Intro for newb players: The Maze of the Straight Line

[Bobby Baratheon]

I'm trying to get a couple of my friends into D&D, and they agreed to play a 2-3 hour trial session before committing to a campaign. So, I really want to blow them away with a cool adventure that can be finished quickly and could naturally lead to others if they agree to keep playing. To save time, I'll probably end up using pre-made characters for this first session and let them become NPCs if the players stay interested.

The problem is that we were going to do it on Saturday (which would give me plenty of prep time), but had to reschedule for tomorrow evening. I, unfortunately, had put off a lot of the thought going into this with the plan of doing it during the week when school and work allowed.

My basic idea is to have a maze contest of sorts put on by a shadowy organization in the city of Uruith. This "Maze of the Straight Line" is essentially an obstacle course through pocket dimensions with a cash prize and an opportunity for the organization to recruit agents. Most contestants are not immediately aware of the second purpose, though some enter in order to be considered by the group. The players would play various contestants in the maze who are approached (before starting) by another contestant telling them that the maze is rigged this year, and that they have to work as a team to survive. This person may not be entirely trustworthy, though, and the maze is about to start . . .

I want to have this stay fairly quickly paced, with each pocket dimension being small and having only one or two things to engage with (except, of course, competitors). I think three pocket dimensions would be sufficient for a intro session, maybe laid out like this:
-Aquatic pocket dimension (basically a large lake) with some minor things to fight and maybe one smallish sea monster
-Tomb-like dungeon-crawly pocket dimension with traps and maybe some zombies
-Shadowy and claustrophobic forest pocket dimension with creepy illusions and some funky monsters to fight/evade

Ideally there would be some opportunities to interact with other contestants throughout the maze, either to cooperate or compete and to allow for some non-combat roleplaying. I would also like to have a puzzle be the way to proceed from one dimension to another and to exit the maze.

My question is does this sound interesting? If not, how could it be improved? Any thoughts on monsters/puzzles/traps to include? Is this too much/little for new players? Any feedback would be awesome, as I don't really want to wing this though I probably could if I had to.

[The Cats]

Knee jerk reaction: I would not run this for new players. It's cool, but it's pretty far off from the classic fantasy fodder, which is what people who have never played DnD think of when someone mentions DnD. You don't have to do a super cliched adventure, but something that feels at least somewhat familiar for them to dig their teeth into might work better for hooking them.("I know how this works cause I read something like it!" vs. "What the hell is going on?" add in a character sheet crammed with numbers and a bunch of combat rules and ask yourself which reaction you'd prefer they have to your plot.)

More important than the fluff you dress it with, a first-ever session should have all the important bits of a DnD game: Memorable NPCs who need help and will be oh-so-grateful when the heroes help them, opportunities for PCs to do incredibly badass things, opportunities for creative (or straight-forward) problem solving, hidden treasure, peril, an interesting trap ("an" as in singular, "interesting" as in the trick is not to roll high enough to see if you take damage, the trick is you already see it, you just have to figure out how to disable/get past it) phat lewt, etc.

Show them what the whole game is really about so they'll have a good idea of exactly what they're getting into. That's the whole point of the intro session right? If they like that, they'll like playing a campaign. If they don't, it's not gonna be for them.

[ad_hoc]

So, I really want to blow them away with a cool adventure that can be finished quickly and could naturally lead to others if they agree to keep playing.

I think this is the wrong approach.

I would just concentrate on making a straightforward adventure where everyone can have a fun time being social.

A 5 room dungeon format is perfect for this (whether it is an actual dungeon or not).

Just be sure to hit all 3 pillars of play and you're good. There are plenty of good 1st level adventures out there too.

[Tiadoppler]

Knee jerk reaction: I would not run this for new players. It's cool, but it's pretty far off from the classic fantasy fodder

I agree completely. Things I'd be concerned about with new players:

Rules Confusion. For new players in a 2-3 hour session, there may only be time for one combat encounter because the game will run slower than you think it will.

Plan to have half an hour minimum, but preferably an hour to explain character sheets, introduce the PCs, explain what different words/acronyms/abbreviations are.

Simplicity is valuable. Don't expect to have time to explore more than one or two major locations. For new players, I like the simple, old fashioned "murder at a mansion, on a stormy night". You are in a single location that can be mapped and described thoroughly. You have a set number of NPCs that the PCs can interact with. The players will probably implicitly understand the plot and goal.

The goal is for every PC to have valuable skills for the party to use. I'd suggest making their characters with that in mind. Don't min-max for combat or you may end up with a PC who feels useless during the talky bits.

LIMIT SPELLS. Consider avoiding casters among your PCs, or at least limit the spells to fairly simple ones.

[willdaBEAST]

Knee jerk reaction: I would not run this for new players. It's cool, but it's pretty far off from the classic fantasy fodder, which is what people who have never played DnD think of when someone mentions DnD. You don't have to do a super cliched adventure, but something that feels at least somewhat familiar for them to dig their teeth into might work better for hooking them.

I think The Cats has some great points, but I disagree with this. I think a lot of what is preventing more people from trying DnD is the classic fantasy fodder. Letting your players know that you can tailor a campaign to whatever genre they prefer might get your players excited and more deeply invested. From the outside people seem to have an incredibly limited view of what DnD can be and some players may prefer a less traditional approach. If this one-off goes well, tell your players that you'll have a session 0 with them and their input will help guide the setting and tone of the campaign.

