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As someone who has ran Storm Kings Thunder these are all really good tips and will make the campaign run better

@TheGallantGoblin

3 жыл бұрын

Thank you, W! I appreciate the endorsement! -Theo

Yesss Theo do this for everything!!!! Haha in time I know but as my fav d&d content creator and the one I watch the most this type of content helps so much!

I loved this! Having campaigns laid out like this makes it so much easier for me to plan for them, and I wish I'd had something like this when I was getting ready to run my own. It's always super useful to hear other people's thoughts/tips on how to run them. Also, it's just lovely to listen to Theo talk about DnD.

This is an amazing new video style. I LOVE the miniatures displayed like that. Such beautiful art peices.

I just finished Storm King's Thunder after a 2-year campaign. I wish I had had this video when I started. That said, great video. Love the format and the advice.

@TheGallantGoblin

3 жыл бұрын

Thank you Ashley! -Theo

Really good tips. Thanks! I started with LMoP and am transitioning to a very abbreviated version of SKT, just using a few of the story line/locations/etc..

@TheGallantGoblin

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks! Hope it was helpful. Good luck! -Theo

Loved this video. I'm reading and preparing to run the game, this gave me a lot of ideas specially on the whole integrating the frost giant part, which I was quite stuck on not knowing what to do. Thanks for the tips!

@komicczz3211

2 жыл бұрын

I DM'd a new group of new players and one of my players was a gladiator background minotaur barb. I worked it where we was a pit fighter and was enslaved by the kraken society . He had lot of background story that worked well with the story I revolved a lot of interwebbing with the kraken society with the main groups goal of killing the giants. It worked pretty well

That’s the best skt rundown I’ve seen in a year of looking for advice, about to start the adventure, using an escaped nezznar as the fire giants connection, black spider is gonna be riding in with them into the triboar attack, I’m so excited. Thanks for the work you put into this

@TheGallantGoblin

2 жыл бұрын

That sounds awesome! Thank you for the kind comment! -Theo

I’d love to see more content like this! Great video as always guys!!!

Very useful. I'd love to see more videos like this for other adventures

Thank you so much for this! I'm a new DM (not new to playing) and I've been running LMoP. We are now coming to the end of Chapter 3 and my group has already told me they want to continue together, with their characters, after LMoP is done. I've been looking at SKT as a possible next campaign and you've convinced me. I love your ideas! Your tips are great and I'm glad I found them now so I can tie in the Phandalin aspect. This is great!

Lost Mine of Phandelver is a great adventure and that's an excellent tip for starting there

@ant2707

3 жыл бұрын

I was about to suggest he do that one next :^)

@ant2707

3 жыл бұрын

i have to run it soon and I've been a bit lazy soooo:^)

What a fantastic video. Full of great ideas and insights.

Amazing video! I'm currently running this campaign and this helped a lot. Would love more GM tips from you, you're one of my favorite content creators. Keep being awesome! Thank you

@TheGallantGoblin

Жыл бұрын

Aww thank you! Hoping to make more GM content in November! -Theo

@maxpetersen8342

Жыл бұрын

@@TheGallantGoblin Can't wait, I'll stay tuned!😀

Awesome video. Love the ideas, and extra content options for the campaign! Thanks.

Really great tips for the campaign, Theo! Great video!!!

@TheGallantGoblin

3 жыл бұрын

Thank you!

I really enjoyed your video. I am currently running my adventurers through Lost Mines of Phandelver and we have ear marked Storm King as our next campaign. Your suggestions are timely as Glass Staff already escaped my adventurers with the invisibility potion.

Great video, and great ideas for making the adventure more engaging. While more of these type videos would be great, I think you’d only be able to make them as effectively as this one if you’ve actually run through the adventure. So, maybe few and far between, but still worthy of doing.

My Storm Kings Thunder campaign is coming up to 2 years running and its leading into Iymrith building herself into the second coming of Tiamat... since the first few sessions ive been dropping these Mechia-Mat hints and its all now paying off... Ive accidentally involved a few of your hints though and i love this vid...

My players recently finished Dragon of Icespire Peak. I asked them to pick a faction that they would like to join, and (most of the players) choose the Zhentarim, so I had Halia welcome them to the Zhents. I have two players that choose to be with the Harpers, so I had Sister Garaele welcome them to that faction. I ended the campaign with them in front of Zephyros' tower, and on their way to Bryn Shander. Great tips here about the Kraken Society. I am trying to connect them with Purple Rocks somehow (perhaps a Cthulhu one shot there). Great idea about disruption on trade (pandemic anyone?), and dot the landscape with destroyed towns (and what not) to give the players a sense or urgency. I found lots of good idea in this video. Maybe you could do other videos dedicated to each chapter? I am not there yet, but I am trying to find more inspiration for my players to care about Bryn Shander, for instance. Great Job!!!

