. It's easy to get into and pretty clear on what they'll be doing. Prep was almost non-existent other than reading it a few times.

I have DM'd games for about 20 years and some of the ideas in there are things I do in my "big people" games (Magic item cards, handouts, etc.) so I think it also builds good habits for new DMs.

I'll let you know how I go later!

[SpikeFightwicky]

This Saturday I'll be breaking it out for three 11-year old girls (my daughter and 2 friends). They have decided to play 3 elven sisters.

That comment is adorable and made my day :smallbiggrin:

-===-

Question: do they have any rules for doing the opposite? Like, if you want to have a single BBEG, but not have them fall prey to an action economy based downfall... can you give him a few sidekicks to fill in gaps? (I know you can add monsters / npcs, but if they have an easy way to personalize and customize the abilities of some henchmen without recalculating the CR for customized enemies all the time, that would be awesome).

[Safety Sword]

That comment is adorable and made my day :smallbiggrin:

Totally their idea, they all have birthdays within a few days of each other so it was almost triplets :smallbiggrin:

-===-



Question: do they have any rules for doing the opposite? Like, if you want to have a single BBEG, but not have them fall prey to an action economy based downfall... can you give him a few sidekicks to fill in gaps? (I know you can add monsters / npcs, but if they have an easy way to personalize and customize the abilities of some henchmen without recalculating the CR for customized enemies all the time, that would be awesome).

The rules already have that. Legendary actions!

Just give your BBEG an attack on other people's turns, that usually does the trick.

Also, there is a quest in Dragon of Icespire Peak that players can take at first level that has a manticore in it...

Manticores have 3 attacks and can fly. Seems a little rough at 1st or 2nd level to me...

[SpikeFightwicky]

Totally their idea, they all have birthdays within a few days of each other so it was almost triplets :smallbiggrin:

Always nice to hear that D&D is still relevant with the young! One of my D&D friends' kids have zero interest, as they just don't "get" the concept. Maybe they'll come around.

-===-




The rules already have that. Legendary actions!

Just give your BBEG an attack on other people's turns, that usually does the trick.

I've been thinking of making some of the important NPCs a "legendary light" treatment. Like, 1 or 2 legendary action points per round and 1 or 2 legendary save chances. My group's performance is all over the place! The deadly encounters are all dealt with easily, and the easy/normal encounters are life and death! I'm wondering if some minor legendary polish can make the deadly encounters a bit more difficult.

[Safety Sword]

Always nice to hear that D&D is still relevant with the young! One of my D&D friends' kids have zero interest, as they just don't "get" the concept. Maybe they'll come around.


My daughter has been around D&D games most of her life. I guess seeing it done and done well gives people an interest? I am involved with a lot of games as mostly a DM (occasionally a player) and one of those games is a home game with my wife, daughter and two sons. It's almost a family tradition as this stage.




I've been thinking of making some of the important NPCs a "legendary light" treatment. Like, 1 or 2 legendary action points per round and 1 or 2 legendary save chances. My group's performance is all over the place! The deadly encounters are all dealt with easily, and the easy/normal encounters are life and death! I'm wondering if some minor legendary polish can make the deadly encounters a bit more difficult.

My "main" group has 7 players regularly and legendary actions are a gift from the dark gods in all of the combined hells and abyss. Otherwise every battle has a super huge number of combatants to soak up actions. One big mofo with legendary actions and a useful reaction can usually tie them up as long as the damage is hurting them enough to make them be tactical.

Also give the bad guys a break and some sort of terrain advantage that the PCs have to overcome.

With 7 players, ancient dragons get smashed down. Ancient dragons with 5 legendary actions, counterspell that does psychic damage to the caster, a second surprise "breath weapon" attack and their own spells... now we're talking.

Welcome to Iymrith 2.0 :smallamused:

[Safety Sword]

Promised update: 3 hour starter session run and won!

The girls had a great time and delved their first dungeon.

I'm really glad that the girls basically picked the quest that had the most "dungeon" in it as their first choice. That made it easy to get them into it, as it was what they expected.


There was some role playing when interacting with the dwarf NPCs and the ochre jellies were also a fun and easy first bad guy to come across

All in all, thumbs up here!

[Great Dragon]

Update for me as well:

My Sat group are having loads of fun exploring the new locations.

First up was Gnomengarde, where after convincing the Artificer/Paladin to allow them to enter and on their way to meet The Two Kings, the Lady Assamar rolled a Natural One on her Stealth to go through the Sleeping area, and "Woke the baby" = lots of RP as she and a few others in the party tried to first calm the baby and then the mommie. Bought three 300 gp gems for Revivify spell.

They know about the Dwarven locations of (Mountain) Axeholm and the (Hill) Expedition, and that these are refusing to talk to each other.

