Short scenario for first-time high school students?

[Mercurius]

I'm a teacher and dorm parent at a boarding high school and some of my students have been asking me to run a D&D game for them for months. It will probably be 6-8 players, most of whom have never played D&D. Although I'm open to running an ongoing adventure it might be hard to do more than once or twice, and I'd like the first night to be self-contained: a short scenario that will give them a glimpse into what makes D&D so great, something that combines elements of fun tactical combat, magical mysteries and lost ruins, some role-playing opportunities, etc.

I don't have a ton of time to prepare for this and would be running it this coming Saturday night. I own Dungeon Delve and was hoping that it could help, but the first level scenario "Copperhold Night" didn't inspire me at all. The "Graveyard of Col Fen" from Open Grave looks a bit better, but also isn't exactly what I'm looking for. Are there any great 1st level adventures in Dungeon I might use? Anything else?

I'm also thinking of randomly generating characters through Character Builder and handing them out. Given our time frame, it would just take too long to make custom characters. Maybe if we played past this one session I would have them make characters, but not for a probable one-off.

Any tips?

 

[Daern]

The Chaos Shard delves from Dungeon might work well. The most recent one seemed neat.
I wouldn't use random characters, but make some very simple to use pre-gens: minimal situational feats and powers, easy tactics. I think the ranger and barbarian are alot easier to play than the rogue for example.

 

[fba827]

i don't own dungeon delve so this is more a general question -- does the level 2 or 3 adventure inspire you? If so, altering down a level or two should be easy and can be done on the fly with just remembering to minus 1 or 2 from the defenses/attacks/etc (more than a level or might take a little advance work).

You might also -consider- (but it depends on what you know the players themselves) making it second level so that they get a utility power (thus, something less 'combat' focused in their powerset) to let that add to the noncombat encounters.

But, yeah, premade PCs does help. If you have a chance, maybe just ask them ahead of time "do you envision the type of character you'd play to be ... (a hulking guy with a sword, a guardsman with a sword and shield, someone who flings magical bolts of fire, someone who follows the gods to bring greatness, etc ...) that might give you some clue as to what sort of pregens to make. Also, I'd suggest making most of the pregens be human (it's easier to provide as a social baseline) and maybe at most one or two from a relatable-race such as elf or dwarf since stuff like LotR made those stereotypes more accessible/understandable. I'd also recommend primarily sticking with PHB1 content for most of what you choose -- it tends to be simpler baseline stuff (as opposed to some of the classes like shaman in phb2 which are much more complex with the spirit companion subset of rules).

If you're providing the minis, maybe even make the pregens based off minis -- thus helping the players visualize.

 

[Dykstrav]

If you've got it available, I'd recommend Into the Shadowhaunt, the 4E adventure played on worldwide D&D game day in 2008. It's got pre-generated 1st-level characters, a basic search-and-rescue story, exploration, a dungeon, and a dragon. One-stop shopping for new players.

Barring that, I would take the first three encounters in Keep on the Shadowfell and re-flavor it slightly. Make the basic story that the characters are acting sheriffs or whatever for Winterhaven and they have been called in to deal with bandits raiding the King's Highway. The one attack on the road and the first kobold lair would give you a milestone before a climactic encounter with Irontooth. You can even throw in a skill challenge or two--one socially-oriented for the characters to gather information about the bandits in Winterhaven, and a wilderness-oriented one to track them from the road back to the cavern lair. The benefit to this approach is that you can easily self-contain the narrative (limiting it to dealing with the bandits), but leave it open-ended in case you want to turn it into a regular thing.

For what it's worth, I have several 1st-level pre-gens in .pdf or .doc format if you'd like some... Not as "sexy" as the DDI application, but it's more functional for me.

 

[S'mon]

We had a good time with Coppernight Hold, I changed it so the PCs were asked for help by a dwarf they knew, his brother had gone missing visiting the Hold. It only took about 2.5 hours to play though, and all the Delves are linear and lacking in roleplay.

Ideally you want something with a couple of choices - "Do we do/go X or Y?" and some character interaction as well as combat. WoTC doesn't put out many one-shots like that though.

One idea - take Rescue at Rivenroar, run the 2 very fun initial encounters, then have a greatly shortened rescue/dungeon section at the end; all the prisoners could be held together not too deep in the complex.

 

[Neonchameleon]

Seconded - especially the first fight as a way for the PCs to start to get to know each other. "You are in a pub in a small villiage having a drink. You may be chatting to each other, getting dinner, playing dice or cards, or trying to chat up the barmaids. Or anything else. But right now it doesn't matter because a Molotov Cocktail just came flying through the window. Place your minis on the map."

 

[Dedekind]

But right now it doesn't matter because a Molotov Cocktail just came flying through the window. Place your minis on the map."

Haha. Consider that idea stolen for my own purposes.

 

[Herobizkit]

Heck, if you plan on getting up to 8 players, make 16 characters - 8 humans and 8 of the other races, and leave the sex up to the players. Find some pictures online to represent them - make the game as visually stimulating as possible... within legal limits and statures. Even better, ask them what famous actor/actress they look like. It really helps with the visualization of characters.

 

[Garthanos]

Cocoa and chocolate should not be considered a substitute for medications or your doctor’s advice.

Awwwww ratsssss.... you can ignore so many problems with a sufficient dose of the aforementioned are you certain?

 

[Herobizkit]

from Antioxidants - Nutritional Information - HERSHEY'S

emphasis mine

Health Benefits of Cocoa Flavanols

Many short term studies have suggested that consumption of products containing cocoa may provide cardiovascular benefits. The strong in vitro (compounds studied in test tubes) evidence of dark chocolate, cocoa and cocoa components in improving cardiovascular health led to a number of confirming clinical trials in humans volunteers. However, it is important to note that this research is in the preliminary stages. More research including longer term studies will be needed. Eating cocoa and chocolate should not be considered a substitute for medications or your doctor’s advice. It is also important to note that many chocolate products can be high in calories and fat and should be consumed in moderation.