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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Scrivener of Doom" data-source="post: 6487653" data-attributes="member: 87576">Some of you may recognise my user name from various links to my blog where I suggest ways of expanding Lost Mine of Phandelver into a larger sandbox. I actually began that series of posts (there are 16 or 17 now) because I wasn't a fan of 5E but I wanted to make a positive contribution rather than simply crapping on the new edition.Lo and behold, just before Christmas I agreed to run some friends who liked 5E through a 5E conversion of B2 The Keep on the Borderlands (the subject of a couple of blog posts, fortunately!) over Skype and our first session was tonight. I don't line virtual tabletops but "theatre of the mind" works perfectly well on Skype and I spent years running OD&D, 1E, and 2E and it's still second nature.So, tonight was the first session and, I must admit, I really enjoyed it. Frankly, 5E is perfect for Skype games provided your social contract allows for trust about dice rolls and combat positions (ours does!). And our next session is tomorrow.Sorry, that's just the introduction. I decided that "my" Phandalin would have a Tombstone vibe - I am referring to the Kurt Russell/Val Kilmer movie - which was also a common reference point with the players as we're all Tombstone fans and watched it together when it first came out.Small problem. Because we're such big fans the Redbrands came across as the Tombstone bad guys and a game that was meant to be about an expedition to the Caves of Chaos has now turned into a push to drive the Redbrands and their Zhentarim masters (slight change from LMoP) from Phandalin.Anyway, enthusiasm is high so we're going to be back at it tomorrow, all things being equal.We only had two combats:- four goblins in the Edernath Orchard menacing some halflings; and- a Zhentarim thug (using the thug stat block from the MM) and his flying snake (shot down on the wing before it could get reinforcements),but they flowed smoothly using verbal descriptions rather than minis and a grid.So, I will need to rework the Redbrand hideout to make it feel more Zhentarim-ish but it looks like we won't be going to the Caves of Chaos for at least another session or two....I made the townmaster into the most despicable, fat, drunk I could think of and had him on the hook to the Zhents. When the Zhent swordcaptain turned up to collect with a flying snake on his arm, the PCs beat him into unconsciousness and shot the flying snake out of the sky before it could fly off to gather reinforcements. We will be dealing with the aftermath of that tomorrow.I wonder if I need to watch Tombstone again tonight to be better prepared?</blockquote>

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