D&D 5E Lost Mine of Phandelver session with a new DM and new players

[CapNBritain]

My regular 5E group and I are buying everything we can get our hands on, including the Start Set that comes with The Lost Mine of Phandelver adventure. Our DM doesn't like pre-written adventures, so mine just gathered dust for a while. I eventually decided to get my money's worth and try running a game for the first time for some friends that had never played D&D before.

It's a strange, but fun process that I'm keeping track of here.

I'm trying to write two parallel paths: one that is a dramatic retelling of our sessions and the other being a collection of my thoughts as a first time Dungeon Master. I'm curious if there are any other new DMs who have tried running this adventure. How is it going? And has anyone found this to be a good adventure to introduce new players to?

For me it's been fantastic. They jsut got through Act 2, and while I'm having to come up with a lot on the fly, I'm actually enjoying that. Act 3 is very non-linear with a lot of possible encounters to keep track of, so I'm a little more worried about keeping everything in my head. Still, I can't wait and I know my players feel the same way.

 

[mips42]

I read it all. It definitely sounds like fun was had and that's the main point. Don't stress too much over getting the rules wrong. In the end, as long as everyone agrees to the rules, it doesn't matter a whole lot what they are or if you get them wrong.
In the same vein, don't worry too much about making rulings. Go with what feels right.
Play on!

 

[CapNBritain]

I read it all. It definitely sounds like fun was had and that's the main point. Don't stress too much over getting the rules wrong. In the end, as long as everyone agrees to the rules, it doesn't matter a whole lot what they are or if you get them wrong.
In the same vein, don't worry too much about making rulings. Go with what feels right.
Play on!

Thanks. I'm definitely flying by the seat of my pants here and enjoying every minute of it. I hope that when I do run the adventurer for my more hardcore group of friends they will be able to roll with it as well.

 

[Rabbitbait]

Brilliant write-ups. I'll be starting Phandelver tonight - our first foray into 5e. I'm really looking forward to it.

Cheers - you have gotten my creative juices flowing.

 

[CapNBritain]

Brilliant write-ups. I'll be starting Phandelver tonight - our first foray into 5e. I'm really looking forward to it.

Cheers - you have gotten my creative juices flowing.

Good luck! I know you'll have a blast. Try and post about your experience tomorrow!

 

[Rabbitbait]

Good luck! I know you'll have a blast. Try and post about your experience tomorrow!

I'll try. I've found that I always start off campaigns with every intention of keeping a good journal and then it fizzles out very quickly. This time I have set up a players journal, so I may be able to spread the load...

 

[machineelf]

Thanks for the blog posts about where you and your group are at and how it's going.

I ran the first part of TLMoP for a group about a month and a half ago or so, and it went great. I think they did a pretty good job with the adventure altogether, although I haven't run the rest of it. I had a couple of friends who wanted to play D&D who had never played before, so I invited a couple of other friends who had played before, but who aren't avid players and had never played 5th edition. Everyone had a really good time, and they picked up on the rules very quickly. I think the adventure does a good job in the first part introducing concepts little by little do new players.

 

[drjones]

Sounds like a fun game. New players can be extra creative because they don't have as much of an expectation of how things are done.

 

[CapNBritain]

Thanks for the blog posts about where you and your group are at and how it's going.

I ran the first part of TLMoP for a group about a month and a half ago or so, and it went great. I think they did a pretty good job with the adventure altogether, although I haven't run the rest of it. I had a couple of friends who wanted to play D&D who had never played before, so I invited a couple of other friends who had played before, but who aren't avid players and had never played 5th edition. Everyone had a really good time, and they picked up on the rules very quickly. I think the adventure does a good job in the first part introducing concepts little by little do new players.

Yes, I think the adventure is pretty great for both first time players and DMs. My biggest nitpick so far is that I think the booklet itself could be a little bit better organized for a new DM. Things like bullet points for key info (which they do a little) and relevant stat blocks on the same page as the encounters would help a lot. However, I understand that they were trying to save money by limiting the number of pages to print. And the organization was at least as good as adventures from previous editions, so it's not like they did any worse. I think the whole traditional layout of pre-written adventures needs an overhaul.

Also, the first cave is brutal. It's partially because 1st level is so deadly in 5E though.

Sounds like a fun game. New players can be extra creative because they don't have as much of an expectation of how things are done.

This is very true. I played in my regular game last night and a lot of the encounters came down to standing there and rolling to attack over and over again. That's because us veteran players knew what was important and were very focused on winning. My new players tried all kinds of weird stuff. For example, one player loves animals and kept trying to calm the wolves with Animal Handling. It's pretty fun.

 

[Stormonu]

i'm an old hand here (30+ years), but as I'm about halfway through the Redbrand hideout, I'm finding this to be a fantastic adventure - don't think I've enjoyed a module this much since 1E.

What I am finding I like most about 5E is that I don't feel tied up by the rules. If I want to do something a liitle different just for a scene, I feel like I can pull it off without having the players argue or bark at me about "doing it wrong".

Also, I've got several first-time players in my group, and while they aren't the most tactically minded folks out there, they sure are getting to stretch their imagination - and I feel like I'm getting to stretch my own after a long sleep.