Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Tattered Master 02-17-04, 10:05 PM	I am a new DM, this will be my first DnD game I have ever run. It starts on this coming Saturday...in six days, and I got nothin'!!!! My party is as follows: Male Half-Orc Barbarian: Greataxe, Scalemail, better than average strength. Female Halfling Bard: Shortsword, Light Crossbow, no rogue skills. For some annoying reason I am strapped for ideas. I can't come up with a reasonable plotline, and lately, the MM seems to lack a lot of low-level monsters....I'm really stuck, and all ideas are welcomed and appreciated. Please, help a fellow Baby-new DM out? You all were me at one time or another.....Thanks in advance! The Tattered Master
LordMacbeth 02-17-04, 10:12 PM	You must be really new if you can't find low level monsters in the MM. Orcs, Goblins, Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Locathah, Planetouched, Rabid Dogs, Dire Bats, Zombies, Kobolds, Gibberlings, Hobgoblins, Formians, Halflings, Gnomes, Various annimals, Feral Badgers...you get the idea. Look in the back of the MM under 1/2 CR, remember you only have two players so CR should be lower than normal. For your first few adventures, better base them on a specific enemy like Goblins. Maybe they are a PC's home town?
Lxarth 02-17-04, 10:13 PM	Well...I would suggest just thinking on where the campaign is set. If its your own world, great...just figure out whats around the starting area and add a little. When I first started playing 'Earthdawn' my DM(or GM as Earthdawn calls it) had a lot of kidnappings in the city, we where paired up and sent to find the 'evil-doer'...it was a nethermancer(aka, necromancer)who was turning them into the undead for his own little theater play. you can also just have them come across a map together which leads to a Lich infested-dragon crawling-beholder loving- dungeon...or maybe just some kobold or goblins. Another option...have the local leader or whomever, give the party a parcel and have the deliver it to a far away city(this worked great for my Earthdawn campaign and took us across the known world. I'm kinda outta ideas, even if my ideas are my DM's...
channel_dunlap 02-17-04, 10:40 PM	What level are they starting at? If Its level 1, I'd say stick close to the old Goblin Cave. Especially if its your first time running. You don't want to have to do a whole lot your first time, gotta get used to whats all involved in running a game. If their higher than 1st level, you can play with it. Orc cave, Ogre cave, you get the idea. Keep it simple though, at least for now. Then, when you're done with that, slip open the DMG and find that "100 adventure ideas" table. Its helped me out of writers block many times.
Tattered Master 02-18-04, 12:06 AM	By all means, keep the ideas coming! I just popped by to check on the responses on my thread and to thank everyone who responded. I really appreciate the boards, and the fact that no one has flamed me for asking a stupid question yet! Thanks and keep 'em coming!
Perseus 02-18-04, 12:50 AM	Well, you could always use the old classic of bandits robbing a travelling nobleman. The pc's are then hired to retrieve the ring.
Snow in August 02-18-04, 01:08 AM	Play upon the characters' IC reasons to know each other and be together. If there are none, you'll likely have to work ini some circumstance of chance. The typical idea is hiring the two on as caravan guards, having the caravan ambushed and some valuable stuff stolen and a reward offered for it's capture, and whatever campaign you have planned to go from there. The first session, if you REALLY have no idea, you can pretty much wing it - you don't need to reveal the BBEG just yet. Once more, if you're really stuck, go to http://www.rpgarchive.com - they have a good list of campaigns and hooks that can be used to generate ideas. One of the betters ones I found there was where the characters, traveling, doing what characters do, manage to unknowingly raise an army of ghosts who at one time were trying to sack the town the PCs call home base, and who now view the PCs as their commanders and follow them to the town. Now, as they're making their way back, everyone gets freaked out, attacks, runs away, as the PCs CAN'T see the army of ghosts but everyone else CAN. Hence when they get back, archers firing, the whole place is on the defensive, that sort of thing... :smirk: If you want general huge big giant campaign ideas, well, I am an ever-full fount of them, sooo... The PCs, on a sea voyage, are stranded on an island when their ship is attacked by some form of hostile vessel, unsure what. The island their on is fertile, life-supporting, and not exactly deserted - the animals there have all awoken and attained sentience, and now that they have it, they don't exactly want to go back to being considered less than others. The PCs have been charged of crimes. The crimes aren't something like stealing, or murder - but the empire or land the PCs live in just simply does not like them, and hence is imprisoning them on an island encased in a shield, floating over the sea. No one has ever been there and come back. No one sent there has ever returned. The island is a perfect prison, and there is no going back. One of the PCs finds a choker that glows brightly with magic, and seems to bear a very calm, soothing aura. When worn, the choker will fasten to the neck of the character wearing it, and nothing short of a Wish or Miracle can remove it. The damage is already done, however - the wearing of the choker has awakened the soul of the creature trapped inside it, who now stalks around the PCs, fouling up their ventures, killing indiscriminately, all in an attempt to drive the PCs to evil so that he may be raised in a new body.
