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

[Thanee]

...and don't use x3 critical weapons on them.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Timeboxer]

Burning Plague. Good adventure. If you play the kobolds up though the party may still need (i.e. probably will need) to head back to town for rest and healing.

Y'know, one of my players' characters died in this adventure because I had the kobold sorcerer cast ghost sound to lure the PCs over and catch them flatfooted with several kobolds with crossbows. It's really hard to not kill characters at first level.

 

[LondonReign]

I 2nd "Dovedale" (Dungeon #46) a nice combat/role-playing mixture vs. goblins..
and "Thirds of Purloined Vellum" (Dungeon #88) an investigation with combat vs. the BBEG's thugs.

Actually, Dungeon #46 is well worth tracking down, either through Paizo (if they still have it in their back catalog) or Ebay, because all 4 adventures are excellent: Floating Rock, Goblin Fever, and The Iron Orb of the Duergar.

 

[pogre]

You may want to check out Brigands' Bounty or The Charivari on my website www.pogre.com both are 1st level adventures with no real dungeon crawling - mostly outdoor encounters.

 

[was]

Caravan duty and bandits.

 

[MerricB]

How about "Box of Flumph!" in Dungeon #118? You can't go wrong with a box of Flumph!

Slightly more seriously, Dungeon Magazine has one 1st-5th level adventure per issue, with notes on adapting them to all levels in that range. (BoF was a 1st level adventure). (Only slightly more seriously? I was serious about the Flumph!)

I've found 1st level dungeon crawls to work quite well, actually. You've just got to throw lesser creatures at them - dire rats, centipedes, kobolds, etc.

Oh, and make it very clear that they should retreat out of the dungeon after 2-3 encounters!

Cheers!

 

[S'mon]

I agree about goblins. Since 3e made orcs too tough, goblins are the way to go for 1st level hack & slash. Kobolds have x-bows which are too dangerous. Maybe one or two hobgobins or human War-1s backing up the goblins.

 

[Buttercup]

I could use some help here...


I'd prefer ideas that can be done in a temperate, forested, coastal, rural area with a small village nearby and a few small streams perforating the area.

Lots of things!

1. Find some lost children (they fell into a cave and have been bound up by giant spiders).
2. Stop the local extortionist from shaking down the Widow Gillicudy for her late husband's (possibly nonexistent) magic sword.
3. Kill the dire rabbits that are eating all the crops.
4. Clear the bandits who are harrassing the caravans which provide much needed supplies to the area.
5. Travel to the nearest market town and back to retrieve a supply of medicine or perhaps a priest who can cure the epidemic the village is suffering from.

The key is to award XP for things other than combat. I usually assign "missions" to the PCs. If they complete it in a certain time with total success, they receive N amount of XP. If they complete it, but end up killing someone they shouldn't have, or if they complete it late, then they receive N-x amount of experience. If they screw it up entirely, that probably means they're all dead, so we have other things than XP to worry about.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Pick up Lost City of Barakus, which is a complete mini-campaign for levels 1-5 with all the elements you're looking for.

You can do everything with first level characters you can with other levels -- you just have to choose appropriate challenges. I actually prefer lower levels -- the risks are high, so players tend to be more clever in their play. Brute force and ignorance allows for survival at 10th level, but usually not at 1st.

 

[scadgrad]

Pick up Lost City of Barakus, which is a complete mini-campaign for levels 1-5 with all the elements you're looking for.

While LCoB is certainly a great recommendation, it is far more than a "min-campaign." We've been playing it 4X a month for almost 8 months now and haven't even used any of the side treks (or at least the party hasn't really tried to complete any of those). Olgar's right though, it's an exceptional campaign for 1st level PCs.