Dwarven Excavation Quest (Dragon of Icespire Peak DM Guide)

[@BobWorldBuilder]

Great point about following the money - who’s really paying your party for all this stuff? Haha
And I like your breakdown of the orc’s logic. I also recommended not having them fight to the death, but it becomes obvious when you explain how they didn’t think that way with the dragon.

[@HowtoRPG]

Thanks Bob.

[@RobertHamm]

Thanks for the vid. I like your thought about the money trail. The ruin is one to a Dwarven deity of greed, so I can see why Dazlyn and Noboris would be there looking for treasure. I look at those two NPC's as a continuation of some of the quest plot points in the Lost Mine of Phandelver.
It makes sense that some greedy people would looking for fortune in the mines/ruins of the Sword Mountains. However, I think that it could be a little more straight forward for Harbin: He't trying to manage a town on the frontier and wants the two Dwarves notified because it would look bad on the town, such as be less inviting for new enterprises, if all the fledgling businesses end up failing and their leaders dead.
SO, maybe Harbin's motivation to pay such a large sum for a notification quest is to give investors/business owners some sense of security- especially after the Red Brands from Lost Mines. Also, It seems like Harbin is keen to help out the members of his fiefdom, he was eager to help out Adabra too.
About the Orc's.. Yeah. I don't know why they would flee the dragon just to die when the heroes leave this adventure. I played it though with my players and it seemed like an old troupe of DnD coming through. Dumb Orc, Fighter Smash... and so on. In fact, after creeping through this area, my players were "looking over their shoulder" at every corner. Exploring the ruin took a while and they were on edge by the end. The encounter with the Orc's was a really fun twist and added a last moment of fun at the end, even if it was penciled in.
Orc's have a low intelligence, so maybe they just wanted to fight because they are mad about being kicked off their land by the dragon. Just my thoughts. Thanks for the conversation. Cheers!

[@HowtoRPG]

Glad you like the video. Thanks for your thoughts.

[@fhuber7507]

Great info for DMs running this.
I think I'll have the Rockseekers fund the dwarven acheology dig as a "tax write-off" on their gold mine income.

[@HowtoRPG]

Thanks. I like your idea.

[@teehlfx5238]

I’m new to this and just picked up the essential kit to run with my family and your videos have been very helpful!
I was also confused as to why Wester was putting up all this money and appreciate hearing how you added and changed some things. I really like what you did but I think I need to keep it simple for my first attempt. I was thinking it sounded like the Dwarven ‘prospectors’ were basically tomb raiders so I’ll just have it in my mind that Wester is bankrolling them because he sells (to out of town buyers?) what they find and wants to protect that investment as it’s been hard for him to find good discrete help. (I think that also explains why he might have all this money.) One of my kids wants to be a rogue so maybe I’ll have the dwarves speak theive’s cant.
I was also really bothered by the Orc set up so I appreciated hearing your change and solution. Thanks!!

[@HowtoRPG]

You are most welcome Tee.

[@O4C209]

Would like to see more of these videos.
I feel the Essentials Kit is meant to be more sand box while Lost Mine was more rail road.
I'm thinking of having this as a prequel to Lost Mine rather than sequel.

[@HowtoRPG]

Glad you liked it. They will come. Dragon of Icespire Peak is much more work.

[@squattingheads]

*open world. Sandbox means you can do whatever.
And railroad actually is more about the actions players can take to solve a problem. Else every non random plot would be railroading

[@heal41hp]

I'm about to run this, and I'm particularly pleased by your consideration of why the quest exists. I think I'll go with Halia being the one to finance it. Thanks for the ideas!

[@HowtoRPG]

I am glad I could help all the best with your game.

[@josephk9992]

The money question hit me too, I had the Miners Exchange offer the payout from guild insurance, an NPC told them that Phandalin miners pay into the Exchange and in case of emergencies (hey, mining can be dangerous business) this money funds their rescue.
The orc motivation points were spot on too, thanks! My party are on their way there for next session so this is a great help

[@HowtoRPG]

You are welcome. Thanks for sharing your experience with the game.

[@rosalind1635]

That's a great idea. Thanks!

[@ROBHELL82]

Chris Perkins are going to use this Essintials Kit adventure to start of his new D&D show T.O.R.C.H. It's going to be really cool to see him DM it. But alot is his own chopped version tho, without to much spoilers. Thought you might want to know this. Great vid as always!

[@HowtoRPG]

Thanks. I am aware.

