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Your First Phandelver Session, Part 2: Running The Goblin Ambush

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Seems like a peaceful spot… (Image Source: JamesRPGArt)

This is part 2 of a 3 part series covering Act 1 of Lost Mines of Phandelver. Consider checking out Part 1: Before the Goblin Ambush for more info about setting the scene and generating bonds for the player characters in your party. Please stay tuned for Part 3 on Cragmaw Hideout!

Since the goblin ambush is often the first combat encounter many GMs ever run, it’s important to have a good handle on the rules as they pertain to this particular encounter. Since this is an ambush, concepts such as active vs. passive perception, stealth, and surprise will come into play. Also, since goblins will be behind trees on an embankment, concepts such as cover and difficult terrain are sure to come into play as well. In addition to reviewing combat mechanics as they would apply to this ambush, we’ll talk about adjusting the encounter if you have more than 5 players or fewer than 4. Finally, we’ll briefly discuss whether you should run this encounter using a map and minis or in theater of the mind.

Active vs. Passive Perception

A character’s passive perception score is 10 plus their perception modifier. Passive perception is what a character notices when they aren’t actively looking for something. For example, let’s say the Goblins roll a 13 in stealth. This means that whoever has a 13 or above as their passive perception will notice the goblins regardless of whether or not the player deliberately mentioned that they were going to keep their eyes on the thicket covered embankments for a possible ambush.

If a savvy player catches on that this part of the road seems like a prime spot for an ambush, they may say something like “I want to look around to see if anyone is waiting for us behind those thickets” you can then ask them to make a roll. This gives the player a chance to roll a number higher than their passive perception. If they fail to roll higher than the goblin’s stealth roll of 13 but their passive perception is still 13, they will still not fail to notice the goblins because passive perception supersedes active perception by acting as a floor.

If a party member uses active perception successfully, reward that player by telling them that they “notice a silhouette behind one of the trees” and ask them what they would like to do. This gives them the chance to be the hero and alert the other players that enemies lay in wait. This way, none of the party members will be surprised when you roll initiative.

Before you start your session, it may be wise to go over the rules regarding active vs. passive perception with your players and write down each character’s passive perception for your own reference. It may also be helpful to describe a hypothetical situation for your players where active vs. passive perception is involved (like noticing traps) so that the players will know that they must make active perception roles if they want to get an extra edge in the game.

Surprise

If the goblins roll a 13 for their stealth, any character who rolled below a 13 for an active perception roll and who has a passive perception below 13 is surprised. If one party member made an active perception roll and succeeded, you can give them the chance to alert the party that they have company.

If a player is surprised, they can’t take any actions or move on their turn. It means their turn is essentially skipped on for the first round of combat. Some party members may be surprised, while others may not be. Surprise is determined for each player individually, not for the party as a whole.

Goblin Stealth and Other Tactics

One thing goblins like to do is shoot arrows from a hidden position. In addition to the initial stealth roll they make when they lay in wait for the party, they also have a bonus action which allows them them to hide after making an attack. A sneaky GM can have a goblin run to another tree and hide in the shadows after making their attack.

If the goblin manages to make a stealth roll higher than the passive perception of the target they are attacking, they will have advantage (roll 2 dice, pick the highest roll) on their next attack roll. If a character wants to try attacking a goblin that is hidden (shooting an arrow where they saw the goblin shoot from, for example) they can make a perception roll to determine if they can see their target. If their roll and their passive perception is lower than the goblin’s stealth roll, the player must make their attack with disadvantage.

For more on Goblin Tactics, I highly recommend reading this excellent article by Keith Amman. Following these guidelines will make this goblin encounter truly come alive.

Cover and Difficult Terrain

Be aware that Goblins will be ducking behind boulders and trees when they attack the party. When they do this, at least half of their bodies will be blocked by the obstacle. This effectively gives them half cover, which adds +2 to their Armor Class. Since goblins have a base armor class of 15, this means that players will have to make an attack roll of 17 in order to hit their mark. Fighters who can get up close to the Goblins will not have to reckon with the increased AC as they are engaged in melee combat.

Because the goblins are on an embankment, we can consider it difficult terrain. This means that a fighter wanting to close the distance between themselves and the Goblins will have to spend twice their movement to get up on top of the embankment. I would consider the embankment to be at least 5 feet of difficult terrain, which means getting on top of it would cost 10 feet of movement. A fighter who is more than 25 feet away from a goblin may not be able to reach a goblin on their turn. They can, however, hold an attack action which triggers when any goblin approaches.

Adjusting the Encounter for a Smaller or Larger Party

The Lost Mines of Phandelver Adventure is recommended for a party of four to five players. How can you adjust your combat encounters so that they aren’t too hard (if you have only three players) or too easy (if you have six)?

One handy tool that I used a lot when I ran Lost Mines was this Combat Encounter Adjustment Tool. This should give you a good idea what creatures to run for each encounter. The encounter adjustments for the goblin ambush listed below are taken directly from the tool.

A Party of Six (Or More?)

For parties with 6 players, consider trying out this combination:

  • 1 Goblin Boss (Monster Manual p. 166) with 22 hit points.
  • 2 Goblins with 7 hit points
  • 1 Goblin with 8 hit points

You could potentially run your game with 7 players or perhaps more, but this will often bog down your game and make it much less fun. Personally I consider 5 players to be the ideal number but you’ll learn what you prefer as a GM.

A Party of Three (or Fewer)

For a party of 3, try this out

  • 2 goblins with 6 hp
  • 1 goblin with 7 hp.

If you only have 2 players at your table, I recommend adding a sidekick to help balance your combat encounters. A sidekick can either be controlled by you or one of the players (I recommend a more experienced player). The Dragon of Icespire Peak Essentials Kit takes place in Phandalin and has some ready made sidekicks that you can add to your adventure (along with many side quests and magical items). You can also roll up a new character as a sidekick or use the Wizards of the Coast UA sidekick rules to create your own.

Use Kobold Fight Club

If you would like to be more creative with your encounters, you can use Kobold Fight Club to adjust them.

For example, if I have a party of four, kobold fight club tells me that the 4 goblins is a Deadly encounter (DEADLY means this is no joke. A player could die).

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is goblin-encounter.png
4 Goblins is a “Deadly” encounter for a party of 4 level 1 characters.

Perhaps I’m interested in doing a dragon related campaign and thus I would prefer kobolds to goblins for the initial ambush (kobolds are dragon servants). Kobolds are a bit weaker than goblins, so all we need to do is up the number of kobolds so we can make that a deadly encounter as well.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is image.png
7 kobolds is approximately equivalent to 4 goblins

So it looks like we can run the ambush with 7 kobolds if we wanted to. In this example, you can see the “Adjusted XP” for the kobolds is a bit more than the 4 goblins. So it’s likely that 7 kobolds will be just a tiny bit harder than the 4 goblins, but not by too much. Personally, I’d go on the easier side for new players and go with 6 kobolds.

