Some more content from the last session of my homebrewy Lost Mines of Phandelver campaign! The Black Spider has put the party into a deep sleep and is raking through everyone's brains for information on how to access the magical Forge within the mines. The web interconnects the players’ sleeping consciousness and, through it, the Spider playing some pretty wicked tricks on them- tempting them to stay asleep by meddling with their memories to make them all ideal and erasing any trauma.

Waking up for the players means facing the truth of the past- something they all must help one another do, lest they risk falling prey to the Spiderrrr :o

A younger Voradras back during his life in Menzoberranzan. His (made up) House is one of the lesser noble Houses of the city around the late 15th century DR, and he set himself the goal to leave the Underdark pretty early in his life. As a final act of defiance against Lolth and drow values he used his families' ceremonial dagger to cut off his hair on the night he vanished.

The Sword Coast is so fucked. Like the decade of 1490, or gods, just 1492 alone is batshit insane. A random mining town in the middle of nowhere recovers Wave Echo Cave and gets attacked by a dragon, Waterdeep has a street war and another dragon moves in, Candlekeep gets attacked, Elturel gets pulled into Avernus, the Dead Three cultists are acting up, there's a massive plague, and all of Baldur's Gate 3 happens. And then a few years later the Red Wizards of Thay try and murder everyone in Neverwinter

Lost Mine of Phandelver

TCG Player Link Scryfall Link EDHREC Link

(2019) c/w magical DEATH

The backstory for my darling fire genasi bard, Sonja. She fell in love with an aetherborn who, before he died, made sure she would be looked after by his magically enhanced unseen servant always.

TMiF Plays: Lost Mine of Phandelver

D&D's SRD is really limiting. So how would playing a game with such limitations look like? TMiF is curious, so we're gonna find out! Come join us tonight at 9PM Central for Lost Mine of Phandelver~!

https://www.twitch.tv/metaisfutile/ https://www.twitch.tv/metaisfutile/ https://www.twitch.tv/metaisfutile/

Discord - https://discord.gg/dSfvTfyUvT Tumblr - https://www.themetaisfutile.tumblr.com/

Promo image by @/RosexKnight

Dracofell

The Meta is Futile might be done with our run of Lost Mine of Phandelver, but I will never be done with this boy. I loved Jasper, and I hope to see more of him someday. The wisest of the party, slayer of Venomfang, and a tiefling that doesn't mind his job as an assassin who wants to prove himself. He is a good boy.

Jasper belongs to @bluebrush09arts

Hope you enjoy~! Want art like this monthly? Why not join? My General Patreon, safe for all audiences: www.patreon.com/rosexknight My 18+ ADULT-ONLY Patreon: www.patreon.com/rosexxxknight

ok, wait I NEVER posted this here?! My lock screen the past year - peak art I've done.. I never posted?

A crime

From my new Lost Mines of Phandelver Pack which is made to be compatible with my Phandelver and Below: Shattered Obelisk handout pack on Etsy.

My version of the Zhentarim crest. I like to make my own crests since obviously just straight ripping someone else's would be stealing. But also there are a ton of real world crests out there and I think when I use those as inspiration the crests end up looking a lot more medieval-y, which I think is cool

Yesterday night was our last session of my first D&D campaign ever

Last night we drank merrily, saying goodbye (for now) to the 4 adventurers in my first D&D campaign ever, for which I was the DM (1st time ever also). I feel very happy and a little sad also, so I thought I could write it all up here - mostly for me, and for you reading if that interests you.

It was more of a Wrap-up session, we didn't play per se, but I wanted to recap the last scenes, and give the floor to my players to ask some questions and discuss what we've been doing. It was a good idea, I think, it went great, we had time to reminisce and remember the beginnings, the roads not taken and the what-ifs, the monsters and the battles they were traumatized by, and what their characters would do now.

Flashbacks and sneak peeks and more thoughts under the cut

When I started to watch Critical Role, I had no idea what D&D was. All I heard were mentions of it in media (tv shows, mostly). It intrigued me more and more, and I started to look at the rules, and the books published, etc. And then one day on an impulse, I bought the Starter Set : Lost Mine of Phandelver, and sent a message to my sister and some friends, asking if they were interested to see what it was about with me.

In April 2021, with my sister and 3 friends, 4 players in total, we created their characters, and we started truly playing in May 2021. At first, we played only once a month, in person, because Roll20 is awesome for battles but not much for anything else (personal opinion). Plus we were going out again after the pandemic, it felt nice. Then in June 2022, one of my friends and players decided to leave, and we recruited another friend at the same time, so I still had 4 players to manage through and through. They were all pretty much novices like me (only 1 had played before), and so we all learned together during the years. In multiple ways ! small but important things like : who's taking care of the scheduling, who's time is it to host and what food & drink will we bring, who has many dice and can lend them, how can we figure the characters without buying expensive minis (we ended up using fèves, which is a very French thing I will explain now : at the beginning of the year, you gather your friends or colleagues or family or whatever to eat the galette des rois, literally cake of the kings, and whether you make it or bought it, there is always inside 1 very small porcelain figurine, and the person finding it gets to be King/Queen for the day. Yeah it's the same country who decapitated the last king, don't ask. Anyway sometimes people collect the small porcelain figurines, and then their grandchildren sell the collection, and we ended up with a lot for practically nothing.).

In late 2022 and throughout 2023, we decided to try and play more, and managed - with a few exceptions - to play twice a month, which we found was a good rhythm : for me, to not have too much prep work, and for my players, to not forget everything that happened last time. In the meantime, another friend of mine with whom I am having lunch at work with very regularly, got used to hear me talking about "the shit my players did last night" and was very interested in following this as a story ; she asked questions, and gave me a space to think, and even ended giving advice and suggestions ! I'm naming her my unofficial co-DM now. It was nice to have someone know all the twists and the structure of the story, and to exchange ideas and jokes.

