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I've DM'd Goblin Arrows many, many times as a training exercise for new players. My latest group was torn as to whether to follow the goblin trail or move the horses and push the cart on to Phandalin. They worried if they left the cart it would get pillaged. Their solution was to write "CURSED" in horse blood on every inch of the surface of the cart in every language they knew. I'm so excited for them to haul it back to Phandalin!
Just ran the hideout with my group of 6. I had them level up after the ambush and buffed the encounters in the hideout. The druid wildshaped into a spider and started exploring the cave, relaying the location of everything, unfortunately for her she rolled a nat1 on stealth and some Gobbos spotted the spider and attempted target practice on the spider in the ceiling. I had the Gobbo roll at disadvantage since he was aiming at fast spoder but he got a nat20 and a nat18 so he sniped the spoder reverting the druid back to herself, alone, in the deepest part of the hideout (by the pools). She entered combat by herself, Klarg got allerted and joined the fight, but miraculusly, the Gobbos missed 5 attacks in a row, so she managed to wildshape into a falcon and fly the fuck out of there. I love D&D :)
@@raccoon3164 A lot. We actually turned the campaign into Waterdeep: Dragonheist (An extended version with all villains from level 5 - 14) after they finished LMoP. We have played every other week for over two years and we have about 4-5 sessions remaining of it. One of the final boss battles today actually
Hey that's cool, hope everything turned out chaotic good! I actually had the same idea as you about leading into Waterdeep : Dragonheist just cause it sounds fucking cool, even though we just barely started Lost Mines. From one GM to another, any tips on how you segwayed from LMoP to Dragonheist would be super appreciated dude!@@reinpogo4601
Love the tutorial, but I disagree with cutting a lot out. This may be the first time for many players. The Traps for example, can be used to teach mechanics players may not think of on their own. Ex. Passive Perception to investigation to disarm trap. How to safely get free using team work, how to avoid a pit after sprung, looting a disarmed trap, luring enemies into trap etc.
That ending bow and foreshadowing section was awesome I'm stealing that for my own games going forward! I ran this a few years ago as my first time DMing and I wish I had seen these back then some great tweaks!!
Oh rad Butcher! It's a real handy trick to keep all the crucial information compartmentalized and stoke the players' interest for next session. Also it's super fun doing an over-the-top narrator thing :D If you're subscribed, keep an eye out for the rest of the series because I've just crossed the halfway point -- I'm writing about the Redbrands right now! Hopefully it's helpful if you decide to run Lost Mines again
Yeah keep it up man! enjoying the content! Found your channel when I was working out cool ways to run chase scenes and now im just binging your full catalogue in the background when doing prep
I'm running my first campaign as a DM tomorrow and these videos have been suuuuper helpful. I saw this cave and was like ummm I'm not super confident they're gonna get through all of this hahaha. Great videos!!
been a player for years and just recently decided to DM for a group of my friends that have always wanted to play. this has been SUUUPER helpful. thank you!
Roger, it's a banger :) PLUS, because so many people have played Starter Set, it shifts your experiences closer to the centre of the D&D venn diagram of shared D&D memories so you can compare stories with practically any D&D fan
Yes, you should! You'll love it. My group is mid-module and we're having a complete blast. It dove-tailed nicely into my homebrew that's going to culminate in "Rise of Tiamat"... with a twist. :) Next after this (which will easily take use another 6 months) is Strahd. After that... either Icewind or Underdark. Or ... more homebrew. I'm not a bad writer! :D
Um. Omg. Yesterday I dmd my first game- I was feeling super stressed about it and have been spending weeks looking at different videos and reading up how to run it and just how to do the whole terrifying dm thing. Yesterday morning as a last minute desperate attempt to figure out all out I searched goblin arrows on UA-cam and found your series on lmop. Holy crapballs you saved my game! I was totally overthinking everything and just having you talk about it all so simply and the ideas for swapping things up and removing stuff was such a frigging relief! I actually had fun and I think the players did too!!! Thank you sooooooo much, I can't wait to watch all the whole series and continue the adventure!!!!!!!!!! 🙏🙏🙏🙏
so many great ideas in this series! running my first campaign as a DM and this has helped me a lot and gave me many ideas of my own. one of my players is a female drow sorcerer who is deathly afraid of spiders (also summons a spider randomly when casting spells) and ik she'll be freaking out when i bring up the black spider earlier than usual, cant wait for her to find out the black spider is also a female drow, i might even make her the reason she got cursed in the first place 🤔
Oh nice! Quick question: the CHARACTER is scared of spiders, not the PLAYER, right? Because if your player is scared of spiders, you should replace the Black Spider with the Black Caterpillar or something haha
BTW, I can't say enough about how much I like/appreciate the chapters! Every time I have a question I go to the chapter I need. ...I watch these videos a LOT 🙂
When I started the campaign, I hadn’t come across your videos until the party was at the Cragmaw hideout, so I wasn’t able to start the group with the puzzle box at the beginning. I set it up so that the sentry goblin on the drawbridge post was not paying attention, as he was sitting down in the middle of the bridge fiddling with this unassuming wooden box, trying to open it. When the party crossed the bridge, they surprised the goblin and took the box. It’s been so great to integrate this as the cornerstone to the campaign!
Again, thanks so much for this! I just DM'd my 2nd ever proper session (1st was a bastardisation of Matt Colville's Delian Tomb) and it went really well (by that I mean nothing went to plan and I had to learn to improv very early on, but I think it went well!). The guys all loved it though and gave me awesome feedback, which made all my prep (of which there was way too much) worth it. The party chased the fleeing Gobbo from the ambush site (and had a cool chase scene thanks to your alternative chase rules) and interrogated him. All but 1 one the party felt sorry for him, as he was such a grunt of a Gobbo, he didn't have a name, so they named him Steef (was Steve, but when I asked them to spell it, this is what it turned into!). Steef led the party to the Cragmaw hideout and told them about Yeemik's desire to over-throw Klarg. After the Ranger tamed one of the wolves on the way in, Steef took the party directly to Yeemik's den. Yeekmik, not happy with Steef for bringing outsiders in,, shot and downed Steef, to the parties anguish. They then tried to bargain with Yeemik, but a bad persuasion roll led to a fight. Ranger went first targeting Yeemik and rolled a Nat 20 on his animal handling for the wolf, so I let the wolf give advantage AND attack for 1d4 +1 piercing damage with a bite and the Ranger also hit hard, so Yeemik was forced to call a truce super quick. He offered to let Sildar go, in exchange for Klarg's head. The party accepted this. Yeemik, now not wanting the burden of a Gobbo he believes to be insubordinate, let the party heal Steef and accompany them. They struggled in the Twin Pools fight, with the Rogue being downed twice and ending the fight stable, but unconscious. We ran out of time there, so the party, with no spells left, no healing pots, have dragged the Rogue's body under the bridge and are going to attempt to rest and recoup for the battle against Klarg. Not sure how happy Yeemik is going to be with this, as he is impatient, so I may have to let out a cry or some noise that Steef knows signifies a sacrifice has begun in Yeemik's den (e.g. they are about to eat Sildar) and then the party will have to go deal with that first. I can give them a level up after that to lvl 2 and then they can go and try and beat Klarg, his Worg, 2 hidden Gobos, but with a pretty strong party of 4 PC's, Steef, a wolf (yet un-named) and an injured Sildar! I have said that after each session, the players vote the MVP and that person gets inspiration at the beginning of the next session and I've also used an alternative inspiration spending system (lots of cool options to choose from), so they can at least get buffed a little from that, even if they don't manage to get a full rest in, so with that and hitting lvl 2, they should hopefully be well equipped to defeat Klarg! 1 month between sessions to plan the next one! Wish me luck!
Hi Matthew! Here is a recap of my first session of LMoP written by a party member. Most of us are not english native speakers but we play the module in english cause we got one party member from Portland. At a cold but sunny late summer morning the band of noobs started their adventure by escorting a cart to Phandalin as an assignment for Gundran Rockseeker, when Anton spotted some dead horses in the morning mist. As the band of noobs started to investigate the carcasses, they found an empty map case with Gundran's name on it. Soon they were attacked by three goblins, two of them almost immediatly lost their lives to Anton's and Pyroxenia's rage about this ambush, but the third one could be captured while he attempted to flee. Under the pressure of Funan's forceful Darth-Vader-style interrogation he told that Gundran and his componion were captured by goblins and brought to Klarg, a dubious mobster with an reputation for ambushes of all sorts. Strengthened by their successful first encounter, the band of noobs hid the cart in the bushes and made their way to the cave where Klarg and his entourage was hiding. The group managed to enter the cave unseen and met three very unhappy and mistreated goblins holding Gundrans companion Zilda hostage, but also willing to raise a mutiny against their oppressor Klarg. A deal was made - death of Klarg against the freedom of Zilda. They went to war against Klarg with Zilda at their side - a long and dangerous battle with almost everyone looking death in the face. Finally Klarg was defeated dying in the knowledge of his misbehaviour leaving a treasure of 600 copper, 120 silver, two healing potions and a mystic frog sculpture behind. Thankfully for the death of their bully the goblins gave them some prey of their ambushes and letting them spend a well-deserved and restful night in the cave.