Again, I think that it’s better to use the Combat Adjustment Tool mentioned above as new GMs may not be familiar with the kinds of monsters they may have at their disposal. Also, as a new GM you’re already juggling a lot of plates, so it may be better to adjust the numbers and the hp of your enemies rather than the type.

Theater of the Mind vs Maps for the Goblin Ambush

The Goblin Ambush can run either in Theater of the Mind or using a Map. Theater of the mind can be exciting, immersive, and requires less setup than a map (although you may need to keep extra notes to keep track of player and monster positions). However, Theater of the Mind can also be confusing. Depending on how well you communicate the scene, players may not understand how close they are to the goblins or if they’d be able to attack more than one goblin with their burning hands spell. Many of the problems can be solved by following certain guidelines like those provided in Sly Flourish’s guide on running Theater of the Mind combat, but may require a bit of practice as a GM before you get it right. Also, players with aphantasia (inability to make mental visualizations) may have difficulty engaging in the scene, although a visual aid illustration of the setting as well as sharing an image of a goblin from the monster manual can help those with aphantasia.

Maps remove the confusion about distance and range, but also can turn the game into something less cinematic and something more like a board game. Players who enjoy D&D for the tactical aspect will often prefer maps. And oftentimes all you need to bring immersion back into the game is to describe key scenes. Maps can be simple, just a series of outlines drawn in marker on a dry erase battle map. They can also be shared online through a virtual tabletop like Roll20. Finally, if you want to invest some time and/or money you can get a digital display. The display pictured below costs about $1,000 (both for the case and the TV) and was created by Volo’s Workshop on Etsy.

Digital Maps are fancy, but do not necessarily make things more fun. Your players can have as much if not more fun with salt shakers on a table.

If you do decide to use a map for the Goblin Ambush, all you need to do is a quick google image search of Goblin Ambush Battlemaps and you should be set (Be sure to support creators on Patreon if you can!). If you’re printing the map, you may need to do some wrangling using a photo editor and excel to get it to scale. If you’re running this on Roll20 you’ll need to upload the image and align it to the grid.

What recommendations would you have for running the Goblin Ambush? Feel to leave your ideas in the comments!

Liked this article? Check out others like it in the DM’s Guide to Lost Mines!

Your First Phandelver Session, Part 1: Before the Goblin Ambush

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A Roman Road. I imagine the High Road Would Look a lot like this. (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

As a newbie GM planning your first Lost Mines session, the amount of preparation you may feel you need to do can be overwhelming. This is why I’ve provided a step-by-step guide to your first session of Lost Mines of Phandelver. This is the first in a series of articles covering all aspects of Act 1 of Lost Mines. The first article will focus on setting up the story for your players, as well as giving them an opportunity to establish and introduce their characters before the Goblin Ambush. The second article will focus on the Goblin Ambush itself. The third article, finally, will focus on the running the Cragmaw Hideout dungeon.

This article assumes that you’ve already organized your gaming group. If you haven’t, you may find this article on recruiting players and also this article on scheduling sessions useful.

Before You Begin: Some Background

Some background about the world your players inhabit should be provided before the game begins so that players can integrate their backstories into the world. While you shouldn’t overwhelm your players with lore about the Forgotten Realms, you should provide some basic details about:

  • The Sword Coast: The adventurers live on the Sword Coast on the continent of Faerûn, which is mostly populated by city-states. Each city-state has its own government and laws which are separate and distinct from the other city-states. There are no expansive empires in this region.
  • The Lords Alliance: Sometimes the threat to the peace of the region (raging orc hordes, for example) is too big for any one city-state to handle. This is where the Lords Alliance comes in. Each city-state contributes soldiers to this greater alliance. This Alliance will come to the aid of any member city in need of it. The Alliance is Lead by Dagult Neverember, who also reigns over the city of Neverwinter.
  • Neverwinter: Neverwinter, where the party first meets Gundren Rockseeker, used to be a great and beautiful city until the eruption of the giant volcano Mt. Hotenow some 50 years ago. It is said that some outlying towns are still covered in the ash. Only now has the city regained some semblance of what it once was, and yet many of the city’s districts still lay in ruins. Dagult Neverember just sorta took over the town over after the eruption. Those who supported the old Royal Family aren’t too happy about that, but most people are content since Neverember has made great strides in restoring the city to its former glory.
  • Phandalin: The party’s destination is the frontier town of Phandalin. Phandalin used to be a bustling center of commerce and manufacturing some 500 years ago before it was overrun by orcs. Recently deposits of valuable ore had been rediscovered at the foot of the sword mountains, and the town started to rebuild upon the flagstones of the old ruins.

Ideally, you should send some background information about the campaign and the world before the game begins. It may also be a good idea to review these details at the beginning of your first live session with your players.

Generate Party Bonds

Many adventuring parties are often a random group of sellswords with divergent goals. This can be fine, but one thing that can help facilitate interactions between party members is if they know each other somehow. This gives party members a shared history they can draw upon to make role playing go more smoothly.

Before the first session begins, I’ll ask my players “Who among you is most likely to know each other?” Then, once we’ve determined who knows each other, we brainstorm how they might know each other.

Here are some examples:

Cellmates: The rogue and the bard two both found themselves in jail after some public drunkenness. They became friends and the rogue managed to get a message out to his contact in the thieves guild to bribe the guard so they could escape. Now they’re short of money and they’re in debt to the leader of the thieves guild. They found out about Gundren’s job and they were the first to sign up.

Debt of gratitude: The druid’s sacred tree had been endangered by a party of wandering goblins who were set to cut it down. The fighter, who had been part of the Lords Alliance (And who knew Sildar Hallwinter), rescued the druid from the goblin tribe and now the Druid swears to repay the favor.

Mutual Enemy: The wizard’s village had been overrun by orcs. The Barbarian’s village had also been destroyed by the same orc tribe. In their mutual quest for revenge, they found each other in the thick of battle and had become fast friends.

When suggesting a party bond, I highly recommend this Party Bond Generator from reddit. When brainstorming party bonds with my players, I would go down the list of most likely bonds for two characters and I suggest them to players.

A party bond conversation might go like this:

DM: So John is playing Bartleby the Rogue and Jane is playing Nema the Bard. Since you both are scoundrels who like to drink, I could see you two knowing each other as drinking buddies or even cellmates.

