Which First Level Adventure for Beginners/Returning Lapsed Adults

[Reynard]

Tonight is the night! Character generation and starting Lost Mines. Now, I do acknowledge what others have said about how "mundane" the adventure seems, especially in its early parts. D&D was inspired in no small part by the weird fantasies of the pulp era. I think I need to up the odd...

First off, I'll paint goblins as weirdo mutant types. it won't necessarily have any game effect but they will have extra limbs and second heads and tails etc... I might also make the wolves in the first dungeon something else -- giant mole rats or miniature mastadons or something.

Any other ideas for weirding up LMoP?

 

[S'mon]

Monsters that talk to the PCs are always good. The nothic & the dragon are two obvious ones.

 

[Rhenny]

Here’s a Phandalin plan that worked well for my group although it isn’t weird. It is more cinematic, Old West style.

When they get to Phandalin, I liked playing all the towns folk as guarded and terrorized by the Redbrands. After a while, I staged an encounter where some of the Redbrands came to the inn to collect protection money while the pcs where down by the bar. The pcs started a fight and all the folk in the inn ran to take cover or ran out the front door. After it was over and the pcs won, the inn keeper guy and his wife helped them clean and hide the dead bodies. At that point, the townsfolk warmed up to them. The pcs kept one Redbrand alive to help them infiltrate their hideout and they dressed up in the others’ outfits to deceive some of the Redbrands guarding the hideout entrance.

 

[cmad1977]

Here’s a Phandalin plan that worked well for my group although it isn’t weird. It is more cinematic, Old West style.

When they get to Phandalin, I liked playing all the towns folk as guarded and terrorized by the Redbrands. After a while, I staged an encounter where some of the Redbrands came to the inn to collect protection money while the pcs where down by the bar. The pcs started a fight and all the folk in the inn ran to take cover or ran out the front door. After it was over and the pcs won, the inn keeper guy and his wife helped them clean and hide the dead bodies. At that point, the townsfolk warmed up to them. The pcs kept one Redbrand alive to help them infiltrate their hideout and they dressed up in the others’ outfits to deceive some of the Redbrands guarding the hideout entrance.

That’s how I ran it. Phandalin as Deadwood. Sort of. Complete with a guy getting dragged behind a horse by the redbrands.

 

[Nick Nick]

Have enjoyed LMoP but agree with many sentiments above

I’ve personally chosen to run 4 sessions before the ambush - and then built the village into something more tangible / sinister

The story arc has many spins offs, but these need to be exploited before starting the adventure imo.

As a stand-alone it’s ‘okay’ - but within a larger campaign, its really v.good

 

[Rhenny]

As for weird, in the Phandelver campaign I played in, a strange mist formed outside as we entered the Wave Echo cave. We winded our way directly to the areas near where the Black Spider was. We faced too many of the Black Spider allies and nearly bought the farm. We used Rope Trick to hide and then we got back to the cave entrance, but the mist was still there although it was slightly dissipated. Since we were beaten up, we decided to exit the cave and go into the mist. After walking toward Phandalin, we realized we weren’t in the realms any longer. We were in Curse of Strahd, and the gloom was palpable.

We enjoyed the transition although we were pissed we didn’t get a chance to finish off the Black Spider.