Fun stuff to do for 1st level parties

[Yora]

There are plenty of things to do for new 1st level characters. Clear the giant rats out of the basements. Explore the ruin at the edge of town that for some reason is still not picked clean of valuables. Kill the bandits attacking travelers on the roads. Kill the goblins attacking travelers on the road. Kill the wolves attacking travelers on the road.

But they are not particularly fun. Or exciting. Especially when this is your 5th or 10th campaign you are starting.

I think things become much easier for GMs at 2nd level already, as you get some more monsters you can use, and other monsters can be used in groups as they are meant to and not just by themselves. And you even can build content upon what has already happened in the campaign.
But I find creating content for 1st level parties particularly tough.

What things are you doing or have come up with that keep 1st level adventures fun for people who have already fought plenty of giant rats and goblins?

[Wildarm]

If you know your group is capable of creativity you can come up with plenty of non-combat challenges. Once players are experienced they should be able to know enough to avoid challenges too difficult for their 1st level characters.

A new tool is higher CR monsters that the players are expected to run from. Escaping from a dungeon filled will delaying traps and hazardous terrain while a gelatinous cube slowly oozes towards them. Players can risk trying to kite it but one turn of no movement brings them in danger of being engulfed.

Other options would be to confront them with a tribe of troglodytes or whatever, something out of their league till level 3 at least. Drop some hints that a peaceful solution might be the better approach and make it a skill challenge. They should know right away that a brute force approach will end in them being dinner. Perhaps you can prey on their superstitious nature or broker a peace agreement. Plenty of non-combat things 1st level PCs can do. Your skills at 1st level are pretty much the same as higher levels. Few points lower but nothing a guidance or help action can't make up for.

[Vogie]

The best thing to do with 1st level parties, IMHO, is a scaled-down version of EVERYTHING they're going to encounter, style-wise.

If you're going to have lots of short rests
If you're going to use skill challenges
If you're going to use traps
If you're going to have NPCs show up to save them
If you're going to have alternative win conditions for combat encounters
Have all of those things happen within the first 2 levels.

There's few things I enjoy more than seeing that new player's face when I say "As you step forward, you hear an audible CLICK. What do you do?"

But that way, you're setting up your players with a common language that you can iterate on as you continue the campaign.

[stoutstien]

Start by having them saving a baby from a wisper bard hiding in a Iabyrinth..

[Bjarkmundur]

Have a lot of narrated prep work.

My group spent a month of their backstory doing recon for an infiltration job. The heavy planning meant although the dungeon was deadly they had prepared well for it, essentially making everything twice as easy. The mission was also how our group got together.

We infiltrated the Kings castle after our warlock heard a rumor that there might be a hidden part of the castle which wasn't on any blueprints. Our warlock recruited us for this mission specifically. So it wasn't weird how perfectly the missions challenges aligned with our strengths. We had a man on the inside that provided waiter's uniforms and told us when the guards shift ended, for some coins.

We found the secret entrance, and it was a way to the study of a king long dead. There were a couple of wards and gargoyles that were pretty worn, and we already knew about them. There were a couple of surprises: a puzzle, a trapped room with rusted mechanism (so the dex save was low) etc.

We got to the study where a Giant constrictor snake guarded it, living in a small cave in the back.

On the desk in the study were a bunch of Scrolls and potions, something to help with level 2 (shield of Faith, healing potions, Revivify, dispel Magic), and an adventure hook to the main campaign.

This story has everything you need, except a good social encounter.

How the group got together.
Explains why the group is so optimizer.
Explains why the dungeon is easy (old defenses, good prep work).
Can me injected with any character goal. Just say the next thing they need is rumored to be in this study, whether it's a mcguffin, the name of the person who killed your father, a magic item or a map that leads to any character goal you need.
Because they are recruited by one of the characters, it makes sense that all the characters have a weirdly specific reason to want to go on this mission.
I can give you more detail if you want to run it as a module. Might take a couple of days to compile everything, but the good thing is that I can make it specifically for your groups composition, backstory and character goals.