[@saulsilv]

I am very much interested, but I can't find it on TH-cam. Would you happen to have a link?

[@ROBHELL82]

@@saulsilv Sadly they canceled the show. Dont know why

[@costanzafaust]

I made another goal for the Excavation quest to find out from the dwarves if they know of any mountain safeholds that the townsfolk of Phandalin might be able to evacuate to in case they need to flee from the dragon or orc attacks, and this was the lead-in to the Axeholm quest (once they get that information back to Harbin.) Makes the reward make more sense and ties the story together a bit better. I also had it so the oozes wouldn't pursue out the door of the temple because the dwarves had a campfire there and they mentioned that seemed to be keeping them safe since their retreat. I had a few alternate solutions for the trap like wearing the holy symbol or swapping it with a gem of similar size like the ones in the hollow pillar.

[@HowtoRPG]

Thanks for sharing your experience and approach. Great ideas.

[@coreyl6221]

Totally going to use the Sildar being behind the money idea. Thanks Bro!

[@HowtoRPG]

You are welcome, have a great time.

[@lvd8122]

Bit late for this but I plan to use falcon for this because I'm not planning to include LMoP, I think it should work quite well and will give them a sort of "hero tutor" from whom they can get help and information and later on help him out

[@coreyl6221]

@@lvd8122 that is a great idea as well!

[@nathanmitchell2827]

It seems silly that they simply ask them to notify the dwarves, BUT I totally understand why they do this. This is a tutorial in essence for players, to ask questions, to explore the town if they so choose, and to figure out that there is no linear path in DND. When I ran this, I told them that the dwarves have crucial connections for trading mined goods in the town, and that should that be vanquished by the dragon, they would lose these important connections, as well as losing two relatively wealthy townsfolk. That is why it is important to notify them. Players are then teased by ruins with promises of treasure once they notify the dwarves, because they mention that they were in search of something. They offer a prize tk adventurers for clearing out the ruins. Players can find several secret passage ways, a trap that has an amazing backstory regarding the god of greed if they find a secret passageway, some very basic combat with consequences for certain types of combat (splitting an enemy into two by using a slashing action), and receiving the reward should they accept the dwarves challenge to clear out the ruins. It is basic role playing with combat and exploration all in an easy to consume format.

[@WalkOnNick]

The Jellies have a speed of 10ft. Very easy to kite but new players probably won't think of that.

[@HowtoRPG]

Yes, true. They are also ambush monsters that can split.

[@dwheresmymana]

I've added an extra layer that the characters can discover. They likely won't discover it, but if they do, they can choose to follow a tunnel into a cavern, eventually discovering an entrance to the underdark. Why? Because it's fun to have curveballs possible. The players are very unlikely to discover it, but if they do, I will have an interesting encounter available that will actually tie into the larger story. (I've combined phandelver with Icespire) .

[@Sientz]

1. Sometimes it's good for the players NOT to know why people do what they do. Who knows why the town master is doing all these things, he has his own adjenda and it leaves an air of mystery. 50 gold isn't really much in a world of high magic where items can cost thousands of gold.
2. I agree the Oozes are too strong for 1st level players and possibly 2nd level players as well. But it's possible this mission could be done at 3rd or later on which case it might be fine IF the players have some kind of knowledge of the oozes such as (can't use slashing dmg, they split in half).
3. The last room I felt was pretty pointless as it says it takes almost 40 hours to clear the path and the only thing at the end is a trap that can easily drop most 1st/2nd level players. Remember however that this a temple to the God of Greed! If your players spend 40 hours to dig rubble in a dark dungeon and you give them multiple opportunities to give up, maybe they are being too greedy and deserve to get blasted! "you've been digging for 2 days and it just keeps going, so you want to continue?" granted if there are 4 players it will only take 10 hours but that's still more than 1 full solid day of HARD manual labor, quit being greedy.
4. Perhaps the Orcs fight to the death because they have exhausted all other options in their minds or they feel like they have a tactical advantage or who knows, who cares, they are Orcs. Not many players are going to ask "I wonder why they didn't run away?" the only thing they are going to think is that they were trying to ambush them and they killed them. Do you always have all intelligent creatures flee at the first sign that they might lose a battle? That can be more annoying having to chase them down all the time. Perhaps the orcs were just scouting the area and the players catch them unaware as they exit the temple. Better yet have them exit the temple to find both dwarves have been murdered by these orcs and are currently being looted or have been captured and tortured, make it a little darker.

[@HowtoRPG]

You really have tried hard to defend the designers adventure.

