D&D 4E Best 4e adventure paths for a budding DM and noobish company

[Steadychaos]

So here's another one of those questions with thousands of possible answers as, I guess, it all mostly boils down on taste and personal preferences. But I'd still love to have your feedback.

Somewhen in May I will host my first 4e campaign session with 6 friends who have committed for a monthly get-together.I know 6 might be on the crowdy size, but I figured to just run with it.

My aim is to eventually create a campaign that will take my players through an epic ride they won't forget. So my focus lies on trying to weave in an over-arching story that will slowly unfold over our sessions.

Now the challenge is that I am more than willing to put a good deal of work into this (wouldn't be doing this otherwise), but lack a lot of experience as a DM. I know I'll manage, but simply dreaming up a campaign at this point, throwing in some adventures from here and there is a bit of a challenge for me due to the massive amounts of existing adventures out there.

So especiallly for the first few adventures, I thought I'd stick to some proven paths. After that, I'll most likely be 'in the flow' a bit more and have the confidence to take more into my own hands in terms of evolving my campaign. Plus I'll know what my players prefer in terms of interactions and story and can start incorporating that as well.

So I thought, maybe you fine gentlemen could help me out a bit in helping to shape my opening act.

What I am currently looking for is :

• A level 1 adventure playable for a well balanced party of 5-6, most of them noobish
• Something that goes beyond delving, as one of my own motivations to do this is to create a compelling story
• Something that takes place / can take place in the FR setting
• Something that can I can easily hook into an over-arching storyline that will take my party to many different places all over Faerun (and beyond)

Now I hear you say: any adventure can be shaped to those requirements and I'd fully agree with that. But it's my first DM experience, remember, so I can use a bit of scaffolding to guide me in the right direction.

So that's why I started with checking out existing adventures and adventure paths.

KOTS
The first adventure I looked at was Keep on the Shadowfell, which- partly through reading here- I've understood to be a bit of a bore without a lot of customisation. I kind of liked the potential of the foreboding ancient ruins, housing a death cult in terms of storyline, but browsing through some reviews and even a podcast on it, I decided to take it off my shortlist for now. Also the idea of wiping my entire party during the first night out seems a bit harsh.

Chaos Scar
The Chaos Scar, I took off my list as well, as it seems like a good bunch of side-trekking adventures, which I may be able to use at some point when passing by that area for example.

Scales of War
I've read a lot of good things about some of the adventures in this path and especially about its opening adventure the 'Rescue at Rivenroar'. I realise this path does not take place in FR, but many fine folks have taken the effort to convert the adventures to FR, so I shouldn't have any trouble in playing it a such. The conversion I'm looking into right now starts it off around Loudwater.

So here's where I'm at and here's where I'd like to hear your input.

I've probably just scratched the surface of available adventures. But my questions to you right now are:

1) How about that Rescue at Rivenroar. Given my 'requirements' listed above, would it make a fine choice according to you ?
2) Or am I missing out on one hell of a great opener by neglecting Adventure X ?
3) Any other tips with regards to shaping my campaign towards the most epic experience ever are very welcome.

Already many thanks in advance for helping out this slightly overwhelmed, but very eager DM.

 

[Pour]

You could try HS1: The Slaying Stone, which is generally very well liked. It'll bring you to level 2. From there, I suggest Reavers of Harkenwold from the DM Kit, which will take you from level 2-4. You might have to squeeze an adventure from 4-5. Try your own or browse what's out there. I've seen several great threads suggesting the best 4e adventures, and the third party scene is strongest in the Heroic tier.

Then you could follow with HS2: Orcs of Stonefang Pass, which has more mixed reviews for the emphasis on orc combats, but you could expand on it with a little work. I'd be remiss if I didn't suggest the prequel adventure for level 6 called Siege at Garmore Abbey and the level 6-8 boxed set Madness at Gardmore Abbey. The latter is often toted as 4e's best adventure.

In short, I'm not sure you're going to find many true adventure paths. I think you'll find some adventures which easily segway into others, and a few that might have been designed in succession, but 4e encourages the do-it-yourself mentality, and I think with one or two adventures under your belt, you'll have all the skills you need to create transitions and expand and link modules.

 

[pemerton]

If you use any of the H, P or E modules (eg Keep on the Shadowfell), you'll want to just cut the filler encounters, of which there are many.

If you're worried about levelling, just cut half the encounters but double XP awards - playing monthly you won't feel like the levelling is too quick, I don't think.

 

[Lindeloef]

if you want to use the H, P, E modules, take a look at this thread

 

[Tobold]

I very much endorse the advice to play Reavers of Harkenwold at level 2. For level 1 you either play something extremely simple, like the kobold halls from the DM guide, or something more complex like The Slaying Stone, depending on how much "tutorial" you think your players need.

In my campaign I rewrote Keep on Shadowfell and used the early part with the kobold ambush and cave, plus something I added to Winterhaven for level 1, then played level 2 to 4 the Reavers of Harkenwold, before using a "best of" Keep on Shadowfell dungeon until level 5.

 

[Jan van Leyden]

Hi Steadychaos, and welcome to ENWorld!

I noted the following passage in your post:

Somewhen in May I will host my first 4e campaign session with 6 friends who have committed for a monthly get-together.I know 6 might be on the crowdy size, but I figured to just run with it.

I'd strongly advise you not to make epic plans when you'll be playing once per month. Say you'll be able to play rather long sessions of 5-6 encounters per month, which would bring you to 60-70 encounters per year. So within a year, our characters woudl be level 7 or 8.

As the published adventure paths you've mentioned conform to this advancement model, you'd have to make some modifications to change this behaviour.

Please consider making less ambitious plans for your very first campaign. Apart from the tips already given in this thread, I'd like to spell two more options:

1.) The adventures contained in the Beginner's Box and the basic sets of the Essentials line recieve good marks.

2.) The Punjar series from Goodman Games (DCC #53: Sellswords of Punjar, DCC #56: Scions of Punjar, and DCC #60: Thrones of Punjar is a decent sequence of adventures.

And just to contradict myself: Treat yourself to a Bronze or Silver subscription to this fine site and enjoy War of the Burning Sky and/or Zeitgeist, respectively.