D&D Starter Set DM Prep Part 2: Phandalin

[@afrog8574]

Phandalin simply has too many NPCs with sidequests, my PCs kinda felt overwhelmed. I’d definitely recommend combining some of them to reduce the number of people they have to keep track of. Also having trouble getting them interested in finding Gundrin lol

[@RdotDoyle]

Agreed, too much all at once, especially for new groups. I like giving experienced players options, and providing experienced DMs with more than they need so they can pick and choose is nice sometimes, but this is the starter set

[@Tadlette]

One nice thing about Goblin Arrows being kinda hard for lvl 1 players is that my players were definitely not feeling ready to take on Cragmaw Castle. The characters knew they had their asses handed to them and kinda presented uncertainly to a lot of the NPCs, so I had a few of the more overt quest givers visibly hold back on providing their hooks. Like, they saw Sister Garaele was injured, but after hearing what a hard time they had on their way to town she was like, "I met some difficulties if my own, but don't worry about it, I'll figure it out, you guys just rest up." and had characters make insight checks, with the high rollers noticing that she's holding back because she thinks they're not capable. So now they're really trying to prove themselves to everyone in town by helping with the Redbrands issue

[@RdotDoyle]

I do think it’s good to put the fear of death into the players early. Killing everybody an hour into the campaign is not great, but ALMOST killing everyone, *chefs kiss.* I also love the sort of reverse psychology. When an NPC says “you can’t handle this” it tells the players they should probably level up first and it gives them something to prove at the same time. Great motivator. Sounds like you did a great job with it and now they’ll go seek her out again

[@imin2461]

I just played this, all of my players somehow rolled high so everyone of my goblins got one shotted 🥲. I even plan on making one of the goblin run away so they can meet him again on a later quest as an easter egg but thats out of the window now

[@Tadlette]

@@imin2461 haha, that's rough! Well, maybe you can recycle that idea with a goblinoid in the Redbrands Hideout, or a random encounter

[@arcanehellgiver]

@@imin2461 So I had the opposite of this with my new players in which they did clear the hideout BUT the last round ended with two characters down, one with 3 hp and one with 1 hp, I was a nervous DM toward the end of that combat 😅

[@Lambdamale.]

My players decided to split the party in the Cragmaw Hideout. 3 went one way and 2 the other. The 3 learned the hard way when they found Leemiks quarters and found themselves out outnumbered 6-3. They were forced to parley. One was taken prisoner alongside Sildar, and the others were forced to agree to take out Klarg.

[@RdotDoyle]

Oh spicy. Always great when you can get them negotiating

[@griseldag8813]

Thank you for this series. I felt confident to DM when I read Goblin’s Attack but when I started reading what Phandalin required, I got overwhelmed. I’m glad you suggested that I can merge things and exclude things.

[@RdotDoyle]

Happy to help. It can seem like a lot at first but editing it down and making it your own is a great way to make it more manageable

[@micahsmith7286]

Super glad you took the time to do these videos

[@RdotDoyle]

Thank you, glad you took the time to comment

[@heathermurphy6676]

being a first time dm with a party of first time players we uesed the included characters and if anyone has noticed the halfling rouge character included is an ex redbrand so i had one of the red brands in the sleeping giant taphouse recognize the pc and instagate a fight because their a trader, it also happened to be that before hearing of the redbrands in Phandelin that character had taken interest as to what that meant for their characters backstory so that moment when a redbrand calls the rouge by name and engages the party of the "trader" it was mind-blowing that it was so worked into the story and it went over great

[@RdotDoyle]

Oh perfect, that sounds awesome. It's great to see first time player's eyes light up the first time the world acts alive and comes to them

[@dani4ever]

Im prepping the game. We havent even done session 0 yet, but Im getting kind of anxious with phandalin. Im sure I'm going to have lots of info in front of me and the players are going to do everything I never dreamed they would ahah I've been listening to this videos on repeat, it's helping so much to make me feel ready. Thank you :)

[@RdotDoyle]

Awesome, happy to hear it! I’m glad this is helping, I find a lot of DMs are way better than they fear once things get rolling. Just got a Discord up and running too if you want to chat about things with me and other DMs

[@dani4ever]

@@RdotDoyle I always forget that I have Discord installed. I'll join the group. Thank you :)

[@juanbravozu]