Thank you for the video. This gives me a lot more ideas and where to go with the story and how to get around chapter 1. You're awesome

@TheGallantGoblin

2 жыл бұрын

Glad you found it useful! Thanks for watching and commenting! -Theo

Awesome tips, im planning Storm king's Thunder my self. so thank u for this video!

You should make more content like this. Since I have been thinking of running a module for the first time, I enjoyed it.

@TheGallantGoblin

3 жыл бұрын

Thank you! I'll try to do more of these! -Theo

Reminds me I have a storm giant and cloud giantess I need to paint

Hey Thoe! I loved the tips! Im gonna run the attack on triboar next session and started with LMoP and these tips were really great! I have a Question tho... how did you make Felgos capture?! I'm gonna introduce them to him when they do to Goldenfields (witch they are planning to go) but I dont know how to make the cloud giants capture him!!

Definitely more videos like this please.

@TheGallantGoblin

3 жыл бұрын

Thank you! -Theo

These are great! I’m doing a bunch of these right now actually so I’m glad I’m on a similar page haha

Thanks alot Theo for the tips!

I love your suggestion about Iarno. I was wondering what to do with him, because he is likely to be a loose end in my Phandelver run. Great suggestion!!

@TheGallantGoblin

2 жыл бұрын

Glad it was helpful! Good luck! -Theo

Have you thought about doing a video like this for Out of the Abyss? It's a very underrated module; and perhaps the most high-stakes official 5E campaign so far, with elements of lovecraftian eldritch horror strewn about.

@TheGallantGoblin

3 жыл бұрын

That would be a great one. It’s an adventure I want to run too. So, maybe I will make a video about it sometime. :-) Thank you! -Theo

My players, many of them first timers, are looking for a shorter story. My goal is to do this by combining Lost Mines, SKT, and the basic premise of the Tyranny of Dragons. My plan is to run the Lost Mines with many similar changes as you did but with hints that both giants and dragons are showing unusual activity and destructiveness. Ch. 2 will be expanded. Goldenfields will already be attacked with a messenger arriving in Phandelin with concern Triboar is next. Then to get players to Bryn Shandar, Glassstaff fled there. Here, the Frost Giants will hopefully get confronted and the first conch discovered (though its purpose not yet discovered). We will also learn Glassstaff is of the Dragon Cult, attempting to procure powerful magic for a ritual to resurrect Tiamat. The Dragon Cult will be replacing the Kraken Society. I change things up in Ch. 3 having the Lord's Alliance speak of a powerful giant slayer and potential ally but require certain magical relics to help safeguard the cities before sharing his location. This lets players travel Faerun without as much aimless wandering. Phandelvin will also similarly come under threat of Fire Giants and play out similar to the suggestion in the video. Aiding the Alliance secures them as an ally and leads to the area where Harshsnag is. From there the story follows most of the original beats with some changes. The Ordening was broken due to complacency as the Dragon Cult tries to bring back Tiamat. Iymrith is present from the beginning, as a fluent lady supporting the Lord's Alliance fights against giants and pseudo patron of the party. The party will still only choose on Giant Lord as hopefully the Frost and Fire lords were dealt with and their conches taken. Maelstrom isn't a "dungeon" and there are no other daughters. The Golden Goose plot reveals the full extent of the Dragon Cult's works and the location of Iymrith's lair. It will be revealed that Iymrith has been plotting to return Tiamat. With the breaking of the Ordening, powerful relics, like the Wyrmskull Throne, and the sacrifice of royalty, like Hekaton, will allow her to accomplish her goal and rise to prominence among dragons. The finale mashes Rise of Tiamat and Iymrith's Lair together with the combined efforts of the cities, Giants, and maybe even Dragons against Tiamat's return. In my mind, a structure like this keeps it feeling open without being directionless. Yes, Ch. 3 gets expanded a bit more but with purpose and used as a way to create shortcuts later down the line. I'll also only be keeping a handful of factions, namely the Lord's Alliance and the Zhentarim. The Giants unify under Serrisa after Iymrith's deception, and the prospect of a more equal Ordening, and join the fight to free Hekaton and beat the blue dragon. I feel this has the strong beginning of Phendelver, the meat of SKT, and the climactic battle of Rise of Tiamat.

