D&D 5E Suggestions for Phandelver 6 months later

[aco175]

My group that played the starter set LMoP is now coming back to Phandelver. They completed the module and wanted to take over Tresendar Manor for a home base. They are invested in the town and mine succeeding since they own 10% of the mine. They have been gone for the last few months going around the Sword Mountains, Leilon, and Waterdeep adventuring and sending workers to the town to work on the manor house and the mines. They are now coming back now and I wanted to show progress and how things have changed over the last months.

Some of the ideas I had was to double the population from 250 to 500 in town and another 100 at the mine. Half of the new population are families who farm or are seeking laborer work. The rest can be grown men either seeking work in the hopes of striking it rich mining or scamming the workers.

Several new buildings are being built or expanded. The inn had only 6 rooms and is building a wing with more. I plan to have a few cool NPCs staying in the inn such as a mage and a con artist of some sort. I have a lot of deforestation around town and along the route to the mine. Most of the wood is being used for lumber for buildings and a shantytown being set up on the common. There is also work going on building a wall around the town.

The manor is being built for the PCs. They gave a bunch of money to lady at Lionshield Coster to bring food and workers from Neverwinter. They also found a group of dwarfs in Thornhold that came for the winter season. I would think even with 50 people working on the building that it would take a few years to build, even with having most of the stones on site. I'm going to handwave some of this and have the manor more than half done to move it along.

What I need help with is some ideas for NPCs and new businesses that spring up. I want to have a miner's tavern and lumbermill. I have visions of the movie Tombstone and the TV show Hell on Wheels as inspiration, but want to tamp down the dirty parts for more chivalry and things I can use to play with 12 year olds. Thanks

 

[Kabouter Games]

First, I think it pays to study up on boom towns. At least scratch the surface of the sociology, history, and economics of them. Then discard the boring stuff and hook into what you think will play dramatically at your table. Look for the friction.

Wikipedia tells us:

Boomtowns are typically characterized as "overnight expansions" in both population and money, as people stream into the community for mining prospects, high-paying jobs, attractive amenities or climate, or other opportunities. Typically, newcomers are drawn by high salaries or the prospect of "striking it rich" in mining; meanwhile, numerous indirect businesses develop to cater to workers often eager to spend their large paychecks. Often, boomtowns are the site of both economic prosperity and social disruption, as the local culture and infrastructure, if any, struggles to accommodate the waves of new residents. General problems associated with this fast growth can include: doctor shortages, inadequate medical and/or educational facilities, housing shortages, sewage disposal problems, and a lack of recreational activities for new residents.

The University of Denver separates problems associated with a mining-specific boomtown into three categories:

• deteriorating quality of life, as growth in basic industry outruns the local service sector’s ability to provide housing, health services, schooling, and retail
• declining industrial productivity in mining because of labor turnover, labor shortages, and declining productivity
• an underserving by the local service sector in goods and services because capital investment in this sector does not build up adequately

One obvious, if mundane, area of friction is if your characters - essentially the moneyed interests who started the boom - failed to provide sufficient infrastructure. You've already spotted that with your shantytown and lack of housing. What's happened to housing prices? If your boom town holds true, inflation should be out of control. There should be friction between the locals and the newcomers. There should be a supply of locals who correctly lay the blame for the whole situation at the feet of your characters. Locals who are faced with paying 5gp for what used to be a 2sp loaf of bread. Immigrants who are faced with 10gp a day to live in a tent. People who "owe their soul to the company store" and feel hard done by.

Whenever boom-town populations rapidly expand, predatory characters emerge. You've spotted that, too. Con men, grifters, I'm sure you've made room for all of them. (Don't forget to have people blame the characters for failing to protect them from that, too!)

Here's another NPC in that vein: The labor agitator. A radical free-thinker who advocates common ownership of everything, what Marx referred to as 'primitive communism,' with universal suffrage, equality before the law, rank and title null and void, the eradication of private property. That kind of chap. CHA 20, of course. Someone who makes people doubt that the characters should be in a position of power in their society, that's the key. Why should we be workin' twelve hours a day, buildin' them a great big house, when we ain't got nothin' but a shack to live in? That's a different kind of villain.

Do they crush the nascent socialist movement with an iron fist, like Cromwell did the Diggers and Levellers? After all, it's not as though that villain is obviously an evil entity which must be slain. He's not evil, he's different.* Indeed, if a considerable proportion of the population in their area of interest is under the influence of a social agitator, they can't just clamp down too hard, not without unpredictable results from the rest of the demographic. They're not Thayans. Are they? Do they care?

If that's not enough complication, throw in a religious agitator. A revival preacher, kind of thing. Canonically, the pantheon of Faerûn has changed in the last few years. That gives an excuse for a charlatan faith healer to swoop in to a struggling, leaderless community and make a killing duping the rubes. Connect his movement with the nascent socialists if you like.

What about the other power- and stake-holders in the area? You said they have a 10% interest in the Mine. What of the other 80%? What do they think about how the characters are letting control slip in their demesne, their absentee lordship? Bam. Trifecta.

