Beginner adventures,i need help!!! [Archive] - Wizards Community

Beginner adventures,i need help!!! [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
bloodpheonix
04-25-06, 01:28 AM all my pcs want to do is slay a dragon but there only lv1 and ive only convinced them to do one extremely short session,in which they did next to nothing other than hack'n slash because there (or i at least assume) complete idiots,the entire goal was to find the barkeep that the kobolds had captured,which they didnt do.i need a really good dragonslaying adventure to get them to come back,they can take dragons of up to 6th level but i prefer 4th or 5th and try to use dragons that are around young age,so far i have a smalll dungeon w/ a black dragon under a church and a Hex Dragon that slayed a churches sacred unicorn foale.
Mitchell
04-25-06, 02:33 AM I don't have alot of faith in this group lasting for the long haul...
because there (or i at least assume) complete idiots,the entire goal was to find the barkeep that the kobolds had captured,which they didnt do.i need a really good dragonslaying adventure to get them to come back,

Calling them idiots and saying that you need a certain thing to get them back doesn't sound like a good start.
In any event, white dragons are the weakest, and least intelligent, of dragons. This would seem like the best bet to me. Challenge ratings running as low as 2.
The Sunless Citadel, a 3.0 module produced by WotC, has a white dragon in it, as well as a bunch of kobolds, but I don't really know the details. You may want to look at that.
Optionally, you could check out some of the adventures on this site and see if there are any dragons in them.
Last City
04-25-06, 02:57 AM Man... i dont know...

Dragons are really meant for the strong level characters of atleast lvl 5 to see something nice. Any lower then that and u might have a half-toasted party... I only started throwing in dragons at them when my party turned atleast lvl 10.

For lower levels & very young age category dragons: look for the Red ones for challenge... or maybe the whites for an older dragon but lower CR. Maybe you should throw in a lil more kobolds, traps and some half-dragons to help level up the characters before the final fight? ;)

Heck! Even a wymrling can kick some serious lvl 3 butt! Give them that! :D
Henchcritter
04-25-06, 02:57 AM Resolve it this way: give them companionship from a high level pally. Let this guy totur them and help for a few encounters (not more, super NPCs get boring). This should convince the PCs that this guy is far above their league and spare no efford to show that

Then the big dragon arives. The pally advices them to stay back because this will be no match for them and he'll go after the beast. Let them roll sense motive to spot fear in the eyes of the pally (the fact that they are immune to the effect does not mean they don't expirience it. They just don't get crippled by it). The next morning villages find the bloodied fullplate of the pally.

conclusion:
dragons are nasty and self preservation is a good thing.
Nyaz
04-25-06, 10:01 AM Option A: following the previous post, it is good to give them a fellow NPC adventurer who will guide them in their actions. You have to be careful that the NPC doesn't demonstrate knowledge that he cannot possibly have (DM Metagaming), and that he's not too many levels more powerful than the PCs (2-4 is enough). Then they can aid him in slaying a dragon of an adequate CR. Bend the rules a little if you must, or have them do several sessions for quick level-ups before they finally encounter the dragon.

Option 2: some players never learn, but human beings usually modify their actions in accordance with previous experiences (this is called learning). Let them come across a dragon, attack it and die. Next time they'll focus on the story a little bit more (hopefully. Some people never learn, as you can read in the Irate Player thread on this forum).

Happy hunting! :) :)
Morka
04-25-06, 10:51 AM Resolve it this way: give them companionship from a high level pally. Let this guy totur them (...)
Since when does a pally torture people? ;)

Seriously, here's another idea. Spread the rumor in the city where the PCs are that the Town of Grumville is having problems with a dragon. Your proud adventurer should bit the hook, and run to Grumville. Once there, a shepherd tell them the beast is hiding in a cavern. They enter the cavern, and must fight a mighty... Monitor Lizard! Then, when they'll tell everyone they killed a dragon and begin to describe it, everybody should look at them with suspicion, until some old bard tell them: "That was not a dragon, my child. That was a Raptor." And said bard compose a song about some young heroes who wanted to kill a dragon...
ogg205
04-25-06, 11:27 AM Wow! You sound exactly like I did when I first started DMing. I had the same problem. In the end, a couple of things got my party members interested in something else. I offer these as experience of my own that seems to work with the kind of knuckle headed players who never touch the players hand book.

1. Start hitting them over the head each time they don't know something. Have an NPC com in at a lower level than the PC's and show them up not by having better gear, but by knowing the rules (Wizards usually do the best at this category because of the limitless spell uses). I would suggest making this NPC a fellow member of their party.

