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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Owen K.C. Stephens" data-source="post: 1984890" data-attributes="member: 3190">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.For example, if your group has a character with the track feat, you can easily run a lost-child-in-the-woods scenario. The dangers faced don't need to be much more than weather and tough terrain, though throwing in some very low CR foes can spice things up (Tiny or Small monstrous vermin, Tiny snakes, rats, wild dogs, and so on).A group with some characters that have maximized a few physical skills (Climb, Tumble) might enjoy being involved in a county fair. This can be a good way to introduce a potential town to act as their base of operations, and can include anything from archery contests to poetry reads, foot races, caber tosses and cook-offs (if anyone has a Craft or Profession, let them use it). One of the nice things here is that you can have high DC, low-risk tasks (the Climb check might be 20, but anyone who fails just falls into hay bales for 1d4 nonlethal damage).A group with a barbarian or druid (or similarly themed character) might be sent on a spirit-quest. The point is not to defeat something, but to go find a totem (Spot and Survival checks abound). Like the boy lost in the woods, this can be short and quick, allowing PCs to get used to survival in the wilds with little serious risk.A fighting-heavy group could get involved in a tavern fight. Make it clear it's a nonlethgal event, with chair breaking and fists rather than blades. Thus even if the PCs lose, they just wake up with a headache rather than dead. (Barefisted boxing and wrestling can be addd to the earlier country fair, too).Anyone who works for someone (such as a cleric working for a church) could be sent to deliver something, only to be jumped on the road by 1st level npcs. A commoner with a club isn't much threat for 1st level heroic characters. This can be a great way to introduce multiple-foe tactics (of course so are kobolds).A character with a high Str (or one who can get a hgh Str) might be called upon to move a rock pinning someone under a rockslide. A group wityh a cleric might be called on to deal with extremely minor undead (easy with turn, but rough on commoners). A group with a paladin can be trusted to use detect evil when faced with a possible traitor in any group -- let them find the bad guy. If running a murder mystery and a PC is a rogue, have the murder weapon be a DC 21 trap. The rogue can take 20 when Searching and find it, but no one else can (including higher level non-rogue NPCs -- and if the trap is already discharged its safe to find it by takling 20).Figure out what the PCs -can- do, and make that the crux of their first few adventures.Owen K.C. Stephensd20 Triggerman</blockquote>

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