Keep on the Shadowfell Suggestions

[Foeofthelance]

I'm introducing my family to D&D 4th Ed. later this week, and plan on using the Keep on the Shadowfell module as a stepping off point for them. (It is also my first time DMing a 4th Ed. game, so I want to use something preplanned to follow.) The group consists of 1 experienced gamer out from Colorado who will be leaving after the first session, 1 nine year old girl who wants to run around and kick everything to death, her mother (my sister), my mother, and one to two of my friends who will be regulars at the table.

Before I run into the campaign (which I review at least once a day) any suggestions or things I should be aware of? Remember, with the exception of the one player the entire group is new to roleplaying. So what might I skip or alter to make things slightly easier if needs be?

[DaveL]

If you have a Fighter in the party:

Make sure that the Kobolds use their Shifty power around the Fighter. It'll give you a nice chance to show off the Fighter's coolest class feature.

Remember, also, that it's an Immediate Reaction and you only get one per round. So the first guy is going to get hit, but the next guy won't.

[Colmarr]

1. Be very wary of the Irontooth encounter. It can be extremely deadly.

2. Feel free to personalise some of the townsfolk. Module NPCs are usually a little dull, and D&D feels much better when it is inhabited by real people rather than quest markers.

[caden_varn]

1. Be very wary of the Irontooth encounter. It can be extremely deadly.

Seconded. Personally, I would encourage you to try to stop them meeting that encounter until they have levelled, especially as most of your party seem to be new to roleplaying.
If not, 2 points:

1. Make sure you give them a chance to rest after clearing the outside encounter

2. Consider delaying the start of phase 2 of the Irontooth encounter (Irontooth himself) until they have clearly got the upper hand in the first part.

[Foeofthelance]

So, I took them into the first encounter. It went fairly smoothly, with the standard questions about "What's a d8?" and "How do I attack?" Explaining the color codes on the powers made life very easy, and all in all they did pretty good. Because the schedule on the game is a bit odd, there were only four players, 2 Clerics, one Dragonborn Paladin, and one Dwarf Fighter.

High Notes:
1) We showed my niece Gamers 2: Dorkness Rising before the game. This came back to haunt me when she tried to pull a bazooka on a kobold and when I said no, countered with, "It was in the trunk!"

2) The most kills went to the dwarf (my niece) and one of the clerics (my mother). They both managed to get a good grasp on the mechanics quickly, which is good since they were the newest players.

3) They have no problem roleplaying with NPCs. They can stay in character and ask questions that make sense.

Low Notes:

1) The first thing they did was split the party...

2) Not really their fault, but they had really low rolls for a good part of the fight. This led to the Paladin getting dropped twice in the fight by a pair of Kobold Dragonshields.

3) The Paladin decided to go to sleep immediately upon reaching the inn. Complete with full snoring effects...


For the next few encounters:

1) I'm introducing a Kobold Paladin NPC named Keeba. He's going to start out as a prisoner in Irontooth's cave, and assuming they don't kill him is going to be the link to the patron of the main campaign. If they ask he'll tag around to help with the fighting (basically a tank rounding out the party, with a little extra healing). If they don't go there, he'll be in the cell next to Splug.

2) There's going to be a few new PCs joining the party, hopefully rendering the above somewhat pointless.

3) They may or may not end up fighting Irontooth; they seem more intent on immediately exploring the keep. Probably because tales of the walking dead and haunted ruins sound more attractive than please kill the bandits.

[Istari]

Depending on what new players you get you should fill in with a ranger if they get a controller or a wizard if they get a striker

[BoneMonkey80]

I recomend you buy the D&D 4e RPG roleplaying starter kit comes with tiles tokens and dice and a sample dungeon battle

its great for introducing people to the game