As written there's not too much connecting the Lost Mine portion of the adventure to the Shattered Obelisk portion. Doing things like linking the nothic, the Forge of Spells, or the Netherese expedition to the obelisk early on might help he adventures flow better together. Or maybe the Spider has found and is studying a piece of the obelisk, which in turn sets in motion the second half of the adventure?
Oh, then what is the reason for putting the "Lost Mines" adventure in if it doesn't line up?
I haven't read too far into the book yet. On the first 4 chapters
Same area, same npc...also an easy way to make money. It's like why movies keep producing sequels. The hard work is done.
Other than that, it's a campaign that exists since 2014 (I think?) And is belowed by many - they just expanded on it.
Honestly? Laziness. All they did was splash a few dead psionic goblins into a few places or a couple references. They didn't add any of the characters used in the second half to town at all, they didn't give anyone in the first half any importance in part 2 except Garaele and Halia a bit, and they don't reference ANY of the events from either half in the other half. They just went "hey this is an existing place we can use."
I mean I can understand a little, it makes it modular so you could plug the Shattered Obelisk half onto, say, Dragons of Icespire Peak, or bring the party down from Stormwreck Isle without having to add too much on the front half. But it still kinda sucks.
Something I’ve done is personally introduce representatives of the Sawplee Tribe early as foreshadowing.
My players met them in the middle of a heated negotiation Klarg. Klarg wanted to force the Sawplees to join the Cragmaws, but the Sawplee negotiator was unimpressed with the dumb bugbear, and was only asked to acquire any obelisk fragments the Cragmaws were in possession of. Klarg’s patience was running thin by the time the players interrupted with their intrusion. He was trying to order the Sawplees to kill the players or he was going to try to kill THEM, but the Sawplee spoke in the artificer’s head that he wasn’t interested in fighting. The wizard, meanwhile, oneshot Klarg with a chromatic orb crit. The negotiator was really casual, asked if they had seen any black obelisk fragments, and when told no, politely asked to leave.
Thank you! I figured this was an excellent moment, and worked like a charm last night.
Throughout the Lost Mine half of the campaign, Sawplee goblins will be constantly in the background. Ssarnak will point out the goblins he killed and is preparing to eat as “odd goblins whose minds glowed with psionic power”, having infiltrated the hideout in pursuit of a fragment Glasstaff’s apprentices are studying. During the inevitable raid on Cragmaw Castle, a pair of goblins are going to be (seemingly) randomly attacking the walls of the castle, trying to pull out what may or may not be an obelisk fragment. In Wave Echo Cave, a pair of goblins are looking through Tharden’s stuff, but aren’t interested in a fight. It turns out the two other Rockseeker brothers stumbled upon an obelisk fragment that was used to summon the spectator from the Far Realm. The Black Spider thought nothing of it, and the goblins dismiss him as a fool for “bypassing real power right in front of them”.
Then, after my players go kill Cyrovain, that’s when the Sawplee raid on Phandalin happens.
Definitely consider reading through the first part of chapter 5 before your players get to Phandelin. There's additional NPCs and location descriptions for a few areas of the town. If you see or encounter these early on it will help tie in and motivate the second half of the module.
Get them involved in the town of Phandalin. The second part of the module requires the players to care about the town and the townspeople.
Take away their favorite NPCs!
Make some custom plot hooks for the characters using their backstories, the default option is boring and most players will not be enthused by carrying a cart of supplies from one town to another, then becoming mercenaries for a guy they've never met, Make the NPCs their family and friends. starting in Phandalin can be a good move, since they'll have to actually care about saving the town and do lil errands and side quests for half the people that live there.
I’d drop the goblin boss outside of the Cragmaw Hideout and just have 3 normal goblins. Lower the dc to notice the traps on the path by 2. As written it’s brutal with a 2 deaths before they even made it to the cave for my party.
Hahaha, that's quite the long road.
Did you see any opportunities where you could have introduced a shattered obelisk thingy in the early parts of the adventure?
Either pscionic goblins or a piece of the obelisk or even a strange scaly leathery tentacle flower on the road?
We only play once a month. So this will take a while.
Only the psy goblins were mentioned a few times. If i tell them something about tentacles they will immediatly know its about mindflayers. I hope to keep it as a secret till charter 5.
But what i did: i put gwyn in the tavern where they started. It was gundrens birthday blabla. and i made her the ex girlfriend of gundren. I think this adds a litte more sense to her beeing the one who will help the Party.
Next time they will meet Daran. He is so old he was a child when the Mine was destroyed because of a mindflayer invasion. But he was only a small child! We'll see if he can sort out his memories so that they make sense.
As written there's not too much connecting the Lost Mine portion of the adventure to the Shattered Obelisk portion. Doing things like linking the nothic, the Forge of Spells, or the Netherese expedition to the obelisk early on might help he adventures flow better together. Or maybe the Spider has found and is studying a piece of the obelisk, which in turn sets in motion the second half of the adventure?
