1st level Adventures...I hate 'em, and I need 'em!

[VirgilCaine]

Have you checked out the free adventures at wizards.com? They have a pretty decent adventure for first lvl charecters, one with a mine full of kobolds and some orc who is poisoning a well in the town. My pc's had a lot of fun running it and so did I.

Sorry, I should have mentioned this. I have all of those, a lot of the Classic Downloads, all the Corners of the World stuff, all the Cliffhangers, all the Random Encounters, all the Vicious Venues, some of the Steal This Hook, some of the FR Adventure Locales, 99% of the Perilous Portals, all the Wyrms of the North, a lot of the web enhancements, all the Fey Features, umm...I've got almost everything from wizards.com probably.

And they WILL need to go back after that 5th level Orc Cleric at the end...

If you dislike 1st lvl adventuring that much, why not just start the PCs at a higher level? Or have you already started them at lvl1?

I'm getting ready for a weeks from now, which is when, hopefully, my campus gaming club will have an influx of new members...some of whom will have never played D&D before.

Dungeon #4 Trouble at Grog's

edit: or Dungeon #3 Falcon's Peak

And so which Napsters-clone can I find these at? Pretty rude for you to suggest these without assisting me in finding them.

First level adventures are tricky, for all the reasons you mention. However, you have a big advantage over anyone designing a professional adventure -- you know what PCs you're dealing with. Especially at 1st level, exactly what abilities a group has can be very strongly influenced by what mix of races and classes you have, and what skills those characters have taken. ...

Figure out what the PCs -can- do, and make that the crux of their first few adventures.

Owen K.C. Stephens
d20 Triggerman

Wow, this kind of advice from a professional is the last thing I expected when I started this thread. Thanks a million!

 

[Sir ThornCrest]

1st level campaign ideas

As a DM I liked the following I ran a few months ago.
characters all 1st level: 1 wizard, 1 cleric, 1 fighter, 1 rogue & 1 psi warrior

this campaign was a lot of fun here is the first game night with this campaign........the possibilities are endless and as soon as the Wizard pays off his tuition the party may go.(a couple more outings like the below should pay it)

pc's hired by A Wizard to travel to forests & mountians any odd location the penninsula of Drake-where ever.to collect & gather rare plants, erbs and animals.

encounter #1) they join a caravan and have a run in with a Elvin rogue/Pick pocket, with a dagger and a ring of sleep, 11 charges left. He would cast it on his victims and he would be immune to the effects, and pick them clean while they slept. If he is killed, captured or chased away the party was given a small reward-complements of the caravan master who has been having this problem for a few months now. And couldnt figure out why no witnesses. +players get the ring if they kill or capture the elf. (in our campaign our rogue stole it off of him after we tied him up.

#2) After reaching the city, they are to travel into the north facing cliffs find a large pool with man eating plants, a form of low hit di tangle weed..at its shore, easily avoided (for now). With a few clues the players will learn, this is a old dead Druids lands from many years past...only thing left is his psycho shrubbery. There is a small island in the middle of this smallish lake with 1 tree on it. About 75' out in any direction. Let the players think and be inventive., you can even act surprised if they come up with something unpredictable...it doesnt matter what they do in the end they're all screwed!!!

#3) the players are to pick the blooms from the bushes that have over grown all over the tree and bag them. This tree is a mean old Treant, moves very slow (tangled in the bushes, and cant see that well over grown with bushes & he lacks the ability to cause good damage but will pick up and drop players back in the water. Players should be able to dodge tree with moderate rolling. But must climb it to get to the blooms.

#4) All the comotion from the players being dunked and thrown into the water has awakened a 15' reptile, which is heard giving a moaning sound, tell the players looks like a crocodile! it slips into the water unseen......here starts the chaos!!!

THE PLAYERS WILL BE ABSOLUTELY PARANOID ABOUT GOING BACK INTO THE now dark and mirky water, it was clear but because of the tree throwing them its all stirred up cant see 2' deep. BUT THEY CANT REALLY STAY ON THE ISLAND BECAUSE THE TREANT KEEPS THROWING THEM BACK INTO THE WATER....IF YOU WANT TO SEE A PARTY COME UNGLUED THIS WILL DO IT...OUR RANGER WAS TRYING TO FASTEN A LINE TO HIS x BOW AND HIT A TREE near the shore SO THEY CAN SHIMMY ACROSS, MAKE THEM ROLL A LOT.. DROP EM IN THE WATER...watch em squirm.....THIS HAD MY PARTY SCREAMING.......A LOT OF FUN.....OH AND BY THE WAY THE CROC IS AN OLD ILLUSION CREATED FOR THE DRUIDS LAKE TO KEEP PEOPLE AWAY.....and when they get to the shore the croc will be seen closing in...this should scare them right into the tangleweeds..........

put pinky to corner of mouth, enter "EVIL" Dr. DM laugh...muuaa ha aha muua aua aua!!!

