Begining adventure

[Istari]

Hi i am fairly new to D&D and i need an adventure for my first level group.
Everyone is new to the game but has a ok grasp on the rules.
The party consists of a druid,wizard,rouge,paladin, and a npc ranger for me to help them along a little if they are completly clueless.

So does anyone have any good suggestions for a begining party?:smallbiggrin:

[Spacefrog]

There's a few adventures arranged by level here:

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/oa/20030530b

[RTGoodman]

"Scourge of the Howling Horde" (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=products/dndacc/953827400) is an adventure designed for just such a group. It's pretty well-designed, and you can probably find it at your local bookstore or gaming store.

[Of course, there are several typos and mistakes in it, which can be found in this unofficial errata (http://www.enworld.org/reviews.php?do=review&reviewid=3230334), but for a beginning group, you shouldn't even worry about them - they won't detract from anything.]

[Matthew]

Yeah, the Free Adventure The Burning Plague is an excellent introduction. There are a bunch of free Adventures elsewhere:

You can find tons of them at the Wizards Free Downloadable Adventures (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/oa/20030530b) page.

If you scout around RPGNow you'll find plenty of adventures (and a few free ones), as well as over at Necromancer Games.

RPGNow (Free)
Where Madness Dwells (http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=28495&it=1&filters=0_0_0&free=1)
The Burning Sage's Demesne (http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=28832&it=1&filters=0_0_0&free=1)
Looking Glass Deep (http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=2340&it=1&filters=0_0_0&free=1)
Hussle (http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=1235&it=1&filters=0_0_0&free=1)
The Grave of the Prince of Lies (http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=28857&it=1&filters=0_0_0&free=1)
CD01 - Terror and Blasphemy (http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=28876&it=1&filters=0_0_0&manufacturers_id=457)
CD02 - The Halls of Anarchy (http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=28876&it=1&filters=0_0_0&manufacturers_id=457)
CD03 - The Crypt of Damnation (http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=28876&it=1&filters=0_0_0&manufacturers_id=457)
CD04 - The Tomb of Chaos (http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=28876&it=1&filters=0_0_0&manufacturers_id=457)

Necromancer Games (Free)
TG1 - Feast of the Gobbler (http://www.necromancergames.com/pdf/Feast_of_the_Gobbler.pdf)
N1W - Set's Daughters (http://www.necromancergames.com/pdf/Sets_Daughters.pdf)
W0 - The Wizard's Amulet ( http://www.necromancergames.com/pdf/WA-Revised.pdf)

[Citizen Joe]

Hi i am fairly new to D&D and i need an adventure for my first level group.
Everyone is new to the game but has a ok grasp on the rules.
The party consists of a druid,wizard,rouge,paladin, and a npc ranger for me to help them along a little if they are completly clueless.

So does anyone have any good suggestions for a begining party?:smallbiggrin:
Make a conscious effort to use the proper spelling before it becomes a bad habit. Rouge is makeup, rogue is the deviant loner.

Now, for helpful suggestions.
1) Give the party a 'safe' way to test their abilities. This could be done with summoned creatures in an arena, or 'easy' fights like the old cliche kill the rats in my basement quest. This makes sure everyone is on the same page when it comes to a critical fight.

2) Avoid religious and moral questions. The Druid and Paladin will have hot button issues and this could blow the party to smithereens. Think of it like this, the party has a set of things that they are willing to do, and advertise as such. Don't present them with quests outside of that. Would you go to a painter to write a antispyware program? In this case, present a lot of evil, un-natural stuff that is a danger to the environment. Add in magic (spells) and wealth in the form of payoffs and protection money, and you can draw in the wizard and the rogue.

[Istari]

2) Avoid religious and moral questions. The Druid and Paladin will have hot button issues and this could blow the party to smithereens. Think of it like this, the party has a set of things that they are willing to do, and advertise as such. Don't present them with quests outside of that. Would you go to a painter to write a antispyware program? In this case, present a lot of evil, un-natural stuff that is a danger to the environment. Add in magic (spells) and wealth in the form of payoffs and protection money, and you can draw in the wizard and the rogue.

