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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Rod Staffwand" data-source="post: 7314553" data-attributes="member: 6776279">I'd say:1. Jump right in. Start the adventure in media res. Start with a clear goal for the PCs with clear obstacles and baddies. Rescue an NPC from a band of goblins in arduous terrain. Hunt down a dangerous beast. Flee from an orc horde. Find a way through a mysterious forest. Explore a ruined castle.2. For introductory adventures I favor having more real-world challenges (with rules and parameters understandable to the players) with just a sprinkling of magic and the supernatural. If you place a locked door in front of a group of new players, most will intuit they can break it down, pick the lock, find the key or find another way forward. Don't give them solutions, let them figure out their own. To me, that's the most addictive part of gaming--letting the players control their own destiny. Doors. Walls. Chasms. Simple Puzzles. Missing pieces to be found. The challenges needn't be clever. The purpose is to teach the players the resolution systems of the game and force them to make choices.3. For combats, I favor a couple of easy combats and a tougher 'boss battle'. Some combats should be avoidable to clever parties and there should be opportunities for such players to gain advantage (such as surprise or choice of terrain). I also like to include a tougher monster somewhere in there for the PCs to (hopefully) avoid.4. There should be at least one interaction wherein the PCs need to deal with an NPC for something they need. This should be resolved with roleplaying more so than social skills. If one player is doing all the talking, have the NPC(s) address the other PCs to give them a chance to express themselves.5. Have them find magic items. Finding cool magic items is one of the best things about playing D&D.6. For one-shots, especially introductory ones, there's no time for elaborate backstories and complex NPCs. The kingdom of Generica is either a Good Kingdom, benevolent and wise, or an Evil Kingdom, cruel and despotic. If something takes more than a couple of sentences to describe, it's too complex. You don't need to follow the "Show, Don't Tell" rule for one-shots. You don't need to backup your descriptions of things with tons of detail.7. If the players are taking too long deciding what to do, you can give them an honest appraisal of the situation and some of their options. Some players tend to overthink everything. This is usually because they don't have enough information and are unsure of how to get it or even to ask for it. Don't give them answers, give them possibilities and probabilities. At the same time, putting a player on the spot by asking them to react to something (say a pit slowly opening up underneath them, an NPC approaching them, or a feeling a unexpected draft) helps keep everyone active.8. BTW, I don't favor the 5-room dungeon concept. I feel it's way too linear with too little exploration and self-determination by the players. It has its place, but not as an introduction (since it teaches new players to just follow a spoon fed path with set story beats) and not as a standard model for an adventure (wherein it gets repetitive).</blockquote>

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