New 5th ed game run by Richard

[richard]

I wanted to start working on trying to run a 5th ed campaign to replace Crimson Throne since it has ended.  I would like something simple since I would be learning the rules and party/ encounter balance.  I was wondering if any of your groups have run Lost Mine of Phandelver (from the D&D Starter set)?  This is listed as one of the better adventures for lvl 1-5 and leads into Storm King's Thunder. (they are both set in the same region and Storm King starts at 5th level).  The other option was to run Princes of the Apocalypse.  I would prefer not to run something that some of the group has already played.

I know Ken had mentioned Princes of the Apocalypse as a replacement but that seems to be various Dungeon Delves with one of the drawbacks being that you are evidently delving into multiple dungeons at the same time and that by merely going down a flight of stairs will move from something appropriate for a 4th level party to something appropriate for an 8th level party.  The two ways listed to fix this were to gate the dungeons with keys that prevent exploration to lower levels or to tell the party "You have a bad feeling about going down this set of stairs".  Both seem either video game cliche or "railroad-y".  Allowing the party to explore naturally through the dungeons would run the risk of really hitting something they are not ready for, but I could always just hope everyone knows when to bug out and return later.

I could also try reading a published module that we may not be going back to or have finished (Abyss possibly or Strad when John is finished) and see if by doing so I feel I could just create something from scratch.  In which case, I would probably set a second campaign two decades later in Korvosa to deal will all the open threads from Crimson Throne.

[Luke Porter]

Another option would be to do some cosmetic rewrites to Phandelver to set it in Korvosa, to allow you to get your feet wet in 5e. Then segueing into stories of your own devising to take care of those lose plot threads. I say this because you seem to be most interested in that as a story.
As for the ‘4th level/8th level’ problem, this is a feature not a bug. In 1st & 2nd edition you commonly came across threats for which you were overmatched. You learned to retreat. This is not something that happened in 3rd edition at all. 3rd edition trained us that any encounter is beatable, which I think is not so great. I have enjoyed needing to make serveral sorties into a dungeon and having to think creatively about a situation. It reminds me of the good old days.
I suggest reading the section on encounter building in Xanathar’s Guide, it is easy to follow and steers away from single creature encounters.

[Kenneth New]

I have read the front material to lost mines of Phandelver, but not the scenario itself. It sounded fine. We have a pdf copy if you don't.