2. As for the role playing part- I hate admitting what I did to get them addicted to role playing. But, here goes- I learned, in the end, that my PC's weren't in the same world that I was. They didn't like serious campaigns, and those type of deep immersion settings didn't catch their interest. They wanted more of a free spirited campaign with jokes inserted (although, they never told me this). You remember in the DMG when it said something about having an unserious campaign where a talking dog named ruffles was the ruler? That's the kind of campaign they liked. I suggest having something hilarious catch their attention. Start giving your NPC's a couple of bad days that are hilarious. I had the level 20 sheriff of the metropolis angry at the magistrate, so he went into an alley and started throwing things. Unfortunately, there was a little animal in one of the barels he was breaking to smitherines. Instead of feeling remorse, he growled at the cat and threw another barrel at it. Believe it or not, this worked. It formed a lasting relationship between the PC's of the party of the party and the Sheriff. They weren't as into dragons, so the sheriff took them on a dragon hunt. It didn't matter to them that he was more powerful than they were. They were more interested to see what he did when they found the dragon.

3. About alterior monsters- well, dragons are a staple of D&D. You almost can't have dungeon without them. If you want to broaden their horizons, build a big dungeon with a dragon on the top floor. They will be after the dragon so badly that they won't realize how long it will take to get up there. Have a large diversity of things on the way up. I suggest ghouls, ogres, and other things the dragon has placed as bodyguards. Almost any type of intelligible humanoid can be a guard. By the time they reach the top, they'll be of sufficient level to fight the dragon. Be sure to give the dragon a good sized hoard.
kelvinaw273
04-25-06, 11:46 AM Sounds like you need to coach them a little on how to intelligently resolve problems. I suggest that you set them a simple challenge where they have to 'track' a dragon through a forest. They find dragon 'marks' (footprints, spoor, clawmarks on a tree, eviscerated remains of forest creatures, that sort of thing) leading the way into the forest, running into various creatures that get steadily harder to beat, and that they have to use more and more intelligence to defeat (by way of strategy, tactics etc.). The monsters will all be of the nasty variaty.

Eventually they will reach a small lake in the forest, where all the marks disappear. There is a boat on the shore, and when they approach the dragon (a young Bronze dragon) appears and thanks them for clearing out the monsters from near his forest, he was having trouble. He has left them a token of appreciation in the boat (a significant emount of treasure). Then let them see clearly that (1) not all dragons are to be killed and (2) they are way outclessed at 1st-2nd level!

