D&D 5E Newbie Adventure Recommendation

jayoungr · Jan 6, 2020

Can you give us an idea of what sort of length you're looking for? Is Phandelver about the right size?

Fenris447 · Jan 6, 2020

I'll second Dragon of Icespire Peak from the Essentials Kit. If you liked LMOP, you'll like this.

Weiley31 · Jan 6, 2020

Wait. Its Castle Icespire AFTER Lost Mines? I would've seen it as the other way around. Take out Cryovain the dragon first THEN the Lost Mines.

Maestrino · Jan 6, 2020

If you're experienced as a DM, then Acq Inc has a good adventure for levels 1-6. You just need to improvise, well, everything that goes on in-between the six major "chapters" of the story. You also need to be OK with a certain kind of humor in the game.

Urriak Uruk · Jan 6, 2020

ddaley said:
This is one of the few WotC publications that I do not have yet. Maybe I'll pick this up on D&D Beyond so I can read through it. Thanks!

Yeah, I'd say it's a very good intro adventure that isn't that popular here because it is very modular and ends at level 5. So people don't like paying full book price for something short.

Of course, it's modularity means you can play it 4 times completely differently. The villain you choose can really help set what level of difficulty you're going for as well.

Easiest: Cassalanter. They are actively avoiding outright killing the players, and are weaker than Jarlaxle Baenre in a fight.
Medium: Jarlaxle: Isn't very interested in killing the players, but in a straight fight is difficult to beat.
Hard: Manshoon: Is perfectly comfortable killing the players, but is willing to negotiate in the right circumstances.
Very Hard: Xanathar: Is not only comfortable killing the players, but if convinced to make a deal with them will betray them as soon as he is able to.

BookBarbarian · Jan 6, 2020

I rather like https://media.wizards.com/2015/downloads/DDEX31_HarriedHillsfar.pdf in fact any AL season opener by Shawn Merwin is really flexible, and really easy to run.

ddaley · Jan 6, 2020

jayoungr said:
Can you give us an idea of what sort of length you're looking for? Is Phandelver about the right size?

Lost Mine is a good length and I like how it is broken into a number of short adventures. I think the campaigns would be a bit much for new players.

aco175 · Jan 6, 2020

I also got some good play out of the free part from Princes of the Apocalypse adventure. You can play part for free and them buy the big book if you get into it.

ddaley · Jan 6, 2020

BookBarbarian said:
I rather like https://media.wizards.com/2015/downloads/DDEX31_HarriedHillsfar.pdf in fact any AL season opener by Shawn Merwin is really flexible, and really easy to run.

I read through some of these... these sound like they could be fun to run and play. I had seen this PDF, but somehow hadn't read any of it prior to this!

ddaley · Jan 6, 2020

aco175 said:
I also got some good play out of the free part from Princes of the Apocalypse adventure. You can play part for free and them buy the big book if you get into it.

I have been tempted to run Princes of the Apocalypse a number of times. I think it would require quite a bit of prep, so I haven't done it yet. If this group seems interested in continuing to play after a few sessions, this may be the next step. I do have the full adventure. Are there things in the free version that are not included in the book?