Welcome to Advent's Amazing Advice! The series where I take popular One-Shots, Adventures, Campaigns, etc. and fully prep them for both New and Busy DMs. This prep includes music, ambiance, encounter sheets, handouts, battle maps, tweaks, and more so you can run the best sessions possible with the least stress possible!
The Lost Mine of Phandelver is a classic, one of the very first Mini-Campaigns that new DM's run. Hell, it's part of the starter set after all! The issue though, as with many other Campaigns, is that it doesn't describe the best way to transform the contents of the book into an actual session. The Book to session conversion can be difficult. Between figuring out when things should happen, to understanding motivations and even balancing encounters.
Well fortunately for you 99% of that work is done! Only a few things are really left:
- Consider the needs of your group. As you've heard or are about to hear a million times, every table is different. If you plan on combining this with a campaign you'll have to make tweaks here and there. (Bonus points if you include your players' backstory)
- These notes aren't meant to be end-all be-all. Tweak to your heart's content and don't consider any of what's written to be set in stone. For me, having notes like this helps give me the confidence to go off the rails and follow along with what my players want. It helps me understand where things were meant to go and why. Having that understanding allows me to guide the players and create other new and interesting stories. These are all things that will come with experience though, so don't freak out and enjoy the journey!
Without further ado:
- Google Docs Notes for The Lost Mine of Phandelver (Part 1 Cragmaw Hideout): DM Notes
- Link to: Intro + Cragmaw Hideout Playlist
- Link to: The Complete Collection
Included in The Complete Collection are:
- A Word document with all my notes including a link to music tracks for ambiance and fights
- Special PDFs for all the encounters. This includes all the enemies' stat blocks organized neatly along with an initiative tracker and a spot to mark HP.
- An additional PDF with Sildar's stats should he join the party as an ally
- A map of Cragmaw Hideout. I enlarged and printed this out for my players as a battle map!
The Lost Mine of Phandelver Index
- Part 1 - Intro and Cragmaw Hideout
- Part 2a - Phandalin (Coming Soon)
- Part 2b - Redbrand Hideout (Coming Soon)
- Part 3a - Reign of Iron (Coming Soon)
- Part 3b - Ruins of Thundertree (Coming Soon)
- Part 3c - Cragmaw Castle (Coming Soon)
- Part 4 - Wave Echo Cave (Coming Soon)
- Part 5 - Side Quests (Coming Soon)
Other Fully Prepped One-Shots, Adventures, and More:
- The Wild Sheep Chase - Click Here
- Death House - Click Here
- We Be Goblins - Click Here
- The Egg of Estyr - Click Here
- Wolves of Welton - Click Here
- To the End of Time - Click Here
- A Most Potent Brew - Click Here
- Moon over Graymoor - Click Here
- A Wild West One-Shot - Click Here
- The Drunken Treasure - Click Here
- A Grimdark Adventure - Click Here
- D&D vs Rick and Morty - Click Here
- A Prison Break One-Shot - Click Here
- The Tavern at Death's Door - Click Here
- Dragons of Stormwreck Isle - Click Here
- Shadow of the Broodmother - Click Here
- L'Arsène's Ludicrous Larceny - Click Here
- The Night Before Wintermas - Click Here
- The Lost Mine of Phandelver - Click Here
As always, If you see something you think I can improve, add, change, etc. please let me know. I want this to be an amazing resource for all DMs and plan to keep it constantly updated! If you'd like to support me, shape future releases, and get content early feel free to check out my Patreon!
Cheers,
Advent
You're awesome, that's a crazy amount of work
Thank you! Ya, not gonna lie it is haha I wouldn't be able to do it without my Patrons. Even crazier is that I'm starting work on Fully Prepping the entirety of Curse of Strahd next! Wish me luck!