Interest Check: D&D 5e - Lost Mine of Phandelver

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Jul 19, 2020 7:11 am
Hey all. I'm currently wrapping up a campaign I've been running for a while, and one of the games I play in is coming to a conclusion as well. This has opened up a lot more free time than I usually have doing PbPs.

I haven't had a lot of luck signing up for new games as a player lately, as the last four or five games I joined resulted in the GM abandoning their game. I've decided to take a break from joining anything new for a while, but I would like to run a game of D&D 5e.

I've been playing and running different games since I was a little kid, and while I currently run a game of B/X D&D irl one day a week, and am a player of 5e one day a week, I'm pretty new to 5e (I have maybe 6-8 hours as a player, and have read, or at least familiarized myself with the three core books).

With that in mind, I would like to give DMing a spin, and would prefer to start with PbP before trying my luck irl. For that reason, rather than making my own campaign, or using one of the heavier prewritten adventure modules for the game, I think I'll start with something smaller and easier for players and DMs to wrap their head around. Lost Mine of Phandelver immediately comes to mind.

Lost Mine of Phandelver is a pre-written adventure module which comes with the D&D 5e Starter Set with the intent of teaching both players and DMs how to play 5e. It is made for 4-5 PCs starting at Level 1, and by the end of the adventure the PCs should be around Level 4, approaching Level 5. The module generally gets favorable reviews.

This game would be open to anyone, no experience with 5e necessary. That being said please remember that my DMing experience using the 5e rules is pretty much non-existent as well, so this is an opportunity for me to learn what I'm doing, and how to run a game, though with the slower pacing of PbP allowing me to check the notes and books more often without interrupting pacing, I'm confident we won't experience too many glitches or hangups.

I am looking to run the game at a speed of 1 post per day. Obviously life happens, which is why many of us are using the PbP format, so I understand if players miss a day or two each week. So really, I'm looking for 1 post a day per player pacing, but expecting a game of about five posts a week per player.

As far as character creation goes, instead of randomly rolling Ability scores, we'll just use the simple and speedy allotment of the scores 8, 10, 12, 13, 14, and 15 before Ability Modifiers are applied for Race/Class, as per Page 13 of the PHB.

Any Race and Class available in the PHB is available to play. Nothing homebrewed or 3rd Party. I don't have a legal copy of Zelligar's book, so we won't be applying anything from that book to character creation. Again, these will be characters straight out of the PHB only.

Obviously, if you have played/read through Lost Mines of Phandelver, I'd ask you refrain from applying so as to avoid metagaming and spoiling the experience for others.

I'm hoping to get about 4-5 players for this campaign.
Jul 19, 2020 8:11 am
Sounds great! I've just finished DMing Lost Mines for my daughters and their friend using roll20 so I won't apply.
Jul 19, 2020 8:55 am
I’d be up for joining as well
Jul 19, 2020 2:04 pm
Do count me in for that. Lost mines sounds like fun.
Jul 19, 2020 4:33 pm
@dankel: Running it over roll20 for my daughter and some of her wrestling teammates is sort of my long term plan as well. Getting some time in a couple campaigns in PbP and irl, and running a PbP game will hopefully ensure I have some of my ducks in a row when I have to DM it in real time.
Jul 19, 2020 4:33 pm
Alright, I have Mallow, Sassafras, and GeneCortess. There's room for one or two more interested players, and in the meantime I'll get a game set up today and send Invites out to those that showed interest.
Jul 19, 2020 5:31 pm
Hi, I'd love to play. I'm familiar with 5e rules, and was just going to start playing LMoP before the pandemic hit, so would love to continue in the PbP format.
Jul 19, 2020 5:44 pm
Hello! I'd be interested in playing. I've got a lot of experience with 5e, but none with PbP so I feel like this might be a great springboard to learn from!
Jul 19, 2020 6:00 pm
@ctme2000: I'll approve your request to join.
@AOC1996: I'll send you an invite.

That should make up five players, so I'll get the Caharcter Creation and OOC threads started and we can begin. If anyone else is interested in joining, please let me know. Right now, I want to keep the game limited to 5 PCs, but should any invites be ignored, I'll put you in line as alternates on a first come/first serve basis.
Jul 19, 2020 6:17 pm
Why is it that Lost Mines of Phandelver is so popular here these days? This is the third game I've seen advertised for it by 3 different people. I'm in one of them but the last post was April 13th (by me) so it's not just you, fungiguy, who sees a lot of their games go under.
Jul 19, 2020 8:01 pm
Aldrusian says:
Why is it that Lost Mines of Phandelver is so popular here these days? This is the third game I've seen advertised for it by 3 different people.
At least for me, the draw to this particular campaign is that it's a pretty simple and straightforward adventure with a layout that teaches players how to play, and DMs how to DM. It doesn't get excessively complicated, and basically relies on the idea that you really just need some very basic understanding of the system and everything should work alright.

Ideally, my two goals are to be able to run this game in-person or over voice chat and feel comfortable that I have enough practice so as to minimaize the hangups and hiccups that might occur, and to be able to convert a couple of interesting AD&D modules over to 5e and run those. Both those goals are a bit down the road, I suspect, but this particular module in PbP format seems like a great weay to get some practice in.
Aldrusian says:
I'm in one of them but the last post was April 13th (by me) so it's not just you, fungiguy, who sees a lot of their games go under.
It's been pretty lousy the last few months. Before it seemed like there was always issues with players flaking out mid-game, but in the last year or so, it's been people that decide to run a game, and then decide shortly after the game is underway that maybe they found something else they would rather run, and they just bail on the players. Sometimes they delete the game without a word to the players, sometimes they just ghost. I went back and forth between hosting this game here or in the PbP forums at dndbeyond, and opted here because I'm familiar with how to post and roll dice, and what capabilities and limitation this website has already.
Jul 21, 2020 8:03 pm
I had hopes to join as well. Hmmm...
Jul 23, 2020 3:36 am
If you want more characters, I'm ready to jump in coach! :)
Jul 24, 2020 1:10 am
Sorry. For now I think I want to keep the group size at 4-5 players, until I feel a bit more confident at my DMing abilities. Hopefully later I will feel more confident with adding extra players and adjusting the adventure accordingly, but for now I'm trying to play it as close to as designed as possible. Thank you for the interest though. If things run well, I'm definitely planning on running more 5e in the future.
Jul 24, 2020 1:26 am
Smiles. Yeah Mr.Armitage I'm awaiting a chance too.. I missed mine cause I was a bit to slow.
Jul 24, 2020 7:02 am
I’m always up for more 5e. :) I’m already running 3 games though. I’ll stick to adding additional games as a player. Haha
Jul 24, 2020 7:30 am
funfungiguy says:
I don't have a legal copy of Zelligar's book, so we won't be applying anything from that book to character creation.
Zelligar's book? Is this a typo for Xanathar's guide to everything? Or is there some book out there that everybody except me knows about?

Best of luck with LMoP - I'm sure you'll have a lot of fun with it.
Jul 24, 2020 2:53 pm
Yeah, haha! That was a typo, or a slip-up, or something lol. I meant Xanathar's book. On Tuesdays I run a game of B/X D&D over Roll20 and Discord and we're doing the "B1 - In Search of the Unknown" module. In the pre-written module, the PCs loot a abandoned dungeon originally built by a fighter named Rogahn the Fearless and a wizard named Zelligar the Unknown. I guess Zelligar is leaking.
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