Lost Mine of Phandelver: The Rogue's Betrayer

[ArwensDaughter]

I ran most of LMOP with my family. My daughter was the rogue. I don’t remember if she found her betrayer or how that happened. The biggest weakness of LMOP is, in my opinion, the fact that it never advises the DM to read the backstories of the pregens, nor is there advice for handling the rogue’s back story.

I know you are through that section of the adventure, but for others who might find this thread before they get to this point, here are couple things I did to work with that backstory, all of which I consulted with my daughter about:
-We agreed that she had done “stealth ops” for the red brands, not the public bully tactics, meaning that the citizens of Phandalin wouldn’t recognize her as a Redbrand. (This is a gaping hole in the backstory, since the rogue wants to hide their status as a Redbrand from their relative in town; the only way this is possible is if they weren’t part of the public toughs)
-I provided her with a map of part of the hideout, without any secret doors, and not including the whole thing.

I THINK my daughter decided she knew who had betrayed her but I don’t remember. I’ve sent her a message asking if she remembers; I’ll post back if she can provide any details.

 

[Charlaquin]

I’d have the betrayer be a disguise adopted by one of Neznar’s dopplegangers to spy on the Redbrands. I’d also have Neznar turn out to be a persona the dopplegangers collectively portray - there is no “real Neznar,” he’s just the public mask of a doppelganger gang who secretly pull a lot of strings within Phandelver. That way the betrayer can be Neznar (in a sense) without it being odd that the PC never noticed that there was a Drow in the Redbrand gang before.

 

[Aiden_Keller_]

I've been running Lost Mine of Phandelver for a friend's family, including some kids who are new to D&D but seem to be taking to it enthusiastically. They just cleared out the Redbrands' hideout, and I realized that I have overlooked a plot point.

My friend's daughter is playing the pregen halfling rogue that comes with the starter set. I admit I didn't look over the character sheets for the pregen characters before running the last session, so I didn't realize that the rogue has a personal quest to find out who betrayed her and led to her leaving the Redbrands. She asked a couple of people in the dungeon about it, but I didn't have an answer ready, so I sidestepped. The problem is that the Redbrands are pretty much out of the story after this point, so I'm not sure how to bring that storyline back into the adventure.

They did capture Iarno Albrek alive, and when last seen, he was being hustled off to the "jail" in Phandelver. Maybe I could do something with that--have him offer to give the name if the rogue will let him out? But I'm not sure where the betrayer should be or where the party might later encounter him/her.

Any suggestions? How did you handle this story thread at your table?

When I joined a group who planned to play through Lost Mines from 1-5...then Waterdeep: Dragon Heist....then into Mad Mage...
We simply had our own storylines and backgrounds....otherwise I would pick either The Black Spider or Iarno.

 

[Spohedus]

Our rogue didn't seem to care who betrayed him; he was offended that Glasstaff gave the order to have him killed.