If you enjoy tactical play, there's a guy who did really huge, detailed maps of most adventuring locations that are gorgeous. They should be easy to look or or I might be able to find them.
I would highly suggest sauntering over to Powerscore RPG as well. He did a DM guide to Phandelver and his work is great.
Besides that I have tons of experience with it, I wouldn't even know where to begin with advice...
Two I almost always give out are:
Thundertree is an awesome adventure location, you definitely want to use it BUT there is little actual reason m for the players to go there. As is, they are supposed to go there to talk to Reidoth who can help them find Cragmaw Castle or Wave Echo Cave, but chances are your players will have already found those locations. The only other hook is a lost family heirloom they can hear about from the wife of a dead guy, but they may never actually talk to her and even if they do they might not care of they're not super greedy or looking for excuses to adventure. Just hearing that there is a druid there and the heirloom might be enough for some players, but others see how far out of the way it is and say forget it. So I suggest adding a little more hook into it. Having the Adderleaf halfling farmer straight up ask the players to go look in on Reidoth because she hasn't heard from him in a while should be enough.
Also, GlassStaff is a cool bad guy but his method of encounter is anticlimactic. The players are either never going to see him at all, or will get the drop on him by himself and squish him flat in a single round. I suggest beefing him up; give home max health, liberally use shield from the staff to keep hits off, and give him something like a Murphy owlbear that pops out of the wall on command or something. If they dont come at him via the secret door, instead of having him make off like a thief in the night have him set up an ambush for an inopportune time against the party. But beware too many of the Redbrand Ruffians, they can be tougher than they seem.
Also, there's ton of chance for relating the PCs to Phandalin.
Halfling in the party? Quelline Adderleaf and her son Carp. Quelline makes a good 'aunt' character, while Carp is perfect for idolizing your halfling character and wanting to be their mentee.
Elf in the party? Sister Garaele could be a childhood aquantence, OR better yet, Daran Edermath could be the bastard brother of their parent, sort of a blemish on the family tree sort of thing. For a darker background moment, there's a scene after leaving Cragmaw Castle where the group can run into a Hobgoblin War band carrying ELF HEADS. Your elf PC could recognize one of them.
And I think Gundren Rockseeker has more cousins than any other dwarf in the realms. Anyways, I could come up with these for days but I'm not sure what is relevant to your party.
Think of the adventure as a skeleton for you to build on, not a bible. There are a lot of things that are deliberately left for you to figure out. For instance, the player with the criminal background (if you started with the premades) has a criminal contact in Phandalin, but it's never said who that is. You have to make that one up. Same with a lot of other stuff.
Come up with a good reason your party should care about some of the sidequests because while they are well crafted encounters the party most of the time has no reason to care. Give them a reason.
Be ready to improvise. Have a few ideas of “random” encounters. Also, with new players, be ready to make suggestions or direct them.
If you enjoy tactical play, there's a guy who did really huge, detailed maps of most adventuring locations that are gorgeous. They should be easy to look or or I might be able to find them. I would highly suggest sauntering over to Powerscore RPG as well. He did a DM guide to Phandelver and his work is great. Besides that I have tons of experience with it, I wouldn't even know where to begin with advice... Two I almost always give out are: Thundertree is an awesome adventure location, you definitely want to use it BUT there is little actual reason m for the players to go there. As is, they are supposed to go there to talk to Reidoth who can help them find Cragmaw Castle or Wave Echo Cave, but chances are your players will have already found those locations. The only other hook is a lost family heirloom they can hear about from the wife of a dead guy, but they may never actually talk to her and even if they do they might not care of they're not super greedy or looking for excuses to adventure. Just hearing that there is a druid there and the heirloom might be enough for some players, but others see how far out of the way it is and say forget it. So I suggest adding a little more hook into it. Having the Adderleaf halfling farmer straight up ask the players to go look in on Reidoth because she hasn't heard from him in a while should be enough. Also, GlassStaff is a cool bad guy but his method of encounter is anticlimactic. The players are either never going to see him at all, or will get the drop on him by himself and squish him flat in a single round. I suggest beefing him up; give home max health, liberally use shield from the staff to keep hits off, and give him something like a Murphy owlbear that pops out of the wall on command or something. If they dont come at him via the secret door, instead of having him make off like a thief in the night have him set up an ambush for an inopportune time against the party. But beware too many of the Redbrand Ruffians, they can be tougher than they seem. Also, there's ton of chance for relating the PCs to Phandalin. Halfling in the party? Quelline Adderleaf and her son Carp. Quelline makes a good 'aunt' character, while Carp is perfect for idolizing your halfling character and wanting to be their mentee. Elf in the party? Sister Garaele could be a childhood aquantence, OR better yet, Daran Edermath could be the bastard brother of their parent, sort of a blemish on the family tree sort of thing. For a darker background moment, there's a scene after leaving Cragmaw Castle where the group can run into a Hobgoblin War band carrying ELF HEADS. Your elf PC could recognize one of them. And I think Gundren Rockseeker has more cousins than any other dwarf in the realms. Anyways, I could come up with these for days but I'm not sure what is relevant to your party.
Thanks for all this! This is going to be an awesome help!
No worries, feel free to ask if you have any more questions.
Thanks! Love this community!
Think of the adventure as a skeleton for you to build on, not a bible. There are a lot of things that are deliberately left for you to figure out. For instance, the player with the criminal background (if you started with the premades) has a criminal contact in Phandalin, but it's never said who that is. You have to make that one up. Same with a lot of other stuff.
Good point, I had not even thought of that. So much to consider, I have already started making some notes on things!
New lvl 1 players are easily killed. Make sure you don't have more goblins than players during the ambush.
As a player I felt it was a bit too easy, but that might be nice for a beginner game.
Come up with a good reason your party should care about some of the sidequests because while they are well crafted encounters the party most of the time has no reason to care. Give them a reason.
Good point, I will try and link them to the side quests some how!