D&D 5E Thoughts on the D&D Starter Set (Spoilers!)

[halfling rogue]

- Do more to provide a build up for the Black Spider. My players ended up hating Iarno, but the Black Spider was mostly "meh".

It's funny, I ran Lost Mine with my kids and they hated Iarno more than the Black Spider too (if I'm reading you right), which is to say that Iarno hooked them better than the Black Spider. In fact, I made a decision to continue the campaign beyond Phandalin and used Iarno as a villain that pursued them. At some point he'll return (a bit more powerful though)

 

[S'mon]

You and I want totally different things from a town in an adventure. I have a zillion town descriptions with maps and everything. I'd rather they spend that word/page count on the Dungeon and other encounter locations I know the PCs will engage with, rather than town info I may or may not use. I loved the village of Hommlet, but I can pull stuff from it out and change some names whenever I want. Just my opinion.

Yes, I definitely seem to have the minority opinion on this one!

For me it's really important that a "starter town" be fully detailed, in particular the NPCs may be
in the campaign for months or even years, I definitely want a stat block & descriptive paragraph for each of the major ones. At a pinch if I have the descriptive para I can stat them myself, but all Phandelver does os "X is a Y and wants X" - no idea of personality or even appearance.

 

[Croesus]

It's funny, I ran Lost Mine with my kids and they hated Iarno more than the Black Spider too (if I'm reading you right), which is to say that Iarno hooked them better than the Black Spider. In fact, I made a decision to continue the campaign beyond Phandalin and used Iarno as a villain that pursued them. At some point he'll return (a bit more powerful though)

Yep, I did something similar. The PCs captured Iarno, reluctantly turning him over to Sildar for trial. Of course, once in Neverwinter, Iarno escaped and the PCs spent a few sessions hunting for him. During their investigations they found that he was a bit of a folk hero in the city, helping the less fortunate and generally looking out for the common people. Not at all what they expected, given his history leading the thugs in Phandalin.

At that point, they began to wonder what was going on, but let it drop when the elemental cults started causing problems in the Dessarin Valley. As part of PotA, I introduced a demon who could dominate mortals and the party found evidence that this had happened to Iarno. The proof made its way to the authorities in Neverwinter, so Iarno is no longer a wanted man, but he's also no longer employed by the authorities. Unknown to the party, he's been around, helping them fight the elemental cults. At some point the players may catch on...

 

[MerricB]

Yes, I definitely seem to have the minority opinion on this one!

For me it's really important that a "starter town" be fully detailed, in particular the NPCs may be
in the campaign for months or even years, I definitely want a stat block & descriptive paragraph for each of the major ones. At a pinch if I have the descriptive para I can stat them myself, but all Phandelver does os "X is a Y and wants X" - no idea of personality or even appearance.

I understand entirely where you're coming from. I think Phandelver is usable but would be better with more information. Personally, I really dislike Gygax's "Village of Hommlet" as he spends entirely too much time on irrelevant information (there's the real feel of it being written by a wargamer, with a lot of information about the militia but not about what the characters actually want). He nails it in a few instances, though, and that's the level of information you want about townfolk: personality, goals and some idea of what they want from the PCs.

Cheers!

 

[pukunui]

I definitely want a stat block & descriptive paragraph for each of the major ones.

They're pretty much all stated to be commoners, even Gundren. You can use the commoner statblock in the back.

 

[S'mon]

They're pretty much all stated to be commoners, even Gundren. You can use the commoner statblock in the back.

Me no likey - IMC I tend to give everyone at least 2 hd*. All the goblins, orcs etc do after all, and
every other NPC in the MM except the Commoner. But anyway I was thinking more about non-combat attributes, proficiency, skill bonuses - Persusasion +5 sort of thing. "Everyone has a 10 in all stats" does not cut it.

*My players love it when the local Ghinarian shepherdesses lay waste to the PCs' enemies with slingstones (hd 2d8 DEX 14 Prof +2, AC 12 ATT +4 dam d4+2)!

 

[pukunui]

[MENTION=463]S'mon[/MENTION]: Good thing the DMG has a whole section - complete with tables you can roll on - to help flesh out NPCs!

 

[77IM]

Reading Lost Mines of Phandelver is actually what got me excited about 5e. Playing it exceeded my expectations. This is a fantastic adventure, almost the platonic ideal of D&D adventures.

When I ran the adventure my group had a blast, despite half of them hating D&D. Ostensibly hating D&D, that is; we are now half way through Princes of the Apocalypse. ;}

Most Memorable Moment: The PCs carefully maneuver the hungry owlbear to go on a rampage through Cragmaw Castle, wiping out the goblins and hobgoblins for them!

 

[ninjayeti]

Except they ran into the Black Spider and battled foolishly - running into melee in the middle of a big room, and swiftly being surrounded by giant spiders. Actually, that was only half the group - the half who hadn't been playing Hoard with me. The group that had played Hoard knew better and ran away. They also did so before the downed characters failed their third death saves, so they're all still potentially alive. Just captured.

Half your party captured by a drow? Sounds you are going to be running OotA sooner than expected ....

 

[bedir than]

Now I want to track down a Starter Kit