[4e / Any D&D] *Must* experiences for new players

[Edge of Dreams]

I am an experienced DM and player who recently introduced a group of brand new players to D&D. I pretty much just improvised the first session, and it went great. We're using 4th edition mainly for the greater simplicity of the rules and more balanced combat, which makes things easier on me as both a DM and teacher of the game.

Now, I'm planning our second session, and I've got a little more time to put into designing where the campaign goes next. What kinds of plots, enemies, situations, and experiences do you feel are iconic of D&D and/or essential for new players to experience? What are the *Must-Have* experiences that make you think, "This is what D&D is all about"?

EDIT: A little party info, they're level 1, with a Wizard, Fighter, Ranger (multi-classed to rogue), and DMPC Cleric (I wanted to make sure they got the standard 4-man party experience at least).

[Dublock]

hmm, I say some traps, interactions, the classical enemies, and good old classic, Fighter, Cleric, Thief, and Wizard party :P

[Shades of Gray]

Low-Levels: Kobolds, young dragons.

Mid-Levels: Older Dragons, Mindflayers, Vampires, Beholders, Demons and Devils.

Think of classic monsters, and the iconic D&D only creatures (Mind Flayers, Beholders...)

EDIT: And Liches, gotta have Liches.

[Llama231]

For me...

Low-level: Kobalds, pit traps, monstrous vermin, dire rats, zombies, ogres, and locked doors.

Mid-level: Bulettes, dragons, pendulum traps, monstrous vermin, boneclaws, chimeras, trolls, manticores, medusas, elementals, swarms, and explosive traps.

High-level: Big dragons, natural hazards, NPCs, antimagic plot devices, and some sort of way of making the PCs face themselves.

[RTGoodman]

The classic low-level adventure is to clear out the kobolds/goblins/whatever that are hassling a small town. You can start out with roleplaying (talking to the mayor, etc.), and then move on into a dungeon-crawl with some traps, some treasure, and (of course) some enemies. There should be either a Dragon or some other iconic monster at the end as the BBEG, so that way the players really feel like they've had some sort of accomplishment. "Scourge of the Howling Horde" does that pretty well for 3.x (with goblins, hobgoblins, one bugbear, and a wyrmling black dragon, I believe), and it should be easy to duplicate in 4E.

[xPANCAKEx]

orcs and goblins!

what player hasn't killed some orcs n goblins in their time

[lisiecki]

Tomb of Elemental Evil,

When your in the Tomb of Elemental Evil YOU'RE IN SUBTERRANEAN FANTASY ****ING VIETNAM. Check EVERYTHING. Clear out EVERYTHING. Don't take ONE STEP MORE than you have to until you're COMPLETELY SURE it's clear. Check EVERYTHING for traps. Search EVERYTHING. Keep the overall tactical layout in mind because THE GM WILL USE IT TO **** YOU OVER. Be PROACTIVE: set traps and ambushes for the monsters before they do it to you. Find a position of tactical advantage and DUMP FIREBALLS, FLAMING OIL, AND BARRAGES OF ARROWS on your enemies.

[mroozee]

If they've never played a fantasy RPG, you could include some of the things that differentiates the genre from other games.

They probably have no idea how dangerous (or not) skeletons, or goblins are so you can play up the scene more. By the third campaign, if you come to a graveyard, the cleric(s) immediately prepare(s) to turn undead and no one uses a sword against a skeleton. A troll makes a good challenge when the party doesn't know that they have to burn it.

Unidentified magic items are pure cool when you first start playing. After you've seen it all, it's "throw it in the bag until we can get it identified".

[Colmarr]

A mimic.

You haven't played D&D until a treasure chest has tried to eat you.

[SSGW Priest]

A mimic.

You haven't played D&D until a treasure chest has tried to eat you.

A mimic is absolutely a must.

Random encounters in the dead of night...

Damsels in distress...

Secret doors...

Treasure map...

Red Dragon flying overhead to put the fear of the gods into you...

[Shadow_Elf]

A mimic.

You haven't played D&D until a treasure chest has tried to eat you.

QFT.

However, some other things to consider:

Mind Flayers (Mind Flayers Liches)
Beholders (Beholder Liches)
Evil Wizards (Evil Wizard Liches)
Dragons (Dracoliches)
Bulletes (Bullete Liches?)

How to make this work:

1. Have an NPC yell "LAND SHARK!!!!"
2. Have the Bullette (Lich?) chase them into a cave.
3. Have them fight a series of things that have entered Lichdom.
4. ???
5. Profit?

