Roll20 Review - Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk

Review of the Roll20 module, Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk. Designed by Wizards of the Coast.
MAJOR SPOILERS - DM's only!
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[@deejaytee]

Great review. To be honest I would have preferred they write an entire new module rather than just add five levels of basically unconnected content and then re-sell the entire thing as new. Side note: IIRC Roll20 isn't responsible for who and who doesn't have token art, WOTC is, because the former isn't allowed to make their own art, they can only use what's provided.

[@1970joedub]

Does Gundren Rockseeker have his own token yet? 😂😂😂

[@deejaytee]

@@1970joedub he does!

[@Subo23]

I agree, my party did Phandelver years ago but it is still very fresh in their minds. Don’t think I’ll be picking this up, although I do appreciate the great job on the review as always.

[@RogueWatson]

Would've been nice if you could just purchase the new half-content at a reduced price. As good as LmoP is, and this version looks nicer, I imagine most folks don't need to play/run it again.

[@RogueWatson]

@deejaytee So my next task is to run this campaign but write my own 1-4 adventure in front of it :D

[@Tyler.Burleson]

Lol the timing of this video is wild, I just bought this module to run tonight. I'm a new DM with no experience with Roll20 so hopefully it works out

[@RogueWatson]

Good luck with your campaign!

[@richardsimpson4875]

Great review! I am def. looking forward to running the 2nd half in the near future. My group ran Lost Mines and then we transitioned to into Storm Kings Thunder (where we are slowly coming to an end). The plan moving forward is playing a little more lighthearted with new characters and running the Acquisitions Incorporated adventure (lvls 1-5) which has them set up shop in Phandalin. But my idea is to keep all the things that happened in LMoP and SKT with their original characters in story, meaning they will have some pretty big shoes to fill as villagers will constantly refer to the original saviors of Phandalin. Then slowly transition the new group to the 2nd half of Phandelver and Below.

[@RogueWatson]

Oh snap that's a great idea starting with the Acq Inq adventure (which I remember loving) and transitioning into Shattered Ob. And yep, I love the connected universe angle for tying in previous heroes and adventures!

[@jasoncleveland4618]

Awesome commentary, might have to try this one for my next campaign!

[@RogueWatson]

It's a bummer that I'm currently running a campaign with Mind Flayers as the big bads, as this would be a great one for my group.

[@GateKeeperPat]

I did something similar to you in Rime and made it way more Mindflayer / elder brain heavy... which now I'm kicking myself for doing, because this seems to do Mindflayers so much better then I did XD. Also don't feel like running back-to-back Mindflayer campaigns, so now I'll have to pick between Curse of Strahd, WItchlight or Dragonlance.

[@RogueWatson]

Haha yeah. And then MFers (lol) are the BBEG in the current campaign I'm running (Call from the Deep), oye! Out of those three, I like Dragonlance 5e adventure the best, but I also just love that world. Obviously Strahd is a top tier pick too.

[@GateKeeperPat]

@@RogueWatsonDo you love the world because of how its presented in the book, or are you a long standing fan of the book series? (and that hilariously bad movie)

[@RogueWatson]

@@GateKeeperPat Fan of the series! I never read a FR book, but growing up I devoured Dragonlance (not even realizing it was a D&D universe). I think I've read 75% of all the books, and hell yeah I own that terrible animated movie on DvD, lol. I also enjoyed the DL 5e adventure, even if it's only the tiniest slice of the world.

[@GateKeeperPat]

@@RogueWatson I can't believe that movie has Kiefer in it... I wonder how well running Dragonlance is from a group that has no history with the world. Not that we had any history with FR, but after Tomb and Rime, we do have our own mini canon.

[@RogueWatson]

Yeah, none of my players know DL from FR, so it didn't win our poll for next campaign. I'd still be interested in running the 5e adventure eventually, though.

[@demnix6210]

Honestly thinking about rerunning it with some friends ( who we played it through but fairly skimply) If you were to run it with the gang, would you go from the start with new characters, continue with old characters or start 2nd part with new characters?

[@RogueWatson]

As much as I like the improvements, I don't see us taking the time to run through LmoP again, even all these years later (and with a better understanding of 5e, lol). I could see us running the 2nd half with new characters, BUT the current campaign I'm running (Call from the Deep) already involves (spoilers) mind flayers as the BBEGs.

[@therobertjdefendi]

You mentioned new goblin tokens. Is that just one new token for each new goblin stat block, or do they have rollable tokens for the base goblin? Like I've built my standard commoner up to about 35 different images now, and knights to two or three, etc. I'd love to have a few different goblins. (I run in Foundry, so I've already bought this on D&D beyond but I'm trying to decide if I have to buy it again just for the tokens).

[@RogueWatson]

That's a great question and I should have checked before the review! The goblin token is indeed a rollable token with a bazillion options (like, 30?). Roll20 has been using big rollable tokens more often for stuff like bandits, guards, etc, which is nice.

[@therobertjdefendi]

Thanks. Purchased! If only for increasing my token library.@@RogueWatson