[Guy Lombard-O]

Loggers are disappearing in the forest, request party's help. A few desiccated corpses are recovered.

BBG is a mad/evil druid. His Blights are fighting back against encroachment of civilization, and feeding upon the loggers. CR 1/8, 1/4, 1/2.

[Man_Over_Game]

Focus on Skills.

A level 1 character has about a bonus of +5 in a skill that they're proficient in. At level 20, without Expertise, they'll have about a +10. Over the course of their career, they'll get about +5 between the levels of 1-20 to performing in a skill.

I consider that a problem, but that works out for making low level characters feel epic. Since there isn't a big difference between low and high level characters, you can introduce nearly the same number of skill challenges that you'd see in a level 20 campaign in your level 1 campaign. Even a DC 25 could be passed with about 1 minute's worth of work from anyone with a +3 modifier.

[Bjarkmundur]

Focus on Skills.

A level 1 character has about a bonus of +5 in a skill that they're proficient in. At level 20, without Expertise, they'll have about a +10. Over the course of their career, they'll get about +5 between the levels of 1-20 to performing in a skill.

I consider that a problem, but that works out for making low level characters feel epic. Since there isn't a big difference between low and high level characters, you can introduce nearly the same number of skill challenges that you'd see in a level 20 campaign in your level 1 campaign. Even a DC 25 could be passed with about 1 minute's worth of work from anyone with a +3 modifier.

I'm still getting used to the new avatar xD

We really need to get another low-level skill challenge thread going. You can never have too big of an arsenal for cinematic, flavourful scenes. Especially the kind that can be used in any setting.

I have the "make short travel interesting" thread permanently open on my computer.

Some of my favourite moments from 4e were skill challenges.
I especially loved how unclear they were. You didn't have know anything about sailing to make a skill challenge at sea. You knew the mechanics, and you filled in the gaps to the best of your abilities.
We even had some non-combat combat encounters. Where the objective wasn't "stab the Monster" but more along the lines of God of war or the hydra from hercules. There was a task that needed to be accomplished, and the Monster would automatically die when it happened.

[OverLordOcelot]

There are plenty of things to do for new 1st level characters. Clear the giant rats out of the basements. Explore the ruin at the edge of town that for some reason is still not picked clean of valuables. Kill the bandits attacking travelers on the roads. Kill the goblins attacking travelers on the road. Kill the wolves attacking travelers on the road.

Why have a ruin inexplicably unexplored at the edge of town? If you want an 'explore a ruin' plot, have the ruin be somewhere out of the way (which explains why it's not picked clean), but a sage, researcher, priest, etc. has realized through their research that in interesting tome or item was last known to be in a particular out of the way keep or town. Since they're not sure it's there and it's not extremely valuable they're not offering huge pay that would attract higher level explorers, but covering expenses and a small payout makes it attractive to 1st level PCs who are just getting started, and it's not like level 1s have anything better to do for a few weeks. This also gives you a ton of hooks to tie in later adventures - if the players return with the item, whoever was interested in the item may have better work for them later; the players could stumble into whatever major events are happening in the campaign; the ruin could be much more extensive than first expected; the item itself could point to later happenings.

Here are a pair of adventure ideas from S1 adventuer's league modules that I liked:

The lighthouse on an old keep outside of town has gone out. No one has heard from the young member of the noble family that owns the keep or the guards in the last three days. The mercenaries who act as the town guard are busy with other events and don't have the men to dispatch a force there immediately, plus they think it's really the family's job to investigate why their kid is screwing up, while the family is distant and hasn't had time to do anything yet. In another week or so one or both of them will investigate, but if the players offer to investigate now either group will gladly pay them to do it to save the headache. When the players start probing, they find that the guards and noble went digging for old secret treasure and found more than just treasure, and the players will have to clean up.

