Knights & Knaves Alehouse

So my nephew (lost his father in a car accident 1.5 years ago, has NO male presence in his life) joined my 5e group last Friday for his first game of D&D. He started out quiet, but about halfway through, picked up steam. They fought a tough necromancer, had some really cool stuff happen. It was fun.

The next day he messages my wife (she's the blood relative, I'm uncle by marriage) and asks what they found in the Necromancer hideout.

Reel 'em in boys. I hooked another one. Even if it is 5e, tabletop role-playing is tabletop role-playing, and it's way better than sitting in front of Xbox for hours.


My daughter got upset because I let him play and not her (they are roughly the same age). I didn't have a premade PC ready for her and this was more of a "testing the waters" thing for him. But, I promised her I would run a game for them. Knowing another couple of boys her age at church also plays, I asked them if they would be interested. They jumped on it.


So now I need a 1st level adventure to run for my nephew, daughter 1, daughter 2, and a few boys with a bit of experience with 5E. My daughters and nephew are neophytes.

But, I want to challenge them with several different things.
I already plan on running them through Pod Caverns of the Sinister Shroom when they hit 2nd level, maybe 3rd.
I am also planning on running them through The Hyqeuous Vaults.
Setting is Greyhawk, but that's really ancillary.

Any Expeditious Retreat modules you recommend? Maybe something from Fight On!?

Tomb of the Iron God

Yeah, what DungeonDork said. Got many hours of play out of Tomb of the Iron God.

These also ran well for 1st level characters:
The Lichway (from White Dwarf #9, and Best of WD Scenarios #1), but it really needs a boost in the treasure.
Barrowmaze. It's quite large though, and if the players stick to it, they may surpass the need to explore the other modules you mentioned.

PM me your email and I'll send you a copy of the original OSR version of this one:

http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/956 ... dritch-Oak

It's for 1st level characters. I wrote it for Brave Halfling. He's still selling it, but I hold the rights. The battlemats for it are kind of cool if you run that sort of game. I don't own those, but you can get them here:

http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php? ... 95702&it=1

My recommendations - first up, WoTC stuff is not great, neither is most third party 5e stuff I've seen. But OSR stuff is incredibly easy and fun to run in 5e.

I ran Dyson's Delve and Goblin Gulley in 5e, both worked very well and are free
https://rpgcharacters.wordpress.com/maps/dysons-delve/
https://rpgcharacters.files.wordpress.c ... -gully.pdf
I'd suggest start with Goblin Gulley then move on to DD. Maybe reduce the treasure a bit for 5e (the hobgoblin on level 1 with 500gp is a bit much).
Currently I'm running Stonehell Dungeon, also in 5e - my group coped well starting at 1st level, but this is a bit tougher. http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/poleandrope

I’m going to have to get Tomb of the Iron God I’m thinking!

Another vote for Jimm’s Vile Worm. Really good stuff! I like Ilhiedrin Book from Judges Guild as a good kids adventure, it’s got a lot of fun bits to it. And Jim Kramer’s Yrchyn The Tyrant has the best components of Tucker’s Kobolds in a quite fun adventure.

Jeff wrote: Maybe something from Fight On!?

The first three levels of Fight On!'s Darkness Beneath are very good.
Level 1 The Upper Caves (FO!2)
Level 2 Warrens of the Troglodytes (Fo!5)
Level 3 Spawning Grounds of the Crab-Men (FO!3)
These played even better than they read, as did Pod-Caverns of the Sinister Shroom (AA1). You will see an obvious way to connect The Spawning Grounds with Pod-Caverns.

Might I suggest my White Dragon Run by Expeditious Retreat Press? It was designed as a 1-3 level open sandbox, and I've seen some good reviews of it from play.

Blatant self-promotion: The Necropolis of Nuromen. It's set up as a mini-campaign, pretty tough if you play it as a wargame but there are lots of opportunities to make allies along the way.

rredmond wrote: I like Ilhiedrin Book from Judges Guild as a good kids adventure, it’s got a lot of fun bits to it.

