Starting from the beginning...help me!

[Haven Walkur]

Last night, I got myself mousetrapped into agreeing to run an introductory game of D&D 3/3.5 next weekend...and I don't know how to run a truly "starting out" adventure. I'll need to help my three players build first level characters and then send them on an adventure.

 

So, what are effective challenges for first level D&D characters? (That's challenges that won't turn the PCs into bloody mulch in the first round.) How tough are the old stand-by creatures like kobolds, orcs and goblins in D&D 3/3.5? What can I do to challenge the characters without killing any of them -- or boring the experienced gamers?

 

The party will consist of a sorcerer and two fighters, or perhaps one fighter and a paladin or cleric. But it's been a long time since I've DMed for new players or first level characters -- and in this group, I'm dealing with players who are ALL new to D&D 3/3.5...and one of them is new to gaming in general!

 

I don't just want to run the PCs through a standard dungeon. So, any suggestions for a "smarter" adventure? Something with a mix of combat, role-playing and thinking? (Oh, and one where the NPCs and monsters act as if they have some brains, don't always fight to the death and generally have what they think is a good reason for doing what they're doing.)

 

I'm almost 40 and a long-time gamer, but I haven't had much experience either playing or running D&D 3/3.5. My three would-be players are my husband Charley (my age, experienced gamer, never played D&D 3/3.5), his junior Christina (30, never gamed at all) and her husband Trevor (30, experienced AD&D player, never played D&D 3/3.5). Christina is the one who "really wants to learn to play D&D", and "wants to start at the beginning".

 

My players aren't kids. Two of them are medical physicists and the other is a cop, so I want to give them an adventure that has a rationale, and a reason that makes sense for their characters to be involved. And I also need to try and teach them the rules for D&D 3/3.5, AND teach Christina what role-playing is and how it works.

 

It's never too early to start fretting. :-{

[csyphrett]

Re: Starting from the beginning...help me!

 

This is going to sound like it's coming out of left field, but you can use the pulp hero adventure generator for a start up adventure.

CES

[Doug Limmer]

Re: Starting from the beginning...help me!

 

So' date=' what are effective challenges for first level D&D characters? (That's challenges that won't turn the PCs into bloody mulch in the first round.) How tough are the old stand-by creatures like kobolds, orcs and goblins in D&D 3/3.5?[/quote']Well, as far as monsters go, the new D&D has a handy "Challenge Rating" feature for monsters, and it's quasi-accurate. Orcs with greataxes can do a lot of damage if they hit, though.

 

Monsters can have character classes now; kobold rogues or goblin rangers might make things a bit more interesting for jaded players.

 

I've always wanted to run a 'mad druid controls small animals to mess with the local village' as a 1st-level adventure. That might have some subtlety and role-playing opportunities.

[azato]

Re: Starting from the beginning...help me!

 

How about this: Travellers are hired by a merchant to see a shipment of goods across a remote landscape. Due to weather the players stop at this remote outpost. The captain is suspicious because he thinks they are spys. They are thrown into a dungeon of the only tower in the base. If they go through the locked iron door it takes them to a subeterranian cave (is there any other kind?) while walking a distance they see a group a low powered humaniods. One approaces and asks if they came through the door. The jist of the story

 

1. The captain is being paid to allow a group of humanoids to create a base.

2. This base is the site of an abandoned dwarven town

3. The humanoids are there to set up for a larger army that will come.

4. The captian has papers in his study regading this plan.

5. Either nobody else knows about it, or there are a couple guards who know.

6. The players can either alert the other guards or the players can escape to the next nearest outpost with the evidence (which would take a lot of time unless they get their horses back).

 

Combat can be avoided. Dialogue can ensue. A mystery to be solved.

[Doc Democracy]

Re: Starting from the beginning...help me!

 

Are you going to use any of the 'standard' worlds? It can make a difference if you can start with some kind of background already in place.

 

For example, if you have any Greyhawk stuff then the party can be a representation sent from a village to the Free City to adjudicate in a dispute with a merchant. The players would then have to negotiate the biggest metropolis that they would ever have encountered - gain entry to the Merchant's Guild and then persuade someone to take on their case against a merchant.

 

Base plot right there that should bring them into contact with several 'players' in Greyhawk and complications can ensue as required - thieves, beggars, night-time horrors (a couple of skeletons or a zombie could be all that first level characters need).

 

You have a small party for D&D so make sure that if all the bases aren't covered in terms of abilities that you fill in with magic or NPCs. I have found in my games that few people want to take clerics and D&D works best if there is healing about - so my games tend to have a plethora of cheap healing magic (which, I suppose, reinforces the original deficit but it works for me - the supply can dry up whenever I need it to - like stuff players haven't paid the points for in Hero!)

