D&D 5E Looking for good starter adventure

[Nemio]

I'm going to introduce some new people to DnD 5e soon and I'm looking for a good starter adventure.
We will have 5 players total and since 2 of them already played in my Starter Set campaign I can't reuse that.

Most players are combat oriented so only a bit of RP is needed.

I have the DMG and would like to make my own adventures in the future but I don't feel up to that yet.
I'd like to use a proven adventure to bring these new people into DnD.

I liked the Starter Set intro because it started with some action and continued with the exploration of a non-linear dungeon.

I've already looked into the optional lvl1 quests in the Princes of the Apocalypse adventure but feel like they might be a bit too linear.

Another option is the "Tomb of the Orc Slayer" adventure that Chris Perkins made up and played with the people from Robot Chicken. That would require some extra work since no notes exist.

Any suggestions?

 

[delericho]

There aren't too many 5e options out there, so how do you feel about conversion?

Can I suggest "The Sunless Citadel" (3e, Bruce Cordell), or "The Shattered Circle" (2nd Ed, also BC)? Or, if you can find it, Dragon had a great little adventure called "The Mad God's Key", which could be good for a session or two (sadly, I forget the issue).

 

[iserith]

I wrote this adventure to introduce my niece and nephew to D&D. It's a simple adventure location that can lead to bigger things. It includes opportunities to engage with all three pillars of play, has ready-to-go notes and maps, and a fun random encounter table.

I also ran it for adults in a game store in 3 hours or so and they also had a blast, so it's not just for kids!

 

[Nebulous]

I've already looked into the optional lvl1 quests in the Princes of the Apocalypse adventure but feel like they might be a bit too linear.

Any suggestions?

Honestly I think you have the answer right in front of you and you mentioned it. Use Red Larch and the NPCs and the Believers and string together ALL of the intro side quests into one loose campaign levels 1-3. I think it would be perfect. I don't think it is linear at all, it's actually a huge variety of decisions and mysteries to solve. You have maps, factions, motivations, personalities and secret agendas and a great big area to explore that can be filled with your own stuff as needed.

You don't even need to touch on the Elemental Evil cults if you don't want to. The Believers and their misguided prophecies and desire to keep that hidden at all costs would be interesting in and of itself. You could have it all lead to maybe one of the haunted ruins, such as Feathergale or wherever the Black Earth cultist operates from.

 

[meomwt]

There aren't too many 5e options out there, so how do you feel about conversion?

Can I suggest "The Sunless Citadel" (3e, Bruce Cordell), or "The Shattered Circle" (2nd Ed, also BC)? Or, if you can find it, Dragon had a great little adventure called "The Mad God's Key", which could be good for a session or two (sadly, I forget the issue).

The Mad God's Key is in Dungeon 114 (I have an index file on my laptop, not a good memory!).

Another good starter adventure is The Whispering Cairn in Dungeon 124. It's for 3.5E, so you would need to convert it, but that shouldn't be a big problem.

If you can find a copy second-hand, or there's a PDF available from Frog God/ Necromancer Games, Crucible of Freya is a pretty good starter kit. It has a village, surrounding area (with adventure zones, not all of them level-appropriate for starting characters!) and a keepful of Orcs who have stolen the titular Crucible. Lots of combat, but plenty of opportunities to engage in role-playing and exploration as well.

 

[delericho]

Another good starter adventure is The Whispering Cairn in Dungeon 124. It's for 3.5E, so you would need to convert it, but that shouldn't be a big problem.

Another good shout. Also: someone posted conversion notes for "Age of Worms" here a few days ago - "The Whispering Cairn" is the first adventure in that path, so those notes should have you covered!

 

[Meliath1742]

Sunless Citadel was a very good intro. Everyone remembers the Kobold Meepo

 

[Shiroiken]

Especially considering your group, Keep on the Borderlands seems solid. You should be able to get it on RPGclassics.com, and there's a version of the Caves of Chaos from the playtest that I'm sure you could find online. The playtest version should give you a vague idea of how to translate various traps and checks, but it will still require a bit of work.

This adventure is great for starting things out and using the keep as a base of operations. It will take the players a long while to elinimate the entire caves of chaos, and they can stop pretty much at any time. You can get them going on that, and develop adventures around the keep and drop plot hooks as you see fit. Since the caves can be dropped and restarted at any time, it provides them an option on those sessions you don't have anything prepared.

 

[hbarsquared]

Second Sunless Citadel and Mad God's Key. Top notch.

Also second the Red Larch introductory quests.

The 4e adventure, Slaying Stone was also an open-ended exploration and a great adventure.

 

[TerraDave]

The Mad God's Key is in Dungeon 114 .. The Whispering Cairn in Dungeon 124. ... Crucible of Freya i...

A blast from the D20 past. Sunless and Keep have also been mentioned, and if you are looking to stretch things a bit you could instead do B1 in search of the unknown, B4 Lost City or B7(?) Rahasia. There is also T1 Village of Homlet or U1 Sinister Secret at Saltmarsh

But...Curious why not just stick to Lost Mines?