My favorite thing about your videos is how quick you jump into the good stuff. Really helpful ideas to help struggling dms prioritize and organize scenes
Awesome stuff! Been looking forward to this video for a week now. I just finished my session zero. The players got to create their own prologue for how they got the magic box. Then the session ended with a collective dream the night before setting out for Phandalin, where a dark figure (the black spider) realized the box had slipped from his grasp. Very excited to run session 1 with most of these recommendations soon!
@@heyitsMattyP Long wall of text incoming: Following your advice from the first video, each character had a connection to Gundren. He called them together and explained that he had been tracking down this artifact that contains a magical secret to unlocking "an important opportunity." Recently he learned that it would be up for auction by a woman with no clue what it really was. Gundren sent the party to the auction with twice the gold they would need, but were outbid nonetheless by a bored nobleman. The wizard's familiar and the Ranger kept eyes on the nobleman. Meanwhile, the rest scrambled to create a replica box, utilizing the fighter's proficiency in Jeweler's Tools to affix the large emerald (which they paid for with the money left to them by Gundren). The wizard then magically sealed it in a manner similar to the original (I made the box be sealed so that I didn't have to deal with them eventually opening it). At night, the Rogue went sneaky-sneak to swap the boxes while the nobleman, who looked less ornate than before, slept at his campsite. (Rightfully, the players wondered why a rich guy would camp out instead of buying lodging.) The party returned safely to Neverwinter with the box and instructions to deliver the wagon to Barthen's Provisions in Phandalin where they would meet up with Gundren. BUT that night they all had a dream of the nobleman walking through a cave with the box. As the nobleman went deeper, his features melted until he was a feature-less mass of black muscle and skin. The creature presented the box to a figure obscured by shadow (the Black Spider), who magically unlocked the box, then screamed in rage as the party's remaining gold pieces tumbled out. TLDR; The party lost an auction, so they made a replica box and swapped it with the real thing. The man with the fake ended up being the doppelganger, whose master was enraged at having been conned.
@@heyitsMattyP I haven't thought much about that. Off the top of my head, probably a fighter. He's the one who trained our fighter in the ways of the warhammer.
I cannot tell you how much I enjoy your style. There are a large number of great content creators teaching this adventure, but I love your approach. I am a new DM and I feel you have given me the tools to run this module the way the author intended, while leaving me the flexibility to maximize my players' enjoyment. I am planning on running my first session one on one with my girlfriends Rouge and her Wizard sidekick tongiht! Thanks for all your hard work.
Oh wow, thanks! My gameplay style hasn't changed since making these videos, but my video and presentation style has changed quite a bit as I've gotten more practice. I'm about to dip back into LMOP content this month though, so hopefully the new videos are helpful too!
Late to the party, but I just wanted to share my appreciation for this video. I'm a relatively new DM and this guide has helped me to find that right balance between a pre-written campaign and homebrew. My players are loving the experience and I know its because the story is compelling and they feel a part of it. Plus the pre-written stuff (and these videos) make prep minimal.
I just dm'd my very first session ever using this campaign. Thanks for the tips, they were helpful! On the way to the hideout, I improvised that the fleeing goblin from the ambush would fall into the pit and die because I thought it'd be funny lol
I’m glad you posted these videos about LMoP. I was a DM for the first time 3 days ago and I picked LMoP at an Adventure League gaming event that is done every week. Only three players: a fighter, a wizard, and a barbarian. Due to lack of healers I decided to have Gundren give them all a health potion as a “prepay bonus.” Was a good thing too or they would’ve been TPK during the goblin ambush. My favorite part was when they entered the cragmaw cavern and were stealthing their way in. They were passing all their checks and the goblins were failing so badly that they managed to go under the bridge without the goblin on the bridge noticing them, or the goblin by the water trap noticing them. They then looped around and got onto the bridge, and sneakily pushed the goblin on the bridge and into the water. A low intelligence check and dexterity check later on my end resulted in a really funny moment; The goblin by the water trap thought the goblin falling off the bridge was a signal to set off the trap, but also fell into the water as he set off the trap! As a result both goblins got flushed out of the cavern!!
Matt, my dude... you are SO right. The Goblin Arrows is surprisingly lethal. Everyone thinks, "Oh, Goblins... they're not hard, right?" Wrong. They can, and often DO, kill 1st and 2nd level characters. And there are a LOT of them in this scene. And don't forget the Bugbear!
Picked up this mod to introduce my boys to they game. I havent since 3.5 and never really dm'ed before. Thanks for the review and all the RP ideas along the breakdown! Great work!
Gotta say, I wish this was out 4 years ago when I ran LMoP for my players. Very helpful content, have been watching it over the past few days. Finally subscribed. Please keep up the good work and make the same style videos about other adventures, Wizards' or otherwise.
I'm getting ready to dm this adventure after a hiatus of, oh, hmm 40 years (Advanced Ediltion)? I've watched a number of other videos covering this adventure, and while some are quite good, man, yours are the best. I love your ideas, and personality. I do see how these would take a lot of work. Good luck man! I'll be looking for more from you
I play a lot of board games with my now teenage daughters, they mainly go for worker placement Euro-games like Agricola. We were researching what game to get this Christmas and with nothing grabbing us they asked ‘What did you mostly play when you were our age’…. ‘D&D’ said I. Golly they got excited once I’d explained it a bit. So 45 years since I last painted up a mini here I am. I’m certainly going to play the wolves as potential pets and cut out most of the traps. Really liking your ideas, having a ‘cipher’ treasure box that they’ll really want to solve- that’s genius. Also going for a rogue widowed wife Bugbear somewhere in the plot later on…. I’m actually getting a tad excited.
This adaptation of the encounter was so helpful, we just ran it today - the encounters were balanced and all my players had a blast, and I had so much fun running it. Thanks for all your work and advice, it’s been a huge help for this first time DM!
I'm a seasoned GM in other systems, but I just ran my first D&D session... For my 11yo daughter a group of her friends. It was absolutely nuts. The players were unruly and loud but in the eve we had a great time. Fantastic advice in this video. I was already worried that Grundrin Rockseeker needed to be more of a sympathetic character and i liked your advice. I basically set him up as friend to the party, gave them a MacGuffin and had him explain that they were all going to be made soon... He'd explain more when they were safely in Phandalin, because of Reasons. Great advice about trimming the fat from the encounters, too. Pushed for time, we jumped more or less straight from the wolves to an encounter with Klarg, his wolf and a could of surviving goblins he was bullying from his throne in the water pools cave. Mage was smart enough to put the wolf to sleep, taking it straight out of action. Players got excellent rolls all session and my only regret is that they didn't get challenged enough. Not that it matters: they had fun 😊
I'm about to start running my first ever game with the starter set and I'm a bit nervous. I'm over-analyzing and I love that you keep pointing out things that I noticed after my first read-through of the book. I'm going to be sure to watch as many of these videos as I can!
Cheers Chris! The general consensus I've gotten from people about this videos is something like, "Even if I don't agree with every suggestion, the videos kept me calm about running D&D." I'd recommend banging out the whole lot of videos before acting on my advice, because I there are some bits of information I forgot to front-load and it all makes better sense in context. You're gonna love LMOP! It's great :)
Your videos have been so useful for running the LMoP. After seeing this video I decided to keep the traps that the goblins set but instead setting them as part of the ambush. On one side a snare trap hauls the captured player up by the foot, but weight of armour meant that the player ended up dangling inches off the ground and still able to take some part in proceedings. On the other side, a pit sent a player tumbling down the embankment to the trail for minimal damage and an incentive to get even. It worked for my group of first time players. With a slightly larger party of five players, having the traps allowed me to avoid making the encounter more deadly.
I am planning on running my youngest daughter and a few sidekicks through this very soon. We are both so very excited! Thank you so much for making this video series helping to break down the key moments and give new DM's pointers for these adventures. The module isn't always so clear cut as you explain things to be. I appreciate your work with all of your module guides. I can't wait to pour through them and get to adventuring!