(I'm putting the "Dungeon" area for these nearby each, instead of inside)

I'm having the Party Dwarven Ancestral Barbarian choosing between the two Dwarves above, or a Problem at the Castle the party "Sold" to a Dwarven Duke, or returning to Phandelver Mine to figure out why the Forge keeps producing Cursed Weapons and Armor.....

[SpikeFightwicky]

Promised update: 3 hour starter session run and won!

The girls had a great time and delved their first dungeon.

I'm really glad that the girls basically picked the quest that had the most "dungeon" in it as their first choice. That made it easy to get them into it, as it was what they expected.


There was some role playing when interacting with the dwarf NPCs and the ochre jellies were also a fun and easy first bad guy to come across

All in all, thumbs up here!

That's awesome! Lol I feel like starting a new campaign just to try it :smallbiggrin:

Geeze, I think I started at around 10 years old :smalltongue:


My "main" group has 7 players regularly and legendary actions are a gift from the dark gods in all of the combined hells and abyss. Otherwise every battle has a super huge number of combatants to soak up actions. One big mofo with legendary actions and a useful reaction can usually tie them up as long as the damage is hurting them enough to make them be tactical.

Also give the bad guys a break and some sort of terrain advantage that the PCs have to overcome.

With 7 players, ancient dragons get smashed down. Ancient dragons with 5 legendary actions, counterspell that does psychic damage to the caster, a second surprise "breath weapon" attack and their own spells... now we're talking.

Welcome to Iymrith 2.0

Definitely going to fiddle with legendary creatures! I'm very worried about fights with lesser numbers of powerful enemies because any failed save suck save is massive compared to a medium number of medium enemies. I've also experimented with terrain! That's pretty fun. Goblins 10 feet up, popping out to pepper the players with arrows and then hiding behind full cover. The party wasn't used to enemies acting like that so they had to withdraw :smallbiggrin:

[Safety Sword]

Definitely going to fiddle with legendary creatures! I'm very worried about fights with lesser numbers of powerful enemies because any failed save suck save is massive compared to a medium number of medium enemies. I've also experimented with terrain! That's pretty fun. Goblins 10 feet up, popping out to pepper the players with arrows and then hiding behind full cover. The party wasn't used to enemies acting like that so they had to withdraw :smallbiggrin:

Sounds like you get it :smallamused:

[Tawmis]

So, as I mentioned - I picked up the Essentials, and I am a substitute DM (current DM is adjusting to the +1 Infant from his last adventure)! :smallbiggrin:

But I didn't want to continue the Icespire module; so I am doing some side Quests that are focused in the same area.

I am not sure if this map of Havenfall Manor's location (https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/624319946016555050/625062613654437891/Havenfall_Manor_02.png?width=830&height=595) in the southern end of Neverwinter Forest is visible if you're not in the Discord channel... But it's the southern tip of Neverwinter Forest.

But I made a video for it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrWL-iv8pm4&feature=youtu.be

And here's a recap of the first session:

Thyis Tiefling Rogue
Bram Kessler Human Monk
Falarnum Half Orc Bard
Galiena Eranaeth Half Elf Warlock
Squeven Halfling Cleric (Absent)
Brick Human Fighter

The morning sun had sun had just begun to rise over the horizon; golden colors spilling across the plains as Galiena came out of the southern end of Neverwinter Forest. Her breath came fast as she looked behind her, still feeling the chilling touch that grasped her soul as she had approached Havenfall Manor.

Her patron, a Celestial Unicorn that guarded many of the woods in the Forgotten Realms, had warned her that something had been driving away the wildlife around the manor and that she should look into it. She approached the Manor, buried deep in the woods, but the same force that drove the animals away, seemed to push her away. She knew she would need help. She continued south to Phandalin, a small mining community. There wasn’t much hope of finding someone who could help her there, but perhaps she could book passage on one of the trading wagons that came through there.

She arrived at the Stonehill Inn looking for a room, when she spotted several patrons who looked distinctly out of place. One of them, in light armor, appeared to be a human; and judging by the light clothes and the symbols worn, a Monk. Another, a half-orc, with a lute in his hand, strumming loudly, was clearly a bard. Besides him, a tall human, muscular, but adorned in armor; so not a barbarian, and not a Paladin, due to the lack of holy symbols, so probably a fighter. This could be exactly what she had needed. She approached them and asked them for help. The Half Orc, spotting this unusual looking Half-Elf with a small Pseudo-dragon fluttering next to her, attempted to impress her with his juggling skills, only to drop the balls. The fighter, who introduced himself as Brick, climbed on a table, and for reasons unknown attempted a back flip, crashing into the table behind him, sending drinks flying. Furious patrons were calmed by another member, the Monk, who had introduced himself as Bram Kessler.

After the failure to impress the half-elf Warlock, the party agreed that showmanship was not their thing, and agreed to listen to the Warlock. She explained that she had been told by her patron to seek out what was happening at the Manor and set things right.

