D&D 5E Adventure Options for starting a Next Campaign

Hi all,
I want to invoke the collection wisdom (or at least knowledge) of EN World. I'm starting a Next campaign in a few weeks and have been working on campaign design. I'd like to eventually develop it into a two-fold meta-plot/episodic campaign - sort of like X-Files - alternating between The Big Story and smaller episodes, but weaving elements of the Big Story into the episodes) - but given that none of us have played Next yet and that we're going to convert to the official rules when they come out in the summer, I'd like to start off with something relatively basic that can just be "plopped in" - a learn-the-rules and get-to-know-you adventure that can serve as a prelude for the larger campaign, and perhaps within which I can easily drop hooks for later adventures.

So what are my options? For the larger campaign I'm mining ideas from some Pathfinder adventure paths, in particular Runelords and Shattered Star, but I'd prefer something pre-assembled for the first adventure as I learn the rules myself.

I do have the latest playtest packet, so can use Caves of Chaos, and am open to spending the $18 for Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle, but want to hear some ideas and feedback from the wise souls of EN World.

What do you recommend? Again, something relatively general that I can run as a one-off up to about level 3 that we can learn the basics of the rules with, but then would like to transition fully to my own larger campaign arc, which may continue to use pre-published adventures and such, but that's relevant now.

The floor is yours.

I guess a lot depends on your DMing style and your group's playstyle.

Personally I've run quite a few pathfinder LVL 1-4 adventures and converted them on the fly to DDN; haven't had a hitch so far, and the group's feedback has stayed pretty positive.

dd.stevenson said:

I guess a lot depends on your DMing style and your group's playstyle.

Personally I've run quite a few pathfinder LVL 1-4 adventures and converted them on the fly to DDN; haven't had a hitch so far, and the group's feedback has stayed pretty positive.

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I'm not opposed to adapting adventures from other editions, but to start I'd like something very straighforward and "classic" - a dungeon crawl, basically, and/or wilderness/ruin exploration. Something to get us accustomed to the rules before we go more deeply into it. Even just a location.

I've been tempted to adapt Runelords - or at least certain chapters of it - but need to customize it to my campaign world.

You may already be familiar with the one page dungeon contests and dyson's dodecahedron?

That's enough to set a person up for a lifetime of gaming, if you just want old school dungeon maps and some notes for running the thing.

There are a couple of published D&D Next adventures that have garnered pretty good reviews so far that seem like good "starter" modules - Murder in Baldur's Gate and Legacy of the Crystal Shard.

I think they're a bit more sand-boxey than you might be looking for, but they're worth a look.

And, I didn't have many problems converting Adventure Paths to 4E, so I think converting them to next should be fairly easy, too.

The easiest thing might be to just use an old adventure (s). Conversion, which is mostly looking up the monster stats and coming up with some NPCs, should be pretty easy. The flexibility of 5Es adjudication becomes a real strength here.

You can then dig through your stuff or use D&D classic. Sinister Secret at Saltmarsh, Village of Hommlet, All the B's and Xs, and much much more is then available.

I'll second the nomination for Legacy of the Crystal Shard. I'm running it for D&D Encounters at a 4E-favoring store, and keep finding myself thinking it's a better fit for Next. (The encounter groups and monster stats for Next are available on the WotC site.) It's a fun adventure, with a good mix of exploration, dungeon delving, and role-playing. It's much less linear than many published adventures, but contains more plot (defined events that should happen if the PCs don't intervene) than a full sandbox. Intended for levels 1-3.

Saltmarsh and Hommlet are good suggestions, @TerraDave - and I've never run or played either.

Actually, this lets me re-frame my request/question: What are some great, even "the best," location-based low-level modules of any edition? I'm tempted to start a new thread but I'll refrain!

EDIT: by "location-based" I mean along the lines of what James Maliszewski discusses here. A quote:


In that framing, I'm looking for a good "old school" adventure - one that is about a party exploring a location. I can drop my plot hooks into it as I see fit.

I had fun running the Blingdenstone playtest adventure, and it meets all your criteria: low level, setting based old school style, solid dungeon crawl options, all prepackaged and made for D&D Next playtest rules.

Quickleaf said:

I had fun running the Blingdenstone playtest adventure, and it meets all your criteria: low level, setting based old school style, solid dungeon crawl options, all prepackaged and made for D&D Next playtest rules.

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I used this too and it provided many sessions worth of material. It is also easy to modify or extend.