Thank you for this amazing series! Lost Mines is my first stint as a DM, and apart from the great tone, pacing and production in your videos, I'd like to commend you on your approach to sharing your knowledge. It feels similar to the cooking channels that have really helped me improve my kitchen skills - not only do they show you how to achieve a great end result - they also unpack the reasoning for applying a certain method or concept. To share a story: Having tied up Yeemik and a handful of goblins in the Den, my party backed by Sildar cleared the Twin Caves without triggering the dams. They then ambushed Klarg, and after a few rounds of fighting he barely managed to escape down the chute (after plenty of missed attacks) with two HP left. The party monk, heavily injured, summoned his last strength to sprint out into the Twin Dam room and release the flood - failing the dex save on the second dam and knocking himself unconscious. The flood roared down the cave, and I rolled for Klarg in secret. I let the players stabilize the monk and loot Klarg's room. Nearing the cave exit, the players heard Goblin cheers of "Yeemik, Yeemik". As they turned the corner, they encountered Klargs dead body, head broken in after being pushed by the force of the flood. On top of him stood Yeemik, scimitar firmly planted in Klargs back. He thanked the players for "being good subjects to the new king of the cave" by breaking lose Klargs' three gold teeth, and handing them to the players. Yeemik will return later. Klarg had failed his secret dex save and had taken enough damage to kill him, and Yeemik + friends had enough time to wrestle free from their ropes.
Thanks for the kind comment! My next focus for future campaign guides is packaging the information a bit more sequentially, because a few times in these LMOP guides I've had to backtrack slightly and clarify old information. The series I'm writing now is about Storm King's Thunder. I like your goblin story too :)
@@heyitsMattyP looking forward to Storm of the Thunder King - that is the one I’m lining up. Thinking about how they connect - is Nezza actually preparing to do good (and make profits) by delivering weapons to defend against giants? (Villian with a noble motive). Do the party Open a port that connect Them to the giants?
I've played LMoP as a player and as a DM, and let me tell you, the new approach you gave us on the "script" and the change on the NPC's, and mostly, the keys to twist and change the story is actually priceless. Thank you. (Subscribed and liked)
I love the point you made about asking the players how their character is feeling. I have tried to present spots where the characters could talk to each other and waste some time. This might be a good way to do it.
Hey there, I found your guide while preparing this as my first D&D campaign. I've always only played The Dark Eye, coming from Germany, so this is my first toe-dipping here - Thanks for the invaluable resources! My players (First time PnP-players, my Wife and 3 kids, 12-15) have deceived Yeemik into thinking they're supposed to get the hostage for King Grol, which he didn't really buy, but he struck a deal with them to dispose of Klarg. Then they deceived Klarg into believing them as well. Unfortunately, he went with them to Yeemik, to get the hostage, so he was pissed to see Klarg alive. Klarg knew, Yeemik was up to no good, so the boss fight of this cave was Klarg and the Players against Yeemik an his cronies. Not quite as I had planned, but funny nonetheless. They nearly managed to talk themselves out of everything, really good for first time players.
Oh wow! They smooth-talked their way into an impossible situation haha :) Well done! Also: since you're from Germany, you may like this free combat cheat sheet my community translated into Deutsch - www.patreon.com/posts/5e-combat-cheat-37395490
This is great! I think it's the best guide on Lmop and I've seen many. Love the way you tweak stuff, for example how to make the hideout a one session lenght dungeon to keep a good pace. How you describe teasing Phandalin in the end was an amazing cliffhanger I definitely will use that in my own campaign. Keep up the good work! :)
Agnar that's such a kind thing to say - thank you! If this series became the go-to guide for Lost Mines, I'd be stoked. I haven't seen the competition though, so I'll take you at your word and make sure the later episodes keep the standard high :)
About to run session 1 of this on Tuesday with my friends. Looking forward to seeing if anyone misses a beat as I put in these changes. Brilliant stuff
@@heyitsMattyP everyone is hypothesizing on what the shifter is… no one seems to be interested in the lady with the Spider staff :/ oooh! The ArcKnight set has a Drider mini for The Spider, so whilst we slowly progress towards that fight I’m doing some balancing for the combat, have the changeling fight them as a Lolth wizard, then have her descend from the ceiling when they hit half health. So many ideas!
oh my gosh. OH MY GOSH. oh my gosh. Thank you Matthew, thank you for making these! This is the first video of yours I've seen! I'm trying to put together this campaign as a noob DM and DANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNG. Thankfully none of our crew have ever played DnD so they won't notice when I use every single suggestion here. THANK YOU
I love the idea of playing Klarg as an evil Seth Rogen 😂 Great series on how to run this module. I used your session 0 tips last night, and my players loved the addition of the puzzle box! They decided it was going to be like the puzzle box in Hellraiser, which was great because I love when the players add their own ideas into the mix and make the thing their own.
Wow. This is really good. Our players are about to enter the cave. Perfect timing. I like your npc breakdown... what they know etc. Good! I like your style and presentation. Really makes for an informative and engaging video. Thanks Oi oi oi
Hey Matt! Just finished this video and your first on LMoP. I’m about to start DMing for the first time for my nephew and a couple of his friends. They’re excited to play and I’m excited to DM. These videos have been great! I was feeling nervous about running and now I am utterly inspired. Thank you for your work and your approach to describing the scenes and options for modifications. Can’t wait to watch more :)
This video is so helpful - I've only ran these encounters once and it felt really long winded in parts, but would never have considered getting rid of the traps or making the wolves encounter less combat focussed. Really great stuff and entertaining to boot :)
Thanks for making this Matthew! I'm gonna run this adventure for a group of complete noobies next week, this video and the first of the series have been super helpful, I'm gonna have a hard time not watching the rest of your videos on this module.
Oh rad! Please let me know how the session goes Scott. I'd totally recommend binging the series before your first session -- it should give you a complete image of the adventure's ecosystem and how everything is connected :)
First time DM here. Love this series! I've been using a lot of your ideas as well as a few of my own and my players love it. Figured you might appreciate a quick story from our run through Cragmaw Hideout: One of my players calmed the wolves in the kennel with Animal Handling and the group explored the chimney on the other side. One of my dumber fighter players climbed up the chimney and saw Klarg sitting in his office. He decided that right then, with his head peeking out of the chimney, was the best time to strike up a casual conversation with Klarg. Klarg, obviously alarmed by the intruders, later ended up fighting them in the twin pools room, which led to some really interesting combat theatrics. Our wizard ran distraction and used minor illusion to distract Klarg while the Rogue hid behind one of the larger stalactites in the room. Klarg landed a critical hit on our fighter and dropped him to 0 HP, but the Rogue answered with a nat 20 sneak attack of his own, decapitating a weakened Klarg. I'm so excited for Yeemick to rise to power in Cragmaw Castle, and to potentially being back the tamed wolves in a street fight with the Redbrands in Phandalin! Thank you so much for all of the great content.
Woof! Love that clutch crit after the fighter drops. Thanks for sharing! My last group had a different no-name goblin they ended up convincing to believe in himself and let him leave the Cragmaw Hideout,. He ended up becoming Job the Goblin King. They fought him as he rode an owlbear in the second-last session at the Cragmaw Castle.
I discovered your videos 2 sessions into LMoP…and have been binging and craving the next session ever since! I’m excited to alter some of the pre-written info now that you’ve given “permission” to go rogue. Haha. My first session was a doozy, I misunderstood the “charm” spell and let the players take a Goblin friend who through a series of. AMAZING persuasion checks, became their friend. This goblin (Jeff) was later instated as the new leader of Cragmaw cavern as a thanks for his help in battle. Session 2, one of the players insisted on buying a goat, and because the image is so funny, I am allowing the goat to be large enough/the dwarf to be small enough that they ride the goat in battle. Hahahaha
Mr. Perkins, I presume? Hey Matt, just wanted to thank you SO much for this series of vids you've created on the LMoP! I've never DM'd before, but am very excited to do so for my buds. So I've been searching on "how to's" and stumbled across your channel. Let me tell you, you've got another subscriber, my dude! These vids are well done and I am excited to make similar changes to this starter set, to make my first time DM'ing a sure success!
The puzzle box is a macguffin I added into the campaign as an excuse to introduce the villain early. This video is the second video in the series - I think I talk about the puzzlebox in the first video.
@@heyitsMattyP ahh, yeah i listened a little more and realized that! This is my first time DM’ing and I just thought I missed some big thing! I am really enjoying your videos though!!
My party freed the wolves and then climbed the chimney. My bard then charmed Klarg and through a series of checks and saves got the VIP tour through the hideout and walked out with Slidar...
Thank you so much for this series! I think for my campaign, I'm gonna turn the little teasers at the end of the session into prophetic dreams for our Paladin? I did something similiar in the previous campaign and the players got really hyped about it.