Falarnum, the Half-Orc Bard, detailed what he had heard about the manor; that a human Paladin by the name of Taris Havenfall had met and fell in love with an Elven maiden named Seleena Clearsky, and though her father protested their bonding, Taris agreed to build his manor in the woods so that she could be close to her family without them needing to leave the woods that they called home. At some point, an ancient white dragon named Ashenfrost destroyed the manor, and murdered those within. The manor was raided by creatures shortly after its destruction, but in recent years, no one goes near the manor.

The party agrees to help Galiena. Bram runs upstairs and finds that their companion, Squeven, the Halfling Cleric who had gone upstairs to meditate and pray to their god had fallen asleep. Bram quickly scribbled a note that they were headed north, into the Neverwinter Forest towards a place called Havenfall Manor, should he awake and seek to join them.

Downstairs, a figure seemed to step out of the shadows, and pull his cowl back, revealing his startling, demonic-like features of a Tiefling, and introduced himself as Thyis. “I couldn’t help but overhear you were headed for Havenfall Manor. It so happens, I am in need of some money, and could provide… unique services, which you might find helpful… say, should something like… a chest be locked.” The party agreed to have Thyis along for the adventure.

Heading north, the party managed to reach the southern tip of Neverwinter Forest before night and exhaustion took over. Setting up camp, they sat around a crackling fire as Falarnum and Bram took first watch. A few short hours later, Falarnum heard what appeared to be a deer in distress, and with Bram behind him went into the woods to investigate. Bram waited at the edge, keeping an eye as Falarnum found the deep and begun cutting it down. Bram shouted a warning, spotting three bugbears springing up behind him.

A fight broke out, which resulted in Bram shouting for the others, who arrived; and after several rounds of combat, managed to take down the Bugbears, but not before Falarnum had been knocked out and bleeding out. The Warlock had managed to use her own magic, calling upon her connection to the Feywild, to heal the Half Orc Bard and the human fighter, Brick. Returning back to camp, they rested for the night, tending to their wounds and cursing the bugbear’s well laid out ambush.

The following morning, the party pushes on into the woods, and after a few short hours, finds a beaten down path, now mostly reclaimed by the woods that leads them to Havenfall Manor. Looking around, they spot large dog prints in the front yard. Brick and Bram go forward towards the door, and just as they get there, Falarnum uses the mage hand to swing the door open, which creaks loudly as it opens, like a yawning giant.

Galiena sends her Pseudodragon to patrol and it quickly returns after spotting a shimmering image on the western side of the house. The party goes to investigate and suddenly Galiena is overcome with overwhelming sadness. Brick begins to speak with her and realizes she is somehow connected to the spirit they see tending to the garden. The spirit asks of them to seek out the bodies of the dead and lay them to rest so that the land can once again reclaim the manor, and their spirits set to rest. The party agrees to help the spirit, realizing she must be Seleena Clearky, the wife of Taris Havenfall. As they make their way around the western side of the house, they find basement doors that lead beneath the house but find a carrion crawler sleeping in the tunnel. Seeing a pair of unnatural large dogs approaching, they quickly decide to use magic to lure them into the basement to attack the sleeping carrion crawler. The trick works and they slam the basement doors shut; when the fight is done they open it again, and see one hell hound has survived the fight. The first round of attacks is… less than impressive, with each attack missing. The hell hound breathes a cone of fire, and all but Brick manage to get out of the way of the scorching fire. It is Falarnum who strikes the killing blow on the severely wounded hell hound. Venturing in, they cut open the carrion crawler and discover the badly decomposed body of Seleena. They bury her in the garden with Bram speaking words he remembered from his time back in the Monastery, now lost to him.

During this time, they feel as though they’re being watched, and a body is seen watching them from the upper level, before walking away.

They knew that much more awaited them inside the manor…

[Great Dragon]

@Tawmis: Havenfall Manor map showed clearly when clicked, even on phone.

Saved Picture for use in my Phandalin Game.
Thanks!!

[Tawmis]

@Tawmis: Havenfall Manor map showed clearly when clicked, even on phone.
Saved Picture for use in my Phandalin Game.
Thanks!!

Well Havenfall Manor is adventure I made up (but it's based around the Essentials, because the current DM is busy being a dad; and I didn't want to press the adventure onward; so I am keeping them in the same area). I was thinking, once I am done with being the substitute DM, I might put the Havenfall Manor on DMSGuild thing, as a little "side quest" for anyone using the Essentials Kit as an "expansion" if you will.

[Great Dragon]

Well Havenfall Manor is adventure I made up.

I was thinking, once I am done with being the substitute DM, I might put the Havenfall Manor on DMSGuild thing, as a little "side quest" for anyone using the Essentials Kit as an "expansion" if you will.

Ah. I'd like to get that.
Please let me know when you do that. Thanks.

I'm loving the idea of running a 1st level party in Gnomengaurde against the Talking Mimic...

I just can't stop myself from whispering the Classic "Scooby-doo, Where Are You?" Theme song....