D&D 5E Best adventure for first time DM

[Ringtail]

I would also recommend Ghosts of Saltmarsh. It goes from Level 1-12. Each adventure can stand by itself but three are actually part of a series (Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh, Danger at Dunwater & the Final Enemy) and the rest are tied together pretty well. It comes with a detailed town and a small section of countryside making a perfect little mini-setting and it doesn't seem too complex.

I would also reccomend some DMs Guild Products:
The CCC-UK series has four adventures set in the Moonsea of the Forgotten Realms and they are fantastic. Full of flavor, role-play and combat in equal parts. They run the level range from 1-4. Each is about 1 session, maybe two. I ran the first two as the intro to a new campaign. I would recommend.
UK-1 Call of the Elvenflow
UK-2 Wayward Wives
UK-3 Tainted Grove
UK-4 Bourne of Candles

Or, I would recommend the Complete Adventures of M.T. Black Vol 1 (I have no experience with Vol 2.)
Each of these adventures are short and created for low-level characters. They all tend to take place around Triboar and the Dessarin Valley in the Forgotten Realms (with a few exceptions). A few of them connect together. They are all very simple so easy for first time DMs. Flavor varies. There is a haunted house, some straight-forward adventures with orcs and giants and a mad wizard's house. When my brother started to DM for the first time he ran several of these including The Terror at Triboar, The Lurker Beneath Red Larch and Shadows on the Long Road. (Also a bundle called the Triboar trilogy.) I've also run Doors to Darkness as part of another campaign. All good stuff. These are also fairly printer friendly.

All the DM's Guild stuff is on sale right now for GM's Day but I think there's only a few days left to get them at those prices.

 

[MonkeezOnFire]

I'd also suggest starting out with shorter adventures at first, but if that's a success and your new DM wants to try their hand at a longer adventure then Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus would be a good fit. It's written in a new DM friendly way often addressing the reader directly with advice on how things can be run.

By default it's a relatively on the rails adventure making the beginning parts easy to run. But there are opportunities to turn sections into a sandbox should one desire. The final chapter then really encourages you to make it your own, suggesting some possible climaxes but really how the adventure concludes should be shaped by what decisions the party has made to get there.

While most of the larger adventures have issues, I feel that the issues within Descent into Avernus are smaller compared to some of the pitfalls a DM could fall into with the earlier ones that I've read.

 

[aco175]

You could also have him run a one-shot to see how it goes. You can get a free or FWYW adventure from DMsGuild to ease into the chair.

I would try to get him to run a level 1-5 series that can be strung together or some have a trilogy or such. This way you get to play for a few months and he can see how it goes before taking on something larger. You can also assist him with some plot and trying things from varied sources together.

 

[Shiroiken]

I'd suggest he run Death House from Curse of Strahd. It's just a level booster to get Curse of Strahd started (levels 1-2), and it can continue to the full AP if he's comfortable running. If not, another DM can step in and run the AP.

 

[aco175]

If you are going to go with DMsGuild, there are several adventures centered around Phandalin, or another area you have already played such as Waterdeep. This allows the new DM to be able to use the old adventures and information about Phandalin to support the campaign. He already knows some info and NPCs there so it should feel less ominous.

 

[jayoungr]

This adventure has been highly recommended and is available in physical form (though it isn't cheap):

Heroes of Baldur's Gate (5e) - Dungeon Masters Guild | Dungeon Masters Guild

Heroes of Baldur's Gate (5e) - From James Ohlen, the lead designer of Baldur's Gate I & II... Sinister forces are moving against the city of Bald

www.dmsguild.com

 

[Charlaquin]

As a player I'd love to try Curse of Strahd, as I've never done Ravenloft, but would it be too much for a new DM?

I wouldn’t recommend it to a brand new DM. It’s a great adventure but it has a lot of moving parts the the DM needs to manage, and has a very high TPK potential. On the other hand, someone recommended having your new DM just run Death House, which I think would be much more manageable, and then you could have someone else take over for the rest of the campaign. Death House is a very straightforward dungeon that should be pretty easy for a new player to run (though it is also a notorious party killer, so just make sure they’re aware of that).

I was leaning to recommend Storm Kings, as it seems a fairly straight forward plot

Storm King’s has a huge segment in the middle that’s basically just “have your players run around the sword coast for a while until they’re high enough level to do the next part” with almost no guidance. Other than that I think it would work fine for a new DM. If your group is ok with skipping some levels and narrating over the gap though, I think it could work for a new DM.