John: I like the cellmates idea!

Jane: Yeah! Perhaps they both found themselves in jail for drinking too much and they became friends in the Neverwinter prison.

DM: And perhaps you both bribed the guard to escape. What do you think?

John: Not sure how I feel about the bribing the guard idea. Perhaps Gundren knew about Bartleby’s talents and Gundren decided to pay his bail to deliver the goods to Phandalin?

Jane: That’s great! And although Nema didn’t know Gundren, she used her charisma to persuade Gundren that she’d be a valuable hire as well?

DM: I love it. Let’s go with that.

Remember, your party bond suggestions are just a starting point. Players are welcome and encouraged to have different ideas of how players may have met or know each other. These party bonds don’t have be set in stone, either. Oftentimes someone will have a better idea that will come to them after the session. I prefer allowing players to change their backstories and party bonds in the event that they do come up with better ideas later on.

Start the Session on the High Road

While it’s tempting to start your session in the Tavern where Gundren and Sildar tell the party about the escort job (and I’ve seen great examples of Gundren’s Contract that you can print up and hand to your players to sign), this can lead to problems. For example, the rogue in my party decided to pickpocket Gundren (something that as a new DM I certainly wasn’t prepared for!) Luckily Gundren didn’t notice, and I breathed a sigh of relief as they embarked on their journey to Phandalin without any other unplanned incidents. Although unexpected actions from players is part of the joy of D&D, there’s no point in giving your players a chance to derail your entire campaign before it has begun!

Instead of starting in a Neverwinter tavern, start your session with the players already traveling on the High Road. Describe the scene, the weather, the clattering of the cartwheels, the merchants and members of the Lords Alliance you meet along the way, and then invite each player to describe themselves. Some possible questions you can ask them are:

  • What do they look like?
  • Where are they? Are they riding up front driving the wagon? Are they following the wagon from behind (this is good for knowing where to place character tokens/minis when you run combat for the goblin ambush.)
  • Are they with anyone?
  • What are they up to?

Optional: Conversation Starters

Once when I was playing Tomb Of Annihilation, our party managed to get through a day crawling through the Jungles of Chult where we didn’t have any encounters. It’s only natural that party members would let their guard down and have a conversation. Our DM suggested three things our characters might talk about:

  • A dream or a goal: “Someday I’m going to save all my money from adventuring and buy a tavern!”
  • A fear: “My older brother went out adventuring in the East. We never heard back from him. I fear he may be dead.”
  • A hatred: “Goblins stole all the sheep in my village! One day I will get my revenge on the Cragmaw tribe!”

I like this because it gives characters a chance to share a bit of their backstory, and warm up their roleplaying muscles. Not only that, but it can make it easier to for it to feel as though distance has been traveled and time has passed.

Any other suggestions you might have for setting up your session before the Goblin Ambush? Leave your ideas in the comments below!

Up next: Your First Phandelver Session, Part 2: Running the Goblin Ambush Encounter (Currently a Work In Progress)

Interested in more articles like this? Check out the Lost Mines of Phandelver Guide!

How To Schedule Your D&D and RPG Sessions

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As a DM, spending hours preparing a fantastic adventure only to deal with perpetual scheduling conflicts can be incredibly disheartening. Indeed, the number of scheduling D&D memes out there is a testament to how common this problem can be!

I’ve certainly experienced many scheduling woes myself in the past. After a few false starts with several dropouts and cancellations, however, I’ve managed to start two in-person groups which have been meeting regularly for over a year. Rarely do we have unexpected cancellations, and scheduling is no longer an issue.

It turns out that the solution to D&D scheduling problems is actually pretty straightforward: find the right players, set a regular time and cadence, and have recurring calendar invites and confirmations. If you follow these guidelines, your scheduling woes will soon be a thing of the past.

Find The Right Players

One of the main reasons DMs have scheduling problems is not really scheduling related but player related. The reality is that some players may not be as interested in playing DnD as you, and will choose to prioritize other commitments over your game. Also, it’s possible that the kind of game you want to run isn’t a good match for the kind of game your players want to play. Finally, there might be a problem player who ruins the fun for the rest of your group. Any of these factors will increase the likelihood that players will choose to do something else than to play your game.

The solution to the player problem is to meet many potential players and to be picky about who comes to your table. If you only have people at your table who enjoy your DM style, are fun to be around, and are respectful to other players, you’ll have a D&D game that people will continue to come back to. This, of course, is easier said than done and is probably the most difficult aspect of organizing an RPG group. If you feel like you don’t have the right group of players, it may be useful to check out this article on player recruitment.

Set a Regular Time and Cadence

The first D&D group I put together started out as game among friends. I had just finished playing the excellent level 1-5 adventure Lost Mines of Phandelver on Roll20 and was excited to share the experience with my friends. I managed to schedule about 1 or 2 sessions a month, but the amount of effort it took sending out doodle polls and emails to organize the game was exhausting.

One Poll to Rule them All

Eventually, I realized that if I wanted to focus on the game and not on scheduling, I had to find a recurring time to which all players could commit. With a little help from technology, this turned out to be pretty easy. I created a survey on SurveyMonkey and listed the times that were the most convenient for me as a GM. The survey participants then anonymously ranked the times from most convenient to least convenient.

Ranked Survey For DnD Times

After collecting the results, there was a clear split between Thursday and Saturday, although Saturday turned out to be the best day for the most people. Saturday at 2 was the best time, and Saturday overall was the best day.

Unfortunately, Saturdays weren’t great for one of my friends who ranked Saturdays low on their list. I realized that by doing this survey, most of my friends had similar preferences for recurring times, and it was just one friend who would have been difficult to accommodate. Luckily, I did later start a Thursday group with mostly internet strangers from meetup on Thursday night and was happy to have my friend join.

After running this poll, we’ve never played on day other than Saturday. We set up a recurring cadence of every 3 weeks which later became every 2 weeks. We did occasionally have some scheduling mishaps which lead to canceled games but these problems have mostly been solved through recurring calendar invites and confirmations.

Recurring Calendar Invites and Confirmations

Our group now has recurring Google Calendar invite for the D&D session which I have sent to every player. Nevertheless, I also check with my players right at the end of the session whether the next date still works for everyone. At this point, everyone takes out their phones and confirms the next date. Sometimes a player has a wedding or a business trip that they need to attend and has to sit out the session. If enough people aren’t available for the session, we usually bump it to the following week.

Sometimes people forget too, so I send a text the day before the session as a reminder and we’re good to go.