Took a page of notes on your first video. Thank you so much for putting these on! Currently searching/scamming/conning/threatening players to run this. I’ll post our journey here.
Running this adventure the second time with a new group and have found your videos awesome! I tell my players that the d8 is 2 Pyramids butt to butt....
I like to throw in an intro adventure before Goblin Ambush ... Sacrifice of Innocence is a great one. I have the players leave Neverwinter with Gundren, Sildar and one of Gundren's bros. They travel together a couple of days and get to know the group, then they part ways at the beginning of the Sacrifice of Innocence scene saying they'll catch up. That way when they get to the dead horse (and dying brother!) they have built a relationship and really want to save Sildar and Gundren. The dying brother is also my first spot to give a fun magic item to one of the party -- a family heirloom or something, like a bag of holding or something like that.
Gotta say my dude, loving this series of videos. Soooooo much useful info and the format that you use to break it up and extract the "Point" of each part of the adventure can be used for literally any published adventure. Keep up the hard work mang!!!
Keep *CLAP* it *CLAP* UP! *CLAP* I started running this campaign this week with one group and will be using your videos for another group. It'll be a fun experiment.
Good advice all around and with a great sense of humour. I can't stres enough what you said about Room 6. Five goblins and Yeemik are far too many for four 1st lvl characters if you want to run this dungeon without the group having to stop for a long rest and drag the whole session down.
Hi Matt, just wanted to thank you so much for these videos, I ran my first ever session as a DM last night and used several of your tips and they really gave me confidence and the whole thing went over so well! In particular the players loved the little prologue before starting the adventure. Really useful for a brand new DM! Thank you!
This DM has a very different style to me, and obviously enjoys different aspects of the game. So, while I don't use most of the advice he gives, it's still very helpful to get a different perspective and there are always a couple good ideas I never would have though of.
Hey Matt, A lot of good ideas here. I'm a big fan of the way you tease the next session. I'm going to give it a go in a session I'm running at the end of the week. I'll let you know how it turns out ! Keep up the great content :)
(It’s fun to see people commenting so recently, and Matthew responding to them! Hello! Looking forward to the new Lost Mines content) Your Lost Mines series is a huge boon! I’ve only ever run one-or-two-shots, but I’m going to run this campaign for my little siblings and their friend, all new to the game. Found your Thundertree video during my prep last week, decided to rework Venomfang as BBEG, and watched the rest of your series. As I was warned, doing a major rework along with standard PC Backstory Integration is more challenging than I guessed! My usual prep method left me overwhelmed, but it’s been much better since I (read the module and) started over using the “What’s the Point?” system. It’s clean and effective - Purpose, RP, Know. The most important bits, presented in the forms you’ll actually use in-game! Why didn’t I think of that?! So yeah, this series showed me a better way to prioritize and organize a game’s characters, plot beats, and player-induced chaos. Can’t wait to create wacky, incidentally dramatic stories with my little siblings and their friend. Thanks!
Hey that's great! You'll have a blast. When playing with kids though: just remember to remind them at the start that 1) they're playing the heroes and 2) they're all on the same team. I've absolutely got a function-first approach to storytelling, and I'm actually too hardline when it comes to cutting content and streamlining, but I'm happy to be the opposite extreme of the official modules' fluff and let people find their happy middleground.
Funny you mention that! We played a short “practice session” last week, and there were two instances of pickpocketing each other and one of punching each other’s face lol. The Golden Rule is in place and shall be strictly enforced But there were no innocent NPCs in the practice, so I’ll definitely remind them of their hero status. Two of the three players are rogues with the flaw “I habitually steal…” They can be the best players and they can be the worst - so imaginative and fun-loving, but kids can be meean. …I say, as if adults are much different!:P Just a different balance of traits
@@heyitsMattyP iIt went perfect. Played the whole weekend. And the players (two first time players) where super exited and cant wait to play again. Thank you so much again. :)
I have my very first session of goblin ambush, at the start I linked everyone's backstory to the plot hook, I also gave each player a buff as they are level 1 and I know how grueling this module can get. Excited to run session 2 and I love this video, lays out more information 👍
Good idea! There are only five real danger areas balance-wise - the first goblin encounter, the encounter with Yeemik if the players are still level 1, the zombie encounter with the necromancer, the stirges in WEC, and the green dragon. Everything else hits OK :)
Thanks for this I'm running this campaign and you are really helping me create a better picture. I've been running games since 3E and this is my first premade.
The first time I ran the Klarg encounter I had a small trap created. The fire pit is built on a metal shield that covers a hole in the ground large enough for Klarg to crawl in from a vantage point away from the door. If he is warned he will climb under the fire pit and wait for the party to walk close enough and get a surprise round where he explodes out from under the pit wielding the red hot shield showering the room with embers, and utilizing his bugbear sneak attack damage ability.
Great video series! Your little jokes about the players and the game show-esque music with "What's the point of ?" got a laugh out of me. More importantly, these are super helpful for a new DM like me. Thank you!!
@@heyitsMattyP It's okay, I was only one session in and I managed to incorporate most of your suggestions and I'm working on fitting the rest of them in as well.
I forgot to post in the last video how excited I am for this series. Ive also run it many times, but starting out with some new players and will wait til the end of this series.
If you like this kind of content, please let me know by liking, subscribing, commenting! Watching this video without feeding the algorithm is illegal, and you WILL be arrested. Also: please share this with your players after the campaign finishes :)
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My wife can't tell the difference between any of the dice. She just knows she HATES the d4.
@@lashwrithe01 Remember the simpler days when every dice was a cube? Cubes all the way down, like it should be.
@@heyitsMattyP YAHTZEE!
Yahtzee.
Is the western style Fandlynn Map by Gaston on your Patreon?
I've DM'd Goblin Arrows many, many times as a training exercise for new players. My latest group was torn as to whether to follow the goblin trail or move the horses and push the cart on to Phandalin. They worried if they left the cart it would get pillaged. Their solution was to write "CURSED" in horse blood on every inch of the surface of the cart in every language they knew. I'm so excited for them to haul it back to Phandalin!
Horse blood!? Oh man, that's actually brutal!
How did this turn out?
@@jenoneonone The townsfolk were understandably wary of the cart once the sun rose, but by then so much else had happened that it was a non-issue, lol
@@benvoliothefirst Haha thanks for the update!
I love this that they’re smart enough to do this to ward of goblins but not smart enough to know it’s gonna be horrifying for the towns people
Just ran the hideout with my group of 6. I had them level up after the ambush and buffed the encounters in the hideout. The druid wildshaped into a spider and started exploring the cave, relaying the location of everything, unfortunately for her she rolled a nat1 on stealth and some Gobbos spotted the spider and attempted target practice on the spider in the ceiling. I had the Gobbo roll at disadvantage since he was aiming at fast spoder but he got a nat20 and a nat18 so he sniped the spoder reverting the druid back to herself, alone, in the deepest part of the hideout (by the pools). She entered combat by herself, Klarg got allerted and joined the fight, but miraculusly, the Gobbos missed 5 attacks in a row, so she managed to wildshape into a falcon and fly the fuck out of there. I love D&D :)
Scouting missions often end up being combat missions - classic D&D :)
It's been a long time but what happened next !?
@@raccoon3164 A lot. We actually turned the campaign into Waterdeep: Dragonheist (An extended version with all villains from level 5 - 14) after they finished LMoP. We have played every other week for over two years and we have about 4-5 sessions remaining of it. One of the final boss battles today actually
Hey that's cool, hope everything turned out chaotic good! I actually had the same idea as you about leading into Waterdeep : Dragonheist just cause it sounds fucking cool, even though we just barely started Lost Mines. From one GM to another, any tips on how you segwayed from LMoP to Dragonheist would be super appreciated dude!@@reinpogo4601
Including a section with RP tips is a great idea! Great presentation, Matt :)
Cheers Bob!
Love the tutorial, but I disagree with cutting a lot out. This may be the first time for many players. The Traps for example, can be used to teach mechanics players may not think of on their own. Ex. Passive Perception to investigation to disarm trap. How to safely get free using team work, how to avoid a pit after sprung, looting a disarmed trap, luring enemies into trap etc.
That ending bow and foreshadowing section was awesome I'm stealing that for my own games going forward! I ran this a few years ago as my first time DMing and I wish I had seen these back then some great tweaks!!