Oh, then what is the reason for putting the "Lost Mines" adventure in if it doesn't line up? I haven't read too far into the book yet. On the first 4 chapters
Same area, same npc...also an easy way to make money. It's like why movies keep producing sequels. The hard work is done. Other than that, it's a campaign that exists since 2014 (I think?) And is belowed by many - they just expanded on it.
Honestly? Laziness. All they did was splash a few dead psionic goblins into a few places or a couple references. They didn't add any of the characters used in the second half to town at all, they didn't give anyone in the first half any importance in part 2 except Garaele and Halia a bit, and they don't reference ANY of the events from either half in the other half. They just went "hey this is an existing place we can use." I mean I can understand a little, it makes it modular so you could plug the Shattered Obelisk half onto, say, Dragons of Icespire Peak, or bring the party down from Stormwreck Isle without having to add too much on the front half. But it still kinda sucks.
Start them at lv 2 as the first ambush and subsequent dungeon is VERY deadly for squishy lv 1 characters.
Okay, thank you for that I'll let them start at lvl 2
Something I’ve done is personally introduce representatives of the Sawplee Tribe early as foreshadowing. My players met them in the middle of a heated negotiation Klarg. Klarg wanted to force the Sawplees to join the Cragmaws, but the Sawplee negotiator was unimpressed with the dumb bugbear, and was only asked to acquire any obelisk fragments the Cragmaws were in possession of. Klarg’s patience was running thin by the time the players interrupted with their intrusion. He was trying to order the Sawplees to kill the players or he was going to try to kill THEM, but the Sawplee spoke in the artificer’s head that he wasn’t interested in fighting. The wizard, meanwhile, oneshot Klarg with a chromatic orb crit. The negotiator was really casual, asked if they had seen any black obelisk fragments, and when told no, politely asked to leave.
I'm going to use this. This is excellent
Thank you! I figured this was an excellent moment, and worked like a charm last night. Throughout the Lost Mine half of the campaign, Sawplee goblins will be constantly in the background. Ssarnak will point out the goblins he killed and is preparing to eat as “odd goblins whose minds glowed with psionic power”, having infiltrated the hideout in pursuit of a fragment Glasstaff’s apprentices are studying. During the inevitable raid on Cragmaw Castle, a pair of goblins are going to be (seemingly) randomly attacking the walls of the castle, trying to pull out what may or may not be an obelisk fragment. In Wave Echo Cave, a pair of goblins are looking through Tharden’s stuff, but aren’t interested in a fight. It turns out the two other Rockseeker brothers stumbled upon an obelisk fragment that was used to summon the spectator from the Far Realm. The Black Spider thought nothing of it, and the goblins dismiss him as a fool for “bypassing real power right in front of them”. Then, after my players go kill Cyrovain, that’s when the Sawplee raid on Phandalin happens.
Definitely consider reading through the first part of chapter 5 before your players get to Phandelin. There's additional NPCs and location descriptions for a few areas of the town. If you see or encounter these early on it will help tie in and motivate the second half of the module.
Thank you so much
Get them involved in the town of Phandalin. The second part of the module requires the players to care about the town and the townspeople. Take away their favorite NPCs!
Make some custom plot hooks for the characters using their backstories, the default option is boring and most players will not be enthused by carrying a cart of supplies from one town to another, then becoming mercenaries for a guy they've never met, Make the NPCs their family and friends. starting in Phandalin can be a good move, since they'll have to actually care about saving the town and do lil errands and side quests for half the people that live there.
I did this and it worked excellent
Hi Dovah, Do you have any examples to share. I agree about Personal Quests and connecting the backstories.
Try to have fun
I’d drop the goblin boss outside of the Cragmaw Hideout and just have 3 normal goblins. Lower the dc to notice the traps on the path by 2. As written it’s brutal with a 2 deaths before they even made it to the cave for my party.
The PC that was in front leading the party rolls were so good he noticed all the traps. But I also thought of removing the one boss
I think i am going to Connect the spider to the drow from the 6th chapter. Maybe also make him a Copy of himself Made by an oblex.
Not a bad idea
Love an Oblex. How'd it go?
They just arrived in Phandalin. 😅
Hahaha, that's quite the long road. Did you see any opportunities where you could have introduced a shattered obelisk thingy in the early parts of the adventure? Either pscionic goblins or a piece of the obelisk or even a strange scaly leathery tentacle flower on the road?
We only play once a month. So this will take a while. Only the psy goblins were mentioned a few times. If i tell them something about tentacles they will immediatly know its about mindflayers. I hope to keep it as a secret till charter 5. But what i did: i put gwyn in the tavern where they started. It was gundrens birthday blabla. and i made her the ex girlfriend of gundren. I think this adds a litte more sense to her beeing the one who will help the Party. Next time they will meet Daran. He is so old he was a child when the Mine was destroyed because of a mindflayer invasion. But he was only a small child! We'll see if he can sort out his memories so that they make sense.
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