And that’s it! If you really want to play a regular game of D&D, seek out folks who want to play it as much as you do, use polling to find out the best time slot, and re-confirm your dates. If you do all of these things, you’ll have no problem gathering your party to venture forth ⚔️

How to Recruit Players for Your D&D Game

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My Saturday Afternoon Group in the Kobold Caves

When I think about the biggest problems I had when I just started out DMing, it mostly came down to two things: trouble scheduling and trouble finding players.

While scheduling can be difficult (I’ve spent weeks in doodle poll hell myself), you can solve most of your scheduling problems by finding players who are interested enough in your game to make time for it in their schedule. Thus, while scheduling is important, the most important thing for a DM to focus on (other than running the game, of course) is player recruitment.

The Two Stages of Recruiting Players: Sourcing and Vetting

So how do you recruit for your table? First, you need a large pool of potential players to recruit from. Creating this pool is part of the “sourcing” stage of player recruitment. Then, when picking potential players from your recruitment pool, you need to ask yourself whether a player would be a good fit for the rest of your group and for the kind of game you want to play. This is the “vetting” stage of player recruitment.

Both Sourcing and Vetting are of equal importance. If you don’t source, you’ll find it difficult to keep up with player turnover. If you don’t vet, you’ll run the risk of having a disruptive player who could ruin the fun for everyone, perhaps even to the level of an RPG horror story.

Sourcing Players

Sourcing players is straightforward: you have 4 to 6 player slots to fill at your table and the larger pool of players you can choose from to fill those slots, the better. Your pool of players will often start with your extended friend circle, and then expand out to other folks in the local gaming community. You can meet these players at events, gaming conventions, Adventurer’s League Games, and online through various Looking for Game (LFG) forums.

Sourcing D&D Players From Your Extended Friend Circle

If you’re like me, you’ll probably start sourcing players from your extended group of friends. I myself started my first Lost Mines of Phandelver group by sending out an email to my friends who I thought might be interested. I was able to get five people in my first session, many of whom had limited experience with D&D.

There was a lot of turnover. By the time we had finished the Lost Mines Adventure about 8 months later, we had only two people left from the original group. Unless you’re very lucky, it’s likely that the recruits from your initial pool of friends will dwindle as well.

This has nothing to do with your talent as a DM; some people just aren’t interested in D&D as you might be. Some of the folks in your initial pool might be curious about DnD but may not be as much of a dedicated or die-hard player as you might be. They’ll probably have other hobbies and commitments that will take precedence over your game, or perhaps they’re looking for a different play style than you’re willing to offer as a GM. Or, you may just have a player who is moving out of town. There are plenty of reasons for players to drop out that have nothing to do with you.

So unless you’re very lucky and all your friends are hardcore tabletop gamers who love your GM style and who happen to have the same free evenings that you do, you’re going to have players who drop out. To replace those players, you’ll likely have to meet some strangers outside of your friend circle. I myself did this chiefly through my local D&D group on Meetup, and now I have a solid group of 6 players who rarely miss a session.

Create a D&D Event on Meetup.com

Although your mileage may vary depending on where you live, for me, Meetup has provided the best experience for sourcing players. The Seattle Dungeons and Dragons and RPG meetup group was great because they have more than 2,700 members and I was able to become an event organizer after sending a quick message to one of the admins.

As an event organizer, I posted an event looking for 6 players for a Lost Mines of Phandelver campaign (This was a different campaign than my initial campaign). Because the group had a large number of members, I was able to fill the slots rather quickly. This gaming group, which was basically composed of 5 internet strangers and 1 friend, is still going strong to this day. If I were to do it over again, however, I’d probably just post a one shot event to properly vet my players as I most certainly could have gotten a random stranger who could have ruined the game.

If you can, find a meetup group in your area with a large number of members and see if you can become an event organizer so that you can post your event. It’s possible that they may not let you become an event organizer right off the bat, so ask the event organizers if you can join an existing event as a volunteer GM. Then, when you have built a relationship with the main event organizers, there’s a good chance they’ll let you promote a game of your own through that group.

Join or Run D&D Adventurer’s League Games

My experience with D&D Adventurer’s League (AL) Games is limited, so I can only speak from my perspective. Adventurer’s League games seem to be a good way to meet new players, as most AL sessions can be run in a single sitting as a one shot–each session usually being with different group of players. After you play a session and advance levels, you can take the character you’ve built and accrued experience for and play in other adventures at that level. The GMs even have special identification numbers so they can verify you were actually in such-and-such an adventure (although I’m guessing they’re seldom used).

Adventurer’s League Games at Conventions

In the Seattle area, I had my first taste of Adventurer’s League games at the Dragonflight convention. This particular convention had several tables with periods of time blocked out for this or that game and there were many AL games listed.

These convention games were not my favorite. They were a random group of strangers who had little sense of any group cohesion, and since this was a one-shot scenario, the reason for us being together was a pretty generic “you are strangers hired for a job” hook. This kind of setup doesn’t really foster good group chemistry. Again, this is just my experience with AL convention games–your experience may differ.

Adventurer’s League Games at Gaming Stores

Your “Friendly Local Gaming Store” (FLGS), will often host Adventurers League events in your area. You can search for participating stores and events through the store and event locator offered by Wizards of the Coast and find an Adventurer’s League game at a store a reasonable distance from you.

The gaming store route seems a better way to meet fellow players than through conventions. If you become a regular at one of the events, you’ll likely make friends with fellow gamers whom you may invite to your own group once you have planned your grand campaign. Consider volunteering as an Adventurer’s League GM so that players can get a feel for how you run a game. This way, when you reach out to potential players, you’ll know that they are interested in the kind of game that you offer as a GM and will be less likely to drop out in the middle of it.

Finding Online Games

I’m writing this article in the middle of the Covid-19 epidemic with the expectation that someday you’ll be able to play an in-person game with your friends. Right now, that’s not an option. Online is the only safe way to play. Thus, all of my in-person games have moved to the virtual tabletop (VTT) software Roll20.

Looking for Game (LFG) postings on VTT forums

For those unfamiliar, Roll20 and other VTTs like it are apps where players can share a battlemap and automate all the fiddly math that comes with dice rolls. Players have a token representing their character which they can move along the map much as they would a mini on an actual tabletop. Other VTTs include Fantasy Grounds, Astral Tabletop, Tabletop Simulator and the open source VTT MapTool. Roll20 is the most popular VTT out there at the moment and the only one I have used, but I did want to call out the alternatives so you can see what’s right for you.

Roll20’s LFG Search

The Looking For Game (LFG) postings on Roll20 are an incredible tool for finding an online game that fits your schedule. As a GM, all I have to do is write a blurb describing the game I want to run and post it to the LFG forum. As a player, I can search for games based on the time slots I’m available and the type of adventure I want to play. If, for example, I wanted to play Descent into Avernus every Monday night, I can do a keyword search for “Avernus” and filter my searches by time slot.

