Lead-in to Cormyr: Tearing of the Weave

[3catcircus]

Just picked up Cormyr: Tearing of the Weave. Quick thumb-through and it looks pretty cool - decent storyline, fairly logical, etc. and it is 1st in a 3-part series. Sweet!

Now the only "problem" - it is for levels 4-7. Anyone have any suggestions for what would be a good lead-in for parties starting out at 1st level? I want to avoid Mysteries of the Moonsea, Red Hand of Doom, Shattered Gates of Slaughtergarde, Barrow of the Forgotten King, or any of the original 3e adventures (Sunless Citadel, et. al). I figure that Mysteries of the Moonsea and the Shattered Gates of Slaughtergarde are their own mini-campaigns, as is Red Hand of Doom. The other adventures I mentioned are parts of their own series as well.

Any Cormyr- (or nearby) based adventures for levels 1-3, including 1st/2nd edition? Any generic adventures that are easy to drop in?

 

[DemonKing]

My guys are doing Twilight Tomb at the moment that is Realms specific. May follow it up with either Cormyr or Red Hand of Doom (perhaps with another adventure in between for the later adventure).

For the first couple of levels they did some introductory home-brewed stuff (a couple of the players were new to role-playing).

 

[GAAAHHH]

A) Scourge of the Howling Horde, Tomb of the Forgotten King

B) Any of the Dungeon Crawl Classics level 1-3 adventures. Idylls of the Rat King in particular, is a good adventure.

C) Dungeon Magazine

D) Sons of Gruumsh? I'm not terribly familiar with the level of this one.

E) The Sunless Citadel (I'm sure it's not that hard to get ahold of.)

D) Shattered Gates of Slaughtergard (it's levels 1-6, but you don't have to complete the whole thing before going to Cormyr).

 

[hong]

Just start them at 4th.

 

[Wraith Form]

D) Sons of Gruumsh? I'm not terribly familiar with the level of this one.

4th level. Sorry.

I strongly recommend any of the Dungeon Crawl Classic adventures. Goodman Games' adventures are a ton of fun, moderately inexpensive (especially in PFD format, which allows you to print it & write notes all over it to your DMing heart's content), and very non-setting specific.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

Just start them at 4th.

Seconded.

You don't have to start at level one - in fact, I seldomly do. PCs tend to be way too fragile.

You could start with 4th, or with 3rd and do some little introduction into the area. Make up some small adventure that pushes them up a level (maybe with generous XP bonuses) and provides the plot hook for the whole thing.

 

[jhallum]

You could also convert the Haunted Halls of Eveningstar to 3.5 and do that as a lead in to Cormyr. You could pretty much drop anything into Haunted Halls and use the framework as a nice lead in.

 

[Faraer]

Any Cormyr- (or nearby) based adventures for levels 1-3, including 1st/2nd edition?

FRQ1 Haunted Halls of Eveningstar is the big one, an ideal Cormyrean starting setting and dungeon. Ed's "Irongard" in Dungeon #18 is a good addition. Then I might lead the PCs to Arabel or Suzail for some city adventuring.

The big advantage to starting at 1st level is that it lets the players get to know and love what they'll be fighting to defend in the new scenarios.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Seconded.

You don't have to start at level one - in fact, I seldomly do. PCs tend to be way too fragile.

You could start with 4th, or with 3rd and do some little introduction into the area. Make up some small adventure that pushes them up a level (maybe with generous XP bonuses) and provides the plot hook for the whole thing.

Something that should be repeated.

One of the biggest failings of the D&D game and the level system is the default assumption that you're cheating if you don't start at first.

 

[Gregor]

There is a first level adventure set in the Dales at Galath's Roost (an old bandit fort). Given its proximity to Cormyr, it might be worth checking out. I think its in Dungeon #85, but I cant be sure.