Someone offers to pay the PCs to investigate rumors that a village outside of town was sending people into a forbidden forest. Since it's just rumors it's not worth paying a lot to look into, and should just take a few days. When the PCs arrive, they find that someone did venture into the forest, then a number of villagers went after them, and none have returned. The villagers offer to pay the PCs to investigate, then they have to rush outside to see the mutilated bodies of one of the villagers hung in the town square. As they set off to find out what happened to the rest of the villagers, they have to probe into a hostile magical forest (think Grimm's fairy tales, not Disney) and try to do some combination of saving the villagers, preventing the fey who live there from attacking the town, and just managing to escape alive.

[Man_Over_Game]

I'm still getting used to the new avatar xD

I was weirdly surprised at how much it disturbed people, to the point where people have messaged me about how uncomfortable it made them.

It was supposed to be a cynical Moogle, but I have suspicions that it makes people think I'm a furry or something.

[Yora]

Why have a ruin inexplicably unexplored at the edge of town? If you want an 'explore a ruin' plot, have the ruin be somewhere out of the way (which explains why it's not picked clean), but a sage, researcher, priest, etc. has realized through their research that in interesting tome or item was last known to be in a particular out of the way keep or town.

I find hooks for low level adventures to always be the most difficult part by a good margin. There seem to be very few alternatives to "Please, random strangers, will you get my thing/rescue someone for a bit of coins?" Which to me as an unreasonably picky GM always feels terribly implausible and forced.

[Man_Over_Game]

I find hooks for low level adventures to always be the most difficult part by a good margin. There seem to be very few alternatives to "Please, random strangers, will you get my thing/rescue someone for a bit of coins?" Which to me as an unreasonably picky GM always feels terribly implausible and forced.

A favorite of mine is just dumping them into a wide-spread problem that's WAY over their heads. Random catastrophic events happen all the time in Faerun (apparently) so that might occasionally include a city with a few random adventurers.


Swarm of Zombies attacking a town.
I've had flaming robots from hell fall from the sky and start setting the city on fire.
Players wake up to the sound of a siege.
Someone starts a coup during a royal parade. A civil war starts.
Animals in the area are going insane, and are attacking people while acting as some sort of hive mind.


The trick is to make sure the players always have something that can save their *sses. That could be a hero's guild that is right around the corner and saves the players when they take on something too big for them, or maybe it's the King's royal Wizard who jumps in and Conjures a bunch of Elementals to destroy his enemies, or something along those lines. That way, the players can create/fix as much mayhem as they want and still have something to keep the story going if they attempt something that's too big for them.

[Yora]

I just had a really simple but really perfect idea: While it's implausible and forced that NPCs would approach random strangers of a very dubious profession to deal with their serious problems, the situation changes completely if you just make the NPC someone who already knows some of the PCs from the past. They just had this really serious problem and desperately thinking about who could help them, when all of a sudden they run into their old friend or cousin with his gang of capable warriors and wizards. The gods have smiled upon him and send him the help he needs.

Not something I would use for all adventures, but at the very start when the characters have no reputation and are not much stronger than a posse of villagers, I think this makes for a very decent way to kick things off. Perhaps they were just about to get together some lads from around town and set out in the morning, but with the party showing up just tonight it would be so much better if they could give it a shot instead.

[Samayu]

I was weirdly surprised at how much it disturbed people, to the point where people have messaged me about how uncomfortable it made them.

People are weird.

[I mean, I know people are entitled to feel how they feel, but to me it looks like a fluffy bunny.]

[Samayu]

I find hooks for low level adventures to always be the most difficult part by a good margin. There seem to be very few alternatives to "Please, random strangers, will you get my thing/rescue someone for a bit of coins?" Which to me as an unreasonably picky GM always feels terribly implausible and forced.

I don't find it terribly implausible and forced. Just overdone. I think it has surpassed meeting in a tavern for the most popular D&D trope. But I know what you mean about NPCs approaching random strangers of a very dubious profession to deal with their serious problems. So more often their just expressing their panic, and may or may not be directing at these strangers. The hard part is when it relies on the altruism of the PC's. Otherwise you have to inflict the mutual suffering on the PC's, which is more like what Man_Over_Game said.