[@jonathanmurphy2400]

@@HowtoRPG I appreciate how much thought you put into your guides but I get this person's point too. All of this is conjecture, yours, his or otherwise. Only the writers know what they intended. Just because you don't see the reasoning behind something doesn't mean it's not there. I think it can be a fun exercise to find justification for things that don't immediately make sense. It's easier to just change it so it fits the narrative that you, as the DM, have been helping to create, but that isn't the only option. You're usually super good at hedging to allow for other people's opinions. Not sure why you wanted to shut this guy down, or even if that's what you meant to do but... and I say this as a fan of yours... this response was disappointing. Hope you're doing well with all that's going on. Thank you for all the content.

[@thebronzepill7892]

I do agree with point 1, the mystery drew my players in, their suspicions of Harbin turned him into a sort of mini villain over the next few sessions.

[@Ascisana]

I decided to give my group a magic item in the hall of greed, had the feeling the dungeon needed something
A curses version of the boots of speed, they can lift the curse once they did the quest for the shrine lady in phandalin, since we okay starter set and essential kit in one go, to expand the world a little bit

[@HowtoRPG]

I like it. Thanks for sharing your process Alesana.

[@recowabunga7200]

I give you an upvote before i even see your vids now. lol

[@HowtoRPG]

lol. Thanks.

[@benvan2446]

Can we please get more of these!? thank you!

[@HowtoRPG]

I will do more, just not sure when.

[@zorasaphire]

Dude, thanks for all the advice. I actually came up with the idea while you we're suggesting that the Orcs Runaway. I'm going to have them run away and then be attacked and killed by the Dragon where the party will have to face the Dragon for the first time on their way back to town

[@HowtoRPG]

You are welcome.

[@an8strengthkobold360]

Phanadlin is very sink or swim

[@eerieghosts]

Good point on the failure in logic at some point. The orcs feel so forced, it’s just bad.

[@HowtoRPG]

Thank you. I think the intention was to include more combats for this location.

[@ruairim7551]

Thanks for this breakdown. I’ve just started being a DM for my kids and this was their first quest. I didn’t understand challenge levels and the jelly monster just seemed out of place difficulty wise. I also didn’t know how to handle blocked off trapped room. What does a 40h dig through the rubble mean in a game of imagination? And then for that to be a deadly trap, what kind of beginner quest is that?

[@HowtoRPG]

You are welcome. It's not a nice beginner quest.

[@Eishikigami]

Hi DM! Thanks for the video, I'll definitely try and use some of these ideas!
Question, do you have a link to the thumbnail image? It's awesome

[@HowtoRPG]

I will put the image on my Facebook Group. You can find it in the description.

[@Eishikigami]

@@HowtoRPG legend! Do you have any other art similar to this for otther locations?

[@AlternityGM]

I want to run DoIP for my group of players since they already went through LMoP. For the Dwarven Excavation quest I wonder why Harbin Wester is willing to pay the PCs 50 gp to warn these Dwarven miners? I’m sure there are many miners near Phandalin so why just these dwarves? And why just a verbal warning? Why not a signed letter from the Townmaster? What’s relation between Wester & these dwarves? But what if the dwarves are willing to pay PCs 50 gp instead of sending stones to clear out the monster in the cave? And what if the evil Dwarf god idol is a sign these Dwarven miners are actually evil and they turn on the PCs to sacrifice them for their evil god? And instead of orcs perhaps the attackers should be human bandits looking to steal gold from miners?

[@zorasaphire]

What happened to the series? I need it to continue as soon as I'm about to get to this quest and I'm still needing advice

[@HowtoRPG]

I am waiting for my home group to start playing again before providing advice. There will be more videos in the future. Check out the "Lost Mine of Phandelver DM Guide playlist", there is lots on the area and NPC's related to the adventure Dragon of Icespire Peak.

[@squattingheads]

Why is no one going into the secret doors? I bet most parties would not look for them if not clued in. And even they are. Why having so many secret doors all leading to the same areas? That just seems silly without any reason.

[@squattingheads]

25gp makes no sense. Traveling itself is worth more. Let’s say the party travels back and forth for 6 days through difficult terrain.
that is 0.5gp in rations+at least 1gp in daily payment for a quite dangerous journey. And maybe even feed 0.5gp for a donkey.
That’s 9gp per person. A party of four it’s 36gp in expenses.
50 seems fair.

[@slikshot6]

yea reading the game its just so poorly written in so many ways

[@HowtoRPG]

It's written to he a skeleton.