@anderescobar4752

Жыл бұрын

I would love to know how your campaign panned out. I have session 0 next week for SKT, and am considering following this campaign with Rise of Tiamat, making Iymeriths goal to use the power of the throne to free her, but not just summon her to the material plane? Looking for suggestions

@strangerofthisworld

Жыл бұрын

​@@anderescobar4752 So we are actually JUST about to finish Lost Mines and transition to STK next session. Throughout, I heavily modified LMoP to begin hinting at STK. I'll hit some of the highlights and where things are going. Session 0 Stuff. Almost all the characters have ties to one of the 3 cities that will be attacked in Ch. 2 unless they had real care about where their hometown was. I got that ok'd by each player before making any further plans. Also, I had originally written the Kraken out (and definitely am still keeping the Kraken society out) until a player said his warlock powers came from a pact with a sea entity that saved his life after a shipwreck but torments him. Well, I added the Kraken back in after that. Moving on to early stuff, they encounter lots of NPCs talking about villages just destroyed and other destruction mysteriously taking place. Eventually, the party even catches glimpses of Cloud Giant castles when exploring or remnants of Fire Giants having dug up areas. NPCs later confirm more aggression from Giants than usual as if something has stirred them up. Early on, the party also meets a mysterious but benevolent patron. A beautiful elf noble lady, clad in blue, who hires them with WAY above normal low level gold. She is a patron of arts and artifacts, accompanied by her cloaked guard, but takes special interest in those who might fight Giants. The party LOVES her for how I play her with reserve and a subtle kindness...also the gold. The grand part is...its Iymerith in disguise. She uses this to seek out that could help her resurrect Tiamat and also to use open war between the Lords Alliance and the Giants to distract from her schemes. Another big change is removing all the factions but Lord's Alliance and Zhentarim. They seemed to similar and these play better for what I want and with LMoP as the start. With LMoP, I made Iarno a triple agent of a Lord's Alliance member turned Black Spider agent but, in reality, a Dragon Cultist trying to play Giants and the LA against each other. The Black Spider is a drow and servant to the Duke Zalto. Lastly, I replace the dragon VenomFang in LMoP with Felgolos. This introduces Rise of Tiamat stuff with the Dragon Cultists dogging him to join the cause but wanting nothing to do with them. This hints early on that something is going on with dragons too. My next major rewrite is to come. Ch. 3 of STK is stupid. I love the openness of the campaign but its rudderless. I mix Tiamat and STK together with, after Ch. 2, the party is summoned before the Council of Waterdeep. The Lord's Alliance is too stretched out to deal with anything other than protecting the lands but not necessarily going able to investigate why the Giants are attacking. Instead of doing multiple voting sessions like in Tiamat, I have the Lord's Alliance favor secured by acquiring 3 magical weapons for them to be used by their champions. A Zhentarim agent will ask for a 4th to find its way to them to get their favor. The party is able to find a 5th if determined. I rewrite the lore a bit to explain that after the first Giant-Dragon war, the Giants helped humanity by making Magical Slayer weapons should they need to defend themselves from Dragon or Giant alike. The ancient kingdoms of mankind broke into the barbarian tribes featured in Ch. 3. This allows for the party to still explore Faerun but not purposelessly. Their reward for all this? Waterdeep shares the location of their top Giant Slayer, Harshnag, which kicks off the rest. Much of the rest plays out the same except I make the Conch shell only work when 3 are gathered, thus leading to at least 4 giant lord fights, as the Hill Giant lord will have crushed her's by sitting on it accidentally. At Maelstrom, Hekaton only has his one daughter and I'm not making it a dungeon with enemies, which I thought was all stupid. Iymirith will be stirring up enough drama in her disguise but when finally confronted will grab the throne, shifting between her various forms (also revealing she was the group's patron all along) and escaping. The finale will play out similarly to Rise of Tiamat except its Iymirith and the massive Dragon Cult army. Whatever forces of good the party secured will join and affect the final battle and its strategy. Just like Rise, the party might fail enough that Tiamat actually is the final boss but I'm still hesitant to that as I really want Iymirith to be the final boss and not just end up being Assistant to the Regional Manager.

Awesome video!! Did any of your PCs ask about how glasstaff could track cimber when the ring blocks divination magic against itself and the wearer (holder)?

@TheGallantGoblin

Жыл бұрын

Thank you! Haha, no, they had no clue what the powers of the ring were. -Theo

Good tips man!

Loved this! Im thinking of using Storm kings thunder as a follow up to Witchlight, not a obvious choice, but I love giants and I had established in session zero that their town they are from has had attacks from giants in the near past. This means that they are levl 8 however, and hasnt been in the material plane for a while. Would this be possible do you think? and how would you do it? There is a possibilty for them to have recieved a sending to tell them about events that has transpired, and pretty much a possibilty to come back at a chosen location.