But what you said reminds me of a one-shot someone DM'd for us when we didn't have our regular campaign that night. It really was that situation where the townsfolk appealed to us travelers for help. Our party consisted of a dwarf, hobgoblin, goblin, shapeshifter and kenku. The DM apparently wanted to play the game as it was written, so the townsfolk completely ignored the fact that most of us didn't appear friendly.

[No brains]

Man_Over_Game is by no means the strangest person on here with the strangest avatar.

On topic, consider dropping NPC commoners, tribal warriors, bandits, or guards into the first level adventure and have them get decimated. Let the PCs know that they are powerful and that's why people are whining to them to solve their problems.

And if they turn on the villagers, narrate a lot of the inconvenience of living without baked bread or indoor beds.

[Bjarkmundur]

Man_Over_Game is by no means the strangest person on here

You state this with too much conviction for it to be true.

I remain sceptical :P

[Bjarkmundur]

[B
On topic, consider dropping NPC commoners, tribal warriors, bandits, or guards into the first level adventure and have them get decimated. Let the PCs know that they are powerful and that's why people are whining to them to solve their problems.


This is especially true for first time players. They are an entire class of power above the average Joe.

[VonKaiserstein]

It's always fun to give them exactly what they want, and then it suddenly turn out to be far more complicated than they imagined. Perhaps the adventure starts with a messenger arriving, asking for them by name, and having them sign for a document. It turns out their great uncle has left them a fortified manor house on the outskirts of (insert plot device here). As they travel to it, undoubtedly bragging about their good fortune in every tavern, it slowly comes to light that the relative may have been insane, evil, or let the whole area go to ruin, depending on who you talk to. When they get there they find all manner of beasts in the house, bandits on the roads around it (human and goblin, orc etc) and discover their name is synonymous with abuse or mismanagement. Now the players are totally invested in cleaning up this place and this area. Around about level 4, they've cleared out the place, fixed it up- and that's when they find his journal, or the basement collapses, leading them deeper into the unknown.

This works best if you have a noble, or folk hero background running around.

Or toss them into the middle of a war. Town guard are gone, thugs are running rampant, enemy and friendly foraging parties come through the town taking supplies and recruits, and it's led to the monsters that would normally be suppressed on the upsurge. This has the benefit of making the relatively harmless creatures more dangerous- plan to destroy your starting town, of 10 or so houses. Name everyone, and have them all interact with your players. Then just keep heaping misfortune and woe on this poor town, until the miller's wife getting crushed by the mill, and the miller being jumped by giant rats trying to save them has them mad as can be. No traps, no dungeons, just too many holes in the dam and not enough fingers- everyone needs help, and only the players can, effectively.

[Yakmala]

Some starts to various campaigns I've run in recent years.

1: The characters are on their way to the starting campaign city by ship to seek their fortunes. On the way through the channel leading to the city, the Captain notices the light house on the small island off the coast is dark. As most of the other passengers are commoners and merchants, they Captain asks the adventurers to investigate. It turned out to be a local population of Sprites and Pixies that were pranking the lighthouse keeper, but you can have the reasons be whatever you like.

2: The players arrived at the local tavern on what should of been their most profitable day of the year, the day their annual shipment of limited edition honey mead was scheduled to arrive. Patrons from near and far had gathered in advance, hoping for a chance to procure a bottle of the special mead that was said to have magical properties. But the shipment was overdue and the adventurers were asked to figure out what had happened to it. Meanwhile, various wealthy patrons at the tavern, upon learning the adventurers had been hired for this task, attempted to bribe the party to deliver the shipment exclusively to them, should they find it. Who actually stole the shipment in your version of events is up to you. But deciding what to do with the shipment once they recover it is what really matters as their choices will lead to the earning of rewards and favors as well as the making of enemies, which can lead to multiple new adventures down the line.

