best setting/adventure for beginners

[Raendyn]

Hello playground, its been a while...

This is not an other "what 1st lvl adventure to run for newbs", or at least not just that.

There is this group of friends (of friends :smalltongue: ) that I met recently at a party and during a discussion they asked me to run an adventure for them.

I ended up in a commitment to do it, but its been more than 4 years that it wont be my standard rpg group and I am a bit troubled.

That's how it goes, there will be 5 players, 4 of them completely new to the p&paper RPGs, and its seems that they are not very "gamer" types either.

So, suggestions about a fun lvl 1 adventures are welcomed, although that's not my main concern. What is my main concern is the setting, as not many people are fond of reading the setting books.

I have this thing that I refuse to run/participate in adventures without standard setting and cosmology, I wanna know about it. And so I want to introduce my players to the world we will be playing.

Which setting is in your opinion the easiest to introduce newcomers to? Or maybe which setting seem to attract newcomers due to being very interesting? the group has 3 dudes and 2 girls and all are 20-25 year old, metal funs and seemingly intelligent people.

I already have knowledge of Eberron, FR and dragonlance settings, although I wouldn't mind reading something new too.

thanks in advance for your help. :smallwink:

[Honest Tiefling]

First off, what do you mean by not being gamer types, as that might help selection? Of course, if they all seem like agreeable types...Print out a few pieces of art that really capture the feel of these settings. Show them. Have them vote on their first, second and third choice. Pick from that. Sure, they might not have a terribly great idea of what's going on, but I've found that if people really like the art they'll often try it out, and often have fun. I guess first impressions mean a lot. Also, if you pay attention and take notes, you'll see what your people want out of the setting.

Edit: How do you feel about Golarion? For some reason, Metal Fans in my mind translates to a section called Numeria. Stealing from the wiki (http://pathfinder.wikia.com/wiki/Numeria)...


The harsh lands of Numeria are ruled over by The Black Sovereign Kevoth-Kul a drug addicted despot who rules from his capital of Starfall. His rule is almost completely unopposed by the people of Numeria but his control is far from complete as Numeria is too vast a country to rule effectively with an iron fist. The people of Numeria instead try to avoid the gaze of their tyrannical ruler and continue living life much as they always have. Those who actively oppose The Black Sovereign find he is a tenacious opponent supported by vast legions of troops and The Technic League and their fearsome Gearmen

[Blackhawk748]

Id say stay out of Faerun or Eberron as those realms are a bit complicated. Personally the first setting i ever got (and the only one i own books for) is Kingdoms of Kalamar. Its fairly straightforward as a setting with nothing too crazy (barring an Aquatic Tarrasque) and frequently gets the backhanded compliment of "best vanilla setting". Personally i ran several campaigns in it without even using their players guide and it worked fairly well.

Edit: and Numeria actually sounds like a freakin metal ballad, which to my mind = awesome.

[Sam K]

Dragonlance is pretty simple, with its fairly unbiased battle between good and evil. And dragons. That could be good for newbies if they don't want all the moral stuff. It has kender, though...

Greyhawk is probably the most "realistic" world, with something of a dark ages feel. If they're set on fantasy gaming, that's good. If they want high fantasy, not so much.

Eberron is probably the least traditional world, which could be good or bad.

[JaminDM]

I like making my own setting, you have complete control over everything and you can to mold the world to fit your PCs. If you have the time it is not as hard as you would expect.

[nyjastul69]

Is this the beginning of a campaign or a one off? If it's a one off the setting shouldn't really matter. If it's a campaign and you want a vanilla setting, both Greyhawk and Kingdoms of Kalamar are good choices.

[golem1972]

Greyhawk. Age of Worms adventure path.


Just kidding. Greyhawk and the sunless citadel are classics as well as Eberron and the forgotten forge. No need to worry about optimizing much with five characters, since these adventures have a fairly low difficulty. Just make sure everyone covers the basics... Melee that can deal damage, casters with good casting stats, light sources, melee and range, and don't forget perception skills.

[Astralia123]

First check what extent do they know about fantasy.

Like, at least some experience in ARPG like Diablo, or know some traditional Japanese RPG, or even have heard of Drizzt or something like that.

I gave up though, when last time I faced with a group in which the best one knows a little from Diablo. They are not interested in role-playing or background settings, so maybe dungeon crawling type of game suit them better (which is what 3rd edition lacks).


Anyway, Japanese RPG-type of world settings are easier to get a catch for totally newbies. Like the god of light and the god of darkness, the word "devil species" to refer to savage monstrous humanoids as well as more fantastic monsters, corruption in the church and easily-understandable politics and so on.
Well once they are completely fit in, it can be a little difficult to explain a more complicated world setting to them, though.
A fast way to identify which style of settings fit them better, is to give them a text about a core d&d deity like Pelor, Wee Jas, and Boccob. Then watch their responses, if they are not interested, then just a god of light and a god of darkness might fit them better.

[Seclora]

Make your own world, start in a tavern, first mission should involve killing/shooing away rats, give them some basic quests before letting them explore so they have some straws to grab hold of. Start at level 1, even if it sucks its easier to start from the beginning with new players than to jump in later.


Do not make the wizard fight a cat. That's just mean.