Save_vs_DM 02-18-04, 01:51 AM	A goblin could pick the pocket of the half-orc, and the PCs just happen to spot him running away. He could lead them to a small cave filled with a few more goblins which have been picking the pockets of the local populace. They could then find a gem/sword/armor/etc that has the crest of the local lord on it, but the item is strongly evil. That sets you up for next time. You could also check the free adventures section on WotC website. They have plenty of good adventures. Great and good luck! Cheers, Save-vs-DM
Amethyst_Rage 02-18-04, 03:07 AM	Personally, with so few players, I would go for a simple find and fetch scenario. Here's an idea... The characters begin in a small town, within which there are a number of shops able to supply them with their low level needs, a smith for weapons, a general store for misc equipment, an inn for information and lodgings and of course a cleric to deal out those low level but often life saving healing spells and potions. I believe, at low level, that the party should have this kind of secure base of opperations, somewhere to retreat to and replenish their supplies. So we have the base, next the hook... Someone, probably one of the townsfolk, needs something, perhaps he has had it stolen and wants it back or perhaps he knows someone who has it and can't get it himself. Let us go for this... A towns sage, a low level wizard, requires a 100gp pearl in order to cast the spell 'Identify' upon an item that has recently come into his possession. The sage advertises by placing a poster in the inn for any stout hearted adventurers to supply him the component, a reward is offered to the sum of something like 200 gp. The characters would probably take up the job, after all the reward is good and nothing else seems to be happening around town. They should be encouraged to go see the sage. The sage explains that he knows of an evil necromancer, situated in a small tower not 5 miles (keep the distance small to enable retreat) away, who will most likely have a pearl. Information gathering... The characters will probably want more information on this necromancer than the sage could offer. Place important peices of information around the town with various townsfolk. Such information could include: Advice on fighting the undead from the cleric (blunt weapons against skeleton for example), warning from 2 young village boys that they have seen 'boney warriors' (skeletons) guarding the towers doorway when once playing too far from home, a gravedigger who can give the exact number of corpses stolen from his graveyard (therefor perhaps the number of undead the group may face), a local treasure seeker who knows of a secret back door entrance (avaoiding the guards), this list goes on, but try not to give too much away. The body... Draw out a map of a simple 3 storey tower, place the skeleton guards outside. Use the correct ammount of skeletons (as the gravedigger described). Possibly place a secret door (secret but make sure the characters see it) on the ground floor which leads to a small dungeon below, the door should be locked and the key in the possesion of the necromancer (this will enhance the players motivation to get to the necro). Some encounters to use include: Skeletons Zombies The necromancers imp familiar And of course the Necromancer (2nd level) Use few traps and make sure that they deal only few points of damage. The Necormancer should have the pearl and the key to the secret door (or some minor tresure if you don't want the dungeon level) The dungeon level could hold more of the encounters above as well as rats and dire rats / bats, as well as more treasure. Conlusion... The characters will return the pearl, gaining the reward as well as any treasure from the necromacers tower. Continuation (an important bit)... Try to continue this adventure to the next, I would suggest that the item for which the sage needed the pearl to identify could have some significance to the next adventure. Another note. If you find that your 2 players are finding the adventure difficult, there are ways in which to boost their effectiveness, perhaps the town's cleric could activly want the evil nercomancer destroyed and is willing to give the party free healing or some cut price healing potions, or perhaps a local ranger has also took it upon himself to find the pearl and offers to join the group (as an NPC) Hope this helps.
Ankalagon 02-18-04, 04:53 AM	I have looked through the MM and just seen nothin'. It happens from time to time. At this point I start to read, anything and everything I can get my hands on for about 2hrs with the specific idea to create, so I am slanting everything with D&D focus. What's also really annoying is if you ask someone they have a good 20 or 30 ideas, the rotten gits. Why is it so easy for them????? Check the Useful DM links at the top, or the What's a DM to do FAQ. Inspiration will come, take heart and welcome to the joys and insanity that is being DM. If you are really, really stuck buy the first Freeport module. It is very good for a first adventure. Hell, it's a very good module.