Ideal First Adventure

[Stormborn]

If you were going to introduce new players to Dungeons and Dragons what would you use/include for their very first adventure given the following restrictions:

- Players have access only to the PHB
- The Adventure is a one-shot that can only last about 4-6 hours of play time
- The Characters will be 1st level only.
- The Players are a mix of vets and novices, so the new players will have some in game guidance.

So, what do you consider to be "must haves" for this kind of adventure? Monsters? Traps? Puzzels? Treasure?

I am running such a game in the near future. I have already been considering a mix of wilderness and dungeon but would love to hear suggestions. The first game I ever played in was The Sunless Citadel, but a) it would take to long and b) some of the others have played it as well.

 

[jerichothebard]

So, what do you consider to be "must haves" for this kind of adventure? Monsters? Traps? Puzzels? Treasure?

Yes.





To be more precise, I think that, for first timers, it's never a bad idea to start them off with the classics: a tavern in a small villiage, a small dungeon crawl, some orcs, some zombies, a pit trap, a riddle, a trap on the treasure chest.

You also might want to encourage them to start with the classic party makeup: fighter, cleric, wizard, rogue. If you have more than four, add a bard or a paladin. Also encourage your vets to NOT twink out their characters (not that there is THAT much you can do at first level, but still) and stay in the background a little.

Finally, if you are the type of DM who likes to use traps, engrave this upon their skulls early! My party of relative newbies is now sixth level and still doesn't check for traps. Good thing their will saves are pretty high (the fighter/rogue in the party has recently taken Iron Will to improve his saves from magic traps. *sigh* Just disarm them, somebody, please?) I think this is partly because they are new and don't know what to expect, but also because I have gone pretty easy on them in that regard. I kind of wish I hadn't.

good luck!

 

[Gilladian]

Plan to run the type of game you love. If you hate traps, then don't use many. The same with riddles, puzzles and combat. If you love roleplay and hate dungeon crawls, then keep the dungeon crawl to a minimum. Maybe a short stretch of sewers or a two-room monster lair.

Giving your new players some enthusiasm and energy to build on is more important than WHAT you give them.

However, I do think that keeping things simple is good. Plot should be secondary to a good time. Even balance should go a little bit out the window to avoid, for example, killing the wizard before he casts his first spell.

Keep it simple, keep it fun!

Gilladian

 

[DragonLancer]

I would suggest Wizards Amulet (free download) that leads into Crucible of Freya, both from Necromancer Games. Perfect introductory material.

 

[The messenger]

first adventure

I would also agree with "The wizards Amulet" it has a little of everything and best of all it was designed for first level characters and is free!

 

[Crothian]

The only must in the first adventure is take is slow and make sure the new players understand what is going on. I try to put in a variety of encounters to show the new players different possibilities, but just make it a little easier then normal. You can always make encounters hard in week two or three.

 

[Asmo]

"Gorgoldand´s Gauntlet " is a fantastic adventure with a little bit of everything: nice riddles, cool npc:s, traps, and exiting monsters.
I´ve could have sworn that I´ve seen a pdf online somewhere but I can´t find it..to bad, maybe someone else could point you in the right direction?

Asmo

 

[Laslo Tremaine]

The link for Gorgoldand´s Gauntlet is right HERE!

For some reason, if you just click on the link it seems to give you a bad .pdf.

Right clicking on the link (or control clicking if you're a Mac user) will let you save the link to disk. That did the trick for me.

 

[WingOver]

The first time we played 3ed I converted Return to the Keep on the Borderlands. That was a fun one because it has many great elements:

based on one of the classic modules
small, detailed base of operations (Kendall Keep)
interesting and varied NPCs
various wilderness encounters
dungeon crawl at the Caves of Chaos (with varied encounters within)
references to the mysterious Quasqeton

My PCs were travelling down the Great Northern Way and decided to take the Free Road around an upcoming toll booth. Kendall Keep was on that road. They stayed and helped the locals.

Good luck!

[Asmo: "talk to the hand" is so friggin funny! ]

 

[Asmo]

Laslo, I was checking that link out before posting here, but it doesn´t work for me. Anyone else having this problem?
The link works, but it seems that there´s something wrong with the pdf, it´s just blank for me, very strange.
I´ve the most recent version of Adobe.

Asmo