@TheGallantGoblin

Жыл бұрын

Sure! You can start with them returning to the material plane hearing about giant incursions all over the place. They can explore using chapter 3 for as long as you like (and the other modules I recommended) and they’re already at the proper level to take on the giant chiefs! You can use Harshnag to bring them to the Temple of the All Father for more exposition when you’re ready! Good luck! -Theo

I'm actually doing something with my party that they are pretty excited about. I'm merging SKT with Acquisitions Incorporated. I'm skipping Chapter 1 to run Orrery of the Wanderer, gonna drop in some foreshadowing to the SKT section, and then they'll naturally move into SKT: trying to save the world while managing a franchise. Obviously, there is a ton of reworking i had to do to make this work, especially with the fact the party will be a tad over-leveled at the SKT part.

@TheGallantGoblin

4 ай бұрын

I think that's great. AI also works well of course with Lost Mine of Phandelver / Phandelver and Below. It's good to remember that it exists out there, because it's great puzzle piece to use when building a unique adventure.

I've nearly finished running SKT, but I wish I had used some of these ideas!

@TheGallantGoblin

3 жыл бұрын

Aw, well hopefully there was something helpful to you in there! -Theo

Good video, thanks

I just started LMOP to a group of total newbies friends and they enjoyed the first session so much that I'm already planning to go with SKT as a follow-up. My only concern is if I can keep them interested for these many months without full ending. I'm talking maybe 10 months from now. I don't know if small 6-8 session adventures are better.

@TheGallantGoblin

3 жыл бұрын

You can also tell the story in satisfying chapters, setting up some mysteries and problems that they can get a satisfactory resolution to, but which also sets up new chapters and new mysteries. Each giant type for instance is a pretty full story in itself. So you can have the best of both worlds! -Theo

I started in Phandalin as I felt it was a very fun starting point for the characters, then went to Triboar... Ran this a few years ago... Then mixed it up with Hoard of the Dragon Queen and Rise of Tiamat, jumping from chapters to chapters... Just finished RoT where my players were successful in stopping Tiamat's coming to Faerun...

@TheGallantGoblin

3 жыл бұрын

Very nice! My SKT campaign actually diverted to Curse of Strahd, but I left that part out! -Theo

I'm about to start SKT with my group and we just finished LMOP. Is there anything the players should know or can know about the giants before starting SKT? Or is it best they go in blind? I plan starting them with the Attack On Triboar after they explore the city.

@TheGallantGoblin

3 жыл бұрын

Hey great! I don’t think there’s anything they need to know ahead of time unless you have specific character stories that need a bit of foreshadowing. Otherwise, the Triboar attack does a good job of setting up the fire giant storyline at least. Good luck! -Theo

@steveparkosewich1474

3 жыл бұрын

@@TheGallantGoblin Cool! Thanks for the quick response. Do you guys have a patreon that I can sub to? Edit: whoops, found it in description: www.patreon.com/thegallantgoblin

@TheGallantGoblin

3 жыл бұрын

We sure do, Steve! We appreciate your interest! Thank you! patreon.com/thegallantgoblin -Theo

So wondering how would you handle a fight against slarkethal in the end of the campaign having trouble figure out how that would play out

@TheGallantGoblin

2 жыл бұрын

It largely depends on what role it’s had in your campaign and if the party is gunning for him. Are they taking the fight to it, or is Slarky eliminating a potential threat? -T

@Iqbalx1

2 жыл бұрын

@@TheGallantGoblin I essentially have two scenario in mind one is once Imreith is defeated it either go gather allies and head to the sea to face him or after imreith defeat the party would figure out slark is planning to lay siege on one of the major cities either baldur gate or waterdeep and turn it, inhabitants, into his slaves. I have it they are time when the party fights kraken cultist a kraken priest is closeby with slark speaking through him gloating.

@Iqbalx1

2 жыл бұрын

@@TheGallantGoblin and note I’m planning have the party be around 15-17 when they face slark. I even have a neat hook for why the party want to face the cult one of party member has a dad who a high ranking member of the cuilt.

Tip play waterdeep dragon hiest cuz it the best adventure

Question, so the Black Spider Nezzar escapes so could he be Irmyrth in truth to connect lost mines with SKT?

@TheGallantGoblin

Жыл бұрын

You could do that, for sure! I think that's a fun way to connect the adventures. I merged two different characters, but I think your idea could make for a fantastic story! -T

Anytime i introduce a dragon to my game i do the scene from Dragon Age 2 where the dragon swoops in to save everyone and then transforms into Flemeth.