So I just wanted to update my group's last few sessions haha On cragmaw hideout they captured one of the entrance goblins and negotiated with him so he could lead them through to Sildar. They ended up making a deal with the goblins, if they killed Klarg the goblins would hand them Sildar. They defeated Klarg and the goblins kept their word (but didn't allow them to loot the boxes in Klarg's room) Then they headed to town, spent the night on the inn and the next they they heard all the rumors from the innkeeper and split the group in pairs, it was a bit rough since they're 8 players but it went well, one pair went to get Qelline and her son, other pair went to speak with Daran and Halin, other spoke with Garaele and Linene and the final pair headed to the sleeping giant, one disguised as a red brand and the other saying he was a new recruit. It was a long session, fulled of role play, and now they have basically all the side quests as well as the intention to go to the red brand's hideout next. The only only thing I'm not sure how to tell them is about Thundertree, they didn't talk with Qelline about Cragmaw's castle, just about her son, and in red brand's hideout they'll probably find the location to the castle (maybe by intimidating a bugbear, but I dont really want the bugbears to know the location to echo wave cave) P.D. sorry if there are some names that don't match up with the names in the adventure book, I use a translation to spanish so it may differ haha

[@RdotDoyle]

Sounds like an awesome time! Running 8 players is not always easy, especially when they split the party. Thundertree is a little tricky and I wouldn't feel bad about leaving it out, but if you want it in there the prisoner inside the redbrand hideout has a hook. You could also have pretty much any NPC send the party after Reidoth, to find Cragmaw Castle, Wave Echo Cave, or invent another reason. No worries about the names, they're all nonsense in English anyway!

[@juanbravozu]

@@RdotDoyle Thanks for the tips! I wanted thundertree basically because dragons are cool, but the more I read it the more I think we should just skip it, doesn't really has anything of high importance for the players and it could be an entire session of just thundertree.

[@Dumannios]

Stumbled upon this series randomly while prepping for my group. This has been incredibly helpful! Thank you!

[@TheQxY]

This series is great! It would be really cool if you could make a update video to discuss the changes made in Phandelver and Below as an addendum to this series!

[@RdotDoyle]

Thanks! I actually did, and now I’ve added it to this playlist, hope you enjoy it

[@TheQxY]

@@RdotDoyle Oh great, how did I miss that! Thank you! This is my favourite DnD channel I've come across so far.

[@RdotDoyle]

@TheQxY ah that’s very nice to hear. I just added it to the playlist and honestly I don’t know how the gods of the algorithm will feel about it so maybe it wasn’t serving it up. There may be a deeper dive coming after I’ve run through it but I really wanted to get something out that could help people from level one insert what they need to make the shattered obelisk feel relevant

[@laynechat]

Just wanted to say thank you for these videos. It can be intimidating DM-ing a campaign having never played before. These are incredibly helpful.

[@RdotDoyle]

That’s how I got started and why I made these, really appreciate the feedback!

[@2b45]

Thank you for this series of videos on the D&D starter set. As a new player/dungeon master to D&d I didn’t really have a clue how I was supposed to run the game. I Didn’t know what I was supposed to say or do. And with your help I now have some ideas of how to run the game.

[@RdotDoyle]

Oh definitely, that’s why I made these and I’m happy to help. I hope you have a blast with this game

[@GreenStag]

Good stuff. Enjoying your series!

[@RdotDoyle]

Thanks for the comments! I'm just getting back into the swing of things after a little vacation and this was an excellent boost, I appreciate it

[@thumbsatwork9792]

Thank you for making these videos! I'm a first time dm and these are a huge help. I was trying to think of how to get my cold hearted high elf wizard to want take on the redbrands but I'm totally gonna combine sister G (who her God told her to seek out) and the kidnapped women!

[@RdotDoyle]

Ah nice, very smart move combining NPCs like that

[@mds000123]

Thanks! Really helped me.

[@RdotDoyle]

Hey thanks a lot for this, I deeply appreciate every form of support.

[@ElRaveo]

That Tshirt! Horace "The Pacifist" Walsh approved :)

[@RdotDoyle]

My buddy sent me it recently, we spent a lot of time together in San Andreas back in the day. It in part inspired me to make the Kobolds in my megadungeon play something that is very close to old school reggae in order to attract a dragon to serve. Brings me a lot of joy and I’m glad you got a kick out of it too

[@pheoxin]

Hey! A wannabe dm here :D i started to create small things for my own campaign but ofc i need to dm first, right? I heard nice things about Mines and as someone who doesn't have much time daily to read it all it's super nice and helpful to listen to it! I like that small ideas and how to move pesto your direction: approach them by npc, attack. Like you say it reminds you that as DM YOU can do it all, you can create ways for them. If they don't pick up crumbs you don't have to but can guide them in right or smarter direction. I really enjoy your videos so far :) thank you for doing so!

