D&D 5E (2014) Lost Mine of Phandelver tips n tricks

[jusdup]

Some say that hindsight is 20/20. With that considered are there any things any of you would do differently or add to the experience if or when you ever had an opportunity to run the 5e Starter Set adventure again?

 

[bgbarcus]

I would spend more time fleshing out Phandalin. I added several NPC's but the town deserved even more attention.

 

[Gilladian]

I would make Cragmaw Castle more complex and lengthy.

 

[Daern]

Cragmaw could have had a bit more to it. It basically became one big fight in my game. The wasn't a huge fan of the final dungeon either. The actual "forge of spells" didn't make much of an appearance. I think that making the forge an active part of the final battle would make things way cooler, and maybe the eye monster would last longer too!

 

[Gilladian]

I'd have liked the mines to be more realistic, yes, and the mine's forge or smelters to be the spell forge. Cranking it up and blasting it would have been fun!

 

[neobolts]

Same sentiments... More memorable forge. Bigger bandit hideout crawl. More memorable townfolk.

 

[iserith]

More firearms. I changed the adventure to have a Western theme and called it "Last Dance of Fandango." I ran it twice before the DMG was out. Next time I run it, there will be guns. Lots and lots of guns.

 

[jusdup]

More firearms. I changed the adventure to have a Western theme and called it "Last Dance of Fandango." I ran it twice before the DMG was out. Next time I run it, there will be guns. Lots and lots of guns.

Very nice! I hope you had background music done by Ennio Morricone.

 

[LapBandit]

I agree with the sentiments so far but if I were to run it again I'd use more orcs. Orogs wanting to recreate the kingdom that sacked Phandalin the first time start organizing Sword Mountain orcs and intend on taking the mine and Phandalin not repeating past mistakes. They are whom the Black Spider answer to. Can shoehorn in Sons of Gruumsh adventure if you didn't want to write the orog part yourself.

 

[Iosue]

Two opposite extremes -
In the Redbrand Hideout, I lost my nerve and all but guided my players to Glasstaff and also the magic sword. I should have stayed stronger and let them work things out on their own.

Later they went to the orcs of Wyvern Tor. After feeling that some earlier encounters had gotten bogged down by the grid, I decided to run this theater of the mind. But, I was out of practice, and did a lousy job of describing the world to the players. This led to them approaching it in a very straightforward way, and a TPK.