Best Starting Adventure?

[mattcolville]

I'd like to know what modules/adventures you all feel are the best for starting a new campaign.

And by this I mean whatever you take away from the question. Could be just a dungeoncrawl, could be something else.

I tend to think T1 - The Village of Hommlet is, maybe not the best executed, but conceptually the best idea for starting a new game. It provides you a starting place, the town of Hommlet, including lots of NPCs, goods & services, the local environs and lots of stuff to do, along with a nice adventure at the end. Are there other

I enjoyed Necromancer Games' Crucible of Freya. It was a good 1st level module, I thought.

 

[Crothian]

I've had good luck with Sunless Citedel. It has a nice simple story and some interesting encounters that allow for a variety of skills to be used. It is contained so the PCs can leave the area to rest and recoup if needed.

 

[Barendd Nobeard]

U1 - The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh is fun to play, and the PCs can really get involved in the town and use it as base of operations (if they so desire).

 

[dvvega]

My favourite adventure to start most groups off with depends on the group involved:

group of new players (new to game, or to my DMing or both)
- standard city bug hunt (wrote it 5 years ago, update it with new monsters/scenery)
* this involves a bit of a scavenger hunt to capture creepy crawlies for a collector
* it introduces combat, subdual damage (I like it when civilised folks do not kill), tactics, and lets players learn about each other.
* introduces them to my world/city and what they can expect i the form of the law (you destroyed that bakery!!!!)

mixed group new/old players
- same as above
* gives the old guys a chance to shine, while the new guys learn from them

group of old players
- tailored adventure (even if it is off the shelf I rewrite most modules)
* I normally require characters/backgrounds to be in before the first game so I can tailor something that challenges them all and gets them working together as a party

D

 

[Americano]

I'll second the mention of Sunless Citadel. The adventure introduces within the flow of the story a lot of the elements new players need to learn about; negotiation with NPCs, dealing subdual damage, etc.

My party still thinks of it as their favorite adventure of the campaign (to date).

 

[Breakdaddy]

The Silver Anniversary Edition of Return to the Keep on the Borderlands is a fine adventure for a fresh group, and is also helpful for a new DM or one that needs a refresher in the basics of running a game. Some conversion will be required, of course, to support a 3.x game.

 

[aco175]

I always like the old FR module Under Illifarn (sp). It was written back in 86 or 87 when FR was still kind of new and contained the town of Daggerford and several short adventures that can be played in a night of two. They have released an updated version of some of the stuff in boxed sets and whatnot, but nothing contained the short adventures.

 

[DarrenGMiller]

I'd like to know what modules/adventures you all feel are the best for starting a new campaign.

And by this I mean whatever you take away from the question. Could be just a dungeoncrawl, could be something else.

I tend to think T1 - The Village of Hommlet is, maybe not the best executed, but conceptually the best idea for starting a new game. It provides you a starting place, the town of Hommlet, including lots of NPCs, goods & services, the local environs and lots of stuff to do, along with a nice adventure at the end. Are there other

I enjoyed Necromancer Games' Crucible of Freya. It was a good 1st level module, I thought.

I would agree that both Crucible of Freya and Village of Hommlett/Temple of Elemental Evil are good starters. I also agree with the previous suggestion of the old U1 Saltmarsh adventure. The Sunless Citadel also works well, as does Penumbra's Thieves in the Forest and a whole host of Dungeon adventures.

DM

 

[mattcolville]

It seems like there is a certain commanality in the non-Sunless Citadel examples, and that's a microsetting apart from just an adventure?

 

[BiggusGeekus]

It seems like there is a certain commanality in the non-Sunless Citadel examples, and that's a microsetting apart from just an adventure?

Yes. If I had my way, most adventures would be written this way.

A given module traditionally has 32 pages. Now you need a few to burn up for art, credits, OGL license, etc. But if I ran the world modules would be a solid 10 pages of adventure with 10 pages of micro-setting.

Also, if I ran the world, gumdrops would be free and the Sci-Fi channel would stop showing bad monster movies, but that's another issue entirely.