Oh rad Butcher! It's a real handy trick to keep all the crucial information compartmentalized and stoke the players' interest for next session. Also it's super fun doing an over-the-top narrator thing :D If you're subscribed, keep an eye out for the rest of the series because I've just crossed the halfway point -- I'm writing about the Redbrands right now! Hopefully it's helpful if you decide to run Lost Mines again
Yeah keep it up man! enjoying the content! Found your channel when I was working out cool ways to run chase scenes and now im just binging your full catalogue in the background when doing prep
I'm running my first campaign as a DM tomorrow and these videos have been suuuuper helpful. I saw this cave and was like ummm I'm not super confident they're gonna get through all of this hahaha. Great videos!!
been a player for years and just recently decided to DM for a group of my friends that have always wanted to play. this has been SUUUPER helpful. thank you!
Glad to help! Bet your players loved it :)
Prepping to DM LMOP for my friends right now! Can't say how much I appreciate having you as a resource
Oh wow! I appreciate you inviting my ideas to your table :) Hope you and your mates have a rad time!
I’ve never played this set, admittedly. I really should!
Roger, it's a banger :)
PLUS, because so many people have played Starter Set, it shifts your experiences closer to the centre of the D&D venn diagram of shared D&D memories so you can compare stories with practically any D&D fan
Yes, you should! You'll love it.
My group is mid-module and we're having a complete blast. It dove-tailed nicely into my homebrew that's going to culminate in "Rise of Tiamat"... with a twist. :)
Next after this (which will easily take use another 6 months) is Strahd.
After that... either Icewind or Underdark. Or ... more homebrew. I'm not a bad writer! :D
I wish I had seen this before running it. Fully agree with all the removals.
The whole "welcome to phandalin" section impressed me so much you're a genius
lol no no no, it's just practice!
Um. Omg. Yesterday I dmd my first game- I was feeling super stressed about it and have been spending weeks looking at different videos and reading up how to run it and just how to do the whole terrifying dm thing. Yesterday morning as a last minute desperate attempt to figure out all out I searched goblin arrows on UA-cam and found your series on lmop. Holy crapballs you saved my game! I was totally overthinking everything and just having you talk about it all so simply and the ideas for swapping things up and removing stuff was such a frigging relief! I actually had fun and I think the players did too!!! Thank you sooooooo much, I can't wait to watch all the whole series and continue the adventure!!!!!!!!!! 🙏🙏🙏🙏
so many great ideas in this series! running my first campaign as a DM and this has helped me a lot and gave me many ideas of my own. one of my players is a female drow sorcerer who is deathly afraid of spiders (also summons a spider randomly when casting spells) and ik she'll be freaking out when i bring up the black spider earlier than usual, cant wait for her to find out the black spider is also a female drow, i might even make her the reason she got cursed in the first place 🤔
Oh nice! Quick question: the CHARACTER is scared of spiders, not the PLAYER, right? Because if your player is scared of spiders, you should replace the Black Spider with the Black Caterpillar or something haha
@@heyitsMattyP no its the character haha and hopefully she overcomes that fear before fighting her lol
BTW, I can't say enough about how much I like/appreciate the chapters! Every time I have a question I go to the chapter I need. ...I watch these videos a LOT 🙂
Yeah it's a great feature! I'm a big fan. For some reason it stopped working in my browser, but I'm glad it's displaying properly for other people.
Please never stop making videos. This was so helpful for me.
More to come! One day I hope to have most of my content be in-depth guides like these
When I started the campaign, I hadn’t come across your videos until the party was at the Cragmaw hideout, so I wasn’t able to start the group with the puzzle box at the beginning.
I set it up so that the sentry goblin on the drawbridge post was not paying attention, as he was sitting down in the middle of the bridge fiddling with this unassuming wooden box, trying to open it. When the party crossed the bridge, they surprised the goblin and took the box. It’s been so great to integrate this as the cornerstone to the campaign!
An excellent video that I am using to help me prepare for my first campaign as a DM
Sick mate! Hope you're not too worried: you'll smash it, and your friends will have a blast
Again, thanks so much for this! I just DM'd my 2nd ever proper session (1st was a bastardisation of Matt Colville's Delian Tomb) and it went really well (by that I mean nothing went to plan and I had to learn to improv very early on, but I think it went well!). The guys all loved it though and gave me awesome feedback, which made all my prep (of which there was way too much) worth it.
The party chased the fleeing Gobbo from the ambush site (and had a cool chase scene thanks to your alternative chase rules) and interrogated him. All but 1 one the party felt sorry for him, as he was such a grunt of a Gobbo, he didn't have a name, so they named him Steef (was Steve, but when I asked them to spell it, this is what it turned into!). Steef led the party to the Cragmaw hideout and told them about Yeemik's desire to over-throw Klarg.
After the Ranger tamed one of the wolves on the way in, Steef took the party directly to Yeemik's den. Yeekmik, not happy with Steef for bringing outsiders in,, shot and downed Steef, to the parties anguish. They then tried to bargain with Yeemik, but a bad persuasion roll led to a fight.
Ranger went first targeting Yeemik and rolled a Nat 20 on his animal handling for the wolf, so I let the wolf give advantage AND attack for 1d4 +1 piercing damage with a bite and the Ranger also hit hard, so Yeemik was forced to call a truce super quick. He offered to let Sildar go, in exchange for Klarg's head. The party accepted this. Yeemik, now not wanting the burden of a Gobbo he believes to be insubordinate, let the party heal Steef and accompany them.
They struggled in the Twin Pools fight, with the Rogue being downed twice and ending the fight stable, but unconscious.
We ran out of time there, so the party, with no spells left, no healing pots, have dragged the Rogue's body under the bridge and are going to attempt to rest and recoup for the battle against Klarg.
Not sure how happy Yeemik is going to be with this, as he is impatient, so I may have to let out a cry or some noise that Steef knows signifies a sacrifice has begun in Yeemik's den (e.g. they are about to eat Sildar) and then the party will have to go deal with that first. I can give them a level up after that to lvl 2 and then they can go and try and beat Klarg, his Worg, 2 hidden Gobos, but with a pretty strong party of 4 PC's, Steef, a wolf (yet un-named) and an injured Sildar!
I have said that after each session, the players vote the MVP and that person gets inspiration at the beginning of the next session and I've also used an alternative inspiration spending system (lots of cool options to choose from), so they can at least get buffed a little from that, even if they don't manage to get a full rest in, so with that and hitting lvl 2, they should hopefully be well equipped to defeat Klarg!
1 month between sessions to plan the next one! Wish me luck!
Very well done! Glad it's going well :)
Our party also decided to interrogate a goblin, I wish I had thought of the interrogated goblin giving info on Yeemik's schemes!
Great idea!
@@stephaniesheen6405 Thanks! How's your campaign going?
Hi Matthew! Here is a recap of my first session of LMoP written by a party member. Most of us are not english native speakers but we play the module in english cause we got one party member from Portland.
At a cold but sunny late summer morning the band of noobs started their adventure by escorting a cart to Phandalin as an assignment for Gundran Rockseeker, when Anton spotted some dead horses in the morning mist. As the band of noobs started to investigate the carcasses, they found an empty map case with Gundran's name on it. Soon they were attacked by three goblins, two of them almost immediatly lost their lives to Anton's and Pyroxenia's rage about this ambush, but the third one could be captured while he attempted to flee. Under the pressure of Funan's forceful Darth-Vader-style interrogation he told that Gundran and his componion were captured by goblins and brought to Klarg, a dubious mobster with an reputation for ambushes of all sorts. Strengthened by their successful first encounter, the band of noobs hid the cart in the bushes and made their way to the cave where Klarg and his entourage was hiding. The group managed to enter the cave unseen and met three very unhappy and mistreated goblins holding Gundrans companion Zilda hostage, but also willing to raise a mutiny against their oppressor Klarg. A deal was made - death of Klarg against the freedom of Zilda. They went to war against Klarg with Zilda at their side - a long and dangerous battle with almost everyone looking death in the face. Finally Klarg was defeated dying in the knowledge of his misbehaviour leaving a treasure of 600 copper, 120 silver, two healing potions and a mystic frog sculpture behind. Thankfully for the death of their bully the goblins gave them some prey of their ambushes and letting them spend a well-deserved and restful night in the cave.
Thanks for sharing Marius! I like how the goblins let the party rest in the cave after they defeated Klarg :)
Honestly how do you not have more followers. This is so helpful
My favorite thing about your videos is how quick you jump into the good stuff. Really helpful ideas to help struggling dms prioritize and organize scenes
That ending tale you told, made me excited to see what was going to happen in Phandelin! Well done good sir!
You feed me with ideas and therefore I'll feed the algorithm. Big thank you for making this series.
Watching this has genuinely changed how I view story telling! Awesome video man, love the whole series
Glad to help :)
Excellent video. This is where our group is now.
Thank you!
Awesome stuff! Been looking forward to this video for a week now. I just finished my session zero. The players got to create their own prologue for how they got the magic box. Then the session ended with a collective dream the night before setting out for Phandalin, where a dark figure (the black spider) realized the box had slipped from his grasp.