 

 

Doc

[Haven Walkur]

Re: Starting from the beginning...help me!

 

Fellow HERO Boarders:

 

Thanks so much for your responses. It's been so long since I've run a D&D game that I'm worried about doing it now, and I really appreciate your thoughts on running a game for first-level PCs.

 

...you can use the pulp hero adventure generator for a start up adventure.

csyphrett: Thanks for the suggestion. That would be a very useful source of inspiration -- but I can't find the Pulp Hero adventure generator, at least not on the Pulp Hero forum. Please tell me where it is.

 

...the new D&D has a handy "Challenge Rating" feature for monsters, and it's quasi-accurate...

 

...Monsters can have character classes now....

 

...I've always wanted to run a 'mad druid controls small animals to mess with the local village' as a 1st-level adventure....

 

Doug Limmer: I have played some D&D 3Ed, so I did know about the monsters having classes and feats, but I have a lot of trouble interpreting the Challenge Ratings in 3.5. "Quasi-accurate" perhaps; for me it's more like "quasi-comprehensible"! :-o I find it very hard to get a realistic feel for what's reasonable opposition for the party based on CR.

 

I do like your Mad Druid scenario. That's the sort of self-contained and low-level adventure I was looking for. It's a generally low-damage set-up, and could involve a lot more than just swordwork. Thanks, I may use this. The only problem is that at least two of my players would rather fight bad guys and monsters than animals.

 

...jist of the story

 

1. The captain is being paid to allow a group of humanoids to create a base.

2. This base is the site of an abandoned dwarven town

3. The humanoids are there to set up for a larger army that will come.

4. The captian has papers in his study regading this plan.

5. Either nobody else knows about it, or there are a couple guards who know.

6. The players can either alert the other guards or the players can escape to the next nearest outpost with the evidence (which would take a lot of time unless they get their horses back).

 

Combat can be avoided. Dialogue can ensue. A mystery to be solved....

 

azato: Thanks. This has a lot of possibilities, though I'd worry that my players would dig themselves into a very big hole by trying to take on the Captain and his henchmen from the start. I like the idea of the PCs having to actually talk to the humanoids instead of attacking them on sight...though I'd have to make the humanoids so numerous that my husband's PC can't possibly fight them all, or he'd try it.

 

Are you going to use any of the 'standard' worlds?

 

...the party can be a representation sent from a village to the Free City to adjudicate in a dispute with a merchant. The players would then have to negotiate the biggest metropolis that they would ever have encountered - gain entry to the Merchant's Guild and then persuade someone to take on their case...

 

...Base plot right there that should bring them into contact with several 'players' in Greyhawk and complications can ensue as required - thieves, beggars, night-time horrors (a couple of skeletons or a zombie could be all that first level characters need)...

 

...You have a small party for D&D so make sure that if all the bases aren't covered in terms of abilities that you fill in with magic or NPCs....

 

Doc Democracy: No, none of the regulation published worlds, but I do have a world of my own from a long time ago, and the "urban adventure" idea would work well with one or two of the biggest cities. With the PCs as inexperienced outsiders in the big city, trying to negotiate both the metropolis and the High Justice, it could create a very roleplaying intensive adventure. The problem would be trying to keep the players from getting frustrated.

 

Yes! I'd forgotten all about the low-level undead. With those and all the other more natural hazards of the big city, I could keep the PCs very busy and hopefully interested.

 

That's an excellent point about covering bases and ensuring the availability of healing. I'd hope I wouldn't overlook it, but it's been years since I ran a D&D game. I might arrange for an NPC priest of Apollo, just in case....

[Doc Democracy]

Re: Starting from the beginning...help me!

 

Doc Democracy: No, none of the regulation published worlds, but I do have a world of my own from a long time ago, and the "urban adventure" idea would work well with one or two of the biggest cities. With the PCs as inexperienced outsiders in the big city, trying to negotiate both the metropolis and the High Justice, it could create a very roleplaying intensive adventure. The problem would be trying to keep the players from getting frustrated.

 

Yes! I'd forgotten all about the low-level undead. With those and all the other more natural hazards of the big city, I could keep the PCs very busy and hopefully interested.

 

That's an excellent point about covering bases and ensuring the availability of healing. I'd hope I wouldn't overlook it, but it's been years since I ran a D&D game. I might arrange for an NPC priest of Apollo, just in case....

