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

[CapNBritain]

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.

Oh man, I'm just getting to the Redbrand hideout in my write up. It should be up tomorrow. My session ended with the players being victorious...sort of. It ran completely differently than I had imagined it in my head, and I definitely let myself get too caught up in everything, but we all had a ton of fun.

Please share some details on how your experience with the Redbrands because I just know it'll be very different from mine!

 

[Rabbitbait]

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

Man, that was so much fun. The first part of our evening was moving towards the conclusion of my 5 year 4e campaign. The last session will be the party facing off against Bel-Shalor in the shattered ruins of Flamekeep. Then we did an hour of 5e and Phandelver. It certainly proved that you can get a lot done in an hour.

The first 40 minutes was setting the scenario, people explaining their characters and some rollplay on the road. Then they went off to the triboar trail. The rogue went a little ahead to scope out the situation. He was staying stealthy and in the undergrowth at the side of the road, but as he turned the corner where the ambush was he rolled a critical failure on his stealth and got caught up on some brambles. He saw the dead horses and went back to inform the rest of the party. He then went back with the monk not far behind. The rest of the group got onto defensive positions on the wagon. Because of the previous failure on stealth the goblins were now highly alert (advantage on perception) and saw the rogue sneaking through the bushes towards the horses. The two goblin archers stood up and shot at him. Thwack, thwack. Two arrows embedded and he was down. The monk decided to throw a dart at an archer but missed. The two goblin swordsmen then emerged from the bushes, came over and gave him the smackdown. That was two players out.

While this was happening, the characters around the corner were hearing the sounds of swords and shooting, so the second rogue decided to move up and peek around the corner. When he saw the tableau before him he shot a goblins swordsman through the face, killing him, and then retreated back to the wagon and cover.

The archers moved through the brush on the other side of the road as the swordman drew his bow and moved to the corner. All three of them went to shoot at the remainder of the party, but all the characters had readied actions. Spells and arrows flew at the two archers who both went down. One of the players then demanded that the swordman drop his weapon or die (intimidate check). The goblin did so and surrendered. They then ran around to try and save the two downed party members. The rogue had stablised already, but the monk was on the edge of death (2 failures, 1 success). He was healed in quick order.

By this time it was 1/2 an hour past our normal finish time. We were all having so much fun that nobody had noticed.

This was so easy to run and so easy to play. There was a real tension and the combat happened so quickly that even the people who were unconscious didn't get bored because their turns came around so quickly for the death saves.

I won't be back to this for three weeks (next week I'm working at night, and the week following will be the final encounter for my 4e campaign), but if all of 5e is this fun and easy I won't be missing any of the previous editions.

 

[Rabbitbait]

Oh, and it was all theatre of the mind as well and seemed to work perfectly. I suspect next week they will be heading to the goblin hideout. I'm going to run that online on Roll20 with maps and dynamic lighting. That'll be my first go of dynamic lighting, but I think it will be brilliant.

 

[CapNBritain]

Man, that was so much fun. The first part of our evening was moving towards the conclusion of my 5 year 4e campaign. The last session will be the party facing off against Bel-Shalor in the shattered ruins of Flamekeep. Then we did an hour of 5e and Phandelver. It certainly proved that you can get a lot done in an hour.

The first 40 minutes was setting the scenario, people explaining their characters and some rollplay on the road. Then they went off to the triboar trail. The rogue went a little ahead to scope out the situation. He was staying stealthy and in the undergrowth at the side of the road, but as he turned the corner where the ambush was he rolled a critical failure on his stealth and got caught up on some brambles. He saw the dead horses and went back to inform the rest of the party. He then went back with the monk not far behind. The rest of the group got onto defensive positions on the wagon. Because of the previous failure on stealth the goblins were now highly alert (advantage on perception) and saw the rogue sneaking through the bushes towards the horses. The two goblin archers stood up and shot at him. Thwack, thwack. Two arrows embedded and he was down. The monk decided to throw a dart at an archer but missed. The two goblin swordsmen then emerged from the bushes, came over and gave him the smackdown. That was two players out.

While this was happening, the characters around the corner were hearing the sounds of swords and shooting, so the second rogue decided to move up and peek around the corner. When he saw the tableau before him he shot a goblins swordsman through the face, killing him, and then retreated back to the wagon and cover.

The archers moved through the brush on the other side of the road as the swordman drew his bow and moved to the corner. All three of them went to shoot at the remainder of the party, but all the characters had readied actions. Spells and arrows flew at the two archers who both went down. One of the players then demanded that the swordman drop his weapon or die (intimidate check). The goblin did so and surrendered. They then ran around to try and save the two downed party members. The rogue had stablised already, but the monk was on the edge of death (2 failures, 1 success). He was healed in quick order.

By this time it was 1/2 an hour past our normal finish time. We were all having so much fun that nobody had noticed.

This was so easy to run and so easy to play. There was a real tension and the combat happened so quickly that even the people who were unconscious didn't get bored because their turns came around so quickly for the death saves.