Very excited to run session 1 with most of these recommendations soon!
Jamie that's awesome! Super stoked this video series is chugging along at the same pace as your game :)
What was the prologue your party concocted?
@@heyitsMattyP Long wall of text incoming: Following your advice from the first video, each character had a connection to Gundren. He called them together and explained that he had been tracking down this artifact that contains a magical secret to unlocking "an important opportunity." Recently he learned that it would be up for auction by a woman with no clue what it really was. Gundren sent the party to the auction with twice the gold they would need, but were outbid nonetheless by a bored nobleman.
The wizard's familiar and the Ranger kept eyes on the nobleman. Meanwhile, the rest scrambled to create a replica box, utilizing the fighter's proficiency in Jeweler's Tools to affix the large emerald (which they paid for with the money left to them by Gundren). The wizard then magically sealed it in a manner similar to the original (I made the box be sealed so that I didn't have to deal with them eventually opening it).
At night, the Rogue went sneaky-sneak to swap the boxes while the nobleman, who looked less ornate than before, slept at his campsite. (Rightfully, the players wondered why a rich guy would camp out instead of buying lodging.) The party returned safely to Neverwinter with the box and instructions to deliver the wagon to Barthen's Provisions in Phandalin where they would meet up with Gundren.
BUT that night they all had a dream of the nobleman walking through a cave with the box. As the nobleman went deeper, his features melted until he was a feature-less mass of black muscle and skin. The creature presented the box to a figure obscured by shadow (the Black Spider), who magically unlocked the box, then screamed in rage as the party's remaining gold pieces tumbled out.
TLDR; The party lost an auction, so they made a replica box and swapped it with the real thing. The man with the fake ended up being the doppelganger, whose master was enraged at having been conned.
That's rad! Well done :)
What class do you think your Gundren is?
@@heyitsMattyP I haven't thought much about that. Off the top of my head, probably a fighter. He's the one who trained our fighter in the ways of the warhammer.
This content and series is absolutely ace. Best in class. Many thanks.
I cannot tell you how much I enjoy your style. There are a large number of great content creators teaching this adventure, but I love your approach. I am a new DM and I feel you have given me the tools to run this module the way the author intended, while leaving me the flexibility to maximize my players' enjoyment. I am planning on running my first session one on one with my girlfriends Rouge and her Wizard sidekick tongiht! Thanks for all your hard work.
Oh wow, thanks! My gameplay style hasn't changed since making these videos, but my video and presentation style has changed quite a bit as I've gotten more practice. I'm about to dip back into LMOP content this month though, so hopefully the new videos are helpful too!
Man. Super love how you break down missions and add/delete portions. Well done, super excited to run this! 👏
Mate! Glad you're keen - I love cutting content haha
About to start Dming for the family for the first time, your videos and Patreon have been amazing help
Thanks Paul! I'm gonna work hard to keep making useful content for you :)
Late to the party, but I just wanted to share my appreciation for this video. I'm a relatively new DM and this guide has helped me to find that right balance between a pre-written campaign and homebrew. My players are loving the experience and I know its because the story is compelling and they feel a part of it. Plus the pre-written stuff (and these videos) make prep minimal.
I just dm'd my very first session ever using this campaign. Thanks for the tips, they were helpful!
On the way to the hideout, I improvised that the fleeing goblin from the ambush would fall into the pit and die because I thought it'd be funny lol
Great job!
@@heyitsMattyP thanks!
I’m glad you posted these videos about LMoP. I was a DM for the first time 3 days ago and I picked LMoP at an Adventure League gaming event that is done every week.
Only three players: a fighter, a wizard, and a barbarian. Due to lack of healers I decided to have Gundren give them all a health potion as a “prepay bonus.” Was a good thing too or they would’ve been TPK during the goblin ambush.
My favorite part was when they entered the cragmaw cavern and were stealthing their way in. They were passing all their checks and the goblins were failing so badly that they managed to go under the bridge without the goblin on the bridge noticing them, or the goblin by the water trap noticing them. They then looped around and got onto the bridge, and sneakily pushed the goblin on the bridge and into the water. A low intelligence check and dexterity check later on my end resulted in a really funny moment;
The goblin by the water trap thought the goblin falling off the bridge was a signal to set off the trap, but also fell into the water as he set off the trap! As a result both goblins got flushed out of the cavern!!
That first encounter man! I still maintain I bet the Goblin Ambush encounter has killed more characters than any other official 5E content
Running this tonight for the first time excited!
Mike! How'd the session go?
Matt, my dude... you are SO right. The Goblin Arrows is surprisingly lethal. Everyone thinks, "Oh, Goblins... they're not hard, right?"
Wrong.
They can, and often DO, kill 1st and 2nd level characters. And there are a LOT of them in this scene. And don't forget the Bugbear!
I've had to fudge a couple rolls in the first dungeon for sure! Especially if the Bugbear manages to get a surprise round
Picked up this mod to introduce my boys to they game. I havent since 3.5 and never really dm'ed before. Thanks for the review and all the RP ideas along the breakdown! Great work!
Cheers Michael! Hope you and your boys have a great time :)
Gotta say, I wish this was out 4 years ago when I ran LMoP for my players. Very helpful content, have been watching it over the past few days. Finally subscribed. Please keep up the good work and make the same style videos about other adventures, Wizards' or otherwise.
I'm getting ready to dm this adventure after a hiatus of, oh, hmm 40 years (Advanced Ediltion)? I've watched a number of other videos covering this adventure, and while some are quite good, man, yours are the best. I love your ideas, and personality. I do see how these would take a lot of work. Good luck man! I'll be looking for more from you
I play a lot of board games with my now teenage daughters, they mainly go for worker placement Euro-games like Agricola. We were researching what game to get this Christmas and with nothing grabbing us they asked ‘What did you mostly play when you were our age’…. ‘D&D’ said I. Golly they got excited once I’d explained it a bit. So 45 years since I last painted up a mini here I am. I’m certainly going to play the wolves as potential pets and cut out most of the traps. Really liking your ideas, having a ‘cipher’ treasure box that they’ll really want to solve- that’s genius. Also going for a rogue widowed wife Bugbear somewhere in the plot later on…. I’m actually getting a tad excited.
Sounds great Ian! I do love those euro games though haha
Thanks, great approach to structuring the material and nice humor! ⚔️
Thank you :)
This adaptation of the encounter was so helpful, we just ran it today - the encounters were balanced and all my players had a blast, and I had so much fun running it. Thanks for all your work and advice, it’s been a huge help for this first time DM!
Happy to help! Cheers Amber!
I'm a seasoned GM in other systems, but I just ran my first D&D session... For my 11yo daughter a group of her friends. It was absolutely nuts. The players were unruly and loud but in the eve we had a great time.
Fantastic advice in this video. I was already worried that Grundrin Rockseeker needed to be more of a sympathetic character and i liked your advice.
I basically set him up as friend to the party, gave them a MacGuffin and had him explain that they were all going to be made soon... He'd explain more when they were safely in Phandalin, because of Reasons.
Great advice about trimming the fat from the encounters, too. Pushed for time, we jumped more or less straight from the wolves to an encounter with Klarg, his wolf and a could of surviving goblins he was bullying from his throne in the water pools cave.
Mage was smart enough to put the wolf to sleep, taking it straight out of action. Players got excellent rolls all session and my only regret is that they didn't get challenged enough. Not that it matters: they had fun 😊
Great job! Glad to help :)
I'm about to start running my first ever game with the starter set and I'm a bit nervous. I'm over-analyzing and I love that you keep pointing out things that I noticed after my first read-through of the book. I'm going to be sure to watch as many of these videos as I can!
Cheers Chris! The general consensus I've gotten from people about this videos is something like, "Even if I don't agree with every suggestion, the videos kept me calm about running D&D." I'd recommend banging out the whole lot of videos before acting on my advice, because I there are some bits of information I forgot to front-load and it all makes better sense in context.
You're gonna love LMOP! It's great :)
Your videos have been so useful for running the LMoP. After seeing this video I decided to keep the traps that the goblins set but instead setting them as part of the ambush. On one side a snare trap hauls the captured player up by the foot, but weight of armour meant that the player ended up dangling inches off the ground and still able to take some part in proceedings. On the other side, a pit sent a player tumbling down the embankment to the trail for minimal damage and an incentive to get even. It worked for my group of first time players. With a slightly larger party of five players, having the traps allowed me to avoid making the encounter more deadly.
Yeah cool! That's a good idea to roll those traps into the combat to make it a bit more dramatic.