While Roll20 seems to have the best LFG search out there, it’s worth considering other options. Roll20, though filled to the brim with interesting features, has a rather counter-intuitive UI and as of this writing has serious lag issues when servers are overloaded (and because of Roll20’s popularity, this is often). So although it may be more difficult to find players on other platforms, it may be worth taking the time to look elsewhere to avoid some of Roll20’s frustrations.

LFG for Other VTTs

Although Roll20 has a great LFG search feature, there are plenty of other resources for other VTTs as you can see here:

Using Locally Oriented Social Media for Online LFG Posts

The hope is that once we’re all out of quarantine, we’ll be able to resume playing tabletop RPGs in person. When organizing a new group for online play, you may want to consider recruiting only local players so that someday you’ll be able to play a game at your friendly local gaming store or a gamer friendly cafe/bar.

Since the VTT community isn’t constrained by location, you’ll often find yourself in games with players from all around the world. I’m based in Seattle, but I’ve been in online D&D games with gamers from Denmark, Poland, the UK, and Australia. While that’s pretty neat, I find that meeting fellow gamers in person can foster friendships and camaraderie that purely online games do not. Also, the randomness of many online game recruitment processes often makes for a rather mixed bag of players with different play styles that aren’t really in alignment with each other. Invariably, there’s at least one annoying or disruptive player who can ruin the fun.

So although you may use Roll20 or FantasyGrounds or Astral Tabletop for gaming during quarantine, consider posting online gaming events on meetup, facebook, through the Adventurer’s League or perhaps even Eventbrite to promote your online game. This way, you’ll be able to connect in person when (hopefully someday) this pandemic is in the rear view window.

Finally, I should note that you don’t necessarily need a VTT to play D&D online. Some GMs I know are using Zoom video chat and theater of the mind to play their games and that seems to be working out fine for them.

Vetting Players

“Bad D&D is worse than no D&D”

–Probably someone on Reddit

When recruiting for my first games as a GM, my focus was almost exclusively on sourcing new players rather than vetting them. After having read a few RPG horror stories where just a little vetting would have averted the tragedy, vetting has become the priority for me as a GM.

You need to vet your players for the express purpose of ensuring that you only have people you want in your game in your game, and vice versa. You should vet everyone who comes to your table, even your friends.

Vet all Players, Including Your Friends

It’s obvious why you’d want to vet strangers. After all, who wants an insufferable racist edge lord who doesn’t shower and makes other players feel unsafe? If you do an open campaign invite on meetup.com, you probably won’t get someone that horrible, but chances are you might get at a player who has at least one of those traits.

Strangers are one thing, but why would you want to vet your friends? For the most part, you probably will get along with your friend at the table, but gaming will bring out hidden facets of your friends that you might not know were there. It’s very possible, for example, that your friend might:

  • Be disengaged, unenthusiastic and/or distracted.
  • Expect some preferential treatment from you as the GM
  • Constantly challenge your rulings
  • Enjoy derailing the campaign
  • Not show up to sessions or cancel at the last moment.

These are just a few potential issues that could come up in a campaign with friends and has the potential to strain or ruin friendships. Make sure you determine the kind of player your friend is by playing a few low-commitment one-shots with them. This will save you a lot of future grief.

How to Vet Your Players

There are two ways to vet your players: you can do a one-shot with them or interview them. Also, although not really part of the vetting process per se, you should do a “session zero” at the start of every campaign to reach a consensus with your players about the kind of game you want to play. A session zero, in addition to vetting, will go a long way to ensure your game is a safe and enjoyable one.

Vet your Players through One Shots

The one shot is a great way to determine whether or not a player will be a fit for your table. Not only that, but it’s a way for players to find out whether they like your style as a GM. If you do enough one shots, you’ll have a pool of players to choose from when it’s finally time to embark on your grand, multi-year campaign.

While most one-shots end in a single session, sometimes it can be good to reconvene for a second half–perhaps even planning it in advance. If a module description says it will take 4-6 hours to complete, try planning for two sessions of 2-3 hours. If some folks cancel before the second session, you’ll then know that they have other priorities than showing up for your game.

And there’s nothing wrong with that! People have different interests and there’s no use trying to get people to come to a game if they’d rather do something else with their time. There are plenty of people out there who love playing D&D and would love having a seat at your table. There’s no use chasing after the flakes.

Start building a roster of players you get along with from your one-shots. It won’t be long before you have a list of your favorite players you can reach out to for your campaign. The more players you meet through one-shots, the easier it’ll be to find 4-6 people willing to commit to a regular campaign.

The Interview

Although less ideal than the one shot, interviewing your new potential players can be much faster. If I’m trying to fill a slot for a player who has left one of my games, I’ll often do a shout out on various social medial platforms and meet a potential player for a beer. During this informal “interview” I’ll ask the potential player what they’re looking for in a game and describe in general terms the kind of game I’m running.

In an interview, it’s hard to get a good feeling for how a potential player may behave at the table, but at least you can find out if they’re a weirdo who obviously wouldn’t be a good fit. If this is the case, you are unfortunately put in the awkward position of having to turn them down, which you would not have to do when recruiting folks whom you have played one-shots with.

The Session Zero

In a session zero, players get together to agree on the kind of game they want to play and, most importantly, agree on what kind of behavior is off limits. While this is not technically the part of the vetting process, it does go a long way to set some ground rules for the game and prevent a lot of drama. For an excellent primer on how to run a session zero check out this reddit post.

Mastering the Least Fun Parts of D&D

The least fun parts of D&D, scheduling and recruiting, can be enough to turn some would-be GMs away from the hobby. I’m guessing that many dispirited GMs give up when they recruit players from their friend circle and, one-by-one, they start to drop out.

While your friends can make great players, oftentimes we’ll have to search outside of our friend circles for new players by going to Adventurer’s League events, organizing one shot adventures through meetup.com, and so on.

But we don’t just want any players. We want players whom we can truly engage with as GMs and who won’t make other players feel unsafe, uncomfortable, or even just thoroughly annoyed. Any player whom you invite could ruin your game, which is why vetting your players and setting expectations for them in a session zero is essential.

