Welcome back to Advent’s Amazing Advice! The series where I take popular One-Shots, Adventures, Campaigns, etc. and fully prep them for both New and Busy DMs. This prep includes music, ambiance, encounter sheets, handouts, battle maps, tweaks, and more so you can run the best sessions possible with the least stress possible!
It’s finally time for our next Fully Prepped Mini-Campaign/Adventure; Dragons of Stormwreck Isle, A level 1-3 Adventure that’s sure to make waves! This is the most recent Starter Set and successor to The Lost Mine of Phandelver released by WoTC. In it, your players will sail to the titular Stormwreck Isle, an island shaped by an age of conflict between Chromatic and Metallic Dragons. They’ll be able to befriend kobolds, explore fungal grottos, fight those twisted by Orcus, and perhaps save the very island itself!
Have your players create their own characters or jump right in using the Pre-Gens that are built with backstories integrated into the plot!
If you’ve used my previous notes you’ll know that I take Adventures such as these and do all the difficult and time-consuming book-to-session conversions so you don’t have to! I do my best to include Ambiance for every scene, custom battle maps, handouts when needed, spell sheets, encounter sheets, and more!
This may all sound familiar, but seeing as this is a Starter Set, I think it’s important to reiterate:
- Read the Adventure: I know surprising, but It can be extremely confusing when you don’t know where everything leads to.
- Consider the needs of your group: As you’ve heard or are about to hear a million times, every table is different. If you plan on combining this with a campaign, you’ll have to make tweaks here and there.
- These notes aren’t meant to be the end-all-be-all: Tweak to your heart’s content, and don’t consider any of what’s written to be set in stone. For me having notes like this helps give me the confidence to go off the rails and follow along with what my players want. It helps me understand where things are meant to go and why. Having that understanding allows me to guide the players and create other new and interesting stories. These are all things that will come with experience, though, so don’t freak out and enjoy the journey!
Without further ado:
- Google Docs Notes for Part 1 Dragon’s Rest: DM Notes
- Link to: Intro + Dragon’s Rest Playlist
- Link to: The AAA Collection (Files at bottom of post)
Included in The AAA Collection is:
- A Word document with all my notes including links to music tracks for ambiance and fights
- Special PDF for the encounter. This includes the enemy stat block organized neatly along with an initiative tracker and a spot to mark HP
- Multiple Custom Maps!
*Important Errata for Pre-Gens
- The Rogue’s Investigation bonus should be +3, not zero.
- The Wizard should have a +2 DEX save, not +3.
- The High Elf should have longbow proficiency
Dragons of Stormwreck Isle:
- Part 1 - Dragon’s Rest
- Part 2 - Seagrow Cave (Coming Soon)
- Part 3 - Cursed Shipwreck (Coming Soon)
- Part 4 - Clifftop Observatory (Coming Soon)
Other Fully Prepped One-Shots, Adventures, and More:
- The Wild Sheep Chase - Click Here
- Death House - Click Here
- We Be Goblins - Click Here
- The Egg of Estyr - Click Here
- Wolves of Welton - Click Here
- To the End of Time - Click Here
- A Most Potent Brew - Click Here
- Moon over Graymoor - Click Here
- A Wild West One-Shot - Click Here
- The Drunken Treasure - Click Here
- A Grimdark Adventure - Click Here
- D&D vs Rick and Morty - Click Here
- A Prison Break One-Shot - Click Here
- The Tavern at Death’s Door - Click Here
- Dragons of Stormwreck Isle - Click Here
- Shadow of the Broodmother - Click Here
- L’Arsène’s Ludicrous Larceny - Click Here
- The Night Before Wintermas - Click Here
- The Lost Mine of Phandelver - Click Here
As always, If you see something you think I can improve, add, change, etc. please let me know. I want this to be an amazing resource for all DMs and plan to keep it constantly updated! If you’d like to support me, shape future releases, and get content early feel free to check out my Patreon!
Cheers,
Advent
You have a recommendation for a beginner dm on which one to start with?
Of course, for an absolute beginner, I would say start with a One-Shot to really get a feel for things, and if you like it along with your players. The easiest one would be A Most Potent Brew, it’s only 2-3hrs and has all the hallmarks of D&D!
If after that you decide you love DMing then Dragon’s of Stormwreck isle is an easy mini-campaign to go for; it’ll take you from level 1-3. If you want to step it up, then The Lost Mine of Phandelver is probably the better one but lasts a bit longer from levels 1-5.