I am planning on running my youngest daughter and a few sidekicks through this very soon. We are both so very excited! Thank you so much for making this video series helping to break down the key moments and give new DM's pointers for these adventures. The module isn't always so clear cut as you explain things to be. I appreciate your work with all of your module guides. I can't wait to pour through them and get to adventuring!
Eric! Happy to help! Hope your campaign goes well :)
Thank you for this amazing series! Lost Mines is my first stint as a DM, and apart from the great tone, pacing and production in your videos, I'd like to commend you on your approach to sharing your knowledge. It feels similar to the cooking channels that have really helped me improve my kitchen skills - not only do they show you how to achieve a great end result - they also unpack the reasoning for applying a certain method or concept.
To share a story: Having tied up Yeemik and a handful of goblins in the Den, my party backed by Sildar cleared the Twin Caves without triggering the dams. They then ambushed Klarg, and after a few rounds of fighting he barely managed to escape down the chute (after plenty of missed attacks) with two HP left. The party monk, heavily injured, summoned his last strength to sprint out into the Twin Dam room and release the flood - failing the dex save on the second dam and knocking himself unconscious. The flood roared down the cave, and I rolled for Klarg in secret. I let the players stabilize the monk and loot Klarg's room.
Nearing the cave exit, the players heard Goblin cheers of "Yeemik, Yeemik". As they turned the corner, they encountered Klargs dead body, head broken in after being pushed by the force of the flood. On top of him stood Yeemik, scimitar firmly planted in Klargs back. He thanked the players for "being good subjects to the new king of the cave" by breaking lose Klargs' three gold teeth, and handing them to the players. Yeemik will return later.
Klarg had failed his secret dex save and had taken enough damage to kill him, and Yeemik + friends had enough time to wrestle free from their ropes.
Thanks for the kind comment! My next focus for future campaign guides is packaging the information a bit more sequentially, because a few times in these LMOP guides I've had to backtrack slightly and clarify old information. The series I'm writing now is about Storm King's Thunder.
I like your goblin story too :)
@@heyitsMattyP looking forward to Storm of the Thunder King - that is the one I’m lining up. Thinking about how they connect - is Nezza actually preparing to do good (and make profits) by delivering weapons to defend against giants? (Villian with a noble motive). Do the party Open a port that connect Them to the giants?
Thank you, this gives me hope and some confidence for this first session
Excellent! Hope it's gone well for ya :)
I've played LMoP as a player and as a DM, and let me tell you, the new approach you gave us on the "script" and the change on the NPC's, and mostly, the keys to twist and change the story is actually priceless.
Thank you.
(Subscribed and liked)
Glad to help :)
I love the point you made about asking the players how their character is feeling. I have tried to present spots where the characters could talk to each other and waste some time. This might be a good way to do it.
Hey there, I found your guide while preparing this as my first D&D campaign. I've always only played The Dark Eye, coming from Germany, so this is my first toe-dipping here - Thanks for the invaluable resources!
My players (First time PnP-players, my Wife and 3 kids, 12-15) have deceived Yeemik into thinking they're supposed to get the hostage for King Grol, which he didn't really buy, but he struck a deal with them to dispose of Klarg. Then they deceived Klarg into believing them as well. Unfortunately, he went with them to Yeemik, to get the hostage, so he was pissed to see Klarg alive. Klarg knew, Yeemik was up to no good, so the boss fight of this cave was Klarg and the Players against Yeemik an his cronies. Not quite as I had planned, but funny nonetheless. They nearly managed to talk themselves out of everything, really good for first time players.
Oh wow! They smooth-talked their way into an impossible situation haha :) Well done!
Also: since you're from Germany, you may like this free combat cheat sheet my community translated into Deutsch - www.patreon.com/posts/5e-combat-cheat-37395490
This is great! I think it's the best guide on Lmop and I've seen many. Love the way you tweak stuff, for example how to make the hideout a one session lenght dungeon to keep a good pace. How you describe teasing Phandalin in the end was an amazing cliffhanger I definitely will use that in my own campaign. Keep up the good work! :)
Agnar that's such a kind thing to say - thank you! If this series became the go-to guide for Lost Mines, I'd be stoked. I haven't seen the competition though, so I'll take you at your word and make sure the later episodes keep the standard high :)
About to run session 1 of this on Tuesday with my friends. Looking forward to seeing if anyone misses a beat as I put in these changes. Brilliant stuff
:O How did it go?? I hope they like the little cutaway scene at the end :)
@@heyitsMattyP everyone is hypothesizing on what the shifter is… no one seems to be interested in the lady with the Spider staff :/ oooh! The ArcKnight set has a Drider mini for The Spider, so whilst we slowly progress towards that fight I’m doing some balancing for the combat, have the changeling fight them as a Lolth wizard, then have her descend from the ceiling when they hit half health. So many ideas!
oh my gosh. OH MY GOSH. oh my gosh. Thank you Matthew, thank you for making these! This is the first video of yours I've seen! I'm trying to put together this campaign as a noob DM and DANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNG. Thankfully none of our crew have ever played DnD so they won't notice when I use every single suggestion here. THANK YOU
Glad to help :) Hope it's going well!
I love the idea of playing Klarg as an evil Seth Rogen 😂 Great series on how to run this module. I used your session 0 tips last night, and my players loved the addition of the puzzle box! They decided it was going to be like the puzzle box in Hellraiser, which was great because I love when the players add their own ideas into the mix and make the thing their own.
Nice one! You'll be happy to know Hellraiser is EXACTLY what I was imagining when I first used the puzzle box in my game
Wow. This is really good. Our players are about to enter the cave. Perfect timing. I like your npc breakdown... what they know etc. Good!
I like your style and presentation. Really makes for an informative and engaging video.
Thanks
Oi oi oi
Dope videos. Commenting for algorithms
Hey Matt! Just finished this video and your first on LMoP. I’m about to start DMing for the first time for my nephew and a couple of his friends. They’re excited to play and I’m excited to DM. These videos have been great! I was feeling nervous about running and now I am utterly inspired. Thank you for your work and your approach to describing the scenes and options for modifications. Can’t wait to watch more :)
Mate, you legend! You're gonna have a blast - kids are natural roleplayers. Thanks very much for your kind words :)
Absolutely love the little epilogue scenes idea, such great flavour
This video is so helpful - I've only ran these encounters once and it felt really long winded in parts, but would never have considered getting rid of the traps or making the wolves encounter less combat focussed. Really great stuff and entertaining to boot :)
Thanks for making this Matthew! I'm gonna run this adventure for a group of complete noobies next week, this video and the first of the series have been super helpful, I'm gonna have a hard time not watching the rest of your videos on this module.
Oh rad! Please let me know how the session goes Scott. I'd totally recommend binging the series before your first session -- it should give you a complete image of the adventure's ecosystem and how everything is connected :)
First time DM here. Love this series! I've been using a lot of your ideas as well as a few of my own and my players love it. Figured you might appreciate a quick story from our run through Cragmaw Hideout:
One of my players calmed the wolves in the kennel with Animal Handling and the group explored the chimney on the other side. One of my dumber fighter players climbed up the chimney and saw Klarg sitting in his office. He decided that right then, with his head peeking out of the chimney, was the best time to strike up a casual conversation with Klarg. Klarg, obviously alarmed by the intruders, later ended up fighting them in the twin pools room, which led to some really interesting combat theatrics.
Our wizard ran distraction and used minor illusion to distract Klarg while the Rogue hid behind one of the larger stalactites in the room. Klarg landed a critical hit on our fighter and dropped him to 0 HP, but the Rogue answered with a nat 20 sneak attack of his own, decapitating a weakened Klarg.
I'm so excited for Yeemick to rise to power in Cragmaw Castle, and to potentially being back the tamed wolves in a street fight with the Redbrands in Phandalin! Thank you so much for all of the great content.
Woof! Love that clutch crit after the fighter drops. Thanks for sharing! My last group had a different no-name goblin they ended up convincing to believe in himself and let him leave the Cragmaw Hideout,. He ended up becoming Job the Goblin King. They fought him as he rode an owlbear in the second-last session at the Cragmaw Castle.
@@heyitsMattyP "Job" like the loser in wrestling, or "Job" like the biblical figure? :)
You might be the best. Definitely considering your patron. Would be my first
Thank you!
I discovered your videos 2 sessions into LMoP…and have been binging and craving the next session ever since! I’m excited to alter some of the pre-written info now that you’ve given “permission” to go rogue. Haha. My first session was a doozy, I misunderstood the “charm” spell and let the players take a Goblin friend who through a series of. AMAZING persuasion checks, became their friend. This goblin (Jeff) was later instated as the new leader of Cragmaw cavern as a thanks for his help in battle. Session 2, one of the players insisted on buying a goat, and because the image is so funny, I am allowing the goat to be large enough/the dwarf to be small enough that they ride the goat in battle. Hahahaha
This is funny and informative. Wish I'd had this before I started running it. I'd come to some similar conclusions but yours is way better.
