What to run for a group of complete beginners?

[Turjan]

I have been surprised with having to run a campaign for a group of people (3-4) with no D&D experience; only one of them played a few sessions some ten years ago. As they already want to start tomorrow , there's not much time for lots of preparation, and I like to use some published adventures.

Does anybody of you know what works well with complete beginners? Would you start with a mini scenario? I'm not sure whether the "Sunless Citadel" is the best choice; I might try and work it into some context, because they want to have a whole campaign. I don't have the "Shackled City" book (and there's no time to get it). I'm somewhat hesitant with the "Whispering Cairn", as I'm not sure whether they are ready for something that well integrated (I suppose they will struggle with the rules). Any suggestions, also for a whole module-based campaign (only stuff from the 3.x era, please )?

 

[Stalker0]

Personally, I would run the completely iconic adventure. The damsel in distress, the bandit group of orcs attacking the village...go completely cliche because beginners can still appreciate those adventures

 

[IronWolf]

I think Sunless Citadel could work quite well. It has the other modules you can run later if you want or branch off with another arc pretty easily too if you desired. Of course I think I have a soft spot for Sunless Citadel for some reason.

Another one that might be decent is OrcFest. It is geared sort of for new D&D players (though mainly with tips to the DM, which won't really apply to you). But if you happen to have access to it, it might be worth flipping through for consideration.

 

[cat o nine mice]

Cat o nine mice sez....

You are in a unique position, to be able to take a group of
brand new players and to teach them the "right" way to
roleplay--with cooperation and pooling of personal skills-
in order that everyone gets rich. You could start with a
very basic theme that never gets old-the group members
meet at the local bar-inn-church-brothel, get hired by a
noble with too much money, to go forth and find the
Lyrical Something-or-Other, and bring it back.
Simple? Au contraire, mon amis! This works as well
at first level as it does at sixth or even tenth. The
obstacles just get tougher.

 

[JoeGKushner]

If you're going to run a full standard adventure, Orcfest by Fast Forward Games, despite being 3.0, is surpringly enough, one of the best.

Outside of that, I'd run a few combats using the counters and map from D&D for Dummies or the D&D boxed set to get their feet wet.

 

[Bihor]

free port is a good one, not a lot of bashing and fun and simple.
The sunless citadel is good to start long enough so that you can modify it to suit (not sure about that word) any group.

 

[Akrasia]

You can download the adventure "The Burning Plague" from the WotC site. It is a pretty decent intro adventure. Also, you can finish it in 1-2 sessions.

 

[argo]

The Burning Plague is the adventure for complete beginners. It is straightfoward without being booring and has a nice mix of simple combat, problem solving and even the possibility for some role-play. Most important of all it showcases all the most important of the basic dnd skills: trapfinding, stealth/scouting, melee fighting and flanking, turning undead, cover and ranged attacks, spellcasting and a boss fight.

Oh, and its a free download too.

Hope that helps.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

How experienced are these players? I know they're n00bs, but have they familiarized themselves with the rules? Have they created characters?

The last time I started a campaign with inexperienced players, it took a long time to get them up to speed- the better part of a session. They had many questions and I had to field them all. In addition, you'll want to familiarize them with your house rules. Perhaps some handouts would be in order?

What I'm saying is, you may find yourself with more time than you think to prep yourself. If you can't find anything to your liking right away, have a session in which the players role-play their introductions. Perhaps they get involved in a brawl, help out someone being bullied or extorted by the local thugs, or stop someone from being kidnapped...

THEN you get them rolling on the real adventure...

 

[Quickleaf]

Just a point of advice: Don't run the full-set D&D rules. Combat in D&D is complicated. I would either use a rules-light system to start or drastically edit combat. I've seen new players rapidly get frustrated and disinterested during the first combat scene. Say "yes" to the players a lot, and maybe consider action points.