If you master these guidelines, you’ll be able to get the least fun parts of the game out of the way, and be rolling in no time 🎲🎲🎲

A DM’s Guide to Venomfang

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The young green dragon Venomfang poses several challenges to DMs. The first challenge is developing Venomfang’s motivations–what does a green dragon like Venomfang want? The second challenge is playing Venomfang intelligently: As a creature with a 16 intelligence who is practised in weaving layers of deception, how can we lie convincingly to our PCs so that they believe what he’s saying? The third and final challenge is dealing with the possibility of a TPK (either finding ways to prevent one or dealing with the consequences of one), as this is one of the most likely places in the whole module where the party could bite the big one.

Green Dragon Temperament

In order to answer these questions it’s important to get an idea of just what motivates green dragons and what separates them from other dragons.

Corruptors of the Virtuous and Masters of Deceit

While all chromatic dragons are vain, evil, and covetous creatures, each type of chromatic dragon has a different temperament, and green dragons are no exception.

For green dragons, wealth is measured by influence. A green dragon would love nothing more than to gain leverage with high officials of government and force them to cater to their will. The preferred form of this leverage is through deceit or blackmail but a green dragon may also make use of cruder methods like threats and coercion. While green dragons are happy to turn anyone into their personal slave, they particularly enjoy forcing or deceiving the pure of heart to do evil deeds. For green dragons, the world is essentially their chessboard and one of their main joys in life is to collect more and more pawns to do their bidding.

Patient Schemers

Because green dragons often rely on others to do their dirty work, they can be viewed as “lazy.” Green dragons, however, would likely prefer to think of themselves as patient. For example: if an enemy has wronged a green dragon, and should the outcome of a confrontation with that enemy be less than certain, the dragon would prefer to wait years or even decades for more favorable circumstances. During this time, they are calmly stacking the deck against their enemies.

Should a green dragon be at the losing end of an encounter, they will attempt to parley. As Keith Ammann says in his article about chromatic dragon tactics:

As soon as [a green dragon] is moderately wounded, it will stop fighting and parley, making full use of its proficiency in Deception, Insight and Persuasion (skills no other type of chromatic dragon is proficient in) to keep itself alive. It will even surrender, albeit on terms favorable to itself, and always with an eye toward any opportunity to turn against its new “masters.”1

Venomfang’s Motivations

The Lost Mines Module mentions that Venomfang has moved into the the wizard’s tower since the last time Reidoth the Druid was there.2. Also, considering that Venomfang has just started laying waste to the resident giant spider population, we can assume that he has arrived within the last month or so.

Venomfang’s Enemies

We could deduce a couple of reasons for Venomfang’s recent arrival. Either he was kicked out of the nest unceremoniously by his parents (there’s conflicting sources as to whether green dragons are good parents, I believe canonically they are not), or he was driven out by an enemy. Some possible enemy candidates are:

  • Cryovain, the White Dragon of Icespire Hold: This idea has been suggested by several commenters in the Lost Mines of Phandelver Facebook Group. Cryovain and Icespire Hold are creations of the D&D Essentials Kit, a module which provides a whole bunch of side quest type adventures around Phandalin. Even if you don’t have the essentials kit, it wouldn’t take much to homebrew a young white dragon in a keep in the Sword Mountains vs. a Green Dragon near the southern end of Neverwinter Wood. This makes for an interesting contrast between dragons, since whites are more primal and less intelligent, while Green dragons are the craftiest of all chromatic dragons.
  • A relative of Venomfang: There is an excellent, excellent reddit post (like seriously really good) about how to run the Venomfang encounter that suggests Venomfang should lie about a half-sister determined to capture his lair after having been wounded by adventurers. There’s no reason, however, that this can’t be a real sibling rivalry. I like the idea that the relationship between green dragon siblings is a deadly one, and that green dragon parents raise their young in a “survival of the fittest” fashion.
  • Hill Giants: While doing research for this article, one of the best videos I found on Green Dragon lore mentioned that Hill Giants and Green Dragons are natural enemies. Apparently, green dragon babies are considered a delicacy among Hill Giants. I imagine that this could extend to older dragons as well. Perhaps a party of Hill Giants tried to hunt Venomfang down for food. This may make for a good segue into Storm King’s Thunder or another Giant related adventure.
  • A Fey Being: Thundertree already feels feywild-esque and thus it feels appropriate that perhaps a fey being of moderate to great power has interests there. One possible idea includes a stronger/smarter than normal boggle-like creature (boggles are fey creatures born out of feelings of loneliness and loss–feelings that certainly pervade Thundertree). This arch-boggle wants to increase the feelings of loneliness around Thundertree and all the recent activity generated by Venomfang, Reidoth, and the Cultists jeopardize this fey creature’s prospects of creating the perfect garden of loss. Venomfang may understand that there is a fey presence in Thundertree, and is keeping his eye out for it. I’ll likely put out another article to flesh out the fey angle further.

Venomfang and Thundertree

While it has been suggested that Thundertree is more of a temporary lair because it’s not located in a deep forest, to me it seems like an ideal spot for the young green dragon. The ash that had settled into the town after the eruption of Mt. Hotenow has the unsettling properties of corrupting anything it touches–animating corpses and causing the very plant life to lash out against those who may trespass here. Apparently, the eruption and the ash was the byproduct of a godlike fire primordial‘s anger at being awakened from a long slumber. The corruption in Thundertree is essentially a manifestation of this anger. More ancient and powerful green dragons than Venomfang have the power of causing a very similar sort of corruption by their very presence, so Venomfang must feel right at home here. Furthermore, the wizard’s tower overlooking the rest of the town allows the dragon to keep an eye on any interlopers who may venture nearby.

Venomfang’s Stalemate with Reidoth

Venomfang is loathe to give up a promising new lair. Unfortunately for him, however, a meddling old druid by the name of Reidoth has settled in a cottage at the Eastern end of Thundertree. This frustrates Venomfang’s plans to quietly recover from whatever drove him from his previous lair and plan revenge. At the moment, they seem to be at a stalemate, with one warily watching the other and waiting until one of them lets their guard down. Venomfang knows that it’s unwise to attack a spellcaster whose power has yet to be determined, and so he has kept an eye on Reidoth to see what he does. Reidoth, likewise, knows that Green dragons can be the most treacherous and dangerous of all dragons and hasn’t yet made a move on the wizard’s tower because of this.

Venomfang’s Ambivalence toward the Cultists

To oversimplify things, you can break down cultist motivation into three camps:

  1. Worship and adulation of chromatic dragons and Tiamat, their goddess
  2. Desire for power by forging alliances with dragons
  3. Both 1 and 2.

Since Favric, the leader of the cultist group, is “an evil and ambitious man”3 it’s fun to think of him as a member of the second camp. The other cultists who don’t share Favric’s ambition are likely to be in the first camp. Of course, Favric would likely pretend to be in the first camp as well. While it may not change how the cultists interact with Venomfang, it’s worth noting.

