D&D 5E First Official Homebrew Campaign Adventure - Need help with ideas!

[JovialLichKing]

Hey everyone,

After about a 27 year absence from D&D, I'm back in the game! The buzz around 5th edition got me all lathered up and ultimately brought me back to the table. I'm excited to say the least. But, also pretty nervous and needing some advice...

I have good friends and their kids coming over in a little over a week (joining with my wife and kids) for a big campaign kick-off adventure. The kids ages range from 12 - 14 and will be playing freshly rolled-up 1st level characters. I want to build a homebrew 5th edition campaign/world and will try to avoid using the published modules if possible (although I'm happy to steal ideas from them! ). To give them a good first experience, I'm trying to whip up a memorable adventure that uses some of the familiar tropes but includes some interesting and perhaps, unconventional things as well. This can be a one session adventure or a multi-part, I suppose. The goal is to have give them a great first impression and want to keep playing!

I'm hoping that you all would help me with some advice and maybe some specific hooks as well. What do you think? Thank you in advance for any help!

 

[JovialLichKing]

Ok, I'll go first with some familiar tried and tested stuff...

- The party meets in a tavern
- A tomb or graveyard full of undead
- A classic cave/dungeon crawl with plenty of goblins and a goblin boss
- A trap/magic-filled wizard tower
- Somebody needs to be rescued
- Some element of mystery to be solved

What else?

 

[Ath'kethin]

Out of curiosity, why are you avoiding published adventures? I ask only because "The Lost Mine of Phandelver," from the 5e Starter Set, is still widely considered to be not only a first rate module but probably the best one published for he edition so far. It's maybe worth a look.

 

[JovialLichKing]

LMoP looks really really good, but I'm committed to keeping this campaign setting original. Do you think it would be worth the time/effort to change all the names and locations and run an adapted version of it?

 

[cmad1977]

LMoP looks really really good, but I'm committed to keeping this campaign setting original. Do you think it would be worth the time/effort to change all the names and locations and run an adapted version of it?

I dunno if I'd go through the trouble of reworking the whole thing but I imagine parts of it could be dropped into parts of your world without too much effort.


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[Jester David]

Let the players make their own backstory. And ask them leading questions. You can set them up for creativity. "When you were ten you suffered a tragedy. What was it?"
Push them to name villages and locations, to give events in the world. Which you can then use to build the setting.
It might be handy to seed inter-connectivity between the players. Have each player have met the person on their left in some way.

I recommend starting with a fair or carnival. A non-combat situation where they can get used to the game system and their character sheets. So they can roll a few Acrobatics or Athletics checks to catch a greased pig, make a few attack rolls in an archery contest, make a few Constitution saving throws to keep down pie, etc.
Keep the NPCs limited unless you want to force roleplaying initially (which I would ease into).

Give them a quest but really emphasise the freedom to do anything. This is the strength of RPGs over video games and other forms of media. They can make their own decisions and follow their own path.

I recommend cliffhangers as well for the first few sessions. Don't resolve everything and have some suspense at the end. That encourages people to come back and keeps the group together.

 

[JovialLichKing]

Really interesting ideas here! Thank you!

 

[phantomK9]

LMoP looks really really good, but I'm committed to keeping this campaign setting original. Do you think it would be worth the time/effort to change all the names and locations and run an adapted version of it?

Honestly the only thing you would need to change to make LMoP setting neutral is the name of the town of Neverwinter.
The rest of the stuff is pretty easy to just gloss over, like the factions, that show up so lightly that it is not even worth mentioning.

I did pretty much what you are doing minus the children.
Our group had taken a long break from strait D&D (we played other games) and when I started 5e, I started with LMoP.
I don't think I can recomend it more, it is a great adventure. Evenly paced, filled with enough detail for first time DMs but also open enough that DMs with experience can easily add their own thing.

I was able to add two different dungeons to the setting with no trouble at all and only a couple of hours total of prep work. The PCs have already gone beyond the material in the book, but all the shenanigans they got up to during playing in the published stuff has spilled over into more things.

Also the great thing about 5e is that the backgrounds and their Personality traits really help to flesh out the world that exsits around the PCs. Probably 90% of the stuff I added to the published stuff was taken from things from the characters backgrounds.

 

[alienux]

-Be sure to create an atmosphere. Don't just say, "you enter a room with a table and chair." Say, "you enter a musty room with cobwebs in the corners. The smell of something rotting fills the air. There are eerie carvings on the walls." Don't over do it, but use sights, sounds and smells.

-Use the environment during combat to make it more exciting. Add a fire pit that monsters can use to set things on fire, or icy floors that require keeping your balance as you fight. Again, don't over do it, but this can add to the fun.

-Don't fret over getting all the rules exactly right all the time. Have fun and go back and check the rules later, unless it's a major factor at the time.

 

[Yaztromo]

I would start wth something cheesy and reminding bedtime stories, such as them being seven dwarves working on their mine and a fair lady comes along telling them of her misfortunes (any other bedtime story woud do)... and then (make sure it happens pretty soon, before they get bored) trigger an unexpected plot twist and, for example, "Snowhite" turns out to be a cruel woman that, with the help of a witch and of a hunter kicks them out of their mine!
Maybe they will have to forget their good old mine and wonder around for a long time, looking for adventures, or maybe they will learn how they can defeat their enemies, with some magical objects, etc.
Just to give you an example