Completely new to DnD and starting as DM for a group of only two. (3.5)

[2gig]

So, I'm staying with family from the 22nd to 25th, with two cousins who want to try DnD. I've been interested in playing for a while myself, and have done quite a bit of reading, though I haven't actually played in a campaign. To make things easier on myself, I decided I'd use one of Wizards' free adventures (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/oa/20030530b). I want to do a one shot (primarily to make mistakes with less consequence than if I were running a long campaign). Also, I wanted to play around ECL6, since it seems to be a very common opinion that this is the most balanced level.

For the one shot, I like The Alchemist's Eyrie (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/oa/20001215a). To balance it for my two players, I figured I'd have them both gestalt as well as have a Level 6 Gnome Healer accompany them (written in as Durzh's apprentice). On the off chance that one of them wants to play some sort of healing class, I'd probably insert a Beguiler to assist them. I'm mostly concerned that this will still be too weak; perhaps I could gestalt the NPC, but I don't want him taking up too much of their spotlight. Any suggestions at all on how to balance this would be appreciated.

I haven't a clue about what campaign to play afterwards. As far as I can tell, all those free ones in my level comfort zone are one-shots. I'd be helpful if you guys could suggest campaign games that would take my players from level 4ish to 8ish or something like that. Perhaps they could do a lower-level campaign since there's only two of them, but I don't know how low to go.

[Crake]

So, I'm staying with family from the 22nd to 25th, with two cousins who want to try DnD. I've been interested in playing for a while myself, and have done quite a bit of reading, though I haven't actually played in a campaign. To make things easier on myself, I decided I'd use one of Wizards' free adventures (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/oa/20030530b). I want to do a one shot (primarily to make mistakes with less consequence than if I were running a long campaign). Also, I wanted to play around ECL6, since it seems to be a very common opinion that this is the most balanced level.

For the one shot, I like The Alchemist's Eyrie (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/oa/20001215a). To balance it for my two players, I figured I'd have them both gestalt as well as have a Level 6 Gnome Healer accompany them (written in as Durzh's apprentice). On the off chance that one of them wants to play some sort of healing class, I'd probably insert a Beguiler to assist them. I'm mostly concerned that this will still be too weak; perhaps I could gestalt the NPC, but I don't want him taking up too much of their spotlight. Any suggestions at all on how to balance this would be appreciated.

I haven't a clue about what campaign to play afterwards. As far as I can tell, all those free ones in my level comfort zone are one-shots. I'd be helpful if you guys could suggest campaign games that would take my players from level 4ish to 8ish or something like that. Perhaps they could do a lower-level campaign since there's only two of them, but I don't know how low to go.

First off, I want to welcome you to the amazing world of DnD. Secondly I want to warn you of from what I have noticed is the biggest reason DnD groups fall apart: the DM burning out. Picking a pre-made campaign is a great way to alleviate this, but you need to remember that your players will still take actions that might not necessarily be accommodated for, so the biggest thing is to be able to think on your feet.

Me and some friends of ours have been playing the temple of elemental evil (our DM is putting his own spin on things) for about a year now, and that's been super fun, so I recommend you take a look and see how you like it. Generally speaking though a good way to do it is you would come up with a story you want to tell, take a bunch of adventures, and weave them into the plot.

The other option however is to homebrew. This can range from as little as homebrewing an adventure in a pre-existing campaign setting to homebrewing the entire campaign setting, creating your own planar system and pantheon and classes. It all depends on how much effort you're willing to put in.

Obviously you want to gauge your player's interest before running a long campaign, so running a one off adventure is an excellent idea to see how they like it. You'll want to try and pick up if they're more roleplay oriented or if they're dungeon crasher-types, that way you can run the game in a way that they will enjoy it.

Edit: Also, if you do choose to run a long campaign, I highly recommend starting at level 1, its something that a lot of groups seem to ignore, but low level play is really rewarding for character development, being able to look back and see how your character has progressed.

[AttilaTheGeek]

Edit: Also, if you do choose to run a long campaign, I highly recommend starting at level 1, its something that a lot of groups seem to ignore, but low level play is really rewarding for character development, being able to look back and see how your character has progressed.

