AAA: Phandelver and Below; A Fully Prepped Campaign! Part 1 Cragmaw Hideout

[Advent]

Welcome back to Advent's Amazing Advice! The series where I take popular One-Shots, Adventures, Campaigns, etc. and fully prep them for both New and Busy DMs. This prep includes fully fleshed-out notes, music, ambiance, encounter sheets, handouts, battle maps, tweaks, and more so you can run the best sessions possible with the least stress possible!

Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk stems from The Lost Mine of Phandelver a classic and beloved starter set that many new DMs run. Even with this being the most recent release it still has an issue, the same as with many others...it doesn't describe the best way to transform the book's contents into an actual session. The Book-to-session conversion can be difficult between figuring out when things should happen, understanding motivations, and even organizing encounters.

Well, fortunately for you, 99% of that work is done! Only a few things are really left:


Read the book, I know surprising, but It can be extremely confusing when you don't know where everything leads to.
Consider the needs of your group. As you've heard or are about to hear a million times, every table is different. If you plan on combining this with a campaign, you'll have to make tweaks here and there.
These notes aren't meant to be the end-all-be-all. Tweak to your heart's content, and don't consider any of what's written to be set in stone. For me having notes like this helps give me the confidence to go off the rails and follow along with what my players want. It helps me understand where things were meant to go and why. Having that understanding allows me to guide the players and create other new and interesting stories. These are all things that will come with experience, though, so don't freak out and enjoy the journey!


Advent's Notes: I was surprised with how few changes were made in the book considering how long this adventure has been around and all the wonderful things the community has come up with, I was even more surprised when they started adding more monsters to Cragmaw Cave. It's already pretty rough in there and with the additional creatures, it's almost assured there's going to be a TPK. I've kept most of the fights the way they were with only a few minor adjustments, the most important changes are just subtle nods to the Psi Goblins that will be encountered later on.

List of changes made by me:

Updated first goblin encounter to be with a custom Psi Goblin
Kept DC 12 Perception from LMoP when spotting goblin on bridge in Cragmaw Hideout
Removed Giant Poisonous Snake from the unstable tunnel
Removed the DC 10 Acrobatics check to avoid triggering the collapse instead only DC 10 Acrobatics if players attempt to climb.
In the flood section, changed the effect to 1d6+prone from 2d6+prone.
In the den, enemies changed from 5 goblins + 2 goblin bosses to 5 goblins + 1 goblin boss.
In the pool's cave enemies changed from 3 goblins and 2 wolves to just 3 goblins.

Without further ado:
Google Docs Notes Part 1 Cragmaw Hideout: DM Notes (https://docs.google.com/document/d/14FLoYb4eB5HCXjTsuCd8SXWV2BhxzWKD/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=111017373176788623762&rtpof=true&sd=true)
List of differences between The LMoP and Phandelver and Below: Change List (https://docs.google.com/document/d/13gd3mrRKYm3LnrgGI6tbqRGDc_Huu08-dMvQlua7cjc/edit?usp=sharing)

As always, If you see something you think I can improve, add, change, etc. please let me know. I want this to be an amazing resource for all DMs and plan to keep it constantly updated!

Cheers,
Advent

[Keravath]

I really don't understand the intent with the revisions to this module.

1) The suggested progression is to go to Cragmaw first. However, 2 out of the 3 adventure hooks have the characters going to Phandalin for other reasons. In one case, they might be friends with the missing person. However, they have been contracted to guard a wagon of goods to Phandalin along a road that is clearly subject to goblin attacks. So even if they are friends of Gundren, there is likely a 50/50 chance of continuing to Phandalin anyway unless the DM railroads the game towards the Cragmaw hideout.

2) The encounters in the Cragmaw hideout for a typical group of 4x level 1 characters are rated deadly or several times deadly based on the Beyond encounter builder. Only the 3 wolf encounter is rated as Hard. A level 1 party walking into that cave is not likely to survive. The don't have the spells or healing potions to survive the cumulative hit point loss from the encounters unless they leave after each and take a long rest. Even then river flood has a decent chance of taking off 50% or more of the character hit points and the goblin guards can flood the area twice if they see the party again.

3) The party advances a level after clearing the hideout. However, on an XP basis, including the Ambush, a party of 4 level 1 characters would have enough experience to be level 2 after the first two rooms (guards outside, wolves, living quarters).

Also, with so many opponents, the odds of a crit taking down a character entirely are pretty high.

----

It is basically an atrocious first adventure for a new DM or new players since neither will have the knowledge needed to appropriately balance or deal with the encounters.

[Keravath]

Welcome back to Advent's Amazing Advice! The series where I take popular One-Shots, Adventures, Campaigns, etc. and fully prep them for both New and Busy DMs. This prep includes fully fleshed-out notes, music, ambiance, encounter sheets, handouts, battle maps, tweaks, and more so you can run the best sessions possible with the least stress possible!

Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk stems from The Lost Mine of Phandelver a classic and beloved starter set that many new DMs run. Even with this being the most recent release it still has an issue, the same as with many others...it doesn't describe the best way to transform the book's contents into an actual session. The Book-to-session conversion can be difficult between figuring out when things should happen, understanding motivations, and even organizing encounters.

Well, fortunately for you, 99% of that work is done! Only a few things are really left:


Read the book, I know surprising, but It can be extremely confusing when you don't know where everything leads to.
Consider the needs of your group. As you've heard or are about to hear a million times, every table is different. If you plan on combining this with a campaign, you'll have to make tweaks here and there.
These notes aren't meant to be the end-all-be-all. Tweak to your heart's content, and don't consider any of what's written to be set in stone. For me having notes like this helps give me the confidence to go off the rails and follow along with what my players want. It helps me understand where things were meant to go and why. Having that understanding allows me to guide the players and create other new and interesting stories. These are all things that will come with experience, though, so don't freak out and enjoy the journey!


Advent's Notes: I was surprised with how few changes were made in the book considering how long this adventure has been around and all the wonderful things the community has come up with, I was even more surprised when they started adding more monsters to Cragmaw Cave. It's already pretty rough in there and with the additional creatures, it's almost assured there's going to be a TPK. I've kept most of the fights the way they were with only a few minor adjustments, the most important changes are just subtle nods to the Psi Goblins that will be encountered later on.

Without further ado:
Google Docs Notes Part 1 Cragmaw Hideout: DM Notes (https://docs.google.com/document/d/14FLoYb4eB5HCXjTsuCd8SXWV2BhxzWKD/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=111017373176788623762&rtpof=true&sd=true)

As always, If you see something you think I can improve, add, change, etc. please let me know. I want this to be an amazing resource for all DMs and plan to keep it constantly updated!

Cheers,
Advent

One point you might want to clarify is that

"I've kept most of the fights the way they were with only a few minor adjustments"

is referring to the original LMoP. If someone is using the new version then a lot of the details are quite different.

E.G.

For example, noticaing the goblin on the bridge from the entrance to the steep tunnel is a DC12 passive perception check but you seem to have changed that to a DC15 rolled perception check making it harder to spot the guard.

You also removed the giant poisonous snake from the unstable tunnel and removed the DC10 Acrobatics check to avoid triggering the collapse, and didn't mention that the collapse affects anyone in the western tunnel.

In the flood section, you changed the flood from DC10 dex save and a chance at a DC15 str save to only a DC13 Dex save and changed the effect to 1d6+prone from 2d6+prone.

In the den, the goblins appear to be changed from 5 goblins + 2 goblin bosses to 5 goblins + 1 goblin boss.

The pools cave has 3 goblins and 2 wolves while the notes only have the 3 goblins.

[Advent]

One point you might want to clarify is that

"I've kept most of the fights the way they were with only a few minor adjustments"

is referring to the original LMoP. If someone is using the new version then a lot of the details are quite different.

E.G.

For example, noticaing the goblin on the bridge from the entrance to the steep tunnel is a DC12 passive perception check but you seem to have changed that to a DC15 rolled perception check making it harder to spot the guard.

You also removed the giant poisonous snake from the unstable tunnel and removed the DC10 Acrobatics check to avoid triggering the collapse, and didn't mention that the collapse affects anyone in the western tunnel.

In the flood section, you changed the flood from DC10 dex save and a chance at a DC15 str save to only a DC13 Dex save and changed the effect to 1d6+prone from 2d6+prone.

In the den, the goblins appear to be changed from 5 goblins + 2 goblin bosses to 5 goblins + 1 goblin boss.

The pools cave has 3 goblins and 2 wolves while the notes only have the 3 goblins.

Thank you so much for the feedback, this is exactly the kind of stuff I look for! I'll be updating my main post with the following info!


Updated first goblin encounter to be with a custom Psi Goblin
Kept DC 12 Perception from LMoP when spotting goblin on bridge in Cragmaw Hideout
Removed Giant Poisonous Snake from the unstable tunnel
Removed the DC 10 Acrobatics check to avoid triggering the collapse instead only DC 10 Acrobatics if players attempt to climb.
In the flood section, changed the effect to 1d6+prone from 2d6+prone.
In the den, enemies changed from 5 goblins + 2 goblin bosses to 5 goblins + 1 goblin boss.
In the pool's cave enemies changed from 3 goblins and 2 wolves to just 3 goblins.


I'll be sure to document my changes better for part 2!

Here's a list of differences from The LMoP and Phandelver and Below: Change List (https://docs.google.com/document/d/13gd3mrRKYm3LnrgGI6tbqRGDc_Huu08-dMvQlua7cjc/edit?usp=sharing)

I completely agree with you though I don't understand why they made 99% of the changes that they did, It's why I'm updating my notes to make sure that New DMs don't have to go through the struggles that they would otherwise!

Cheers,
Advent