Your Very First Monster Encounter

[Krellic]

It was a doppleganger, which in it's natural shape was described as a big black blob.

 

[Garrett Thorngage]

You like Kobolds?
Me and my players loved Dragon Mountain.
I even converted it to 3.0 - it was really fun

Kobolds are pretty cool, but dire kobolds can rip your head off man. I came across some dire kobolds in a slightly less well known adventure known as When Dire Kobolds Attack from the site direkobold.com. I will never think of kobolds as being the runts of the litter again, that's for sure.

 

[Frum]

My first encounter was when I first started playing, in 2nd ed, 1992. I was playing a 1st level Paladin, with a group of characters helping me. We fought skeletons. After that, we fought shadows, but the encounters were made easy by the holy avenger the DM gave me. Talk about your power gaming! That campaign didn't last long, which is too bad-I loved that character.

My first encounter ever was in a bar, where my elven friend put half the patrons to sleep to steal a shirt, and my character's brother killed the bartender, who was about to use a crossbow against said elf, with one punch. Eventually we were captured by Waterdeep guards.

The DM reset that campaign, and the two problem players left. Man, that sucked.

 

[Creamsteak]

I do believe my first encounter, first death, and first experience with D&D was all tied to 1d6 (3) firebeetles. They stung me, I was poisoned, and I died. This was with OD&D books that my friend Jordan had been given by his much older brother, and a few modules he bought for dimes at some store.

It was fun, but I do believe I died 5 times in that 1st session (though it lasted over 3 days of actual playing).

 

[milotha]

It was the boxed set of D&D around 1979. A single solitary kobold charging down the first dungeon corridor. We (1st level monk, 1st level magic-user, 1st level thief)were so afraid of it, that we tried to flee instead of fight. It had an electrum piece on it.

 

[Arthur Tealeaf]

It was basic D&D, and we were playing a Mystara adventure and we met a...

...wolf!

The Priest in the party crushing the wolf's head with his warhammer as it leapt towards us is still the most vivid image I ever had of any D&D combat ever! I remember picturing every fight perfectly, since I didn't understand the rules and only thought about the action, and damn, it's never been that real since I learned them.

 

[Mystic_23]

I think my first monster encounter was a group of 4 orcs. This was in 1Ed AD&D. It was one of those dungeons that made no sense to any sane person. You know, the kind that had everything from a group of Orcs to Demogorgon all hanging out in the same dungoen.

Yes. We actually saw Demogorgon sitting in a room within this dungeon. Go fig.

 

[Steverooo]

The first I recall, as a first level PC in with a higher level party, was a T-Rex! The GM rolled a die to see who it attacked, and I got "lucky". Since I couldn't afford a horse, I was riding the pack mule carrying all the oil... The GM rolled 1D6, 1-3 Rex attacked me, 4-6 he ate the mule...

I really DID get lucky, and Rex ate the mule. My PC dived off, lit a torch, and the GM ruled the T-Rex went up in flames from all the oil, "blowing up", more or less.

 

[Stone Angel]

My first session included the Paladin killing the party mage. That fight took a long time. *Sigh*

The Seraph of Earth and Stone

 

[jgsugden]

Wow. That was a long time ago. Over 20 years ...?

I was an elf (basic D&D). My older brother was testing out D&D, so he skimmed through the basic rules and let me run a solo PC through the Caves of Chaos. My unnamed elf walked up to the caves, ambled into one of the entrances and ran into a weird lady with snakes on her head in a temple style area ...

I think he is still there ... *sniff*

I *may* have run across a pair of skeletons first. Or that might have been my second elf.

EDIT: A few months later I played in my first real game with a party. That cleric's first foe was a bunch of zombies that were plaguing a small town's graveyard.