3: A huge heist just happened in the city and the merchant's guild is up in arms, sending out guards and mercenaries to roust all of the local thieves guilds. The players are contacted by representatives of these thieves guilds, who say that the heist was pulled by outsiders not associated with the local guilds (who know better than to mess with the merchant's guild directly). They want the adventurers to find the culprits and recover the stolen goods before all of the "innocent" local thieves are locked away or executed by the angry merchants. As clues are discovered and suspects tracked down, the party learns that most of the stolen goods were just cover for the truly valuable item, an accurate map showing a long forgotten entrance to the Underdark near the local city.

[MintyNinja]

Loggers are disappearing in the forest, request party's help. A few desiccated corpses are recovered.

BBG is a mad/evil druid. His Blights are fighting back against encroachment of civilization, and feeding upon the loggers. CR 1/8, 1/4, 1/2.

You! Get out of my brain!

In all seriousness, I'm planning to use Blights as a stand in for a Zombie-like invasion of the region the players are in. They're a bit higher than level 1, but they'll have enough issues as it is dealing with hordes of murderous little blighters.

[Goldlizard]

my recommendation: start with a catastrophe, like a war, and make them a mercenary company recruited for their skills. their adventures are easy to introduce (commander) and it gives an opportunity for other win conditions (survive, protect, find and retreat)

[blackjack50]

I have wanted to try something like this. Start from 1. Depending on what you want to do allignment wise (letting players decide is nice).

Insert characters into a medium/small town. Maybe something that is based around mining. Have there be organized crime and the players could start as low level enforcers for a mafia.

1) Go beat up this npc for protection money.
2) Collect payments.
3) fight this gang
4) clear out an area.
5) burn this place down

It would be evil alignment. But you could also have the players decide and have them get involved on the side of the law. They could be guards / law. They could be grunts sent in to keep the peace. Flavor it as you choose or even let the players decide if they become corrupt or not. You could flavor it as a western war as a 1930s Chicago.

[opaopajr]

Actually, most of those adventures sound boring regardless of level. :smalltongue: So much of the deciding has already been done. A fetch quest or kill quest without options seems so perfunctory. :smallfrown:

Include all the complicating fun of higher level quests but just dial down the threat level. Remember, Kill = XP is not an interesting choice when it mostly stands alone. Mix it up! Give XP for $, Alliances, Lore, Discoveries, Access... :smallcool:

[2D8HP]

...make your players contend with something smaller, like a corrupt mayor, a minor cult, or even just getting from point A to point B in a world inhabited by dragons, trolls and goblins....


Instead of having the PC's get 'The Mace of Guffin', have them deliver it ala the Pony Express (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pony_Express).

Needed ingredients for a cure for someone who'll perish soon without them is a classic (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1925_serum_run_to_Nome).

[Kane0]

- Infiltrate and gather information on enemy hideout
- Spy on and/or ruin business rival
- Design and create a trial for ordeal or rite of passage
- Find the best candidate for replacement of local leadership role

[Ventruenox]

On your initiative trackers, pencil in four words on four separate trackers: "Rocks" "Fall" "Everybody" "Dies". Refuse to acknowledge or evade any questions about said markings, or simply respond with a half smile or wink. Whether or not you have an outcome to the proper convergence, the player paranoia will be enough.

[GreyBlack]

The local baron is putting on a birthday party for his son and heir to the barony. As such, he has arranged for a set of games for intrepid adventurers to arrange for the festivities.

Sample requests can include:

- Capturing a wild, exotic beast for the nobles and children to marvel at (e.g. capturing a griffon).

- Putting on an impressive magic show and/ or fireworks display

- Comedy routine.

- Arranging gladiatorial combat (depending on how bloodthirsty the young noble is: think King Joffrey)

- Hunt for some wild game to bring for the feast (wild boar, elk, bear, etc.)

And so on.

[CTurbo]

Have them run into a Rakshasa. They'll probably try to fight it, but they'll have absolutely no way of hurting it. It can force them to work for it for a while. Have it curse one of the characters if it needs to get their attention. Have it try to make them do something morally questionable. If they just run away, there is a good long term villain for the group.


