Starting a new campaign- and I want it to be memorable

[UltimaGabe]

However, a very young white dragon wouldn't really be my enemy of choice for a new campaign. Firstly, it's probably still too tough for them and, secondly (more importantly), they might well come away from the adventure thinking, "Oh, we killed a baby dragon. Goody for us. How heroic is that?" Nobody wants to kill babies. Even baby dragons. Just a thought.

Hmm... you may have a point. However, as for the toughness, I specifically chose White Dragons because they're the weakest and the least intelligent of the dragons. The one I chose was a CR 4, I think- and with an intelligence of 6 I figured there could be some obvious flaws in its battle plans. However, if that's too tough, I could always use a Wyrmling white dragon, which is a CR 3.

Anyway, I originally wanted there to be goblins for sure, and I wanted there to be some sort of interesting monster that leads/controls them... I wanted the big bad guy, especially, to be something they'd remember and (hopefully) fear for days to come, but I didn't want to kill them. Dragons caught my eye, and I figured one of the weaker ones could make sense (considering it wouldn't be beyond any dragon to force a bunch of weaker creatures into servitude). Also, aside from White dragons being the weakest and therefore the best for a 1st-level party, there's a possible later plot device I'm hoping to use involving the frozen-over shrine it's inhabiting.

As for killing a baby, I doubt they'd mind- the group has a very Rogue-ish and every-man-for-himself attitude that I don't think would interfere with them killing an obviously dangerous evil dragon, even if it's very young. However, I realize your point. Upon second thought, I don't really think a white dragon perfectly fits my original idea, but it still fits- plus, in one of my earlier campaigns, I remember a character complaining that he had been playing Dungeons and Dragons for several months, and he had never encountered either. So, hey, they'd encounter a dragon for sure.

Anyway, your advice is appreciated. If anyone knows of a better monster to throw at a group of low-level PCs, I'm all ears.

 

[lp]

Err, sunless citadel spoiler below.. and stuff.





In regards to the white dragon.. I have very fond memories of capturing that one baby white dragon in the sunless citadal. Unfortunately, I have fond memories because I think I was the only one who didn't fall unconscious during the combat.

I think everyone else was quite upset at being whipped by a baby, especially considering me (the wannabe paladin) managed to capture him in a sack. Aaaah fun times.

So I suggest not using a white dragon for a party of 1st level folk.. I think there was 5 or 6 of us.

 

[The Thayan Menace]

We Heard Oakhurst Likes to Party (Do the Dance of the Twig Blights!)

In regards to the white dragon.. I have very fond memories of capturing that one baby white dragon in the sunless citadal. Unfortunately, I have fond memories because I think I was the only one who didn't fall unconscious during the combat.

I think everyone else was quite upset at being whipped by a baby, especially considering me (the wannabe paladin) managed to capture him in a sack. Aaaah fun times.

If you think that was priceless, check this out:

Our party, the soon-to-be-infamous Brotherhood of Chaos, was angry at the innkeeper in Oakhurst for treating my half-orc barbarian (Cha 4) poorly.

So, we captured the white dragon, smuggled it back to town, and set it loose in the inn.

Then the dragon ended up slaughtering the innkeeper and a couple of patrons, before we dispatched it.

Still, our bard managed to convince the crowd into blaming the innkeeper for the tragedy and we came off looking like heroes.

Now, those were good times.

 

[Funksaw]

Hey, everyone. I recently acquired a group of new minds wanting to partake of the wonder known as Dungeons & Dragons. None of them (save one or two) have ever played D&D before, and after a couple nights of explaining the rules and having them make characters, I want our first adventure to be as fun and as memorable as possible.

I decided to start them off with something simple- a Dungeon Crawl. The setting has sort of been set (I made up a little town for them to start in, and another player DMed a short little Festival thingie to get them all used to skill checks, and roleplaying, and whatnot), but I want to be able to introduce a bunch of fun, memorable NPCs, create a good atmosphere, and get the group to have fun. Basically, I know what I'm gonna do, it's the going-about-it part I want advice on.

Does anyone have any tips on the pre-crawl portion of the adventure (where everyone meets up and finds their hook to go where I want them to), or even any tips on the Dungeon Crawl itself? I wanted it to be long, but not too hard- yet I want it to have a feeling of mystery and danger to keep the PCs on their toes. I want it to be easy, but make them think otherwise.

Just, does anyone have any general advice for creating a good, memorable, fun first adventure/campaign? Any advice would be most appreciated.

mmmm... this advice might not be to your liking - but it's entirely possible that your group may have an aversion to dungeon crawls. Figure on keeping the "pre-dungeon crawl" and "dungeon crawl periods" pretty short and easy to accomplish - the last thing you want to do is send players into a 3 hour dungeon crawl if they're not interested in that style of play - or spend 3 hours talking about the carnival and all the NPCs when all they want to do is loot ye old dragon's hoarde.