I dont think drawing them in is much of an issue they aren't the type to care about moral desisions or the issues of rewards on the adventure.

[nerulean]

One thing I'd suggest is letting them get through the first couple of levels fairly quickly. Not only is it nice to have the feeling of getting more powerful, it also lets you throw a much greater variety of things at them without being in dire peril of killing them all in one go.

[daggaz]

I actually dont recommend "The Burning Plague" as a game for first timers. Its full of things, that while simple for experienced players, can be aggravatingly complex and difficult for total beginners. Theres a lot of fortitude saves versus the plague (for basically every enemy you fight, and half the objects), there's a dire badger which can eat a lvl one character alive, and there are lots of kobolds who use traps, alarms, and defensive positions to fight you off. The first group I ran thru it would have died to the kobolds on the ledge had I not kinda walked them thru it.

You are better off just making a cave with some troglodytes or kobolds in it yourself, dress it up with a little flavor, toss in some treasure, just try to follow the guidelines in the DMG... give them a little elf girl to rescue or something (a cabin outside in the woods can be where the quest starts) who the kobolds/trogs/whatever are going to eat if they party takes too long. Or check thru some of the other lvl one adventures on wizards if you really arent good at writing up your own mini stories.

[Istari]

Also for some more information the party is good alined with one chaotic neutral player. I really dont want to spend any money on this and I will probalby run a few 'deliver packages' and 'kill rats in the basement' quests to introduce them before I do any serious adventures to train them up but they wont level from those.

[Azerian Kelimon]

Well, since you're just beginning, almsot any level 1 adventure by Goodman Games is probably going to be useful, so I recommend those. Or, if you want a nice introduction, try "A Dark And Stormy Night". As clichè as that may sound, it's an excellent beginning.

[Reptilius]

One of the greatest things to do (in my opinion) is to start off with some banal adventure (kill the rats, find x, etc.), but have it lead into deeper and deeper plot until the party winds up saving several universes. Throw in one or two moral dilemmas for flavor. Just try to avoid the "we're all in the same tavern looking for work" cliche.

[Istari]

Good idea, I already have a reason the group is together(childhood friends, close family etc.) which im sure really helps.

[Prometheus]

I find the best thing to do when you are strapped for ideas is to build up from the setting. Draw a map with various different terrain features, cities doting the way and think of some unique things for each city (strong religion? unique form of government? atypical race? culture shaped by climate? urban/rural? etc). For flavor you might want a unique twist to the typical campaign that could lead to overarching plot - ie a vast a terrible plague, the exploration of new territory, a recent political revolt, a looming or beginning war, natural diaster, sudden scarcity of food/water/salt/metal, etc.

Thereafter, the next easiest thing to do is build on what you have. What problems are still unresolved from the previous adventures? Could they be part of a larger trend? What area hasn't had news recently? What about the characters previous introduced, what are they doing now?

Finally I would encourage your players to come up with backstories that can become integrated into the plot. Characters to become NPCs, life-goals to gradually work towards, recurring events and places etc.

This may not help you with your immediate future, but I find it really helps you work off of any little thing you have.

In the begining, they don't expect to much. Package delivery, infestation problems, bodyguarding, item retrival, these are the typical quests that anyone can expect.

[CASTLEMIKE]

Wizard's free adventures are a good resource.

If you want to shell out around $5 for an adventure either via a pdf (already an RPG link earlier in the thread) or used hard copy you might like Return to the Keep on the Borderlands with your party make up and association. It can be plopped down in the borderlands of any world or campaign.

[kjones]

I recently made this recommendation elsewhere, but I have had good success with new groups running through "Into the Wilds" by Goodman Games and "The Sunless Citadel" published by WotC. I highly recommend both; Goodman Games modules do a good job of mixing up old-school hack-and-slash with modern role-playing techniques, and tend to add a bit of a twist to both. The WotC module is, of course, pretty much what you would expect from the people who designed the game. The reason I recommend both these modules over, say, something homebrewed, is that these modules do a very good job of making sure that every party role is relevant, something that's important for a group just starting out. Both are balanced fairly well, though you should be careful with the savages in "Into the Wilds"; I had to tone them down slightly.