‘D&D Beyond’ Releases ‘The Phandalin Post’ – A Newspaper For All Your Phandelver Happenings
As we near the launch date of Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk, WotC has a free handout that’s ready to jump-start your adventure.
There is nothing that says you are ready for an adventure like a good campaign handout. And, weirdly enough, these weren’t even a Day One RPG kind of thing. But so iconic, so part of TTRPG DNA are they, that it’s hard to imagine a time when this was not so. Tea-stained paper crisped in the oven with a scrawled map of an epic adventure. Handwritten letters from characters in the game?
All of this hit the collective psyche of the RPG community early on, with the epic Masks of Nyarlathotep campaign for Call of Cthulhu. A fine tradition that carries on to this day. Now everyone’s in on it, even and especially WotC. Earlier this week, we released a handout to get your players amped up for adventure in Phandelver and Below.
Read The Phandalin Post
It’s nice to see an adventure come with handouts in mind. Even as D&D makes the switch to focusing primarily on digital frontiers, having something you can print out or just share with your players is pretty cool. And in the article on D&D Beyond, WotC unveils the latest issue of the Phandalin Post, a newspaper that covers events in Phandalin.
This issue of the Phandalin Post covers the conflicts the players will face in the first two chapters of the adventure. It serves as an excellent tool to hand your players before their first session.
Goblins on Triboar Trail. The excerpt on goblin attacks should warn the party that there are dangers on the Triboar Trail, which will allow them to prepare contingencies in case they are attacked. These preparations will pay off during the “Goblin Ambush” encounter in Chapter 1.
Redbrands in Phandalin. The section detailing how the Redbrands have overrun Phandalin is a good way to establish the threat of the ruffians to your players in Chapter 2. Just in case they don’t go to Stonehill Inn, where rumors of the Redbrands are discussed by townsfolk, they can still hear that businesses are being hassled, and the Redbrands have gone so far as to murder one of the townsfolk.
These articles also make it clear that Townminster Weston hasn’t been of any help with the issues that the town is facing, so the players shouldn’t expect any formalized support with these challenges.
Adventure awaits!
