D&D 5E Starting a new 5e campaign... TOMORROW!

[KRussellB]

I am starting a new 5e campaign tomorrow, with a new group! Two of the players are from Meetup, one is a friend from another group, and the fourth is a friend-of-that-friend.

The players and I met for a beer a few weeks ago and discussed what the campaign should be about. I proposed modeling the campaign world on Mesoamerica after the fall of Tenochtitlan, with the invading government trying to keep a tenuous peace after their bloody conquest. The players liked the idea! We can elves, halflings, and orcs as the native empires, and humans, dwarves, and gnomes as the invading forces. We also decided there should be Game of Thrones style political alliances, treacheries, and dramas. Fun stuff!

Since that meeting, I've had Winter Break (yay being a teacher!), so I've had time to write up a big, meaty campaign world guide and outline a whole bunch of dungeons.

The first adventure is tomorrow! I'm including a powerful demon-capturing artifact, a parade turned violent, and a giant toad hidden in a pile of bones. I'm also introducing the tense relationship between the foreign government and the native peoples, a pompous rival aristocrat who is after the same goals as the characters, and a powerful shadow dragon who will reappear every five or six adventures.

I am very excited!

Does anyone have any good first-adventure stories to get me even more pumped?

 

[aco175]

My 1st adventure was over 30 years ago and all I seem to remember was my brother and father both were killed by gnolls and my elf was blocked by a gate in some tunnel. I was going to flee, but the players thought I should save them, so I came back and was killed as well. The DM's friend came as well, but was a higher level monk or such frozen in a statue. we came to the room, but nobody touched the statue to activate him. We all died, but the next week we got the red boxed set and a few local friends to play with my dad as the DM.

A good 1st adventure of a campaign I started was when I gave each player a handout and a map of the region. Each character had a few bits of knowledge that may or may not come up in play and a few locations on the map that others do not. One character was a sailor and had several islands and suspected location of treasure along the coast. His contacts were in coastal towns and were mostly tavern people and dock workers. The elf has some forest areas fleshed out and a few contacts in local towns that included a NPC ranger and sage who made potions.

Each of the players liked this and the work on my end was not that much more. I saved a copy of each set I gave to players so I could reference them to tie things into the campaign.

 

[iserith]

My first adventure was back in the 80s. I was a magic-user with one sleep spell and a quarterstaff. I was the only player so I hired an NPC fighter to keep me safe. On our way into a ruined castle, we were attacked by a carrion crawler. The fighter died and my mage soon followed.

The ensuing 25 years is kind of a blur.

 

[not-so-newguy]

I was ten, forced to play a dwarf named Dweeny which was a pre-gen made by the DM (it sucks being the youngest at the table and your brother's the DM). Our first dungeon delve was the ruined castle found in the Red Box set for Basic DnD. I remember killing a giant Bee. Every character I made for next several years after that was named Eagle Eyes.

 

[KRussellB]

I love these stories.

The very first adventure I ever ran was for my brother and my dad from the AD&D box set. They fought a giant frog. That is all I remember.

 

[Calminor]

My mother DMed my first adventure in 2nd Ed when I was 10. I played a Halfling Cleric. A year later started DMing. My first adventures were horrible, but 18 years later I have gained dozens of friends and have shared even more stories with this hobby.

Don't stop, and don't forget the point is to have fun

 

[Jester David]

I've been blogging about my game, which just started a few months back. Brand new campaign. My first homebrew in four years, my own setting, and going full sandbox.
It's been fun.

Session 0
Session 1

 

[Hjorimir]

I just recently started my story hour here. We started at 3rd level. First campaign in my homebrew.

Good luck with your game!

 

[KRussellB]

I've been blogging about my game, which just started a few months back. Brand new campaign. My first homebrew in four years, my own setting, and going full sandbox.
It's been fun.

Session 0
Session 1

Oh man, I have always loved Sandbox campaigns! I've tried running a few, but I haven't had the time commitment (nor the player commitments) to keep going. I'll be following your blog!

8 hours to go until game time.

 

[Lidgar]

Hope you have a fun time! Sounds like a neat campaign - own that is ripe for C1 - The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan - at some point.

My first adventure as a player (back in the late '70's) involved leocrottas. They successfully lured the entire party into an ambushed as we were leaving the dungeon. It did not end well for us.