While the cultists (Favric excluded) are worshipful of all chromatic dragons and wish to become servants of Venomfang, there’s nothing to suggest that Venomfang would ally himself with them. It’s true that in the Tyranny of Dragons module the cultists manage to recruit many chromatic dragons to do their bidding, but they do it by using legendary magical items called Dragon Masks. Favric, a low ranking member of the cult, possesses no such mask (and is likely not aware of their existence). He’s a bit full of himself, and thinks he can gain the allegiance of Venomfang through persuasion alone.

I imagine that Venomfang would be friendly to the cultists. After all, here’s some free minions that have plopped up on his doorstep. However, Venomfang may secretly be repulsed by these sycophants fawning over him. Should the party ask Venomfang about the cultists, Venomfang would likely share his true feelings about them.

Venomfang’s Plans

As a green dragon, Venomfang knows that the party will regard it with a decent level of distrust. He knows that should any brash adventuring party stumble into Thundertree they will likely side with Reidoth against him. Thus his first goal is the sow falsehoods about Reidoth using a third party. To me, the best candidates for starting this smear campaign are members of the Zhentarim.

Venomfang and the Zhentarim

The Zhentarim are basically what you’d get if the mafia had been established by worshippers of a dark god of ambition and tyranny. Members of the Zhentarim tend to adhere to a “survival of the fittest” and “anything goes” attitude when it comes to advancing the personal ambition of its members. The only loyalty they have are to their own members, and even this loyalty is somewhat a facade. The only reason why members don’t often betray each other is because there are severe penalties (likely the worst kind of torture and death) for doing so.

The Zhentarim and the Cult of the Dragon are enemies (the former wants to control the world, the latter wants to destroy it). Given their mutual animosity, it wouldn’t be unusual that the Zhentarim would have a spy in the ranks of the Cult. Thus, whatever tipped the Cult off that Venomfang was in Thundertree could also have been picked up by a Zhentarim agent. To me, I feel like the Zhentarim are more organized would have sent an agent to meet with Venomfang before Favric and his friends could get their shit together.

Venomfang’s Smear Campaign Against Reidoth

The Zhentarim represent perfect allies to Venomfang. As a young green dragon that doesn’t have the ability to polymorph himself, Venomfang can’t infiltrate the ranks of Neverwintan society as he would like to. In exchange for Venomfang guaranteeing a safe smuggling route around Thundertree (Venomfang is free to eat non-Zhentarim who may pass through), Zhentarim agents agree to be Venomfang’s information channel to and from the civilized world.

Venomfang’s request to the Zhentarim is to spread misinformation that an evil druid named Reidoth has been spawning plant monsters throughout Thundertree. Apparently this is part of Reidoth’s effort to kill any would be hunters and lumberjacks attempting to exploit the natural wealth of Neverwinter Wood.

While the Zhentarim smear campaign against Reidoth would likely be focused in Neverwinter, Halia Thornton, the owner of the miner’s exchange in Phandalin and secret Zhentarim member, may be asked by her Zhentarim contacts to spread the rumors in Phandalin as well. I imagine a scene where the party manages to overhear an argument between Qelline Alderleaf (who has known Reidoth all her life) and one of Halia’s goons:

“All I’m saying is I heard that the old fool druid Reidoth has gone plum bonkers and has been raising plant monsters all around Neverwinter wood. My mate was out there with a couple woodcutters and barely escaped with their lives!”

“Ye got it all wrong! Reidoth might be a little strange a’ times, but there’s no way he’d harm a soul!”

Should the party venture north to Thundertree, they may encounter a Zhentarim spy in the guise of a hunter who warns them against venturing forward because of the evil druid Reidoth. This is the perfect place to drop clues that they are being deceived. For example, anyone proficient in Nature may notice that the fox pelts that the hunter is carrying is of a breed not native to Neverwinter Wood.

If the party insists that they want to go to Thundertree, the “hunter” suggests that they can meet a possible ally, a green dragon by the name of Venomfang (It may be good to change Venomfang’s name so that it’s less evil sounding and more draconic–something like Asverathmasil.) The hunter assures the party that although Asverathmasil is a green dragon, not all of them are evil.

When Venomfang meets the party, he can try to convince them that there is a corruption in Thundertree and Reidoth has become its servant. The only way to clear the corruption is to kill the druid. If the party doesn’t buy the story and Venomfang notices this, he may unleash the poison gas on the party right away.

Which leads us to our next question…how might we avoid a TPK with venomfang?

Avoiding a TPK with Venomfang (Or Not)

This became a rather long section, so I made a separate article for it: Avoiding a TPK with Venomfang (Or Not)

Other Venomfang/Green Dragon Content

Venomfang has inspired a lot of online content, perhaps more than any other NPC in the module, thus it would a disservice not to mention and summarize some of the best remixes I’ve found out there.

  • Writeup by u/Brosequis on Reddit: The first comment on this reddit thread is one of the best writeups on Venomfang I’ve seen. Indeed I’ve taken a lot of inspiration from this for my own game. In addition to a useful synopsis of the natures of green dragons, this provides a lot of a sample dialogue (lies) that Venomfang may tell the party. It also provides a pretty convincing story about why Reidoth is not looking out for the good of the party.
  • Tweaking Thundertree, or How I Built a Better Thundertree (LMoP) : In addition to providing some additional advice on how to run Thundertree as a whole, this reddit article provides a really interesting take on how to play Venomfang. In this example, Venomfang has already trapped Reidoth in a chest and has polymorphed herself so that the party thinks that she is Reidoth. Also, this article provides a stat block for Reidoth, which is super handy should the party manage to persuade Reidoth to join forces with them against the dragon.
  • [VIDEO] What they Don’t Tell You About Green Dragons: One of the best resources online that I have found about green dragon lore. 100% worth the watch.
  • [PDF] The Monster Harvester’s Handbook: Should the party manage to defeat Venomfang, this PDF provides a list of ingredients that the players can harvest from a young green dragon, as well as DC for extracting the various parts. Since some green dragon parts have a shelf life, it may help to jot down some notes for an apothecary in Neverwinter so that they can sell their harvest before it spoils.

How have you run the Venomfang encounter? Please feel free to share in the comments!

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Avoiding a TPK with Venomfang (Or Not)

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One the perennial questions that I’ve seen come up online when it comes to running Lost Mines of Phandelver is “How can I avoid a TPK when the party faces the green dragon Venomfang?”

There are certainly some ways you can do this, but the first question you need to ask is, “Should I try to avoid a TPK at all?”