I won't be back to this for three weeks (next week I'm working at night, and the week following will be the final encounter for my 4e campaign), but if all of 5e is this fun and easy I won't be missing any of the previous editions.

Wow this sounds so awesome and different from what my players experienced. I liked how you spent 40 minutes basically pre-game just role-playing. Since my players were new, I figured it was best to get straight to the action since they might be uncomfortable being asked put themselves out there without a lot to go on. But this has gotten me thinking about giving them more role-play opportunities. I'm not a fan of being put on the spot as a player, but maybe my players would enjoy a little time to flex their acting muscles.

It's also interesting to hear the advanced tactics that your veteran players employed kind of back-fired on them. Having two PCs downed at the start of combat sounds really tense! I bet the caves will be even crazier for them. 1st level is really, really tough!

Oh, and it was all theatre of the mind as well and seemed to work perfectly. I suspect next week they will be heading to the goblin hideout. I'm going to run that online on Roll20 with maps and dynamic lighting. That'll be my first go of dynamic lighting, but I think it will be brilliant.

I used theater of the mind for the first encounter with the Redbrands. I did it for fun since I didn't feel like drawing out a featureless street on the map we were using. It turned out really well! We all stood up and kind of acted out where the players were. I will definitely use it more and more on encounters like that one, which are basically just stand-up fights. I think it spices them up a bit.

 

[CapNBritain]

I finally finished my posts on the first session I played with my friends who have never played D&D. We got to the end of Act 2 and will probably try to get our second session in during the first week of October.

Here is a link to all the D&D Home Game posts, including a Session recap that I will be sending to my players.

http://velvetsojourn.com/blog/category/dungeons-dragons/dd-home-game/

 

[halfling rogue]

I just DM'd my first ever game over the weekend. Everyone new to 5e and one new to D&D. I wrote about our experience and first session here: http://www.enworld.org/forum/showth...me-Report-Takeaways-and-Exceeded-Expectations

 

[CapNBritain]

I just DM'd my first ever game over the weekend. Everyone new to 5e and one new to D&D. I wrote about our experience and first session here: http://www.enworld.org/forum/showth...me-Report-Takeaways-and-Exceeded-Expectations

This is a fantastic read and I will definitely link to it and let my players know to read it. I find it interesting that the players made it up the chimney to face Klarg (I think I just ruled that they couldn't make it up there for some reason, I think I got it mixed up with the other chimney-type section in the cave), that your party also had a goblin helper (except yours brutally murdered him), and that you played without a battlemat. I only ran one encounter without one, but honestly many of the encounters would've been just fine using a theater of the mind method. Though I guess the Redbrand lair is complex enough to warrant at least a drawing.

 

[halfling rogue]

This is a fantastic read and I will definitely link to it and let my players know to read it. I find it interesting that the players made it up the chimney to face Klarg (I think I just ruled that they couldn't make it up there for some reason, I think I got it mixed up with the other chimney-type section in the cave), that your party also had a goblin helper (except yours brutally murdered him), and that you played without a battlemat. I only ran one encounter without one, but honestly many of the encounters would've been just fine using a theater of the mind method. Though I guess the Redbrand lair is complex enough to warrant at least a drawing.

They had more or less discovered from their goblin friend that there was a bugbear in the hideout and I think this knowledge helped them go for it. They realized that this was the leader and they decided it was worth the risk to take Klarg out early. Honestly I was chomping at the bit to engage, but they made some fantastic stealth rolls. I let the dice and the players really determine how the story progressed at that point. It was going to quickly escalate into a big ol gobliny showdown but the Cleric simply nailed Klarg for massive damage at the perfect time, fair and square. It was so much redemption, I couldn't steal that from him. I'm going to have to think up something a bit different with the Yeemik encounter, but the fact that Yeemik doesn't know Klarg is already taken care of will be interesting.

 

[CapNBritain]

They had more or less discovered from their goblin friend that there was a bugbear in the hideout and I think this knowledge helped them go for it. They realized that this was the leader and they decided it was worth the risk to take Klarg out early. Honestly I was chomping at the bit to engage, but they made some fantastic stealth rolls. I let the dice and the players really determine how the story progressed at that point. It was going to quickly escalate into a big ol gobliny showdown but the Cleric simply nailed Klarg for massive damage at the perfect time, fair and square. It was so much redemption, I couldn't steal that from him. I'm going to have to think up something a bit different with the Yeemik encounter, but the fact that Yeemik doesn't know Klarg is already taken care of will be interesting.

Yes, I think that 1st level has that bit of edge to it where any one, PC or enemy, can really be taken out with a lucky roll or two. It makes encounters have a bit of tenseness that will probably go away after they gain a few levels.

 

[CapNBritain]

I am going to start up The Lost Mines of Phandelver for my hardcore gaming group. My pre-write up is here:


http://velvetsojourn.com/blog/the-lost-mine-of-phandelver-hardcore-game-dm-debrief-part-0/


My problem, is that unlike with my home game, all the players came up with non-vague backstories independently. They didn't leave me with a lot to tie together, like my home group did. Right now the only thing I came up with is a Drow invasion. Does anyone have some ideas or advice?