D&D 5E (2014) Ben Riggs talks to Richard Baker. Phandelver in 2018 alone sold 300k copies.

[Zardnaar]

A rare thread where people are talking about two adventures I've actually run

(Lost Mine of Phandelver and Forge of Fury)

Forge seems better regarded now than 20 years ago.

 

[sevenbastard]

Forge seems better regarded now than 20 years ago.

I dismissed it when it first came out, never gave it a chance. Once I finally read it in the 5e re-release it was much better than I assumed it would be.

 

[Angus MacDeth]

Rich Baker has written some of the best adventures for each of the last three editions of D&D—not to mention his work on Alternity and his own Primeval Thule setting—and deserves way more credit than he gets. Every adventure of his I've run has been great, including Lost Mine of Phandelver and Forge of Fury, of course. But let's not forget Red Hand of Doom and Reavers of Harkenwold, which are among the best adventures published for 3rd and 4th edition, respectively.

For the life of me, I don't understand why WotC didn't just put him in charge of adventure design years ago...

 

[TerraDave]

Great interview. They also discuss 4e and the D&D MMO that did not happen.

 

[Distracted DM]

Rich Baker has written some of the best adventures for each of the last three editions of D&D—not to mention his work on Alternity and his own Primeval Thule setting—and deserves way more credit than he gets. Every adventure of his I've run has been great, including Lost Mine of Phandelver and Forge of Fury, of course. But let's not forget Red Hand of Doom and Reavers of Harkenwold, which are among the best adventures published for 3rd and 4th edition, respectively.

For the life of me, I don't understand why WotC didn't just put him in charge of adventure design years ago...

Red Hand of Doom is so, so, so good. Rich Baker and Carl Sargent are easily my favorite DnD adventure designers.

 

[TheAlkaizer]

Rich Baker has written some of the best adventures for each of the last three editions of D&D—not to mention his work on Alternity and his own Primeval Thule setting—and deserves way more credit than he gets. Every adventure of his I've run has been great, including Lost Mine of Phandelver and Forge of Fury, of course. But let's not forget Red Hand of Doom and Reavers of Harkenwold, which are among the best adventures published for 3rd and 4th edition, respectively.

For the life of me, I don't understand why WotC didn't just put him in charge of adventure design years ago...

Oh. He wrote Red Hand of Doom?

It's one of the only pre-made module/adventure that I even took part in (was playing in that one) and it was a blast. I got to read through it when play was over. I thought it was great.

Now you make me want to go read Reavers of Harkenwold.

 

[jayoungr]

I was disappointed that both Phandelver and the Shattered Obelisk got merged together rather than Phandelver getting a logical "expansion" keeping to its vanilla, classical play

I actually think Dragon of Icespire Peak (aka the Essentials Kit) is that expansion. It adds a ton of side adventures to the basic Phandelver setting and brings the party level up a little.

 

[Remathilis]

I actually think Dragon of Icespire Peak (aka the Essentials Kit) is that expansion. It adds a ton of side adventures to the basic Phandelver setting and brings the party level up a little.

Sorta. I think they could have done more with the Black Spider working with a more powerful monster (like a dragon or giant or fiend) to keep the vibe of "classic monster manual" going. Icespire adds a bunch of unconnected plots and side quests rather than a proper expansion. I would have liked more Icespire material added in and perhaps expanded to work with higher level play (iirc it only goes to 6th, one level higher) but I actually wanted LMoP to expand into 6th level and higher without to becoming a Far Realms adventure...

 

[jayoungr]

I think they could have done more with the Black Spider working with a more powerful monster (like a dragon or giant or fiend)

I guess that part is left as an exercise for the DM.

 

[THEMNGMNT]

Sorta. I think they could have done more with the Black Spider working with a more powerful monster (like a dragon or giant or fiend) to keep the vibe of "classic monster manual" going. Icespire adds a bunch of unconnected plots and side quests rather than a proper expansion. I would have liked more Icespire material added in and perhaps expanded to work with higher level play (iirc it only goes to 6th, one level higher) but I actually wanted LMoP to expand into 6th level and higher without to becoming a Far Realms adventure...

This.

I ran Dragon of Icespire Peak and liked it at the time. In retrospect, I just liked expanding the sandbox around Phandalin.

A hardcover that folded together the Starter Set and the Essentials Kit adventures, as well as logically expanding the story, would have hit the sweet spot.

Who was the Black Spider working for? What does the Forge of Spells do? What's on the other side of that lake in Wave Echo Cave? Maybe follow up on the Cult of the Dragon, the Arcane Brotherhood, the orc raids, etc, etc, etc.