I was a new DM, about to run LMoP and DoIP simultaneously, with no prior DnD experience. This tutorial was a huge help to my players (my husband and three kids of varying ages) and myself. It really helped us work out the game mechanics, before anything serious started. I highly recommend this for new DMs/players. We are still playing this combo campaign a year later.

This is a great tutorial to help newbies learn D&D. It can be played as session 0 for the LMoP adventure and helps characters get familiar with the basics of combat, exploration, and social interaction. It's easy enough to run for new DMs as well. Highly recommend this for a table of newbies who want to embark on LMoP but need a tutorial before that. (The issue with LMoP is that in the original adventure, the first interaction i.e., Goblin Arrows / Ambush can be somewhat too much for a party of level 1 adventurers. Using this prelude and allowing all characters to level up to 2 before starting on LMoP makes the adventure that much more fun)

LMoP was my first time running a D&D game. Also, I had players that never played D&D previously. This module was fantastic with introducing us to multiple scenarios for role-play/combat, saving throws and various skill checks. Thank you for this great resource!

Personally, this was EXACTLY what I needed as a new DM. I'm about to begin with a group of all new players and am so grateful for this guide on how to organically introduce them to the mechanics of the game - seriously, you don't have to run the Lost Mines adventure for this to be of value. Just awesome, thank you for putting this out!

Man I'm a old DM but I wish I would have that 35 years ago !!! Great, Great Stuff for New DMs...

Great job! I used it this week to introduce 5 new players and it was a success! It's amazing how a DM can be surprised. In the cellar, one of the players (who had never played) used the spell command and paralyzed Sildar, then tied him up and said he would release only if he stopped fighting ... LOL. The next event with the stalled oxen I replaced the trap with a small 1HP snake hanging from a tree branch that startled them. One player used speak to animals and the conversation with the oxen gave us a good laugh until the end of the session.

This is a fantastic introduction to D&D! I have ran through this several times with groups of brand new players, including one group that was made up of eleven year olds. This does a really great job of jumping into some interesting action right away. It helps the players make sense of the different skills they can utalize as well as the flow of combat. Not only that, but it makes Sildar a much more interesting charachter. My groups had sort of a love to hate him thing going on, but when the found him later in the adventure (in the Lost Mines of Phandelver part) they couldn't stop talking about the moves Sildar kept doing to them during that first test fight. I would call that a win!

If you have ever played a video game where the first level taught you the controls then you know what to expect here. It has a little mechanics explanation wrapped up in a cute "job interview" scene that plays out before the main story. This is a great addition to the Starter Set that I didn't realise was missing until I read this and realised how needed it was.

My one nitpick is that it uses a "flashback" story convention. I didn't care for this but this is easy to ignore and just play in chronological order.

If you are introducing new players to D&D then the small price of entry is so worth the money.

I am teaching my daughters (10 and 12) D&D and we had purchased the Starter Set with Lost Mine of Phandelver. I was preparing for the game when I ran across this intro adventure. It takes place "Before Phandelver" and brings out the mechanics of the game to explain what player-characters can do and how it's done.

My daughters really enjoyed this intro which prepared them for the first encounter in the Starter Set. The encounter in Before Phandelver touches on DM'ing the adventure, combat, and how the players can use their ability scores in play.

Well done and a good intro to D&D and the Starter Kit/Lost Mine of Phandelver campaign.

I loved it. I played AD&D about 100 years ago, but I never DMed. This was a great way to ease into it. The kids loved it, and then we seemlessly transitioned into Phandelver. Thanks!

It's a great start to the LMOP Adventure! I ran a new to DnD group using this tutorial for the Session 0, Its an awesome way to get them all excited for the first session while teaching them simple basics like Combat, DC Saves etc!

Great resource for Starting GM's or even anyone who starts Phandelver with new players and do not want to be part of the TPK list the modules has in its first chapter.