D&D 5E What's the easiest way to start playing 5E?

[Nebulous]

Oh, Lost Mines of Phandelver. There are to many Ph's in the early adventure titles between that, Tyranny in Phlan, and possibly others.

Oh, phlantastic

 

[Shiroiken]

Have the PCs be conscripts of the village militia (everyone serves a short time period during their youth). They serve as a single patrol, possibly with an NPC leader. While on patrol they find a merchant wagon in ruins, with blood all about, but no bodies. Obviously there was an attack, and a trail leads off into the wilds. The players will probably choose to follow it (if they go back to town, you can have them gain a few NPCs, including a leader), where they find a lair of some kind (kobold or goblin would probably be best). Assuming they defeat the enemies, they find the merchant who is held prisoner. He offers to reward the characters for saving him, if they will escort him to his home (large town). If the PCs need more XP before town, you can have an attack or two along the way.

From this point the PCs are level 3 and in the "big city," where you can actually get your campaign going. Some interesting twists and options:

1) The Merchant is a worshiper of a fiendish god, whose "reward" will be to have them sacrificed by his cult.
2) The Reward is a strange relic of a lost empire, but the Merchant knows of a sage that can unlock it's secrets.
3) The Merchant decides to become their patron as an adventuring company, offering financial aid and adventure hooks for a percentage of the treasure.

 

[Jester David]

Go to a game store that sells old/used game modules. Or DnDClassics.com
Find the modules that are levels 1+.
Grab a random one.
Run that.
Play and have fun.

 

[Grimstaff]

Master of the Fallen Fortress, available for free from the Paizo website, should take all of 30 minutes to convert. It's a site based adventure so you can plop it anywhere in your developing sandbox. That and the free basic rules, and I think you've got a fun campaign kick-off.

 

[DM_Jeff]

My suggestion? Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh. Leaves a lot of little loose ends if you don't run the follow-on modules, which were not nearly as good, IMHO. And the town of Saltmarsh was detailed in one of the 3e books, if you want to track it down.

Yep, Saltmarsh is fully fleshed out and detailed in 3.5's Dungeon Master's Guide 2.

 

[Queer Venger]

I returned to D&D with 5e after a 15 yr hiatus. I picked up the Starter Box set; been playing the Lost Mine module since August. My group is rp intensive, so its been nice that the module has given me great mileage. I picked up the Holy Trinity around November. Now Im getting ready to start Murder in Baldur's gate with the same group starting up again from 1st level. Im setting MiBG back to 1373 and Im ignoring all the references to 1479. Im basically using the module is a campaign guide and then progress from there. Its been a super awesome time and Im really loving what 5e has done for my renewed interest in D&D. My group is composed of 6 players, about half of which are coming in from 4e.

 

[Nebulous]

I returned to D&D with 5e after a 15 yr hiatus. I picked up the Starter Box set; been playing the Lost Mine module since August. My group is rp intensive, so its been nice that the module has given me great mileage. I picked up the Holy Trinity around November. Now Im getting ready to start Murder in Baldur's gate with the same group starting up again from 1st level. Im setting MiBG back to 1373 and Im ignoring all the references to 1479. Im basically using the module is a campaign guide and then progress from there. Its been a super awesome time and Im really loving what 5e has done for my renewed interest in D&D. My group is composed of 6 players, about half of which are coming in from 4e.

I have seen many, many posts around here saying that 5e has brought folks back to the game. I'm glad to see that.

 

[Queer Venger]

Ive been playing D&D since the red box set when I was in high school. Then I joined the USAF and I played and DMed 1e and 2e for nearly 7 years before I returned to civilian life and then college. Ive ran just about every infamous module out there, Temple of Elemental Evil, G1-3, Queen of Demonweb pits, Keep in the Borderlands, and many FR modules from when the Grey Box came out. Then I heard that TSR sold everything to Wizards and that they were uncertain what would happen. Then my college and careers took off and I had little time to play. I heard of 3e and 3.5 and even 4e, but I never picked up the books. Around 2012 I briefly played in my best friends 4e group for a few months, and I was pretty stunned to see what D&D had become. I knew many enjoyed it, but it wasnt for me. Then one day I walked into the store and saw a lot of people playing PF, and was told that it was D&D 3.525 (or whatever). When the D&D Next playtest was happening for the last 2 years I heard some not so great feedback from friends of mine who love PF. Now dont get me wrong, Ive not been under a rock, Ive been playing World of Darkness for a while and thats how I got my RPG fix. In the summer 2014 I attended Comic Con here in CA. I saw that they were demo'ing D&D 5, so I signed up for a few games. WOW! Yep, I was amazed to see what the new game was like. We played the Starter Box and received promo mini's from Wizkids. I immediately picked up the Box Set and have been DMing that since August. 2014 also just happened to be the year that I went to GenCon with some buddies of mine. I had no idea that 2014 was the 40th anniversary of D&D. Anyway, again I participated in more games and the vibe for D&D was amazing. I attended the D&D launch party (with all the props from the Tyranny of Dragons series) and an elven DJ spinning. 7 months later and I am now starting my second campaign and already buying my ticket for this year's Gen Con. Im running demos for our local con (OrcCon) and getting linked up with the Adventurers League events. So yeah, Im back to D&D now I hope that 5e is here to stay for a while. Its sparked a love for D&D that Ive not had for a long time. I also joined EN world to share in this community (and in part because there is alot of negativity in the Wizards forums). So thats my story folks. Im just happy to be back. If any of you are going to GenCon lets meetup and play some D&D 5e!!