Definitely a fun adventure, written for 1e. NPCs should convert over to 5e easy enough if you don't try to recreate them with class levels. I ran it in 2009 using Labyrinth Lord but Kaystar Saru got the Book and it ended up founding an evil empire, the Ilhiedrin Book was finally recovered & destroyed IMC in 2017.

How about BL1-2: The Ruined Hamlet/Terror in the Gloaming? review

The PDF is free on drivethrurpg

Of the adventures I've actually played with kids, Greg MacKenzie's The Mountain of Evermore was easily the most successful. It's got kind of a fairy-tale vibe to it, and nearly everything within can be dealt with either through quick thinking, parley or avoidance - rather than violence. Evermore is also just a really fun adventure.

Normally I have no problems with PC deaths or even a TPK, but kids tend to take that a lot more personally than my adult players ever would. With this boy in particular, you might want to think carefully about how you want to approach the issue and offer something that fires his imagination and presents D&D as something more about mental and social challenges, regardless of what adventure you choose to use.

Kellri wrote:Of the adventures I've actually played with kids, Greg MacKenzie's The Mountain of Evermore was easily the most successful. It's got kind of a fairy-tale vibe to it, and nearly everything within can be dealt with either through quick thinking, parley or avoidance - rather than violence. Evermore is also just a really fun adventure.

Normally I have no problems with PC deaths or even a TPK, but kids tend to take that a lot more personally than my adult players ever would. With this boy in particular, you might want to think carefully about how you want to approach the issue and offer something that fires his imagination and presents D&D as something more about mental and social challenges, regardless of what adventure you choose to use.

Great points Kellri. I've been wondering about the possibility of a TPK and even of losing PCs for both him and my daughters. They've both been pretty excited about their rolled up PC. I think losing their PC in the first adventure would be a blow to them and their desire to play. I'm not averse to them losing their first PC, but I'd like to encourage non-combat encounters heavily in the first session or two.

Took me awhile, but I finally found a copy of The Mountain of Evermore. I'll read through it and see how I like it. Thanks again.

I'd firstly recommend Redtooth Ridge provided you're willing to trim down a few more-difficult encountered since they're new players (which isn't hard to do as it's only 1-3rd level). It's a location-based adventure that rewards smart play, but doesn't punish poor play to much. I wrote it more as a newbie adventure than an adventure for experienced players. Review here for more info.

As a second option, you could look into To End the Rising (1-3) for an intro module. The PCs have to defend a village that's periodically attacked every decade or so by watery fish-men monsters and then find out where the monsters are hiding and then finally end the threat. This one has a village so there's a support network for beginning players. No review for this one, sadly.

As a third option, there's Bitterroot Briar (2-4) for a bit down the road. It's a very "faerie tale" type adventure with talking animals in which the PCs are shrank down and enter a magical vale. It's pretty cool and would probably go over particularly well with a younger group. Review for more info.

And finally, for 2-4th there's always the excellent White Dragon Run along with the follow up White Dragon Run II (2-5).

Glad to see new players joining our shared madness....

joe b.

jgbrowning wrote:I'd firstly recommend Redtooth Ridge provided you're willing to trim down a few more-difficult encountered since they're new players (which isn't hard to do as it's only 1-3rd level). It's an encounter-based adventure that rewards smart play, but doesn't punish poor play to much. I wrote it more as a newbie adventure than an adventure for experienced players. Review here for more info.

Yeah, Redtooth Ridge is a good one. (The only reason I didn't mention it was because I haven't run it. Ditto for some other modules that I'm glad folks mentioned above.)

It has plenty of treasure, which not all low-level modules do. (I screw this up myself in my home campaign, sigh.)

Minor spoiler, though, which is something to consider about your players' ability to find the treasure: