D&D 5E Suggestions for intro dungeon crawl?

[THEMNGMNT]

Hidden Halls of Hazakor is designed for EXACTLY this situation. It effectively introduces the game to both young players and young DMs. You can't go wrong. I promise.

The Hidden Halls of Hazakor - Insane Angel Studios | DriveThruRPG.com

The Hidden Halls of Hazakor - "For a novice DM (young or old), this is an amazing resource…" — GeekDad.com In the frontier stronghold of Purdey’

www.drivethrurpg.com

 

[Reynard]

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.

I wouldn't be inclined to try and teach younger than 10 year olds D&D.

 

[Endroren]

I'd be remiss in my duties if I didn't suggest Temple of Modren (part of Heroes of Thornwall) and the Forgotten Gate. They're both 1st level 5E compatible dungeon crawls. Simple, straight forward, clear goals, and plenty of monsters. Plus puzzles, opportunities to act heroically, and some cool underlying story you can spin into a longer adventure if everyone wants to keep the game going!

 

[Jmarso]

Old school: Keep on the Borderlands

Boom. This.

 

[Reynard]

Old school: Keep on the Borderlands

I think too open a structure is probably bad for most beginners, especially kids.there a reason A LOT of people bounced off D&D at first introduction back in the day.

 

[Malmuria]

I did the essentials kit with an 8 year old, and it was fine. But, there were other adults as players, so that helped guide things along. The biggest challenge I found is the attention span. There had to be a couple breaks for snacks and random running around.

This might be too complicated, and I've never run it, but always looked fun:

One Page Dungeon 2016: The Quintessential Dungeon

Behold my entry into the 2016 one-page dungeon contest! This year, rather than agonise over originality, I wanted something that evoke...

beholderpie.blogspot.com

 

[TwiceBorn2]

Old school: Keep on the Borderlands

Not unless you really scale back the encounter sizes. New players would be easily overwhelmed and killed in no time.

 

[Bill Zebub]

I wouldn't be inclined to try and teach younger than 10 year olds D&D.

I don’t teach them D&D. They describe the character they want, and I make it. When we play, I describe the environment, they tell me what they want to do, and I either narrate results or ask for dice.* It works great; I've used it with kids as young as 5.

*You know, the 5e playloop....

 

[Stormonu]

I think too open a structure is probably bad for most beginners, especially kids.there a reason A LOT of people bounced off D&D at first introduction back in the day.

That's why you start it at them already at the caves, and skip over the travel back and forth to the keep (until they're ready for it).

Though I'd probably also remove the monstrous women & kids from the areas for that age group.

 

[DarkCrisis]

Not unless you really scale back the encounter sizes. New players would be easily overwhelmed and killed in no time.

5E characters are much more powerful than your old school equivalent characters.