Best 1st level adventure out there

[mhensley]

I would suggest OrcFest by Fast Forward Games. Its a very nice adventure for 1st - 3rd level pcs with a variety of things to do. It also has a great deal of good advice for beginning dm's.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Dungeon Magazine #4 Trouble at Grog's

B1 In Search of the Unknown
B2 Keep on the Borderlands
B3 Palace of the Silver Princess
B4 Lost City
B5.....

I've never before felt the need to put someone on the ignore list who wasn't specifically being an ass.

But the humor value has long since worn off, and you never seem to have anything else to say. Nightfall's kinda in the same boat. It's certainly not a personal thing, I'd just rather save myself the trouble of reading essentially the same post content over and over and over.

FWIW, Keep on the Borderlands STILL remains the best intro module.

Wulf

 

[jessemock]

FWIW, Keep on the Borderlands STILL remains the best intro module.

Wulf

Especially when you've decided to go the 'Reverse [Inverse?] Dungeon' route and have a party of humanoids invade the Keep--only to find that everyone within has somehow become--gasp--a flesh-eating zombie!

Well; it was fun, anyway.

 

[Glyfair]

There was this one from Fiery Dragon....

While I haven't had a situation where it was appropriate for me to use it during a campaign, "Of Sound Mind" is on my list of adventures that I will definitely be running at some point. Of course, an appearance of OSM2 might speed that day along, whatever the format (not a nudge, I know you want it released as much as the next guy).

For some shorter adventures, I had a very successful time running "the Burning Plague" (http://www.wizards.com/dnd/article1.asp?x=dnd/oa/oa20000801a,3). Indeed, from it came a back story that's slowly developing in my campaign.

Another short adventure I ran successfully is the most recent "Challenge of Champions" from Dungeon magazine. Since the adventure doesn't have much interaction with character abilities (it's completely puzzle solving), any level can be run through it. Also, it's a nice non-threatening adventure to give 1st level parties a chance to work together, before they are thrust against the "real world." Still, such adventures aren't to all groups tastes.

 

[d4]

As others have said, it really depends on your campaign. I do not recommend Sunless Citadel for newbies, either DM or player.

The two I would recommend are:

Wizard's Amulet/Crucible of Freya from Necromancer

i would definitely recommend Sunless Citadel over Crucible of Freya for newbies. i found Crucible a lot more difficult and much less forgiving than Citadel.

actually, i'd recommend Sunless Citadel for any group, newbies or no. i DMed / played through both adventures and i wasn't particularly impressed with Crucible. Sunless Citadel, OTOH, i had a lot of fun with, both playing and DMing.

 

[Setanta]

I'll throw in another vote for Crucible of Freya.

I'm looking forward to running Of Sound Mind someday, if only the sequels would come out...

Just kidding, I'll probably finally get around to using it next campaign.

 

[Marcon]

Thanks for the input...

I agree that Sunless Citadel is a hit. I ran it in the past and had a lot of fun. An allied NPC with a quirky personality (Meepo) is always memorable. As someone else also said, my players are still talking about him years after they got out of the Citadel (Actually, they were all killed but you get the idea).

I bought Crucible when it was first released and, as most of you said, I've always been reluctant to use it because of its ruthlessness. Even The Wizard's Amulet is not long enough to bring the PCs to 2nd (Though I guess I should be generoux XP-Wise).

You guys pointed out things I've overlooked : The Hamlet of Thumble, The Fight at Tristor, etc.

Those obscure goodies might be the ones that could make me click.

Marcon

 

[diaglo]

I agree that Sunless Citadel is a hit. I ran it in the past and had a lot of fun. An allied NPC with a quirky personality (Meepo) is always memorable.

and a similar character can be had in the Kalamar adventure -- The Root of Evil


i liked Nemoren's Vault from Fiery Dragon.
and Of Sound Mind
i haven't picked up Whispering Woodwind, but i'd like too.

and i agree with everyone else about Crucible

 

[Joshua Randall]

The ones that consistently get mentioned are:
* Wizard's Amulet / Crucible of Freya (Necromancer Games)
* Burning Plague (WotC free adventure)
* Of Sound Mind (Fiery Dragon)
* Sunless Citadel (WotC adventure path)

I'm surprised no one has mentioned
* The Shackled City (Dungeon mag adventure path)

There's a thread on it here
http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=75238

I am playing in Shackled City now, and it's probably too rough for pure D&D newbies - lots of dungeon crawling and some tough fights. But for seasoned players it is a great "return to your roots" kind of adventure.

 

[Treebore]

and a similar character can be had in the Kalamar adventure -- The Root of Evil


i liked Nemoren's Vault from Fiery Dragon.
and Of Sound Mind
i haven't picked up Whispering Woodwind, but i'd like too.

and i agree with everyone else about Crucible

I agree.

About Crucible. My group was very good at starting encounters at range as using their bow attacks. The closest they came to dying was at the tower when they were rushed by 15 orcs and then flanked by the priest and his henchman. Three went down to their negatives and two more were in single digits (party of 9, counting the 3 NPC's provided by the module). I could have killed the whole party if i had the ogre and his 9 or 10 orcs come out of the N/E tower. I decided that if i was him I would run, since by the time he became aware of what was happening the party had killed all but 3 of the enemy and were still looking pretty good, meaning since 4 of the 6 still standing looked pretty much untouched. So i had them run off while the party was still distracted. After all, his boss wasn't in a position to pay him anymore.

They easily handled the Ettin, well, it was painful, but no one went unconcious thanks to judicious healing spells. The Manticore and Owlbear encounters were tough as well, especially since i had beefed them up a little to account for a party of 6. I could have had another TPK with the Manticore mommy and her babies, but again, I had the babies run since mommy was killed and one of the babies was down to 1 HP. The other was unharmed. With some good rolls I could have taken what remained of the badly injured party down. But I opted for what i thought was more likely. One of the Manticores even got away.

Crucible is a good module. It can be very linear, but I went with the flow on everything "outside" of what was written in the module and we all had a blast.

The others mentioned are good as well. Especially if you go with the flow instead of sticking to only what is written.