As a newbie DM, I was afraid that a TPK would completely demoralize my players. I felt that forcing my players to start all over again would perhaps scare them away from coming back to the table. However, after giving this issue some thought and reading how other DMs have dealt with Venomfang (and the prospect of a TPK), I realized that my fears surrounding a Venomfang TPK were misplaced.

Essentially, there are two ways you can deal with it. The first is to address the prospect of character death and TPKs in a session zero and the second is to be prepared with narrative escape hatches should the party be facing near certain death.

Address character death and TPKs in a session zero

Because I was so eager to get started with Lost Mines of Phandelver, I only spent about 10 minutes with my group establishing ground rules and expectations for the game. Although I have a wonderful gaming group and all of us seem to be on the same page as to what we want to get from a game, I still wish I had spent more time to ask my players more questions during a session zero.

One thing I failed to ask about was how my players felt about character death. As a player who had initially spent hours writing out the backstory for my first few D&D characters, I became very attached to them. I dreaded character death and assumed my players would too.

I was absolutely wrong. I remember a point in one of my games where the players were facing the prospect of death and a conversation started up about how they were excited to try out new characters should their current ones die. I hate to admit that I may have pulled some punches before this conversation and now I absolutely don’t.

TPKs, however, are a different issue than character death. While it’s easy to slot in a new character should one die, a TPK is disruptive to the narrative. It forces the entire party to roll new characters and it forces the DM to come up with a slightly contrived reason to connect the severed narrative thread with a brand new party.

I believe TPKs are avoidable in most cases. However, if the party decides to do something incredibly unwise, it may happen. It’s best then to be upfront to your players about it. During your session zero explain to them that a TPK is rare but should the party make a very bad decision that results in a TPK, they can start again as a new party and pick up where the old one left off. Either that or the players can start a new adventure at level 1. Ask them which would they prefer.

I missed this discussion during session zero, but as we approached Thundertree I did discuss the TPK issue with my players, and to my surprise everyone was on board with it. All of them felt that decisions should have consequences, and if their decisions resulted in a TPK, so be it. This is what sets D&D apart from other games, after all. After this discussion, I prepared the Venomfang encounter to make it as challenging as it deserves to be.

Preventing a Venomfang TPK

While the first step regarding TPKs is to discuss them in a session zero, there are a couple ways that we can prevent a TPK with Venomfang that fit with the story and aren’t a Deus Ex Machina.

A Hostage and a Favor

Remember that Green Dragons more than anything relish the thought of corrupting the heroic and pure hearted. While they would prefer to do this through deception, they wouldn’t be against using a hostage to force others to do their bidding.

Should the party engage Venomfang in combat and should a TPK become inevitable, Venomfang can grapple a fallen party member in its claws and threaten to kill them if they don’t parley.

“You have come into my home, sought to kill me and steal my treasure, and now I hold one of your lives in my claws. I am well within my rights to tear the flesh from your bones and no one would fault me. However…if you listen to what I have to say, perhaps I will let this one live”

Should the party agree with Venomfang, you can move out of initiative. Venomfang then proposes the following deal: he will hold a party member hostage and kill them should they not do a favor in return.

The hostage will most likely be a fallen party member, but there could be other ways to resolve the issue (drawing straws, etc). The fallen party member will then have to roll up a new character to replace the one being held hostage.

What might Venomfang ask the party to do? Here are some possibilities:

  • Drive Reidoth out from Thundertree (Or Kill Him) – If you really want to put the party in a tight spot, you could have Venomfang pit them against Reidoth. If the party is smart enough they could possibly convince Reidoth to leave temporarily.
  • Kill Cryovain, the White Dragon – Cryovain kicked Venomfang out of his territory and Venomfang wants revenge. This option would require buying the D&D Essentials Kit, but you could easily substitute Cryovain for another dragon or monster of your own devising.
  • Steal a Magic Artifact – Perhaps Venomfang heard of some valuable object that could grant him the ability to polymorph into a human (green dragons love subterfuge, so being able to assume human form would be a dream). Of course, Venomfang would lie about the nature of the artifact, but it’s possible a canny party member would see through the deception.

What happens after the party delivers what Venomfang wishes of them? If I were Venomfang, I wouldn’t want a group of heroes wandering loose who I couldn’t control and who could potentially become a liability. If possible, Venomfang would devise some sort of trap for the adventurers and kill them after they have completed the task. Of course, Venomfang may feel that the outcome of a fight is uncertain and so decide to honor the agreement, In this case he would turn on the charm and graciously release the hostage. The characters should feel as though Venomfang is letting them off easy. Green Dragons, however, never forget a slight against them, and will spend years or even decades to even a score. The party who insulted him shouldn’t fare any differently.

TPK Insurance

Another way of avoiding a TPK involves a little setup. For this, I took some inspiration from a post in the Lost Mines of Phandelver Facebook Group. If I remember it correctly, the post essentially described a magic elixir which the party drank (Likely as a reward for rescuing someone). This elixir essentially has the effect of bringing the party back 10 minutes before making a decision that lead to a TPK. The party would fall to Venomfang and later wake up with an incredible hangover, the elixir bottle which had been half empty now completely empty.

Of course, you don’t have to use the idea of an elixir. The basic premise of TPK insurance is to have set something up so that when the party finds themselves in a dire situation, the DM has a way to get the party out of it that they aren’t aware of.

TPK Insurance: A Foray into the Feywild

I really liked the elixir idea myself and decided to extend it a little further. On the way to Thundertree, the party encounters some Ghouls assaulting a Gnome family. Should the party rescue the family, they are brought in to see the village elders who live in hollows of a massive tree about three times the diameter of the largest tree on earth. The elders give them the sap of the tree to drink as thanks for saving them.

The sap of this sacred tree has the unusual property of transporting a recently deceased soul to a lifesize wooden statue in the feywild. Once imbued with a soul, these wooden statues have the ability to move as though they were flesh and blood. The party wakes up in a workshop full of these statues and are greeted by a fey servant of Baervan Wildwanderer, the god of the forest Gnomes. In order to return to the material plane, the party must find a way to turn their wooden bodies back into flesh. When they return, whoever killed the party will think that they are dead.

I plan to write a more detailed article about the Forest Gnome adventure soon, but I thought I’d share the summarized version as an example.

Don’t let the party off too easily

A TPK is a big deal, and you don’t want the party to get off lightly for it. In the case of the forest gnome adventure, I felt that a few sessions lost in the Feywild felt like a reasonable consequence for whatever unwise decision they choose to make.

In both sessions I’ve run Phandelver, both parties defeated Venomfang. I still have the TPK insurance ready to go, though. It will likely activate at a time that they have completely forgotten about it 😉

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