Reddit reviews Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master

Yep, you're making all the classic mistakes new GMs make lol.

1. " but I really want to make taverns the heart and soul of my games. " - You don't get to decide this. Your job is to facilitate the player's actions. They might just hate taverns, or walk out the door immediately. Then you'll do what all new GMs do, railroad them into talking to NPCs. The players will lose interest 10 minutes into the game when that happens and they realize your game has no player agency.
   
2. " Black Star Inn is run by a lesbian couple, one of whom is an ex-ranger with strong feelings about animal welfare and vegetarianism. " - A rough truth to learn while GMing, nobody cares about your world's backstories until the players ask. Then if you have an answer, great, but 90% of the time this stuff won't be discovered. You'll find yourself forcing this info on the players, and they'll be like, 'why do I care if the ppl who own this inn are lesbians?'
   
3. " I'd appreciate any feedback on prices and menu choices " - lolol I laugh because I did this same thing in my first game. In hindsight three years later, it was probably the most pointless thing I've done since I started 5e. Again, nobody cares. If it doesn't advance the plot, which is determined by the player's interests, it's a waste of time.
   
4. " I've added a couple of travelling merchants who patrol the Sword Coast, the party has a chance to run into one as a random encounter. " - This is good. Always have a few back pocket encounters, but only lob them into the game if the players go looking for them.
   
5. " In Phandalin, I've created another hub Inn. " - Why? Phandalin already has an awesome inn and cast of NPCs. I think you've promised some people you are going to run LMoP, but it's clear this isn't LMoP at this point. This is just homebrew.
   
6. " I've additionally created an Excel spreadsheet which lets me randomly generate 5000 different NPCs on the fly " - Sounds like overkill, but if it works for you, it's cool. I use a one-page document with a few tables of names, quirks and defining characteristics.
   
   I strongly, strongly recommend you buy and read Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master. This will save you a year or two of learning how to prep and run D&D. It's not about defining the details. It's about creating several buckets of information you can pull on during the game, and watching your players.

Heard good things about https://www.amazon.com/Return-Lazy-Dungeon-Master-Michael/dp/1726631826/ref=sr_1_6?keywords=rpg+planning&qid=1570600458&sr=8-6

Also this is pretty good https://www.montecookgames.com/store/product/your-best-game-ever/

And this aint half bad https://www.amazon.com/Odyssey-Complete-Campaign-Management-EGP42004/dp/0983613338/ref=sr_1_21?keywords=odyssey+rpg&qid=1570600553&sr=8-21

​

Probably Monte Cook's is the most complete product.

I just finished reading Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master, and it sounds RIGHT up your alley. I highly recommend you check it out.