D&D 5E Phandelver first game experience

[Nebulous]

Everybody rolls again! But I do monsters in groups. A super important d20 roll every round? Everybody loves it. It retrieves that old school high profile that the initiative roll used to have, because ...

My players have not answered my Initiative email suggestion, which usually means they don't like the idea so they say nothing. SIGH. I might try it anyway next time. If I'm going to spend hours prepping their entertainment I get a say in how it pans out! Hopefully it will increase their fun and not detract.

 

[Nebulous]

So are there any suggestions, comments, stories or advice on how i should run Wave Echo Cave? I haven't even read it yet, aside from the first encounter with the stirges.

 

[Agglomérante]

So are there any suggestions, comments, stories or advice on how i should run Wave Echo Cave? I haven't even read it yet, aside from the first encounter with the stirges.

The ecosystem makes no sense. 500 years after the ceiling collapsed, and the ghouls still have bones left to chew. It's been 500 years! There are no bones left to chew! And that's the sum total of their described activity. Wave Echo Cave undead are a bore compared to the cool ideas in the Monster Manual. Have you read the Skeleton entry? It's brilliant.

So: if you have time, do something with the ecosystem.

How long until game day? I'm finally mapping an extension to Wave Echo Cave this afternoon. You might like some of the new ideas

 

[Nebulous]

The ecosystem makes no sense. 500 years after the ceiling collapsed, and the ghouls still have bones left to chew. It's been 500 years! There are no bones left to chew! And that's the sum total of their described activity. Wave Echo Cave undead are a bore compared to the cool ideas in the Monster Manual. Have you read the Skeleton entry? It's brilliant.

So: if you have time, do something with the ecosystem.

How long until game day? I'm finally mapping an extension to Wave Echo Cave this afternoon. You might like some of the new ideas

Yes, please share. We don't play until Tuesday night.

 

[Nebulous]

I could justify the ghouls by saying that other underdark critters wander through and get munched on. There's water, so lizard men or trogs or bullywugs or something like that.

 

[Nebulous]

So I'm just going to list here all the monsters as written that show up in WEC.



(SPOILERS!)


Well, first off there's a 20% wandering monster encounter chance.
Stirges, ghouls, gricks, bugbears, skeletons, zombies, ochre jelly.

FUN!


Hmm, i forgot to mention the whole wave echo thing when they first entered. I'll retcon that next session. No biggie.

So in addition to the wandering monster types above (they're also set encounters) it looks like we have a flameskull, a wraith, a spectator, a doppleganger, giant spiders, and the Black Spider (drow).

 

[Nebulous]

The party consists of five 4th level characters. I've read about two TPKs in this level as well.

 

[Agglomérante]

Yes, please share. We don't play until Tuesday night.

Woah, that's soon you lucky SOB. I doubt I'll have coherent material for you this week. I've been working with a deadline a whole month away and to date my expansion consists of a spreadsheet of balanced encounters and notes about the mine (which is up and running, overseen by three wights with three crews of 10 skeletons as they tunnel to uncover ... a dark beckoning power, the source of the negative energy that raised the undead in the first place, and the thing responsible for the tear in the Weave that powers the Forge of Spells).

 

[Nebulous]

Woah, that's soon you lucky SOB. I doubt I'll have coherent material for you this week. I've been working with a deadline a whole month away and to date my expansion consists of a spreadsheet of balanced encounters and notes about the mine (which is up and running, overseen by three wights with three crews of 10 skeletons as they tunnel to uncover ... a dark beckoning power, the source of the negative energy that raised the undead in the first place, and the thing responsible for the tear in the Weave that powers the Forge of Spells).

Nice.

So, in a nutshell, per the book (which i need to sit down and read this weekend) what IS going on the mine?

 

[Nebulous]

Someone else gave me some ideas to vastly expand the scope of the final scenario, and i guess I could do that. I was going to layer The Seven Pillar Hall onto Wave Echo just to see what would happen. When I ran Thunderspire for 4e i actually printed the whole map out and would love to have the chance to use it again.

There could be a lesser spellforge in the upper mines level, and then the Greater Spellforge in the lower Seven Pillar Hall.