One thing I was very happy to do, and was very happy when my players talked about it saying I did a good job : PROPS ! The adventure as written has a few examples of message of hiring mercenaries, strange letters sent by a mysterious figure, etc etc. For one, I took time to write in ink (in my teenage years I was obsessed by calligraphy and I still have a quill), and for another I passed the paper in coffee and tea and then dried it to give it an ancient look. Props like this costs nothing but it's awesome.

During 2022 and 2023, 2 of my players had moved far away, but we managed to set up remote video calls for them, while us 3 others gathered 'round the table, and we even had an elaborate if precarious system to film the map during battles (pictured down). And yes for the final dungeon, I printed the map in extra-large, and ended using the wall to show the progress in exploring !

I won't recap all of the story, it doesn't matter in the end, everyone who's ever played knows that you can do an adventure 30 times and it will end up in 30 different stories. What's interesting was that the Lost Mine of Phandelver is described as "a perfect campaign to start playing" : that I agree with ; but that doesn't mean it does not need work. Thankfully the Internet is awesome, and since it's the most played adventure of 5E, a LOT of people have advices, do nots and dos, stories of their own campaigns, useful links and tools, etc. 1st lesson : if it exists already, use that shit. Use it like the world is ending tomorrow. At the start, I was doing this on my own volition, and prepping way too much, while being scared to change things. Then I was inspired reading reddits posts (yes, it happens), and seeing videos, and I started adding more details of my own - or stuff I borrowed from others Internet strangers. The paradox was that I was getting more comfortable while prepping less, because... I got the hang of it, I think it's what happened !

I still have some frustrations, some I shared last night with my players : easier-than-expected batles for my players (the 1st was a conscious act of mercy, and the battle ended way too quickly of course ; the 2nd was I forgot an important detail of the villain's weapon and could not use it, but in the end she had other stuff and the battle was still epic). 2nd lesson : listen to Matt Mercer when he says that as a DM, you really want to use the nuclear option in your opponent’s arsenal on the opening round. If you don't, you will have regrets. My other big frustration is about the player that decided to leave ; we just didn't understand the game on the same-level, but it makes me a little sad that she left before it could click for her, and we could truly talk about it. Especially since last night, I was overjoyed listening to my players talk each about their "epiphany" of how the game works, and how they got comfortable after feeling this truth, and seeing how "you don't win at D&D, the fun is everything else", and I was like yesssssss YOU you get it. 3d lesson : communication ! (it feels like there's still room for improvement, but we have a nice flow going).

All and all, it was an amazing experience, 10/10, will do it again ; and we will ! we agreed we will come back years from now to Faerûn ! and I'll be back as a DM ! and we'll do another written campaign continuing from level 5 (I know there's written options out there). In the meantime though, my sister is leaving our group just for this year, but we're going to keep playing at 4. And this time, I'll be a player !! One of my former players, the amazing @greetingsprogramms will be our DM : she already did 2 one-shots throughout the 2 years, and she did a fantastic job. We're going where a lot of fantasy people have not gone before : spaaaaaaace !

painting practice with my take on the npc daran edermath from lost mine of phandelver

Within the last few sessions of the very first DND campaign I ever ran, the gang is going to be facing off against my homebrew take on the Black Spider. She’s got them caught in her web, where they currently sleep, dreaming of the most ideal version of their lives- where nothing bad ever happened. ✨ The party will have to work together to wake one another up by confronting the truths of their past, what really happened, and face the pain together, so that they can wake up and put the Spider’s evil to rest, saving Phandelver. 🕷️🕸️ I decided to design costumes for the party based on everyone’s past/ home and it was super fun! (First to last: Hernando’s kingdom of Durvshava, Noone’s town of Wrathstand, Pyrus’ home of Toxiros, Ector’s town of Luskan, and Arteus’ demiplane.)

It really took me 3 years to give him a proper reference sheet...

My first dnd character, Voradras! A renegade drow who, after the end of his campaign, ends up on the Nautiloid. I have so much to share about him, he's a sweetheart!

Aster’s gotten a new look as well, despite it only being almost a week into her adventure in Phandelver!

Awkwardly donning some adamantine armor found in the Mapleby saferoom and clinging to the staff taken from its namesake wizard Iarno “Glasstaff” who turned out to be a doppelgänger, Aster is looking less like a college graduate and more like an adventurer. It’s been a rough week.

There have been some revelations in TMiF: Lost Mine of Phandelver!

My lil halfling Risi, isn't actually a halfling! As she and the rest of the band found out a few sessions ago, she's a changeling. Wearing a halfling persona since childhood, with a faint memory of whimsical colors, a warm embrace, and a gentle fey voice:

"Okay, little one. You're going to a very nice halfling family. From now on, you shall be Risi Swiftmist."

And for the first time in-session, she shapechanged from her halfling self, to her changeling self. Which is an interesting visual to see; her skin appears to crack, and the cracks widen and spider out to reveal the form she's taking 'underneath'.

Do not repost, edit, alter, trace/copy, use/redistribute my artworks without my permission

(2019) Some more of Sonja and her unseen servant, Marceau!! If you read this comic from the other day then you've already technically seen him.

I remember struggling with how I should make appear, since technically an unseen servant in most games is... well, unseen, and they aren't meant to have a super high intelligence. But Marceau is magically enhanced thanks to Milo and can be found by the pair of gloves he wears around camp! He works to enhance Sonja's performances and is also helpful in a pinch if they're trying to infiltrate something. His whole reason for existing the way he does is to make sure Sonja is taken care of.

I love looking at my old hands and laughing so hard at how awkward some of them look. Thanks for stopping by!