I read the PHB and done 2 sessions of D&D 5 as a player and I am preparing for GMing the Stater kit adventure. I have give the adventure a speeding reading and then I focuse on the first part of it, the goblin cave.
Has anybody on this forum someadvice for me in odrer to run it smoothly, gvien the tact it will be the first time I GM D&D 5 (but not the first I GM a RPG) ?
IME, The Starter Set has been a marvel for new GMs cutting their teeth on the basics of adventures, mechanics, and flow. I and a fellow veteran player immediately grabbed it with full teeth and claws and tore up that region and multi-episode mini-campaign asunder, invalidating huge swaths of the material because of our different approach, wiping it clean of everything and essentially claiming name-level domain by level 4. And yet the green GM had enough reference material and guidance to play with it, ad lib it, and bring it back to heel despite our brutal savaging.
You are not a green GM. A lot of this will be old hat. Since I expect you to know how to handle semi-sandbox with mission quests, factions, intrigue, diverse and elaborated encounter contexts, cunning monsters, and the like, I expect great things from you in general.
Worry more about the somewhat oblique combination of mechanics you'll see in 5e. Check out the 5e topic about unexpected mistakes, misreadings, etc. There's still bits and pieces that work together more like CCG mechanics, so you gotta read extra careful like. Biggest advice: run RAW until you get a feel for the mechanics -- it plays similar to AD&D, yet it still isn't. It's lethal yet heroic in different, hard to explain ways.
To make this somewhat useful, besides the generic "know your material: monsters, NPCs, setting, etc.," what parts are you finding yourself unsure of?
To answer your questions, my main concerns are now about the games mechanism but as you have quite cleverly wrote, there is a D&D 5 thread on this site about common misunderstanding.
For what I have read so far, nothing seems to be difficult to handle. The adventure starts with a classical but reasonnable mission and the goblin lair is quite easy to understand.
I should read more of it tonight to see if I see something I do not understand.
Goblin Cave, Phandelvin, the Manor, the Castle, Old Owl Well, Wave Echo Cave, and the rest have plenty of points where you can really screw with the inhabitants. Factionalism is a beautiful thing. Unfortunately the other veteran and I had war-ready characters that were extremely simpatico, geared to the teeth like old skoolers, and on Team Lawful Good mode; nothing really stood a chance from the non-negotiable, lightning raids.
A little chalk, pitons, and rope goes a long way...
If I understand you correctly, you are writing that the adventure is full of ways to settle it with ressorting to fighting but yours players were in full raider mode and did opt for the blitzkreig solution.
I have already read that the golbins were not happy with their bugbear leader and that clever PCs could exploit that. It is cool to read that the rest of the Starter kit has alos the option for the other encounter !
But, in the end, I am pretty sure that my PCs will also choose no holds barred solution !
I posted a couple of actual play reports here. Hope they help.
http://www.therpgsite.com/showthread.php?t=30351&highlight=majestic+wilderlands
How many PCs are in your group?
I will read your report, Estar, and while the exact number of PCs is still not know to me now, I expect at least 3 players and at most 5 players. I will also only used the pre-made characters of the starter kit because explaining character creation will take to many times (even if I think it is not a difficult thing to do.).
Quote from: yabaziou;796703I will read your report, Estar, and while the exact number of PCs is still not know to me now, I expect at least 3 players and at most 5 players. I will also only used the pre-made characters of the starter kit because explaining character creation will take to many times (even if I think it is not a difficult thing to do.).
With 3 to 5 players the Phandalin adventure will work as is.
One important note is that most low level monster have one ability of note that can be devastating in the right circumstances. For the first Phandelver encounter it is the goblin's ability to stealth and their ability to hide or disengage as a bonus action.
The disengage is particularly devastating as they can rotate their front line without drawing attacks of opportunity. A goblin can go disengage as a bonus action, move, and then move again as a dash action. Or a goblin in the cave can disengage as an action, move around a corner and then hide as a bonus action. A hidden goblin can then launch an attack at an advantage when a PC wanders into sight.
When you handle this use the character's passive perception as the floor of what they can roll. I.e. if they roll anything lower then count it as their passive perception.
If you are finding characters generation too long then what you can do is make a write up similar to this.
http://www.batintheattic.com/downloads/MW%205e%20Berserker.pdf
or this
http://www.batintheattic.com/downloads/MW%205e%20Halfling%20Shadow.pdf
The general idea is to present in order all the elements of a character of particular class. In your case you only need to go up to level 5. All the player has to do is start at the top and work their way down the list to the level they are at.
Also got through Phandelver and make a list of all the major NPCs, what information they have, and what jobs they give. Use this as a cheat sheet. The adventure opens up into a mini-sandbox in this point. So you need to prepare for things happening in particular order.
However I ran this modules several times now and what I found is that the players with either opt to make a circuit of Agatha the Banshee, Wyvern Tor, Old Owl Well and return.
Or make a beeline to Thundertree.
Take note of the distances involved in traveled the party will be spending nights in the wilderness with wandering monsters possible.
Thank for your advice, Estar (and also, of course, Opaopajr !). I will stick with the pre-made PCs because I think they are well made (in a way that they explain well the character abilities) an also I will not play at home but in a club and I want to keep my bag light !
Edit : By chance, I find this website full of pre-made characters, so I will share the link : http://dungeonsmaster.com/pre-generated-character-library-dndnext/
Quote from: estar;796704Also got through Phandelver and make a list of all the major NPCs, what information they have, and what jobs they give. Use this as a cheat sheet. The adventure opens up into a mini-sandbox in this point.
Just want to say - when I played Phandelver, and this happened, I was gobsmacked. After years of WoTC's 3e-4e railroads I wasn't expecting to get to make actual out-of-combat
decisions. It was wonderful. :)
Quote from: S'mon;797056Just want to say - when I played Phandelver, and this happened, I was gobsmacked. After years of WoTC's 3e-4e railroads I wasn't expecting to get to make actual out-of-combat decisions. It was wonderful. :)
So far my group is having fun with Phandelver (I spiced it up with some mining camp Deadwood flavor), but I'm wondering if the rave reviews are really comparative just against how horrible WotC used to be. I mean it feels really good when you stop hitting your head with a hammer, too. :D
They hate those sneaky goblins, cringe everytime a bugbear swings, and spread out with missile weapons when the Hobgoblins yell "Shield Wall!".
The orcs and ogre are practically going to be an anti-climax I'm afraid.