Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk

"Lost Mine of Phandelver" was the first official adventure published for 5e, was the first (and arguably only) classic adventure of that edition, and is perhaps the single best adventure that Wizards of the Coast (but specifically them - not TSR) have ever published for the game. So when they announced a new "Phandelver campaign" I was extremely interested and rather excited.

I then read the reviews, and that excitement withered. But a really good Amazon deal led to me buying the book, and so brings us here.

"Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk" is a standard 5e adventure book - a 192-page full colour hardcover with an RRP a fraction under $60. However, it is routinely available at a fraction of that price, which is fortunate as it is very much not worth that money.

Unlike other 5e adventures, this one is very much an adventure of two halves - the first half is a near-reprint of the classic "Lost Mine of Phandelver", with a handful of tweaks in the name of inclusion and a handful more to seed some hooks for the second part. The second part of the adventure then picks up with a new menace that is busy gathering the shards of a shattered obelisk and has to be stopped (because, of course they do).

And while the book is nowhere near the disaster that I had been led to believe, neither does it really work.

The fundamental problem is that while "Lost Mine of Phandelver" is a great adventure, it is a great adventure of beginning groups. Expanding that to a full campaign was a good idea, but it almost certainly should have been a beginner's campaign - something reasonably simple and classic to point new DMs towards.

Instead, the book awkwardly seques from a beginner's adventure into something considerably more advanced, complete with trigger warnings for material that really needs a deft hand to address. (Well... what constitutes tricky material these days. Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay this is not.)

It also doesn't help that the second section is, frankly, another soulless railroad. It's fine, so far as these things go, but I wouldn't put it anywhere near any top-ten lists. Frankly, "Storm King's Thunder" is better, and that one is deeply flawed.

Basically, they've made the wrong product, and they've made it fairly badly. It's not an utter disaster (as I had been led to believe), but neither can I find any reason to recommend it. Except for one: "Lost Mine of Phandelver" remains great, and stocks of the original Starter Set are now running low, so this will soon be the only way to get your hands on that adventure.

But "Lost Mine of Phandelver" isn't worth $60, or anywhere close to that. So if you're a beginning DM looking for a first adventure, if you can't find the original Starter Set, and you can get this one at a huge discount, then maybe go for this one. Otherwise, save yourself the money.

Bringing the Curtain Down

Our game was cancelled again this week, and I must admit that it came as something of a relief. As a consequence, I've come to two fairly solid conclusions:

• This is indeed the final campaign with this group. I was almost certainly resolved on that point, but now I am certain - the reduction in group size means we've become too sporadic, and that combined with the very short sessions means that everything moves at a glacial pace. Since this adventure represents the minimum scope I'm willing to bother with (since there needs to be something to build), there's nowhere to go. A shame, but better to end definitively than linger in an unsatisfactory manner.
• I'm now planning to compress the last segment of the campaign as well - instead of the planned twenty or so encounters, I think my intent is to bring that down to half a dozen or so, coming to a quick close. I don't think anything truly important is likely to be missed there, but it should mean a handful of sessions rather than the rest of the year.

There are two lesser conclusions I've come to as well:

• I still intend to write up the remainder of the campaign, including the "full version" of the ending. Just to prove to myself that I actually can do that!
• I don't intend to seek out a new RPG group at this time. I'm not saying never, but my expectation is that this is, essentially, the end. I just don't have the time needed to invest properly, and don't want to commit to something if I can't.

Completed (close enough): Exploration of the Islands

The third, and by far the largest, part of the "Isles of Dread" campaign was part three, "Exploration of the Islands". This involved the characters travelling around all of the smaller islands in the chain, engaging in various mini-quests, and generally exploring. The party are now on their way to the final one of these islands, and currently engage in combat with a shoal of reef sharks intent on blood. But that's close enough to completion for this post.

The fourth and final part of the campaign, "Temple of Elemental Evil Fire" beckons. It shouldn't take so long. Unfortunately, it's also the section that I have yet to write...