 

I think frustration only occurs if you set their expectation too high. Don't have them involved in things they can't change or affect. If there is a big storyline then have them involved with the parts they can change and influence. For the want of a nail type stuff - they can find that nail.

 

When I ran a group of beginning players - all teenagers though - I had them affiliate with the NPC groups that I wanted to promote, thereby tying them to particular mores and in return provided them with some magic. Rather than a priest of Apollo then they would have amulets that provide so many cure light wounds/cure disease etc per day/per week or whatever.

 

This allowed me not to worry about NPCs, allowed me to whip them in when they wanted to do teenage boy stuff like burn down the house of the guy who dissed them and to tie them into ongoing plots with said organisations.

 

With adult you could have much more political fun with stuff like this and the various groups would likely have distinct prestige classes they may want to try and qualify for - thus tying the characters more closely into the background.

 

You have the opportunity to lay the groundwork when they start from scratch.

 

Beware however - 3rd edition characters gain levels and power very quickly...if the campaign continues expect them to be growing fast - it is good to have options in place for when they have to make such decisions.

 

 

Doc

[csyphrett]

Re: Starting from the beginning...help me!

 

It's in the Pulp Hero book on p 355 if you have it.

CES

[massey]

Re: Starting from the beginning...help me!

 

Well, I'm not incredibly familiar with 3.5, so I'll focus on the more general questions.

 

It should be fairly easy to explain roleplaying to the newcomer. If she has seen Lord of the Rings, simply explain that the players pretend to take on the roles of similar characters in a similar world. Perhaps she would have done something differently than the characters in the film (perhaps, say, launching the ring into Mount Doom via a catapult, or something). It is her chance to "adventure" in a strange land, and she can get as in depth with her character as she chooses (or not, depending on her desires). It's not really rocket-science, so she should catch on very quickly.

 

As far as introductory adventures go, I have always preferred something like: "You're a group of youths in a small village. You've been worried about rumors of humanoid sightings in the forest, and recently a few farmers have disappeared. Last night, one of you went to visit your uncle Marv, only to find his house ransacked and the place empty, except for a hand-scrawled map that points to the old abandoned temple..."

 

When they investigate (and really, they should investigate--otherwise you'll need to have them return to town only to find everyone missing), have them encounter a handful of enemies--few enough that they should win easily. You can then gauge how many opponents to put into the next encounter based upon how well the characters performed. One tip: have the humanoids preparing for a large sacrifice or some other magic ritual--that way, they have a reason to take the PCs alive if the dice gods turn against the players. It's no fun to have your very first character killed because you couldn't roll above a 2.

 

Good luck!

[azato]

Re: Starting from the beginning...help me!

 

I think you are sweating the small stuff. If I were a bettin' man I would wager that you really get into the details.

 

 

Instead of thinking why something won't work, think about how to make it work. In my scenario, make it fairly easy to beat the captain and his cronies - so that it doesn't matter whether they pick door numer one or door number two.

 

For the crazy druid story - throw is some "bigger" sized animals, humanoids or some weresquirels.

 

You get my point.

 

1. Spend you energy being constructive.

2. Remember everbody there loves you, so even if the game flops you won't.

3. You need to think about having fun running the adventure. If you have fun they will also.

[gojira]

Re: Starting from the beginning...help me!

 

Just another idea (I didn't read all the posts above carefully, so sorry if this is a duplicate).

 

Drop them in a medium sized hamlet, and give them a mystery to puzzle out. Then, have lots of side quests and red herrings, which they can tackle individually.

 

This is basically the computer RPG model, where there are often "side quests" for players to indulge in.

 

Example: A widow is fearfull of ghosts in her house. Players will need to investigate. It turns out she as two stirges in her attic, which will be hard to catch but easily to dispatch once cornered.

 

Example: Merchants are noticing a large number of thefts. Players must investigate the local theives guild. It turns out there are a small group of kobolds that have moved into the area and are raiding at night. Three to four should be plenty.

 

Example: Strange noises are comming from ancient catacombs beneath the hamlet. Players will need to investigate with out breaking any local taboos regarding treatment of local ancestors. It turns out there are a couple of zombies haunting the catacombs. This is a real clue because local trouble is being caused by a low level necromance who has snuck into the area.

 

Sorry, but it's been FOREVER since I've played DnD. These were easy monsters 15 years ago, better double check to make sure they are still a piece of cake.

[Haven Walkur]

Re: Starting from the beginning...help me!

 

All excellent self-contained and low-level adventure suggestions, gojira. Thanks very much; that's the kind of construction I was looking for.