D&D’s Starter Adventure Becomes a Full Campaign in ‘Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk’
The Lost Mines of Phandelver was one of D&D’s best starter adventures. Take a peak at what happens when it becomes a full campaign.
Since the dawn of 5th Edition, the pastoral town of Phandelin (and its nearby lost mines) has introduced many a player to D&D. 5E’s starter adventure, The Lost Mines of Phandelver is also one of the edition’s most popular adventures. So much so that it was absolutely free during the early, heady days of 2020 when it seemed like if we all just knuckled down for a couple of months things would sort themselves out.
Then, of course, 2020 lasted a solid three years, minimum, and here we are in 2023. And The Lost Mines of Phandelver are back, but this time as part of a sprawling new campaign that goes all the way to level 12. Titled Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk, this new adventure is an eldritch take on what happens once the Lost Mines have been dealt with.
At a recent press briefing, WotC previewed just a little of what lies in store.
Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk – So *THAT’S* What Happens
Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk is a full-length, 226-page adventure that promises to both “remaster” the original Lost Mines adventure, while also expanding the book out to encompass a sprawling campaign that takes players to 12th level. Or beyond.
Phandelver plays heavily into what made LMoP so popular: the charming, bucolic town of Phandelin. It’s so richly detailed. And the town itself is fairly idyllic. Exactly the sort of place you’d want to linger and learn to love before something horrible happens to it.
And while details were sparse, one of the big themes of the adventure is that something horrible happens, in a very genre-specific sense. Since the adventure delves into eldritch/cosmic horror.
To help facilitate this, there’s a “sliding scale subsystem” that can be used to play up or play down the cosmic horror and corruption aspects of the adventure. Phandelver Below‘s lead designer, Amanda Hamon, wanted to lean into both the ideal and the eldritch:
“We wanted to show, at the beginning of the book, what it looks like before all of these things happen—before the villains target this town, before this ritual occurs before any horrors befall this area.
We wanted to show DMs, who could then show players, what it’s like and where it is that the characters are fighting for, what they’re trying to preserve, and what they’re trying to go back to.”
And while details were sparse, we know that there’s a terrifying ritual involved that brings horrors rising up from below. And in some of the artwork previewed, we see that there are plenty of tentacles. Which means “cosmic horror” because that’s just how that works.
There are plenty of other “gross creatures” that lurk inside the book. In fact, there are more than 20 new monsters, including mutants and psionically transformed creatures, as well as new items and “duergar magic.”
Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk is due out September 19th!