Once I made the BBEG is single Quasit. The group was hired by a rich nobleman to find and capture/kill a Quasit that was loose and wreaking havoc in his castle. It actually ended up being fairly difficult for the group to catch it partially due to group ineptitude and partially due to poor rolls. Since it was so low on combat, I had the Quasit summon a few Dretch for the group to fight. It was still fun overall both for me and the group. I didn't expect a Quasit to be such a formidable opponent, but it actually killed the Wizard, and KOed a couple other players at different times.


Do NOT use a Doppleganger to a group of inexperienced players. It will mess them up psychologically lol. I used a doppelganger with a first level party and it really messed them up lol. We actually ended up having to start the campaign over with some different characters. I used it for story purposes... not even as a bad guy to fight lol

[Randomthom]

There are plenty of things to do for new 1st level characters. Clear the giant rats out of the basements. Explore the ruin at the edge of town that for some reason is still not picked clean of valuables. Kill the bandits attacking travelers on the roads. Kill the goblins attacking travelers on the road. Kill the wolves attacking travelers on the road.

But they are not particularly fun. Or exciting. Especially when this is your 5th or 10th campaign you are starting.

I think things become much easier for GMs at 2nd level already, as you get some more monsters you can use, and other monsters can be used in groups as they are meant to and not just by themselves. And you even can build content upon what has already happened in the campaign.
But I find creating content for 1st level parties particularly tough.

What things are you doing or have come up with that keep 1st level adventures fun for people who have already fought plenty of giant rats and goblins?

Village festival, tie it in with some religious festival or similar (midsummer, harvest etc.) and have them compete in archery tournaments, pig wrestling, rodeo, singing, magical showcase etc.

[Spiritchaser]

Have them solve a murder

Bonus points if you set things up so that it REALLY COULD have been one of the PCs who committed the crime.

You can take this plot down the psychological thriller road as well, which can be awesome, but is a lot more work.

[Rixitichil]

The Prison Break is by this point a fairly common idea, but hasn't been mentioned here. Escaping from monsters, making it back to civilisation, then heading back to have revenge and take the slavers down is a good arc that should last a number of levels.

I have a vague idea of a group of PCs attempting to escape a dungeon whilst it is assailed by a group of higher level NPCs. Lots of exploring the wreckage of battlefields for weapons whilst fighting off scavengers and the like.

[KorvinStarmast]

I find hooks for low level adventures to always be the most difficult part by a good margin. There seem to be very few alternatives to "Please, random strangers, will you get my thing/rescue someone for a bit of coins?" Which to me as an unreasonably picky GM always feels terribly implausible and forced.
I use low level undead a lot for first level parties.
Skeletons, etc.

1. People disappearing with something the party wants or needs in their possession. Being eaten by zombies, ghoul, what have you.

2 The previously mentioned "that ruin that's two days away on that crag in the forest? Sage just realized that is has the library referred to in his ancient scroll." (Make the names some kind of pun or play on words). Get that for me since I need it to:

purify local water supply
put a check on the disease spreading
build a better bridge over the local river
Pick a civic reason



3. Wolves being more voracious than usual in raiding local live stock. (Either led by a dire wolf, warg, or werewolf, depending on how far you want to take the first few sessions)

4. Lost child in the forest, enchanted and befriended by pixies. This is mostly a non combat mission.

5. Seek out and find lost prize bull. (It wandered off due to a dryad/sprite/other fey spirit talking to it).

6. Cattle or horse rustlers, small time crooks.
Track them down and return the horses to X.
Award Extra XP for capturing, not killing, the rustlers.
Award larger XP bonus for talking them into turning themselves in. :smallsmile: (I saw that done once some years ago, the lady who was our Paladin pulled that off; it was some brilliant role play.)

[Rixitichil]

Hags make good tier 1 villains. A sea hag tormenting a fishing village, launching repeated terror attacks unless her demands are met. Or a green hag stirring up local tensions, disguising herself as locals in order to leave evidence of affairs or thefts. Dealing with the commoners and working out what is responsible is half the adventure in and of itself. Add in a few Boggles, charmed animals and carnivous plants to taste.