[@RdotDoyle]

Awesome, happy to help! You’ve always got options and adapting to what the players do and how they steal the story is a huge part of the fun

[@lpbigD4444]

This is hilarious - i heard the black spider was a bit too easy so i was thinking to remedy that id make sildar turn on the party and join the fight in favor of the black spider (assuming he survives the campaign) and it turns out you even suggest that here haha

[@RdotDoyle]

Sildar or Glass Staff? Either way, Black Spider does need a little help lol

[@lpbigD4444]

@@RdotDoyle so I'm starting the campaign in a couple of weeks so all of this is contingent upon him surviving BUT I was thinking Sildar could help lead the PCs to the spider only to turn on them. He would join the fight on the spiders side AND potentially surprise the PCs so I figured the combination of the 2 should make the battle difficult enough to justify the moment

[@robot7759]

Still at the tavern, finally realising I'm watching the "wrong" series, having just purchased the "Dragons of stormwreck isle" starter set. Oops, I'll be needing another tankard of ale to drown my sorrows 😅

[@RdotDoyle]

Hahaha, there are plenty of lessons in here you could apply to that, but lucky for you I’ve just done a series on that one as well

[@robot7759]

@@RdotDoyle Always nice to hear another dm's take on things. Thanks and cheers 😊

[@ryanhickey1424]

Very solid videos

[@RdotDoyle]

From one Ryan to another, thanks for the comments as you make your way through the playlist. Are you running this adventure or is it a maybe/someday kind of thing?

[@ryanhickey1424]

@@RdotDoyle running it tonight, I've played couple hundred hours but first DM experience for me, really liked your perspective on some of these things, nice work

[@RdotDoyle]

@@ryanhickey1424 Yes! Awesome, let us know how it goes

[@Champion_14]

Thank you so much for these videos! Im a first time player starting as my groups dm and i wouldnt be walking into session 1 with confidence without these. Any tips for running a shop? Like what gear should be available? I couldnt see any lists like that in the dmg or phb other than the general equipment.

[@RdotDoyle]

I always have the gear on PHB 150 available in town, and usually I’ll have all the weapons and armor up too. Plus a couple potions of healing for 50gp each.

[@GVlemio]

Awesome series, we've started the campaign a few weeks ago and managed to get partway through the cragmaw hideout. I do have a question for any experienced DMs here, and for @RdotDoyle of course as well, regarding perception. I've noticed that the group (6 adventurers) has 2 adventurers that want to be overly perceptive. Everything seems suspicious to them and they almost want to outsmart any of the game mechanics. The difficult thing I find as DM is that the mechanics seem to punish overly enthusiastic (aka "Leeroy Jenkins") characters more than to punish characters that want to check everything. There's still the room with Sildar to go within the hideout and then they'll be off to Phandalin. Going forward, would you have any suggestions to tackle this? I don't mind giving them at the start of the next session, some feedback on this, but it would be great to learn some tricks to deal with this in game.

[@RdotDoyle]

Thanks! There’s definitely a find line between smart play and bogging things down. A couple things that could help: Understanding that the check is a game device to determine results and in the narrative the characters are always doing their best. A PC looks just as carefully when they roll a 9 or a 19 and they are unaware when they’ve done bad. So there is no repeating these checks until a higher number comes up. You could also doing “secret rolls” for some skills like perception and stealth, where you roll the dice and the player doesn’t know the numbers, only what they’re character would know. Whether you see the room looks empty because it is empty or you rolled a 1, you don’t know, you only know what you see

[@GVlemio]

@@RdotDoyle, that's great advice, I didn't think of rolling behind the screen for them. I will also clarify the risk of metagaming if they start interpreting their own roles too much, but it is a group that is still getting into the RP element.

[@RdotDoyle]

Yeah it takes time and every group is different. Heck, every night can be different. I’ve been going back and forth with secret roles in my game lately. I’ll let the players roll some but then do others myself

[@djseggrighfscu1616]

New dm here. It seems my players did not really care for shopping but more of the combat.

[@RdotDoyle]

It all comes down to taste of course, but for me personally this would be good news

[@pwong112]

my players literally just didnt save Sildar and kept going to phandalin lol

[@RdotDoyle]

Ha! It happens. My players hated Sildar the first time around, probably my fault. You can still deliver all that info through other NPCs

[@pwong112]

@@RdotDoyle yeah, lol. Are you able to chat about the adventure with me on discord because I feel like I need more help with npc’s and getting to part 3 after the manor because I’m confused how I get to that point for next session. Your dm preps are big helps

[@RdotDoyle]

@@pwong112 Sure thing, link to our Discord is in the description above. There's a channel for LMoP where you can find me and other helpful DMs asking questions, sharing advice and swapping stories

[@TonyTh3Tank]

Don't split the party.

[@RdotDoyle]

Sound advice, it happens though

[@Daark_Karma]

@@RdotDoyle It's a calculated risk, but we're often bad at maths