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#1 Zardnaar Jul 31, 2015 19:02:26

This is more a spin off from the Hoard of the Dragon Queen Thread. Some people like it others do not. For me what makes HotDQ so bad is over the last 3-4 years I have played or replayed some 1st level adventures I think are very good by comparison. So what makes a good 1st level adventure? I do not think there is a one size fits all solution. Any printed adventure by ts nature is going to be a bit rail roaded and that is fine up to a point. Some things I generally look for in a level 1 adventure.   1.       A base of operations. This ties you to the campaign or makes you care about thing like NPCs. Sometimes a module does a bit to goo of a job and when it is time to leave if you follow the adventure the PCs might prefer to stay instead.   2.       A reasonable chance at survival. This means you do not have to resort to blatant DM fiat or lucky rolls. The risk of death should be real but the PCs should have a reasonable chance of survival.   3.       Minimal railroading and the PCs can adventure at their own pace. This is because 1st level PCs can get overwhelmed easier than higher level ones.   Generally I do not regard myself as a killer DM but more of a tough luck DM. Do something stupid and die have 4d6. Other things such as plot hooks, interesting scenarios/NPCS help but that is more for any adventure in general. No real preference for dungeon crawl vs hexcrawl or RP type adventure. Some of the early D&D adventures are a bit weak in regards to things such as plot hooks as they start you right outside the dungeon.    Here are some of the adventures I have run at 1st level over the last few years. All of them I consider to be better than HotDQ.   B2. Keep on the Borderlands. This adventure would be one of the highest selling D&D items of al times and it was originally written by Gygax. It’s a dungeon hack but there is no time limit, andit is very generic and offers a base of perations as well. It could be better of course but it is not to bad. It’s a classic but I would not call it great. Its more or less an AD&D adventure for what would become BECMI and it is compatible enough to be run with AD&D and various clones. We used it for the 5E playtest.   B5. Horror on the Hill. Another dungeon crawl but with a bit of wilderness exploration and some interesting things to be found such as a magical fountain. Magical fountains seem to be a staple of early D&D adventures and turn up in OSR adventures as well. B1-B12 in general are very good for new D&D players and are available on RPGnow.com as PDFs.   T1 The Village of Hommlet. This module is also the 1st part of the Temple of Elemental Evil and I would almost go as far as saying it is the best part as well. Another work by Gygax it offers a nice variety of role playing, exploration and a nearby dungeon to explore along with a few secrets etc. For a new DM designing their own adventures one could copy the template of this adventure. Most of the ToEE was not written by Gary Gygax but Frank Mentzer.   The Night Below. This is a mega adventure boxed set from late 2E. The 1st third of the adventure offers a duchy to explore and a nice pace for low level PCs with interesting NPCs as they unravel the mystery of a series of kidnappings. Later on the adventure turns into a mega dungeon. The PCs will likely end up around level 15 and fluff from this adventure made it into the 3.5 Aberrations book. Kind of a boxed set AP/mega adventure and one of the best ever made for D&D any edition IMHO.   There Is No Honor. Dungeon 139 Savage Tide AP pt 1. Towards the end of Dungeon Magazine in dead tree format this was the final AP for 3.5. It is also one of the best APs ever made IMHO especially through to about level 10. With the cross over issue in Dragon you more or less got a campaign setting set in the city of Sasserine. The AP actually peaked IMHO in the 1st 5 levels as Sasserine was brilliant IMHO and the Isle of Dread was also located in this AP on the world of Greyhawk. Dungeon Magazine had 2 peaks in terms of adventure design IMHO issues 1-17 (the 1E issues) and from issue 100 onwards with the 3.5 adventures under Paizo’s tenure. I suspect the success of Pathfinder had a bit to do with these adventures in late Dungeon 3.5 era Dungeon magazine.   Assault on Blacktooth Ridge. Castles and Crusades. This adventure is kind of a mix between T1 the Village of Hommlet and B5 Horror on the hill. It has a variety of encounters scattered around a wilderness with several small to medium sized dungeons to find. Offers a nice variety of combat, exploration and attribute checks. Almost a mini campaign setting as well and similar in design to pt 1 of The Night Below. Also had a magic fountain one could drink from.   The Stolen Lands.  Kingmaker AP pt 1. This is kind of a hex based wilderness crawl where you get xp for exploring the surrounding lands and meet NPCs who can give you mini missions. Combat is spread out and kind of rare early on and it offers a nice and easy change of pace form a typical adventure. The danger to level 1 PCs is kind of low and you can hit level 2 with very little combat. The AP goes downhill later around level 10 but the 1st half is very good. Lost Mines of Phandelver (5E) Ok the set up for this adventure could be better but I thought LmOP was a very good adventure. It is similar to T1 The Village of Hommlet, Assault on Blacktooth Ridge, and the 1st part of the Night Below. Its probably no mistake I regard these adventures as good as they all offer something better than ye olde meet in a tavern or start outside the dungeon door type set up.    Oh well there you have it. A hex crawl, several dungeon hacks and mostly in a village explore the surrounding lands type adventures.  BECMI, AD&D and 2E, 3.5, and 5E are all represented along with a clone and Pathfinder (which I regard as a clone). The lack of Dungeon Magazine hurts 5E relative to the other editions as it gave you somehting to look forward to ever month or bi monthly and if you had a bad issue they were cheap enough and the next one was not to far away.