Level Up (A5E) New to the DM's Chair

[Bedrockgames]

One is the Character Funnel from Dungeon Crawl Classics. Everybody rolls up four level zero characters and plays them all. Just random rolls for ability scores and no class features. Whatever survives gets to be level one. That might not work well for actual 5e, but it is a fun idea.

I've been in a dungeon crawl classics campaign that did that and it is so much fun.

 

[Bedrockgames]

There are two things sort of similar to this that I've seen in published material.

One is the Character Funnel from Dungeon Crawl Classics. Everybody rolls up four level zero characters and plays them all. Just random rolls for ability scores and no class features. Whatever survives gets to be level one. That might not work well for actual 5e, but it is a fun idea.

The other was a scene from the Conan RPG where the players played NPCs getting slaughtered by the monster of the adventure. Basically, starting things off with redshirts nobody cares about so they can learn how combat works.

I remember the Lord of the Rings Adventure game (the early 90s boxed set, not the MERP boxed set) had a great introductory scenario: it may have been more in the style of the Mentzer basic solo adventure, or possibly just an extended example, I can't really remember, but I remember it seeming like a great thing to run with players to get a handle on the system.

 

[Vampersan]

I know I said I'd be checking this thread often but, well, life has a way of upending even the smallest plans haha

This is tremendously great advice, thank you all! My biggest issue is that I'm not much of a storyteller. I've been playing D&D since ~2002, and I really excel when it comes to the mechanics of the game, regardless of edition. But, telling a good story has always been my weak point. I'm not the best improviser either (I like to have everything planned, but that probably isn't realistic).

I will look into the resources you've mentioned, and try adhering to the various tips and tricks. ^.^