r/LostMinesOfPhandelver

I'm a new DM and i've managed to get my group of Friends into playing D&D with me, i wanted to include everybody Who was willing to play so i ended up having to handle 7 new players.

The party Is composed like this: 2 sorcerers, 1 warlock, 1 rogue, 1 barbarian, 1 bard, 1 druid, all currently at level 2.

They have pretty much blown through cragmaw hideout and the ambush even tough i added more enemies and tougher variants like goblin bosses, so I decided to test them with a Nova encounter when they fought the Wyvern Tor Orcs.

I divided the encounter in 3 waves and they surprised the Orcs, but they managed to take down:

1st wave: 3 orcs

2nd wave: 4 orcs + 1 ogre

3rd wave: 1 orc, 1 orog and 1 Orc Claw of Luthic.

A couple of them went down, they used most if not all of their spell slots and healing potion, and i was wondering if this sounds like good balancing or if i should adjust in a different way (they said they liked It tho)

Also, while balancing a single encounter like this Is easier, i'm wondering how should i handle Dungeons like Tresendar Manor in the future, any tips?

My PCs just absolutely slaughtered about ten redbrand ruffians (experienced players, very optimized builds) and are just on the city square covered in blood.

Even if the people are grateful to them, what do they do with the bodies? In a previous campaign I had them take the bodies to the city hall, but it's bloody and macabre work. I'm not even sure if the city has a graveyard? At this point I might introduce one and put a gravekeeper character in there.

Edit: Thanks for everybody's input! I think I will indeed leave it up to the players, but I'll do a scene or two with Harbin* and sister Graele where they talk about suggestions of disposal of the bodies to the players, either burning or appropriating an unamarked plot of land into a makeshift graveyard. A necromancer eventually coming into the picture if they deal with it haphazardly is something that does sound fun.

I’ll be changing things up and stitching on everything I can find that’s in the region of Phandalin/Neverwinter into a long form campaign. As well as make it a Kingmaker style campaign as well. What would be some things I’d want to add to the game, as well as some things my players would have to keep an eye out for?

New DM here getting ready to run LMoP and I’m looking for some input from those who have played. QUESTION: How long does it take to travel from Neverwinter to Phandelver? On the map it doesn’t look too far like it would only take a day maybe but what do I know about it? Anyway, if you guys could give me an idea of that travel time, it will be a big help as I plan that part of the adventure.

Welcome back 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!

*New 2026: For 2026, I'm updating all my old work to include a Pre-Session Checklist that will include a list of all miniatures you may need, maps, handouts, possible loot, a link to a playlist, and more to make it even easier to start your session!

The Lost Mine of Phandelver is a classic, one of the very first Mini-Campaigns that new DM's run. Heck, it's part of the starter set after all! The issue, though, as with many other modules, 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, understanding motivations, and even balancing encounters.

Well, fortunately for you, 99% of that work is done! Only a few things are really left:

1. 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)
2. 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!

Included in my posts are:

• A Downloadable copy of DM Notes for each part of the LMoP, including links to music tracks for ambiance and fights
• Special PDFs for every encounter. This includes all the enemies' stat blocks, organized neatly along with an initiative tracker and a spot to mark HP.
• Additional PDFs for allies and commoners
• A variety of maps for each part of the campaign
• Spell lists for all relevant fights
• Handouts for various spell scrolls throughout the campaign
• A playlist for each part of the Mini-Campaign!

Without further ado:

Index:

The Lost Mine of Phandelver Index

• Part 1 - Intro and Cragmaw Hideout (DM Notes Only Link)
• Part 2a - Phandalin
• Part 2b - Redbrand Hideout
• Part 3a - Reign of Iron
• Part 3b - Thundertree
• Part 3c - Cragmaw Castle
• Part 4 - Wave Echo Cave
• Part 5 - Side Quests

Over 8 dozen other Fully Prepped One-Shots, Adventures, and Campaigns: 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

Hi everyone,

Running Lost mine of phandelver with a group of six players, pretty much as written besides a few tweaks to include some of the PC’s backstories. Been going super well so far and we’re having a lot of fun. We’re nearing the end of the module (we won’t play shattered obelisk, or at least not immediately after) and my players will probably head to Wave echo cave in a couple of sessions.

I am a little concerned about the encounter with the black spider. My players really don’t care about this character LOL. I don’t think I’ve done a good job at portraying him as a big threat. They are however extremely invested in Venomfang as well as the cult of the dragon. They tried fighting the dragon and failed and yearn to defeat him. They’re so curious about the cult and look for hints about them everywhere.

I am considering changing a LOT about the original module to make Nezznar part of the dragon cult, and have Venomfang show up in the second half of the fight as a dracolich. Is that insane? Maybe a dumb idea. I’ve seen that the cult is all about turning dragon into dracoliches and exploiting their power. I’m thinking the Black spider could be sent by the cult with a few cultists to take control of the forge of spells on behalf of the cult. Venomfang didn’t outright refuse to join the cultists in front of the players, just mentioned that the cult wanted to turn her into their pet. But Venomfang could also see this as an opportunity to become more powerful.

It kind of sounds like an awesome encounter but it’s so different from the original module that I’m a little hesitant. Nezznar as written is such an empty shell that I feel like I HAVE to tie him into something else for him to not be a massive letdown. I could go the traditional turning into a spider route but it doesn’t really connect to anything else in the story as we’ve played it so far.