I want to second this. The only time it's not very rewarding is if the players all (both) have specific prestige classes in mind and won't function for the first few levels. For example, if someone wants to play a Rogue/Sorcerer/Arcane Trickster, grinding through the first few levels isn't very satisfying. But that usually only happens when players are knowledgeable about the source material and know exactly what they want. Another time starting from 1 isn't the best is a oneshot, like you're doing. But for the most part, Crake's right; character development is important.

[2gig]

Yeah, you guys are right. Starting at low levels would definitely help their backstory, humble beginnings and all. It'd be kinda lame to come into a game slinging fireballs with little background on how you got that far. Starting at level one, the sorcerer could look back to the days when all he could do to help the party was throw down some grease. :smallbiggrin:

I do want to give them the opportunity to experience being around level 6 and and getting into a PRC. They never played DnD, but they've played lots of RPG video games, and the PRCs' flavor will probably appeal to them much more. I expect to see them both go into PRCs. If not, level 6 is still a pretty significant level for a lot of base classes.

I think I'm scrapping the Alchemist's Eyrie plan and going with a low level one-shot. Then, I'll carry over the characters from the one-shot into a campaign (maybe award them enough exp from the one-shot to ding level four). Is it so important that they start at level one exactly? I think level 2 feels just about the same for most classes besides Fighter and maybe Sorcerer. However, if you guys say go level 1 not level 2, I'll work from the assumption that you guys know better than I do.

Also, as for what Crake said about choosing the campaign. I'm definitely not gonna do a huge campaign like Temple of Elemental Evil over an extended weekend. I may not get to see my cousins again until the summer, and by then they'll have forgotten too much. I definitely want this to resolve while I'm there, even if one day we pick up later and start a new story with the same characters in the same setting.

I'm definitely starting things off with a one-shot (I'd rather screw up something I printed off the web than something I took the time to write myself). Originally, I wanted to go with a prepackaged campaign as well, but last night something on reddit's DnD sub inspired me to write my own. I'm actually liking this more than reading through the premade ones, as I have such easy control over the balance and a better understanding of the environment (since I made it, duh). I still don't know how to determine what sort of challenge rating would be appropriate for a party of two gestalt heroes (throwing fully made characters is obvious, though, since I could have them two vs. two or something).

Edit: I like the looks of Something's Cooking (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/oa/20010413a). I've heard its final boss referenced a few times before, and my understanding is that this is supposed to be a quality one-shot.

[kardar233]

I've heard A Dark And Stormy Knight is good.

[eggs]

If you're starting new players above level 1, you'll want to make their characters for them ahead of time. Building high-level characters sometimes takes upward of an hour for players who know the rules; combining that with game explanations is a nightmare.

[Mithril Leaf]

If you're starting new players above level 1, you'll want to make their characters for them ahead of time. Building high-level characters sometimes takes upward of an hour for players who know the rules; combining that with game explanations is a nightmare.

If you only know what you're doing it takes around that much time. If you really know what you're doing and what you want, it can take days :smalltongue:

[Crake]

I'm definitely not gonna do a huge campaign like Temple of Elemental Evil over an extended weekend.

Yeah, I meant that you should look into using it if you choose to run a longer campaign. An interesting idea you might want to look at is to run a one-off campaign at around level 6, then if the players want to keep going you can give them the offer of either starting with new characters, or if they want, start with a level 1 version of their one-off characters and have the first adventure or two become something like an origin story to how they got to level 6 in the first place, then tie the story into the one-off adventure and continue the story from there.

Sort of like a movie that starts in the middle of the story then jumps back and tells the whole story. Just an option if your players get attached to their characters.

[2gig]

I think I like A Dark and Stormy Night more than Something's Cooking... Would that one be appropriate for two gestalt level 2 characters? Two gestalt level 1 characters?

And yeah Crake, I didn't think of it that way. That would work really well if I was going to run a longer campaign, but I want to wrap the whole thing up by the time I leave. We'll only have four days and there probably won't be as much playing closer to Christmas.

Right now I'm having a really hard time figuring out how to determine my party's EL (since it's just two, and also because their gestalt). I have no clue what sort of CR monsters to put into encounters for them.