Choose an adventure for me to run.

[Oryan77]

I think I'm going to start a new campaign with some existing players and some new players. It will be a 3.5 game with some Pathfinder stuff mixed in. I think I'm going to run it in the Planescape setting since I'm familiar with it.

What I can't decide on is what adventure to run for a 1st level party. I have a bookshelf filled with 1e, 2e, and 3e D&D adventures I have never run. And I hear good things about Pathfinder adventures. I even have every Dungeon Magazine for 3e. I'm not against buying books I don't already have.

I really like running Sunless Citadel or Eternal Boundary as a starting adventure, but I don't want to run those this time around. I'm looking for something that will provide a lot of roleplaying opportunities for the PCs and something that provides scenarios that could help each of their characters bond with one another. I don't want anything too long where there is a chance the group won't finish it before a player has to quit playing for some reason. I also don't mind converting older editions into 3.5 if I have to.

I can't make up my mind on what to run. So if people make suggestions here, I might make a poll and then decide on which of those adventures I should run based on which one has the highest votes.

So if you have any suggestions for me, please let me know! Also, please explain to me why the adventure is worth running.

 

[Dykstrav]

Strangely enough, I've got something of a soft spot for Cleric's Challenge from 2E.

What I like about it is that a different party of adventurers instigated the big problem that the characters face. The first bit is a bit of an archetypical dungeon crawl to deal with an undead uprising, but then the characters have to track down the other adventurers to ultimately stop the undead.

I've used it to start several campaigns from 2E into 3E and Pathfinder--haven't used it for 4E yet, but I certainly would.

 

[Jimlock]

If you don't mind converting, i'd seriously advise you to play THE CREATED.

Its a low level Ravenloft adventure that takes place in a small city/village.

The plot is incredible. There are some evil puppets who have found a way to swap souls with humans by sticking a needle in their necks. At some points the PCs get trapped by a number of puppets and succumb to their needles!

Next thing, the PCs wake as puppets, caged inside the house of the puppets' creator... This encounter's Big Boss is the house's cat!!!....

Now that their actual bodies are possessed by the souls of the evil puppets, they have to track them down (as puppets!), stick a needle in their necks so as to get their bodies back!!

Not long...and quite a bonding experience!

(i gave the same advice to someone in the legacy discussion who was looking for something similar...)

 

[RedTonic]

If I can be a bit off topic, what Pathfinder stuff are you using? I've been slowly incorporating some Pathfinder rules in my game (some skills consolidations and the Paladin tweaks), so I'm interested in what others are doing in that area.

Personally, I'm a fan of the Ravenloft adventures as well. Annnd you can always run RttToEE!

 

[Oryan77]

Strangely enough, I've got something of a soft spot for Cleric's Challenge from 2E.

I do have Cleric's Challenge I and II. I'm pretty sure I read one of them but it has been a while. I'll give it a look again. That may have been the "Challenge" book that I thought sounded good.

If you don't mind converting, i'd seriously advise you to play THE CREATED.

At some points the PCs get trapped by a number of puppets and succumb to their needles!

Dude that actually sounds really interesting. I don't think I have that book but I'm going to look for it now. I've never done anything even close to that plot before. I'd like to see how the players react to this type of premise. That's wild and might be a really good way to start things off.

 

[Oryan77]

If I can be a bit off topic, what Pathfinder stuff are you using? I've been slowly incorporating some Pathfinder rules in my game (some skills consolidations and the Paladin tweaks), so I'm interested in what others are doing in that area.

I'm not totally sure just yet. I had posted in the PF forum last year asking about using PF classes in a 3.5 game. What I got was that the PF classes would be a bit more powerful than the 3.5 classes so I might need to use NPC CRs 1 or 2 higher. But my players are not that strong when it comes to combat (they take forever to finish an encounter), so it might help if they had a bit more power.

I think I'll just allow PF classes and I like the way PF handles skill points and raising ranks, so I might use that system. But I prefer the 3.5 skill list, so I'd keep the class skills the same as the 3.5 classes. The CMB & CMD rules seem pretty nice too, so I might incorporate those. It shouldn't be that much more work to get those scores for my 3.5 NPCs.

If anyone wanted to comment on this, I don't mind the derailing of the thread.

 

[Aberzanzorax]

My favorite first level adventure that I've run is from the Ravenloft fan site: Ravenloft: Fraternity of Shadows: Home of Ravenloft on the Net


The adventure is available for free there, at this link:
http://www.fraternityofshadows.com/Library/ChildOfTheHouse_RuchtLilavivat.pdf

 

[RedTonic]

I think I'll just allow PF classes and I like the way PF handles skill points and raising ranks, so I might use that system. But I prefer the 3.5 skill list, so I'd keep the class skills the same as the 3.5 classes. The CMB & CMD rules seem pretty nice too, so I might incorporate those. It shouldn't be that much more work to get those scores for my 3.5 NPCs.

If anyone wanted to comment on this, I don't mind the derailing of the thread.

Thanks. Personally, I liked the perception, acrobatics and stealth skill combos. I'm thinking of instituting the combat bonus thing as well--that is, choose which modifier applies. I already use a very tiny, similar variant for this for the "intimidate" skill (intelligence being the other option). I haven't checked out the CMB/CMD rules in a while, so I don't remember anything about them. I did like the handling of the paladin class; it helps balance out the spread of skills--I instituted a point buy for the campaign instead of random rolling, so it helps balance some combat efficacy, and given that resurrection is a no-go, extra healing capability is worth the overabundance of powers I sometimes feel the paladin has.

I forgot to mention the "Freeport" series. I thought that was a fun adventure path. It has a great deal of room for roleplay, IMO, and I think it does a good job in both giving the GM flexibility and lightening the burden of tons of content generation for avoiding too much railroading.

 

[Gilladian]

Gorgoldand's gauntlet is a nice standby first adventure. Has some real room for adding your own material, too.

Here's where you can find the original:
Dungeons and Dragons Adventures levels 1-3, the low levels
(It was also in one issue of Dungeon, I think, and maybe also a Dragon insert.)

Some notes on expanding/changing it: http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/196966-gorgoldands-gauntlet-expanded.html