One problem i see with needing 4 of the McGuffins - make no sense for giants having way of teleporting to storm king only when meeting in fours ;) hmm

@TheGallantGoblin

3 жыл бұрын

The way it was explained in our game was that it was part of the way the storm giants enforced the ordning and forced cooperation between the giants. If they had a request that warranted a personal audience with the storm giant king, they needed to secure the backing of at least two other giant leaders, either of the same type (since there were multiple horns distributed amongst various leaders of each giant type) or different types in order to make their petition. It gave the storm giants more leverage and forced the regular giant leaders to think twice before making too many enemies.

Hey I am a first time dm have only played myself for 2 months and I will play stk for 2 friend groups my fist season is tomorrow is it worth to throw eberthing over and change the how first tow chapters or is it to little time Great video I think it will help a lot

@TheGallantGoblin

3 жыл бұрын

Oop. Got to this comment a little too late. What did you end up doing? -Theo

@frangyfrankenstein247

3 жыл бұрын

@@TheGallantGoblin @The Gallant Goblin I ended up with the normal "tutorial" because on of my players is planning on running the lost mines campaign and already read through it and it would have been a little short on time But you have really many great tips in your video that will help me out a lot And I want to say that you have a great way of telling things I like it a lot keep it up A newly won fan from Germany

@frangyfrankenstein247

3 жыл бұрын

What did you do in the second chapter with the npcs that the Player will comande I have 5 players and most of them are relatively new to dnd and for 2 it's the first time (in tow groups of 5) is it necessary to let them play them or is ther another way to Handel it so they still get there quest at the end?

Can a group of 5 - 5th level players defeat the 2 fire giants in tribor?

@TheGallantGoblin

5 ай бұрын

Well, a few things. Keep in mind that you also have several NPCs who will be assisting in the battle. And once at least one giant falls beneath 81 hit points, they both retreat; and the fire giants will be busy trying to dig up the fragment, leaving the battle to all the other little minions. So, can they "defeat" the giants, certainly. Can they kill both of them? Well, that would take quite a long time.

why not have felgolos be the dragon they encounter in lost mines?

the campaign is SO enormous why would anyone want a 2nd and 3rd giant lair to clear out? my group took more than a year (200-300hrs?)even when they killed the Hill Giants 'without the quest'; and skipped most of Chapter 3 (and the relic scavenger hunt) and hopped right into the Maelstrom after the Oracle told them what it (horn)was. you don't need extra scoops of giants because you're walking through dozens & dozens of cities and there's something happening all the time! I found Nightstone delightful; and the events really gives the party a purpose with all the cities' refugees and posthumous detective work. I don't see how trade route scarcity and raider gossip can create a ticking clock that first-hand witness at Nightstone's 50% culling and 'goblins ate my baby' doesn't. I wouldn't recommend any of these changes other than a few clues for the Kraken society which lead the party to their ocean departure.

This is potentially a silly question, but are you suggesting that we replace the entirety of the first act with Lost Mines instead?

@TheGallantGoblin

10 ай бұрын

I replaced chapter 1 with Phandelver. You can upscale Nightstone and bring it in later if you like.

I sometimes forget how relatively new you are to running games Theo ( not that I'm saying have 30 years of dm'ing automatically makes you a good DM, far from it). I always enjoy these types of videos that you make as a bit of variety from your normal reviews. I guess I come from a time when though there were always game modules to buy a lot of campaigns were home brews with published work thrown in to spice your world up. I will always treasure the memories I have of the stories I made for my players, nothing can replace the feeling of a group becoming heavily invested in the stories you have written!

Yeah my group ended up buying the town and land.

@TheGallantGoblin

3 жыл бұрын

Wow! Just buying up the town. I was just thinking about *emotionally* investing in Phandalin They took it to the next level. -Theo

@laconis4202

3 жыл бұрын

Yeah we ended up taking over the broken down mansion it made into our headquarters and we had 3 guilds built in town.

tirany of dragons tips plis 😥

Yes in with first comment! obviously not finished watching yet but I know this is going to be an awesome Vid Theo! :)

@TheGallantGoblin

3 жыл бұрын

Thank you friend! -Theo

Shit, i watched this video much to late.

Anyone else think he looks like Jimmy Kimmel?

@RW77777777

Жыл бұрын

I don't see it

kinda disappointing that 8 min in the book and it's all about lost mines of phandelver

Could you just not wear cringe hats. For the love of God, stop it with the cringe hats

but the Storm Giant with the greatsword; what set is it?

Some great stuff here. Just started LMoP and looking to what could happens after. This was very helpful. Thank you.