I did something completely different, you can take this with a grain of salt, but let me explain...
I started my group of adventurers at level 0, meaning "plain old people" without a lick of adventuring skills. I took an old AD&D module called
N4:Treasure Hunt which is an introductory module that will take them from level 0 to maybe 1st or 2nd.
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/17058/N4-Treasure-Hunt-1e?it=1
The module is unique in the fact that the actions made by each individual character will determine their alignment and class. A player that started the game thinking they may want to be a caster of some sort, found out that swinging a weapon and melee combat was more their cup of tea, and vice versa.
It worked really well for my party, and yes, I had a few people realize that the way they played their character was completely different than the character they thought about playing.
It's a different way of thinking about playing, but it also teaches the basics about your characters stats, basic combat (since they have no formal training), and survival as a normal villager. When they do hit level 1, (which is about 1/4 through the adventure), thats when the DM assigns them their class based off of their actions (from a chart given in the adventure, in which the DM notes the actions made by each individual.)
My group liked the idea, and accepted the class given to them, and we have been meeting every Friday since then!
If you like something truly different, I'd give this one a look!