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
bloodpheonix 04-25-06, 01:28 AM	all my pcs want to do is slay a dragon but there only lv1 and ive only convinced them to do one extremely short session,in which they did next to nothing other than hack'n slash because there (or i at least assume) complete idiots,the entire goal was to find the barkeep that the kobolds had captured,which they didnt do.i need a really good dragonslaying adventure to get them to come back,they can take dragons of up to 6th level but i prefer 4th or 5th and try to use dragons that are around young age,so far i have a smalll dungeon w/ a black dragon under a church and a Hex Dragon that slayed a churches sacred unicorn foale.
Mitchell 04-25-06, 02:33 AM	I don't have alot of faith in this group lasting for the long haul... because there (or i at least assume) complete idiots,the entire goal was to find the barkeep that the kobolds had captured,which they didnt do.i need a really good dragonslaying adventure to get them to come back, Calling them idiots and saying that you need a certain thing to get them back doesn't sound like a good start. In any event, white dragons are the weakest, and least intelligent, of dragons. This would seem like the best bet to me. Challenge ratings running as low as 2. The Sunless Citadel, a 3.0 module produced by WotC, has a white dragon in it, as well as a bunch of kobolds, but I don't really know the details. You may want to look at that. Optionally, you could check out some of the adventures on this site and see if there are any dragons in them.
Last City 04-25-06, 02:57 AM	Man... i dont know... Dragons are really meant for the strong level characters of atleast lvl 5 to see something nice. Any lower then that and u might have a half-toasted party... I only started throwing in dragons at them when my party turned atleast lvl 10. For lower levels & very young age category dragons: look for the Red ones for challenge... or maybe the whites for an older dragon but lower CR. Maybe you should throw in a lil more kobolds, traps and some half-dragons to help level up the characters before the final fight? ;) Heck! Even a wymrling can kick some serious lvl 3 butt! Give them that! :D
Henchcritter 04-25-06, 02:57 AM	Resolve it this way: give them companionship from a high level pally. Let this guy totur them and help for a few encounters (not more, super NPCs get boring). This should convince the PCs that this guy is far above their league and spare no efford to show that Then the big dragon arives. The pally advices them to stay back because this will be no match for them and he'll go after the beast. Let them roll sense motive to spot fear in the eyes of the pally (the fact that they are immune to the effect does not mean they don't expirience it. They just don't get crippled by it). The next morning villages find the bloodied fullplate of the pally. conclusion: dragons are nasty and self preservation is a good thing.
Nyaz 04-25-06, 10:01 AM	Option A: following the previous post, it is good to give them a fellow NPC adventurer who will guide them in their actions. You have to be careful that the NPC doesn't demonstrate knowledge that he cannot possibly have (DM Metagaming), and that he's not too many levels more powerful than the PCs (2-4 is enough). Then they can aid him in slaying a dragon of an adequate CR. Bend the rules a little if you must, or have them do several sessions for quick level-ups before they finally encounter the dragon. Option 2: some players never learn, but human beings usually modify their actions in accordance with previous experiences (this is called learning). Let them come across a dragon, attack it and die. Next time they'll focus on the story a little bit more (hopefully. Some people never learn, as you can read in the Irate Player thread on this forum). Happy hunting! :) :)
Morka 04-25-06, 10:51 AM	Resolve it this way: give them companionship from a high level pally. Let this guy totur them (...) Since when does a pally torture people? ;) Seriously, here's another idea. Spread the rumor in the city where the PCs are that the Town of Grumville is having problems with a dragon. Your proud adventurer should bit the hook, and run to Grumville. Once there, a shepherd tell them the beast is hiding in a cavern. They enter the cavern, and must fight a mighty... Monitor Lizard! Then, when they'll tell everyone they killed a dragon and begin to describe it, everybody should look at them with suspicion, until some old bard tell them: "That was not a dragon, my child. That was a Raptor." And said bard compose a song about some young heroes who wanted to kill a dragon...
ogg205 04-25-06, 11:27 AM	Wow! You sound exactly like I did when I first started DMing. I had the same problem. In the end, a couple of things got my party members interested in something else. I offer these as experience of my own that seems to work with the kind of knuckle headed players who never touch the players hand book. 1. Start hitting them over the head each time they don't know something. Have an NPC com in at a lower level than the PC's and show them up not by having better gear, but by knowing the rules (Wizards usually do the best at this category because of the limitless spell uses). I would suggest making this NPC a fellow member of their party. 2. As for the role playing part- I hate admitting what I did to get them addicted to role playing. But, here goes- I learned, in the end, that my PC's weren't in the same world that I was. They didn't like serious campaigns, and those type of deep immersion settings didn't catch their interest. They wanted more of a free spirited campaign with jokes inserted (although, they never told me this). You remember in the DMG when it said something about having an unserious campaign where a talking dog named ruffles was the ruler? That's the kind of campaign they liked. I suggest having something hilarious catch their attention. Start giving your NPC's a couple of bad days that are hilarious. I had the level 20 sheriff of the metropolis angry at the magistrate, so he went into an alley and started throwing things. Unfortunately, there was a little animal in one of the barels he was breaking to smitherines. Instead of feeling remorse, he growled at the cat and threw another barrel at it. Believe it or not, this worked. It formed a lasting relationship between the PC's of the party of the party and the Sheriff. They weren't as into dragons, so the sheriff took them on a dragon hunt. It didn't matter to them that he was more powerful than they were. They were more interested to see what he did when they found the dragon. 3. About alterior monsters- well, dragons are a staple of D&D. You almost can't have dungeon without them. If you want to broaden their horizons, build a big dungeon with a dragon on the top floor. They will be after the dragon so badly that they won't realize how long it will take to get up there. Have a large diversity of things on the way up. I suggest ghouls, ogres, and other things the dragon has placed as bodyguards. Almost any type of intelligible humanoid can be a guard. By the time they reach the top, they'll be of sufficient level to fight the dragon. Be sure to give the dragon a good sized hoard.
kelvinaw273 04-25-06, 11:46 AM	Sounds like you need to coach them a little on how to intelligently resolve problems. I suggest that you set them a simple challenge where they have to 'track' a dragon through a forest. They find dragon 'marks' (footprints, spoor, clawmarks on a tree, eviscerated remains of forest creatures, that sort of thing) leading the way into the forest, running into various creatures that get steadily harder to beat, and that they have to use more and more intelligence to defeat (by way of strategy, tactics etc.). The monsters will all be of the nasty variaty. Eventually they will reach a small lake in the forest, where all the marks disappear. There is a boat on the shore, and when they approach the dragon (a young Bronze dragon) appears and thanks them for clearing out the monsters from near his forest, he was having trouble. He has left them a token of appreciation in the boat (a significant emount of treasure). Then let them see clearly that (1) not all dragons are to be killed and (2) they are way outclessed at 1st-2nd level!