[Alteran]

Mind Flayers are a personal favourite of mine. Or for an exciting twist, a Mind Flayer who has grown tired of minds. Perhaps one that has turned to something like liver flaying. It'll be loads of fun! Probably.

[Townopolis]

Have a super powerful NPC (like Elminster) come up and ask the party to do some menial task for him (like clearing out a goblin cave) and give some lame excuse why he can't just wipe them out with 1-3 spells even though all he was planning to do that day was kick it with some priestesses of Sharess.

They must:

• Fight Goblins, kobolds, orcs, beholders, mind flayers, liches, zombies, skeletons, bulletes, dire animals, Ogres, Trolls, Bugbears, doppelgangers, otoughs, carrion crawlers, oozes, gelatinous cubes (in addition to other oozes), a vampire, a mimic, at least one weird creature they've never heard of (Yrthaks work well for this), and at least one dragon.
• Do a job for a small town.
• Discover/purchase a map leading to a long lost ruin full of adventure and treasure.
• Get into trouble with a thieves' guild.
• Compete with/fight a rival adventuring party
• Do a job for the/a king.
• Help an ancient entity/spirit.
• Clear out a tomb.
• Do some work for a temple/deity.
• Do a dungeon crawl in a real dungeon (you know, underground prison).
• Embark on an adventure based on a rumor.
• Discover an adventure seed during a festival.
• Wench a bit.
• Find a unique and fun magical item (you must stat it up yourself-it can't be from any of the rulebooks).
• Rescue a princess/high priestess.
• Be hired to bodyguard a total brat.
• Engage in at least one adventure that involves absolutely no combat whatsoever.
• Get cursed by something (a real curse that they have to work to remove).

[Prometheus]

Tell me you'll start the game in a tavern!

Lordsmoothe has it down pretty well.

A character death!
...What? I meant eventually...

[Mando Knight]

• Fight Goblins, kobolds, orcs, beholders, mind flayers, liches, zombies, skeletons, bulletes, dire animals, Ogres, Trolls, Bugbears, doppelgangers, otoughs, carrion crawlers, oozes, gelatinous cubes (in addition to other oozes), a vampire, a mimic, at least one weird creature they've never heard of (Yrthaks work well for this), and at least one dragon.
• Do a job for a small town.
• Discover/purchase a map leading to a long lost ruin full of adventure and treasure.
• Get into trouble with a thieves' guild.
• Compete with/fight a rival adventuring party
• Do a job for the/a king.
• Help an ancient entity/spirit.
• Clear out a tomb.
• Do some work for a temple/deity.
• Do a dungeon crawl in a real dungeon (you know, underground prison).
• Embark on an adventure based on a rumor.
• Discover an adventure seed during a festival.
• Wench a bit.
• Find a unique and fun magical item (you must stat it up yourself-it can't be from any of the rulebooks).
• Rescue a princess/high priestess.
• Be hired to bodyguard a total brat.
• Engage in at least one adventure that involves absolutely no combat whatsoever.
• Get cursed by something (a real curse that they have to work to remove).

Y'know, at least 75% of that stuff has been covered by Order of the Stick...

[Vortling]

TPK them. With mooks.

[koldstare]

Have them clear rats out of a basement. Put an "Adventurers Needed" bulletin board in the tavern with aforementioned job. A little later have them fight some sort of Moonrat adaptation to 4e. I loved the Moonrats in MM2. Nothing says randomness than having 10+ intelligent rats attack your party in the middle of the night.

[Pronounceable]

TPK by a killer rabbit. Or equivalent.

[Glyphic]

• Get cursed by something (a real curse that they have to work to remove).

I heavily suggest not hexing your players.

[RTGoodman]

I heavily suggest not hexing your players.

You know, I've been biding my time until I can DM a real-life D&D group and actually make them fight a hex-tossing hag on a hex-patterened battle mat, just to mess with them.

[Satyr]

I try to give some inpu on a more abstract level, okay? The important thing of any Roleplaying game is in the creation of impressions and an emotional response.

Sense of Wonder: It is not good fantasy until the players (not only the characters, but the players) drop to their knees in awe because of the scenery, events or creatures they appear. A big dragon who does not appear as majestic is wasted. This is the most important - and thanks to the more and more jaded players - most difficult thing to achieve and a trademark ability of any good GM.

Rightous Fury: Give them something to hate. Not because "it is evil" (that is only the cheapest explanation) but by showing tem what that means. Feed their anger on an organisation, person, creature, etc. Let them plan to bring this opposition down. Change perspective and humanise the opposition, thus creating an internal moral turmoil.