That's what I'd do - throw social unrest at the characters. They're aristocracy now, or at least gentry; they're significant landowners. That requires a certain amount of noblesse oblige from them which the common folk with see withheld at peril. They waved their hands at the place, set a bunch of things in motion which haven't necessarily had positive outcomes, then just poof! Disappeared! Now they're back. Some people will expect them to fix it. Other people will wonder why they're butting in, haven't they done enough?

Anyway. You set up a GREAT story opportunity here. I hope you have many hours of fun playing through it!

Cheers,

Bob

www.r-p-davis.com

* I did a panel at a con years ago where George RR Martin and I led a discussion of what makes a monster. It was fascinating. Evil only sometimes enters into it. Take Frankenstein's Monster; it was not inherently evil, and indeed had no evil intent at first, but it was still monstrous, because it was different.

 

[aco175]

Great thought and commentary, I think some unrest is in the future. I may give the PCs a bit of time to investigate and cut off some of the trouble. Maybe if the food runs low and they cannot fix it. I think I will have some bandit problems hitting the area miners and then coming into town causing more trouble when they spend the money.

I'm not sure on what I want for Harbin the mayor. I still have him as cowardly and slimy. I was planning to have him focused on taxes and collecting monies from the miners and new businesses. I should give him a thug enforcer to do his dirty work. I also like to have a noble-type who works with him on civic projects like a wall around town to protect it from attacks. This guy can also be at odds with the PCs as he may want to rule the town and push out the PCs.

 

[Anakzar]

There are also several other interested groups looking to control the mine and increase their influence on the area.

Phandalin miner's exchange is run by Halia Thornton an agent of the Zhentarim Page 17. In the PC's absence perhaps she has gotten tough re-enforcements from the Zhentarim.

Sister Garaele is a member of The Harpers Page 18.

Sildar Hallwinter is a member of the Lord's Alliance. Page 19

There are opportunities for the one or more of the PCs to join these groups. The Zhentarim is a much more aggressive group than the other two and might be better as antagonists of the PCs, unless they like the idea of power though conquest.

 

[aco175]

Phandalin miner's exchange is run by Halia Thornton an agent of the Zhentarim Page 17. In the PC's absence perhaps she has gotten tough re-enforcements from the Zhentarim.

The Zhentarim is a much more aggressive group than the other two and might be better as antagonists of the PCs, unless they like the idea of power though conquest.

I have included a pair of foreign men from the south who are Zhents as well. They are here to either take over from Halia or to assist her, I have not figured it out yet. I also have not figures out how much they can subvert Wave Echo Mine since it is the biggest mine in the area. They should be able to strongarm the smaller mines though.

 

[Motorskills]

Watch Deadwood (can be accessed via HBO Go) for fantastic examples.

 

[Eltab]

- Eldreth Veluuthra (elven racial supremacists) notices the forest-clearing and decides to take action. They are always indirect, so the forest monsters get aggressive against Phandelver rather than bow-and-arrow ambushes. EV uses political connections, so asking the local Elf Lords for help ... just doesn't get anywhere.
- The tax collector is overwhelmed, and only goes to some of the businesses in town. This looks like favoritism (maybe it really is?).
- Did your PCs kill that dragon? Treasure-seekers from afar who have heard inflated rumors that an Ancient Dragon was slain, show up looking to haul off "more GP than any wagon can hold".
- Dwarven leaders think that Phandelver used to be a minor outpost to Gauntlegrym, and should be again. They aren't Evil, but greedy and prideful and stubborn.
- Are there any 'indigenous inhabitants' (besides the forest-dwellers) being displaced by the newcomers? They might resist violently any (further) intrusion upon their land and homes.
- Orc refugees from the destruction of Many-Arrows think Phandelver might be a good place to take over.
- Lord Protector Neverember of Neverwinter (through emissaries) suggests a joint project to build/upgrade a road, so all imports/exports go through HIS port.

Look up descriptions of Deadwood, South Dakota (1880s) and San Francisco, California (1849) during their respective gold rushes to get more ideas.

 

[hastur_nz]

Orcs trashed Phandelver a few hundred years ago, and it was a ghost-town until pretty recently, just home to a few monsters, as it's quite far away from any decent-sized 'civilisation' to help look after it. Traditionally in Faerun, there's always another hoard of Orcs descending from the mountains every few years, to threaten civilisation. No doubt Phandelver will be a nice juicy target soon, but won't be well equipped to deal with that...

 

[orderofthings]

Randomnumbersrpg.wordpress.com

My princess of the apocalypse campaign took place one year later. The group stayed in town that whole time and ran things hands-on, and muscled their way into a bigger stake in the mine.
Like a few before have mentioned, deadwood was basically my template. Unfortunately, right after i made Phandelver my deadwood they moved right on to Red Larch...
They moved in to the Manor, but that's only really going to matter in between campaigns, when flavoring the downtime so it almost belongs more to the DM than the player (until someone starts writing adventures instead of buying modules but... i don't have the time anymore).

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