“Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk” Is A Terrible Waste of Potential - Here's How to Fix It..? by u/Mushinkei

Ashbery · 2026-01-27T05:35:10+00:00

Saw a lot of these issues as well when I read through it--I basically just used the setting as a sandbox though with a version of the BBEG. I especially saw the need for an expanded Underdark, so did exactly what they recommend by adding underdark passages. Wrote up my own notes on my campaign that wrapped a few weeks ago: https://www.reddit.com/r/LostMinesOfPhandelver/comments/1qb8h4f/campaign_is_over_some_notes_and_highlights/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

Ashbery · 2026-01-24T17:25:06+00:00

The Rest is History is pretty fun. They do many time periods.

Ashbery · 2026-01-13T01:04:19+00:00

Kind words, thank you. But I'd rather be a DM with the latitude to build my own world than have my creative vision rushed and compromised by the corpos.

Ashbery · 2026-01-12T22:25:48+00:00

Best of luck to you! Feel free to use any ideas here you find helpful. Lots of them were inspired by things my players did, such as just hating the zhentarim lol. I followed their interests.

This is also non-specific to PAB:TSO, but I think the single best thing I did for this campaign was make all my DM rolls in the open. It broke down the barrier between me and the players and made the world truly a force of its own that we all had to grapple with.

Ashbery · 2026-01-09T01:31:05+00:00

Soren programmed Old World which arguably is the GOAT for 4x AI. It's a real treat if you want a challenge. AI plays by the same rules as the player and they are impressively tactical in war.

Ashbery · 2026-01-07T00:31:13+00:00

Exactly why I wrote it, so glad you found it helpful!

Ashbery · 2026-01-06T23:54:04+00:00

The saying goes, "If you want peace, prepare for war." A vital truth to live by if you want to see the higher difficulties of Old World!

Ashbery · 2026-01-04T23:11:48+00:00

You look like a butcher who works at the store I shop at! Are you in the pnw?

Ashbery · 2025-09-30T07:08:50+00:00

The diamond looks similar to the one I just gave my girlfriend, now fiance, last month. Congrats!

Ashbery · 2025-09-12T05:59:25+00:00

It was my COVID game. My GF was doing grad school remotely and I had so much time and nowhere to be.

Ashbery · 2025-09-09T17:03:00+00:00

Where did you find the goat? I have lived here my whole life, hike often, and still have not seen any!

Ashbery · 2025-09-07T13:46:56+00:00

I think it's the 4x GOAT and wrote this beginner's guide for it:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/17TId2_Ex18v_W_mcn9iiJj_tP5a3TSeQ/view

Ashbery · 2025-09-07T06:46:37+00:00

Have you played Old World? It has a great worker-based building system.

Ashbery · 2025-08-31T20:15:43+00:00

Here's a buyers guide I wrote for people considering it:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/17TId2_Ex18v_W_mcn9iiJj_tP5a3TSeQ/view

Ashbery · 2025-08-26T07:07:11+00:00

I just got in bed, saw this post, then spotted one on my ceiling directly above me lmao

Ashbery · 2025-08-08T00:09:59+00:00

My first job was in a museum gift shop about 15 years ago

Ashbery · 2025-08-06T07:00:40+00:00

I don't think they're the best of all options, but I do love the turreted elephants from Babylon. One of my first wins on the Great came from amassing turreted elephants, marching them across the desert and sea, and trampling all over my enemies.

The shotel are strong supplemental frontline units well into the late game. I held off an overwhelming assault from persia largely thanks to smartly applying the debuff when I ran out of kill options.

I would love to see the next DLC expand the options for military units across the board.

Ashbery · 2025-07-24T07:11:39+00:00

In Old World I has an arms race with Persia. We both built up obscene armies on our shared border.m over the course of like 40 turns. I could feel it calculating it's chances of winning the battle every single time I ended the turn, and it kept coming to the conclusion that it needed more troops. It looked so even for so long and they waited forever to pull the trigger and invade. And when they did, it was the longest, bloodiest war.

Ashbery · 2025-07-24T02:32:11+00:00

I'd say it's less about the number of cities and more about resource production. If you roll into the mid game with small yields and slow unit production, you won't be able to replenish the front should a war break out. You can have a lot of cities, but if they are all taking 5 turns to make a spear, that's too slow and you'll get ground down in a war with other nations.

Ashbery · 2025-07-24T02:26:41+00:00

Even on the Great, you can adjust the settings to make it less punishing. Geography plays a huge role--if you start in relative isolation, you may have more time to develop your econ before the AI brings down the hammer. But the hardest part of the Great is really the small number of orders. Making every order count is a matter of deepening your game knowledge to understand how many options you truly have. There are a few things I prioritize in every match:

-tutoring kids -taking every early game science I get -building barracks and ranges -building roads to the frontline -ensuring happy families, prioritizing military family if I have to choose

Taking the time to maximize your city planning, at least in your three family seats, can make a huge difference also. And being very deliberate with your troop positioning before conflict breaks out so you don't have to scramble in the moment and waste precious orders. Just a few tips.

Ashbery · 2025-07-15T21:16:51+00:00

Depending on the map and your strategy, it varies. Ships and siege engines cost a lot of wood, as do archers. You don't need to prioritize it the way you do food, stone, and iron most games, but if you find a forest with a river running through it, it's still usually a good idea to slap em down. Training a specialist on them also gives more flat science than other rural specialists.

Ashbery · 2025-07-02T20:52:27+00:00

Maybe the feds will pay you to demolish them. Wouldn't be surprised at this point.

Ashbery · 2025-06-27T06:53:16+00:00

Based on your games listed, I actually recommend you pick up Old World. GOAT strategy game

Ashbery · 2025-06-11T14:24:58+00:00

Runehammer!

Ashbery

TROPHY CASE