The genuine feeling of desperate enthusiasm: "Well, we all gonna die - but at least let's go out in style." The situation, where the player characters are convinced, that they have no retreat anymore, standing with their backs against the wall, and the enemy is closing in - and take over the initiative. The feeling of facing overwhelming odds and near certain doom and taking this as a motivation to charge, and with a bit of luck, even with success. Victory in any adventure, combat etc. should never be seen as a give, but be dependant on the actions of the PC.

Gaining Respect: It is actually a cheap trick, but it works: Take a NPC in a slightly elaborated, mostly untouchable position - traditionally people like arrogant nobles, older knights, clergymen etc. Let this NPC not like the PC's, doubt their qualities and competences and mock them a bit. Now, when the PC's come home from the adventure, show how they have gained the respect of the former skeptic, increasing their prestige in the eyes of the world.

[Townopolis]

/Facepalm

How could I forget the rats!

Your players absolutely must fight rats in a basement. It is 100% required. In fact, make it your next session.

[FoE]

A mimic is absolutely a must.

There are no mimics in 4E. HAH!

[Charity]

Bar room brawl!

Also strange magical fountain/pool which has some random effect to anyone mad enough to drink some.

Green slimes and Gelatinous cubes.

[SSGW Priest]

There are no mimics in 4E. HAH!

Okay... but I was just offering support to another post AND the title of the thread does say [4e / Any D&D]. Block your HAH and counterattack with a touche.

[Kurald Galain]

There are no mimics in 4E. HAH!

Yes there are. They're just so good at mimicking that you haven't noticed them yet

[Telonius]

At some point in the adventure, a statue must come to life and attack them.

[RukiTanuki]

Tomb of Elemental Evil,

When your in the Tomb of Elemental Evil YOU'RE IN SUBTERRANEAN FANTASY ****ING VIETNAM. Check EVERYTHING. Clear out EVERYTHING. Don't take ONE STEP MORE than you have to until you're COMPLETELY SURE it's clear. Check EVERYTHING for traps. Search EVERYTHING. Keep the overall tactical layout in mind because THE GM WILL USE IT TO **** YOU OVER. Be PROACTIVE: set traps and ambushes for the monsters before they do it to you. Find a position of tactical advantage and DUMP FIREBALLS, FLAMING OIL, AND BARRAGES OF ARROWS on your enemies.

Are you referring to the Temple of Elemental Evil, or the Tomb of Horrors?

[AslanCross]

Give them a chance to offer redemption to an enemy.

We chanced upon one kind of accidentally last session. The PCs were raiding a castle, scaling its wall like a 5-man army, utterly crushing the archers and other defenders on the roof simply by blinding them. (Glitterdust is still nasty at lv 10). Their captain was a skullcrusher ogre (smarter than the usual ogre and less chaotic), but in his blindness he lashed out randomly, hit his own team, and decided it was better to fall on his own sword. He crit-missed himself and cried out "Is there no honor for me left in this world?!"

The players, especially the LG cleric, jumped at the opportunity to help redeem him (even while under fire from the enemies still stationed on the castle roof). I used the (broken) default Diplomacy rules just because this would be a good opportunity for RP development for all of them, and the cleric was successfully able to convince him to join them.

I'm likely going to kill him off by the end of the adventure or have him start adventuring on his own, but I thought it was a good idea. It was good especially for the cleric, because she was beginning to get cynical about doing good since she saw a village they were helping get razed to the ground just because the party was there. She found a new reason to keep doing good.

[Tacoma]

Oh goodness. Simple traps at first, teach them how things work before unleashing murder on them.

One time we were fighting some orcs who had taken control of a deserted waystation in the mountains. It had been used for watering and changing horses when traveling along this coastline. The area was loamy dirt with trees and stuff, dirt road, leaves fallen everywhere. We get up to the waystation and the orcs inside shoot at us with bows from behind cover. We back off. The thief comes back from around back and says the back doors and all the first-floor windows are boarded up and orcs are on guard at the upper floor. There's hay scattered all around the first floor outside.

We decide to rush the door. We manage to get up to it after suffering some arrow damage, and our monk charges at the door to break it down. The DM says there's more hay in front of the door. Monk charges anyway. The monk falls into the 5' deep pit with sharpened stakes embedded in the bottom and angled downward in the sides. An orc from above throws a bag full of mildly dangerous snakes into the pit. The monk spends the remainder of the fight failing to climb out of the pit and failing save after save against poison. Eventually he kills the snakes, and is still unable to climb out.

He ended up totally occupied by that simple obvious trap for the whole combat and took almost all his HP in damage down there.

Also include traps that fail because they're badly made or very old. Traps that spit out weapons the PCs can take and use. A room that fills with water. Basic things like this that you see in movies.