As far as the OP's ideas, I would make sure you vividly describe the transition from pocket dimensions (I dunno how familiar that concept will be to your players). Come up with a cool magic effect or series of sounds to capture the moment of transportation to another dimension. Or make it personally relatable, "your stomach churns and you feel an intense wave of vertigo wash through your body. Suddenly you find yourself in a completely new environment."

I would recommend player characters with exaggerated characteristics. I think it's easier for new players to paint in broad strokes, roleplaying does not come naturally for most people and nuance can be hard to play off of when you're not used to the process. Have the brave foolhardy character, the cautious brains of the operation, or whatever tropes/clichés you enjoy. I would also try to encourage them to play relatively simple classes. A fighter, a monk, a paladin, even a warlock. I would avoid non-circle of the moon druids, wizards and more complicated classes.

Press home the need to cooperate, really bake that into your one off. I like your idea of a NPC telling them that the maze may be rigged, illustrate early on that teamwork is key. It kills the momentum when players are like, "why would I help this other player?" Or they try to steal/pvp.

[Kane0]

A gauntlet sounds fun, but you'll have to make really good use of your time.

1st Chamber: 'Meet & greet' (introduce characters and give a safe place to get a feel for things)
2nd Chamber: Combat encounter (the basics of combat)
3rd Chamber: Non-combat encounter (the basics of hazards, puzzles and traps, plus a short rest at the end)
4th Chamber: Combat encounter (more advanced combat eg cover, difficult terrain, paired enemy types)
5th Chamber: Non-combat encounter (more of both interaction and exploration pillars, and another short rest at the end)
6th Chamber, part I: The RP element of the finale, eg 'The prize was a trap!'. Certain interaction/exploration choices affect the fight
6th Chamber, part II: The 'Boss fight', with portions of all elements displayed up until now.

Design it like Portal's test chambers: Introduce things one at a time, make sure the players recognize and learn what you're showing and a somewhat controlled environment then later on ensure it reappears for them to apply what they have learned. Also really helps pacing because it's nice and clear for yourself and them.

It's fine if it's simple and even, because the important thing is that it's fun and engaging. A well portrayed antagonist pestering the PCs with telepathy, illusions, etc will bring the session to life and the players won't care less if its the most basic story possible, because they're enjoying themselves.

[Wryte]

I'm currently running a campaign for 7 players who have never played a table top RPG before this campaign started, and one of the things that I have to consistently keep reminding myself of is everything takes longer than I expect. In a 2-3 hour session with brand new players, you are not going to have time to get through even a short dungeon, especially if you're going to throw complicated stuff like water combat at them.

The first session I ran for any of my players was for just two of them, when I was originally just teaching them the basics so they could join me at the local AL. I had them start off by arriving at an inn in the middle of nowhere where they could interact with the innkeeper to learn a bit about the social aspect and using skill checks like Persuasion and Insight, which developed into a plot for the innkeeper's bandit associate to kill them in their sleep and rob them. My players suspected the innkeeper and snooped around, learning about Stealth and Perception checks, learning about his plan, and then had to come up with a quick plan of their own to thwart the attack, after which they engaged in a brief combat with the bandit and the innkeeper.

That probably took an hour to an hour and a half with just two players to walk through it. The following week, once that "teaching two people so they could play with me" turned into "DMing for 7 people who have never played before" I put the seven of them up against an equal number of goblins on a generic road where the goblins employed no tactics other than "stand in plain sight and attack whoever is in the least danger." That fight probably took another hour or two.

[wilhelmdubdub]

A gauntlet sounds fun, but you'll have to make really good use of your time.

1st Chamber: 'Meet & greet' (introduce characters and give a safe place to get a feel for things)
2nd Chamber: Combat encounter (the basics of combat)
3rd Chamber: Non-combat encounter (the basics of hazards, puzzles and traps, plus a short rest at the end)
4th Chamber: Combat encounter (more advanced combat eg cover, difficult terrain, paired enemy types)
5th Chamber: Non-combat encounter (more of both interaction and exploration pillars, and another short rest at the end)
6th Chamber, part I: The RP element of the finale, eg 'The prize was a trap!'. Certain interaction/exploration choices affect the fight
6th Chamber, part II: The 'Boss fight', with portions of all elements displayed up until now.

Design it like Portal's test chambers: Introduce things one at a time, make sure the players recognize and learn what you're showing and a somewhat controlled environment then later on ensure it reappears for them to apply what they have learned. Also really helps pacing because it's nice and clear for yourself and them.

It's fine if it's simple and even, because the important thing is that it's fun and engaging. A well portrayed antagonist pestering the PCs with telepathy, illusions, etc will bring the session to life and the players won't care less if its the most basic story possible, because they're enjoying themselves.

I agree with this. Also, I would make sure to showcase your 3 pillars: interaction, exploration, and combat.
Not sure what you planned for pregenerated characters, but I would throw out making them all level 2 human fighters. Select the feats, and make a few magic initiates so you can give a taste of cleric and wizard, and control what they have. Make one a sharpshooter, and another a tank. That way they all have pretty much the same kit, give different weapons, and the casters only have 3 spells, one of which they can use once. Action surge is really fun, you can take two turns!

[Bobby Baratheon]

Thanks for your suggestions guys! I had a few more players than I anticipated but things went great. Everybody had fun and got to do something useful, and I think they liked the gauntlet idea. It was tough to compress everything into a two and a half hour session but I think we did about as well as could be hoped.

[Kane0]

Good to hear!