Sit ThornCrest

 

[Warehouse23]

1st level characters never get tired of fighting vermin. Nope, never. If there's rats that need to be offed-- find a first level character. Smallish badger looking to end it all? First level characters are the solution.

 

[alsih2o]

Here is a little something for every moster in the MM courtesy of everyone at ENWorld- http://members.cox.net/monsters_a-z/

 

[painandgreed]

We had a good low level campaign as "fix-it" guys for local nobles. We rode from noble estate to noble estate staying on their dime and doing things for them. Help the lord hunt a wild boar here. Clear out some minor undead there. Move on up to hunting down some bandits. Then some worse undead. Plenty of role-playing as we interacted with said nobels. There were a couple of jobs we had to refuse because we thought they were too dangerous or morally questionable, but it was a good begining to the campaign.

 

[Stormborn]

First level should be all about learning what you can do and why you do it.

You first want to figure out why they are together. For some people "We are adventurers" is enough. Others not so much. A common patron church or other backer, a lack of jobs in a local village, or common relationship can all work well. I find it difficult to have very diverse PCs drawn together by a common cause in game, once the matter is settled they tend to go their seperate ways, unless its a major campaign component.

For new players I would start off with a carnival. Have games of skill where they can try out various abilities, including social interaction either as RP or skill checks. Alow them to hear rumors of two or three possible adventures. These can be very simple Find the McGuffin type things, although the missing child or mystery plots can work for this setting too. Yes, very mundane for you, but the trick is to have several different possible appraches and outcomes for them. 2 or 3 NPCs that all want the McGuffin for example, and will either aid, resist, or decieve the PCs depending on who they choose to help. This will provide lots of roleplaying opportunities, as well as chances to use the cool abilites (and for new players even magic missle is a cool ability) to do something.

If it becomes on going, the carnival settign helps their rep spread quickly. Both to potential patrons as well as enemies.

 

[Vargo]

I had a weird idea, inspired by some comments about B2 by EGG (I think) and some comments about "the DM's pet NPC."

Gary said that the way he originally ran the games, each player would hire 3-5 hirelings, and they (the hirelings) would do most of the fighting - this was how Clerics would survive to 2nd level, which is when they first started getting healing spells.

I'm also thinking of the DM's "pet NPC" - the one that seems ub3r and l33t, can do anything, etc. - and turning that upside down on its head. With this idea on hand...

The characters are contacted by an adventurer of reknown - in reality, an Expert (L3 or 4) with skill focus in Bluff and Diplomacy, a high Cha + Int, low Wis, and lots of skills useful in convincing others to do his work for him (like the aformentioned Bluff and Diplomacy, Intimidate and whatever else will get the job done) - and asked to aid him in the resolution of a issue of some delicacy. Said individual demands complete obedience, and at first seems to know exactly what he's doing. (I'm leaving the nature of the task to the DM, so that he/she can match it to the campaign) Suffice to say, said individual hasn't got two clues to rub together, and gets the party into the middle of a situation in which it becomes blatantly obvious that they're really on their own - and they have to find a way to extract themselves without a) losing face for abandoning their employer or b) ending up dead.

Success isn't "defeating the enemy" - it's "surviving your employer".

Hmm, I like that. I might just do this some time.

 

[Thanee]

We like to start at 2nd level, so the characters do not have so extremely low hit points and multiclassed characters can start out with two classes already, yet the low-level feel is still fully present.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Anti-Sean]

2. Give the goblins some fish.
3. Teach the goblins to fish.

Give a goblin a fish, and he'll be fed for a day. Teach a goblin to fish, and he'll stab you in the back while you're baiting the hook.

 

[ender_wiggin]

Here's my 2 cents.

If you want combat, don't have a dungeon crawl. Have isolated fights. The 1st level PC's biggest drawback isn't lack of firepower, it's lack of endurance. For example, the half orc fighter in my game has 1d10+6 damage at first level, and coupled with an inspire courage she just knocked some guy for 17 damage. No critical.

However, at first level, hit points are very hard to replace, and thus a dungeon crawl is out of the question. So take people's advice here; use role-playing, non-lethal situations. This is a great opportunity to be clever. And if a fight breaks out - make it small, perhaps quick and to the point, not long, drawn out battles. And isolate any events that would endanger PCs.

Don't split the PCs up. If you are going to send the druid on a spirit quest, make sure everybody is coming with her.