What do you guys think? Anyone ever made Nezznar part of the cult? Is a dracolich final boss a crazy idea? If anyone’s ever leaned into this or has any suggestions I’d love to hear about it. Cheers everyone :)

Just thought i would share what has happened to a couple minor characters from the module

For context i ran shattered obelisk and used the obelisk to set up Vecna, i then placed obelisks in Curse of Strahd, Tomb of Annihilation and Out of the Abyss

we are now playing a fully homebrewed version of Eve of Ruin, with returning characters of each campaign.

Sister Garaele is married to one of my PCs and is on her way to Vecnas realm to save the universe (she is also a half orc now due to resurrection shenanigans)

Vyerith became a main villain, she constantly foiled my players plans but she did die at the start of Eve of Ruin

Halia became the townmaster and got together with gundren and used the mine to create magical armour and weapons to fight vecnas army of dead

Harbin is still useless

Gossa helped locate the afterlife of the gods (after mystra was killed by vecna) in order to create a new god of war

Sildar showed up in Tomb of Annihilation leading an adventuring party of goblins (he was very incompetent and the PCs had to rescue him multiple times)

I ran Shattered Obelisk as a first time DM and made a lot of changes that I think helped it run better, below is a list of changes i made with varying degrees of homebrewing required

- if a player attunes to glasstaffs staff give them his quasit as a minion, add find familiar and enjoy ur good alligned players trying to deal with an evil quasit who still has to do what his master commands but his suggestions will always be awful.

- Change the trial of Glasstaff to Halia whipping up a mob demanding his execution, the PCs can give in and let him being hung or they can make speeches to try and calm the villagers etc

- ignore most npcs, the town is filled with npcs, when they first explore use as many as u can but only keep around the ones they engage with the most. That being said always keep Harbin hes a great npc for the players to hate. And later on their are a bunch of NPCs in dungeons dont use them all just choose what u like or make ur own

-the spider is easy af spice up his encounter by having him plead to ilvaash when hes almost beaten and transform him to a mindflayer, just dock his health and damage a bunch, give the players a scary 3/4 rounds but dont let him tpk them

- introduce a magical items salesmen who comes by every couple of levels, there is nowhere for pcs to spend their money in this campaign they are just hoarding gold for no reason, i homebrewed some items/potions/scrolls that he sold and a special discounted section of cursed items for some fun, if u dont want to choose what items they sell just use the magic items they didnt find from the many dungeons in the campaign

- set up ilvaash earlier, have the spider talk about him and ruxithid

- do a time jump between the mines section and the latter half of the book (i did 2 years), then ur pcs can develop their characters abit more and give them a reason to return, especially if they are also first time as by that point they will feel more comfortable crafting the character

- make a second hub, the last half of the book takes place in the underdark with essentially tunnels leading to each dungeon, this is boring. I created an underdark area called the garden of stone and had a little deep gnome village there for players to hang out at, and then had the dungeons be locations in the garden of stone.

- get the gods involved, the stakes by the end are pretty high, have gods wanting this fixed or even better have them wanting the obelisk for its power/ to keep it out of others hands. Use gods that connect to ur pcs (backstory, clerics, warlock pact etc) and deffo get a devil involved trying to make a pact to get it for themselves

- make the kidnapped characters the characters that ur players cared about from the first half, the second half introduces loads of new characters to phandelin u can pretty much ignore them all.

- the last finale is like 7 dungeons in one that does not feel appropriate for ur players to rest in, simplify this illithinoch is great but make the portals smaller encounters eg (a corridor that they run through with fleshy walls and hands that try and grab them, or a large empty void with a leviathan in that they have to escape quickly)
I would also say ditch the endless void islands, beef up the mind flayer cult instead,that fight straight in to ilvaash is enough, if you dont feel comfortables changing stats just add another 1/2 mindflayers depending on your party size

-Make the briney maze collapse when ilvaash is killed, ending with an escape encounter is just so much fun

Admittedly as i was a first time DM i have never run it RAW so cant really say if my changes are better, but we all had a great time playing and if i ran it again id keep these changes. Obvs might not work for your groups but just thought id share:)

So as the title says I need help to set up a "date" with Venomfang.

Note: Venomfang in my story is female.

So my party consists now of 3 level 4 players (an Elf paladin, a halfling rogue and a satyr bard called Ida, Doni and Gem). We are playing a combination of Doip and Lmop and the campaign shall end at level 7 in Lost Wave Echo Cave. The cave lies underneath Icespire hold so the party also needs to deal with Cryovain.

When the party was in Thundertree, Reidoth asked them to help and get rid of Venomfang. That session only Ida and Doni were playing and they could not convince VF. The session after that Gem came and well her being a bard did what she knew best. Seducing a dragon.

Now VF being a green dragon played the part and manipulated Gem into accepting the quest to get rid of Cryovain who earlier attacked her and took over her old lair. VF also gave Gem a little scar on her face as a reminder. VF also hinted at the Dragonslayer sword so that the party can kill Cryovain easier. Now you may think that this is stupid because the Dragonslayer sword can also hurt VF a lot but in this version (homebrew) when the Dragonslayer sword slays a dragon of a type it loses the extra damage against that type but unlocks an ability.

Finally she ended her talk with Gem by arranging a date when this is all over at her old lair.

What I already have planned is when the partu defeats Cryovain, VF shows up and sucks Cryovains dragon energy so that she can upgrade herself to a better version (like adult green dragon).

And then I am at a loss, I don't know how to do the "date". I know that VF either wants to kill Gem or use her as a perminent pet.

Also sorry if it's hard to read, english isn't my first language and my mind is to chaotic to write it down😅