Thanks Dom! Maybe you can run it a second time? :D
This series is excellent, thank you for making it!
You're very welcome! Thanks for the support :)
Mr. Perkins, I presume? Hey Matt, just wanted to thank you SO much for this series of vids you've created on the LMoP! I've never DM'd before, but am very excited to do so for my buds. So I've been searching on "how to's" and stumbled across your channel. Let me tell you, you've got another subscriber, my dude! These vids are well done and I am excited to make similar changes to this starter set, to make my first time DM'ing a sure success!
Thanks mate! You'll have a blast :) It's a great module
I was having problems with the hideout and your ideas are perfect! My players will absolutely love them!
The puzzle box is a macguffin I added into the campaign as an excuse to introduce the villain early. This video is the second video in the series - I think I talk about the puzzlebox in the first video.
@@heyitsMattyP ahh, yeah i listened a little more and realized that! This is my first time DM’ing and I just thought I missed some big thing! I am really enjoying your videos though!!
Thank you for helping improve my games.
Happy to help Greg!
My party freed the wolves and then climbed the chimney. My bard then charmed Klarg and through a series of checks and saves got the VIP tour through the hideout and walked out with Slidar...
Thank you so much for this series!
I think for my campaign, I'm gonna turn the little teasers at the end of the session into prophetic dreams for our Paladin?
I did something similiar in the previous campaign and the players got really hyped about it.
Took a page of notes on your first video. Thank you so much for putting these on! Currently searching/scamming/conning/threatening players to run this. I’ll post our journey here.
Running this adventure the second time with a new group and have found your videos awesome! I tell my players that the d8 is 2 Pyramids butt to butt....
Your content is amazing- I kind of want more vids for different modules, or even your own modules!
Thank you! I'm starting my series about Storm King's Thunder next week :)
Great video Matthew. Loved it.😊
Thanks so much!
I like to throw in an intro adventure before Goblin Ambush ... Sacrifice of Innocence is a great one. I have the players leave Neverwinter with Gundren, Sildar and one of Gundren's bros. They travel together a couple of days and get to know the group, then they part ways at the beginning of the Sacrifice of Innocence scene saying they'll catch up. That way when they get to the dead horse (and dying brother!) they have built a relationship and really want to save Sildar and Gundren. The dying brother is also my first spot to give a fun magic item to one of the party -- a family heirloom or something, like a bag of holding or something like that.
Oh nice! I've got something in the works for a prologue quest too :) It's all written, but I'm still commissioning art
Gotta say my dude, loving this series of videos. Soooooo much useful info and the format that you use to break it up and extract the "Point" of each part of the adventure can be used for literally any published adventure. Keep up the hard work mang!!!
Keep *CLAP* it *CLAP* UP! *CLAP* I started running this campaign this week with one group and will be using your videos for another group. It'll be a fun experiment.
Yessss! Please do - you're my favourite scientist :)
You got me hooked at the end with your cut away. Now I definitely want to play in your game
Good advice all around and with a great sense of humour. I can't stres enough what you said about Room 6. Five goblins and Yeemik are far too many for four 1st lvl characters if you want to run this dungeon without the group having to stop for a long rest and drag the whole session down.
Going to run my first game with your advice!
Oh cool! This is a great adventure for new players. Have you seen the more recent Starter Set? It's a good choice for new DMs too.
Hi Matt, just wanted to thank you so much for these videos, I ran my first ever session as a DM last night and used several of your tips and they really gave me confidence and the whole thing went over so well! In particular the players loved the little prologue before starting the adventure. Really useful for a brand new DM! Thank you!
Defo the best DM's guide on YT for the starter set!
This DM has a very different style to me, and obviously enjoys different aspects of the game. So, while I don't use most of the advice he gives, it's still very helpful to get a different perspective and there are always a couple good ideas I never would have though of.
Hey Matt,
A lot of good ideas here. I'm a big fan of the way you tease the next session. I'm going to give it a go in a session I'm running at the end of the week. I'll let you know how it turns out !
Keep up the great content :)
Cheers mate! Hope it went well :)
(It’s fun to see people commenting so recently, and Matthew responding to them! Hello! Looking forward to the new Lost Mines content)
Your Lost Mines series is a huge boon! I’ve only ever run one-or-two-shots, but I’m going to run this campaign for my little siblings and their friend, all new to the game. Found your Thundertree video during my prep last week, decided to rework Venomfang as BBEG, and watched the rest of your series.
As I was warned, doing a major rework along with standard PC Backstory Integration is more challenging than I guessed! My usual prep method left me overwhelmed, but it’s been much better since I (read the module and) started over using the “What’s the Point?” system. It’s clean and effective - Purpose, RP, Know. The most important bits, presented in the forms you’ll actually use in-game! Why didn’t I think of that?!
So yeah, this series showed me a better way to prioritize and organize a game’s characters, plot beats, and player-induced chaos.
Can’t wait to create wacky, incidentally dramatic stories with my little siblings and their friend. Thanks!
Hey that's great! You'll have a blast. When playing with kids though: just remember to remind them at the start that 1) they're playing the heroes and 2) they're all on the same team.
I've absolutely got a function-first approach to storytelling, and I'm actually too hardline when it comes to cutting content and streamlining, but I'm happy to be the opposite extreme of the official modules' fluff and let people find their happy middleground.
Funny you mention that! We played a short “practice session” last week, and there were two instances of pickpocketing each other and one of punching each other’s face lol. The Golden Rule is in place and shall be strictly enforced
But there were no innocent NPCs in the practice, so I’ll definitely remind them of their hero status. Two of the three players are rogues with the flaw “I habitually steal…”
They can be the best players and they can be the worst - so imaginative and fun-loving, but kids can be meean.
…I say, as if adults are much different!:P Just a different balance of traits
And as far as notes, yeah, happy medium! I’m prone to decision paralysis, so I might end up with more Key Notes than the base What’s the Point? notes.
Wish me luck. Going to DM this adventure in less than 3 hours. First time Dm here :). Your serie about lmop is fantastic
Glad to help! How did it go?
@@heyitsMattyP iIt went perfect. Played the whole weekend. And the players (two first time players) where super exited and cant wait to play again. Thank you so much again. :)
Legend mate, big help for new DMs (me).
Thanks for this series. About to DM my first game and watching these has been great help.
I love your coverage on this module. Keep it up.
Well done on the useful information, high quality presentation and editing, useful time stamps and positive vibes 👏Have found this very handy!
Thank you! I love getting feedback like this on the older videos, because the content has only gotten better since then 💪💪💪
Subscribed here! I'm enjoying this so far!
This series is great, some awesome ideas. Really appreciate the effort!
I have my very first session of goblin ambush, at the start I linked everyone's backstory to the plot hook, I also gave each player a buff as they are level 1 and I know how grueling this module can get.
Excited to run session 2 and I love this video, lays out more information 👍
Good idea! There are only five real danger areas balance-wise - the first goblin encounter, the encounter with Yeemik if the players are still level 1, the zombie encounter with the necromancer, the stirges in WEC, and the green dragon. Everything else hits OK :)
Thanks for this I'm running this campaign and you are really helping me create a better picture. I've been running games since 3E and this is my first premade.
The first time I ran the Klarg encounter I had a small trap created. The fire pit is built on a metal shield that covers a hole in the ground large enough for Klarg to crawl in from a vantage point away from the door. If he is warned he will climb under the fire pit and wait for the party to walk close enough and get a surprise round where he explodes out from under the pit wielding the red hot shield showering the room with embers, and utilizing his bugbear sneak attack damage ability.
Great video series! Your little jokes about the players and the game show-esque music with "What's the point of ?" got a laugh out of me.
More importantly, these are super helpful for a new DM like me. Thank you!!
I really wish I'd discovered these videos *before* I started running TLMoP. 🙃
Guess you'll just have to run it a second time :D
@@heyitsMattyP It's okay, I was only one session in and I managed to incorporate most of your suggestions and I'm working on fitting the rest of them in as well.
Thanks great video very useful
Cheers Ben!
I loved all the possibilities.
And I love your account name.
I forgot to post in the last video how excited I am for this series. Ive also run it many times, but starting out with some new players and will wait til the end of this series.
I'm excited too! There are a couple of people running the module alongside this series -- I'm looking forward to hearing everyone's stories at the end
After playing LmoP a year ago i am now dming it and ...damn... this helps so much , thanks ^^