D&D 5E Suggestions for intro dungeon crawl?

[Bill Zebub]

I'm about to start a game for a group of fairly young players (~9 years old). I've tried Phandelver with that age group, and as basic as that is, I've found it's still hard to know "what to do" for young players who don't really understand the whole roleplaying thing, with all the freedom that comes with it. But going room to room in a dungeon they get.

I'm looking for an old school dungeon crawl that is thin on (but not totally devoid of) plot, suitable for starting at level 1 or 2, and ideally has mostly "monsters" as adversaries, so we don't get into tricky moral territory.

Any suggestions?

Plan B is that I just grab a @Dyson Logos map and start sticking skeletons and spiders in rooms.

 

[not-so-newguy]

Ruined tower of zenopus

The Ruined Tower of Zenopus - Dungeon Masters Guild | Dungeon Masters Guild

The Ruined Tower of Zenopus - Now with an illustration by CHRIS HOLMES and a PRINTER-FRIENDLY DUNGEON MAP! THE RUINED TOWER OF ZENOPUS is a fifth edit

www.dmsguild.com

 

[Bill Zebub]

Thanks!

Turns out I already purchased this. I have zero recollection. Ah, age.

 

[Reynard]

You can't go wrong with Sunless Citadel and Forge of Fury.

 

[Bill Zebub]

You can't go wrong with Sunless Citadel and Forge of Fury.

Those two are actually where I experienced how challenging the RPG paradigm is for new/young players. It's easy to underestimate when one has years of experience.

But I'm thinking I might start with Zenopus and then go to Sunless Citadel, so they start at level 2.

 

[R_J_K75]

You can't go wrong with Sunless Citadel and Forge of Fury.

Did you play or run them? I ran both but dont remember anything about either. Were they good?

 

[J.Quondam]

The adventure in the Essentials kit, Dragon of Ice Spire Peak, starts off as a handful of little fetch quests. It's literally a job board: choose one, go do it, come back, get paid. That might be a recognizable motive for any kiddo who's played a crpg or mmo. Iirc, one mission is a very simple crawl, one's a slightly more involved crawl to hunt a monster, one is a more outdoorsy one possibly involving parlay with a pretty dangerous monster. And that module all happens in the same place as Lost Mines of Phandelver, so it's easy enough to overlap that one when the players get their sea legs and are ready for something a little deeper.

 

[Reynard]

Did you play or run them? I ran both but dont remember anything about either. Were they good?

I have run both numerous times. They are my go to introductory dungeons. There's enough happening in Sunless to give new players a feel for how dungeons work, including potentially "friendly" factions. I taught 13 year olds how to play D&D with it, so it's also simple enough. Forge makes a great follow up.

 

[Bill Zebub]

I taught 13 year olds how to play D&D with it, so it's also simple enough. Forge makes a great follow up.

I can believe it would be great for 13 year olds, but I tried it with <10 years old and it was too confusing. They understand kick open the door, kill monster, take loot, but negotiating with potential allies was too much.

 

[DarkCrisis]

Old school: Keep on the Borderlands