What are the best published 4e adventures for 1st level?

[Voadam]

The review on Amazon for DCC #55 Isle of the Sea Drake was enough for me to get the pdf and print copy in December now that I'm starting to get into 4e.

I'm still reading through the 4e core books (PH and DMG down, part way through the MM) and have not read the module myself yet though. It looks to be open ended island exploration with plenty of combat, skill challenges, and opportunities to interact with different factions of island natives.

The open ended bit will make it a bit more difficult for a first time DM than a straight dungeon crawl would be but it sounds like a nice 1st level 4e module that would introduce different aspects of D&D to first time players if the DM is comfortable with DMing 4e.

It is from early in 4e, amazon says it came out in September of 2008.

 

[Sir Osis of Liver]

Raidiant vessel? Really? I think that is possibly the most horrible adventure i've played or DMed. I would urg you to go with the infinatly supperior Sense of wonder, or perhaps Heirloom, or even Black knight of Arabel, or possibly any other module on the RPGA list before vessel. The RPGA has lots of good adventures that could serve as an intro, so it's certainly a good way to go, and the advetures are free. Which is always a plus.

 

[Majoru Oakheart]

Raidiant vessel? Really? I think that is possibly the most horrible adventure i've played or DMed. I would urg you to go with the infinatly supperior Sense of wonder, or perhaps Heirloom, or even Black knight of Arabel, or possibly any other module on the RPGA list before vessel. The RPGA has lots of good adventures that could serve as an intro, so it's certainly a good way to go, and the advetures are free. Which is always a plus.

I don't know. I had a lot of fun with Radiant Vessel. I've played it a couple of times and the halfling is hilarious. Also, there's nothing like attempting to use Footwork Lure to pull a baby out of the womb to make people laugh.

But Sense of Wonder is probably my favorite first level adventure. You just have to really play up the Gnome in that one.

 

[ProfessorCirno]

Personal taste is just that I suppose. I know a group of huge 4e fans who adore the game, but getting through Keep on the Shadowfell was difficult, and they couldn't even finish Thunderspire before throwing it into the trash.

They've been eyeing War of the Burning Sky, so there's that

 

[Jhaelen]

Raidiant vessel? Really? I think that is possibly the most horrible adventure i've played or DMed. I would urg you to go with the infinatly supperior Sense of wonder

*cough*, *choke*, err, what?!
It's really amazing how different tastes can be, since I think 'Sense of wonder' is absolutely atrocious. It's easily the worst RPGA adventure I've seen so far.

'Radiant vessel' has great potential, but ultimately depends a lot on the players and the DM.

'Black knight of Arabel' is a very good one, imho. 'Heirloom' I don't really remember at the moment...

The first adventure I used for 4e was 'Seekers of the Ashen Crown'. I liked it a lot better than H1 and it doesn't take a lot of work to adapt it to work for a level 1 party. It's probably my favorite WotC adventure module so far (contenders are H2, P1, and E1, though all of these have elements/parts I didn't like).

 

[Noumenon]

I'm looking for recommendations for a low-level (1st, ideally) adventure that has a good mix of combat, exploration, and roleplaying. ...

All of the WotC stuff I have run so far (H1, H2, some stuff from Dungeon) have been pretty much: Fight A -> Fight B -> Fight C -> End. I'd love to find a published product that was less combat-focused and not so linear.

Raiders of Oakhurst: Reloaded I think came from some people at Enworld before 4E was totally released and it's very, very nonlinear. I only ran the dungeon part but instead of pursuing all the kobolds as they fled the opening room my bard used Fast Friends or something to interrogate and turn them against the hobgoblins, then they turned completely the other way and went to fight the hobgoblins instead. Meanwhile the town has NPCs with interactions and rumors all set to go, and the countryside is set to explore in any order leaving you clues towards the giant's table. Wish I had time to run the whole thing.