On the Road Again

After a few false starts we finally managed to get together for the game last week. The session itself was largely unremarkable, with a battle against some kobolds, a subsequent interrogation, and then a journey to the dragonborn enclave. But that's okay - the main thing was to get going.

The next few sessions should see the party wrapping up this particular subquest, which hopefully should work out okay. Thereafter they have just a few of the smaller islands still to visit, and then it's on to Part Four of the adventure. So I guess I'd best get on with writing it!

My Worst Game Experience

Looking back through this blog, somehow I don't seem to have ever told this story...

A number of years ago I had a bright idea for a Shadowrun mini-campaign - six sessions (!) to tell a specific story in the vein of "Neuromancer" or some of the other cyberpunk greats. I was actually really proud of it.

So we dug out the Shadowrun 4th Edition books and started creating characters. And went on creating characters. And on. And on. And on.

Eventually, after about five hours we were finally ready to play! Huzzah!

The game rolled on, and into the very first combat, an introduction to the system and the setting, and the inciting event for the story...

Half an hour later and it was time to end the session. And I absolutely refuse to touch Shadowrun ever again.

The fundamental problem we twofold. Firstly, the combat system dragged to the point of being unbearable. Secondly, one of the characters was built so that his optimum approach was to simply ignore the ongoing firefight, walk straight across the room where it was all going on, and just punch out the bad guys - his character was literally unable to be wounded by a gunshot.

I've had some experiences with some sucky game masters, and some experiences with sucky games. I've also made a number of mistakes when gaming, some of which are pretty terrible. But of all my experiences while gaming, this was the absolute nadir.

Six Sessions?

Apparently, the average D&D campaign lasts all of six sessions, which I must say I find absolutely astonishing - even those campaigns of mine that have fizzled have typically lasted a good bit longer than that.

This means a number of things: it easily explains the finding that almost nobody plays at high level (since there's just no time to get there), and it also means that those huge campaign-in-a-book adventures that WotC and Paizo produce are very much more for reading than playing (again, six sessions means that there is just no time).

I do find myself wondering what that would mean for my current group - does that mean we should be aiming for 24 or so sessions (that being the equivalent of 6 'normal' sessions), or should I maybe be pitching for 6 hours of play.

It's certainly an interesting finding.

Gaming in 2023

2023 has been a quiet year for gaming. It is the first year in more than three decades when I have bought no physical RPG product at all, it has seen me running what I expect to be my final ever campaign, and I'm reaching a point now where I suspect I'm more or less just done - looking forward I see the prospect of less gaming ahead rather than more. (Even in the quiet times in the past, there was always an expectation and a hope that they'd come to an end. This time, I'm not sure I have either.)

The "Isles of Dread" campaign continues to go well. I had expected it to come to an end this year, but for various reasons that hasn't happened. I expect it to conclude some time in the first half of 2024, but I guess we'll see.

I purchased a single physical RPG product - near the end of the year I saw "Phandelver and Beyond" at a 39% discount, which was enough to justify I buy. I haven't read it yet, so can't comment on the content.

Despite that, this year did see me reading a few things: "Tome of Beasts III" (PDF) and the matching "Lairs" book (I recommend the first; the second not so much), "Paranormal Power" (PDF), and the new D&D Starter Set (avoid - get the original if you can). I also read one of the versions of the d6 "Star Wars" game, which was interesting for a number of reasons.

I also purchased a number of classic D&D PDFs - a complete set of "Spelljammer", and the beginnings of a set of "Dark Sun". I had intended to read these, but just never found the time.

Looking forward, I don't foresee too many more purchases. I've more or less decided against the 2024 Core Rules Update unless something signficantly changes (or they publish in PDF). I do expect to receive the "Tales of the Valiant" PDFs at some point in the year, though in hindsight I probably shouldn't have backed that Kickstarter. And I expect to complete my set of "Dark Sun" PDFs at some time.

As I said, it has been a quiet year. I expect 2024 to be quieter still, but I guess we'll see. This won't be my final post on this blog, but it's possible it might be my final end-of-year roundup.