I, along with a few of the players I'll be DMing, have only played two or three sessions of D&D. I've talked a lot about it, and have researched more than any of the players, but I'm still more green on the actual in-game learning curve that experienced players-turned-DMs are past.
I'm just looking for an official adventure (preferably one I can purchase within DDB) that starts or adapts well to first level players that is friendly to new players and a new DM. I've been looking into Elemental Evil/Princes of the Apocalypse, but that looks to be very dungeon heavy, and I'd prefer to have a good amount of roleplaying as well, if possible.
You can adept and alter adventures to have as much combat/roleplay as you want. Sunless Citadel is pretty much a linear dungeon crawl on paper. Could be finished in 4-10 hours, but my players are 30 hours due to roleplaying.
As beginners the most important aspect is... Don't bite of more then you can chew. Start small, start linear, start with using only a handful of rules you understand. As a DM read up 1 or 2 new rules that you'll use the next session and just grow from there. When you've learned how to adapt adventures, get a feel for the rules, got more experience with improvising and roleplaying within the safe small areas... then expend your comfort zone.
All the 5e lvl1 adventures I read are friendly to newcomers. They even list all the rules you need to run it. KEeps it very concise as is. Out of the Abyss, Mines of Phandelver are both good places to start. Horde of the Dragonqueen is similar, but requires more adjusting the adventure to make it work. But the follow up of Rise of Tiamat is very open. With the linear elements you can basically just have your players do whatever in a more openworld setting. Take them to other planes to get more backstory development of why there are devils helping out to summon tiamat etc.
Lost Mine of Phandelver. It holds your hand at first and then slowly gets you to look up stuff like you'll need to for other adventures. And it's a great story.
Actually, the last time we played was the beginning of LMoP. The first encounter of the goblins wiped out two of the players (because this was their first real experience, and with a DM who hadn't had much experience with new players). This didn't set well with the two that were knocked to 0 (they argued that new players should be incapable of dying on the first encounter).
I'd really prefer to avoid rehashing the same intro and give them unpleasant flashbacks, when just getting them to agree to rejoin the table took some work.
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The easiest way to stop that kind of PTSD is to not make it happen. As the DM you are, or should be, aware of how everyone is faring in battle. As such you can manipulate the entire thing so that the players don't die.
Case in point, I'm running Sunless Citadel, I had a random encounter with some blights that ended up taking 2 of my players down. There was no possible way for the rest of the party to get to them to save them before they would have died. So I left the two players in limbo as I started to rp with the rest of the group. They had to sweat, thinking they'd have to roll up new character sheets, while I had the rest of the group weave their way to the fallen party members. As they approached I created a scene with a strange creature, making it appear to everyone that the two fallen players were no where to be seen. Eventually they figured out it was an NPC who had shown up and defeated the almost dead creatures, saved the players, and took "payment" from them as they lay unconscious. The two players were left with a couple gold in their pouches, but were alive the next morning.
Your players make their choices based on experience, you help them learn, but there's a bit of give an take with the guidance. Let them make the choices, offer them an "are you sure", and work from there. A first mistake is a slap on the wrist, but if they continue to make the same mistake, the consequences should scale as well. Let your players fail, let them think they've died, and let the harsh reality of action vs consequence happen. It's part of the learning curve, but it's not the only way to handle a bad situation. I've fudged die rolls so a nat 20 was just a regular hit, I've dropped HP by half, I've reduced AC by a few points, all in the name of saving my players from a death. I've also let the players walk into a dragon's cave at level 5 and be TPK'd only to wake up stripped of all their belongings save their clothing.
Above all, your patience as a DM is paramount. They will get frustrated when they end up in a bad spot, but if you're patient and get through the situation, they may see that the outcome wasn't as bad as they though.
Lol. I stuffed up in an encounter in town and had the PCs fight enemies that were two strong for them (due to my inexperience). One of them had to roll up a new sheet. In that context I couldn't see a way out. But you can just have the PCs be knocked out instead of deaded. Alternatively, you can award temporary HP while they're learning the ropes.
Anyways, I don't know of another resource that's as good as LMoP for new DMs, but others have made comment on some other suitable modules if you don't want to go there.
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I, along with a few of the players I'll be DMing, have only played two or three sessions of D&D. I've talked a lot about it, and have researched more than any of the players, but I'm still more green on the actual in-game learning curve that experienced players-turned-DMs are past.
I'm just looking for an official adventure (preferably one I can purchase within DDB) that starts or adapts well to first level players that is friendly to new players and a new DM. I've been looking into Elemental Evil/Princes of the Apocalypse, but that looks to be very dungeon heavy, and I'd prefer to have a good amount of roleplaying as well, if possible.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
- JRo -
...faith in hope...
You can adept and alter adventures to have as much combat/roleplay as you want. Sunless Citadel is pretty much a linear dungeon crawl on paper. Could be finished in 4-10 hours, but my players are 30 hours due to roleplaying.
As beginners the most important aspect is... Don't bite of more then you can chew. Start small, start linear, start with using only a handful of rules you understand. As a DM read up 1 or 2 new rules that you'll use the next session and just grow from there. When you've learned how to adapt adventures, get a feel for the rules, got more experience with improvising and roleplaying within the safe small areas... then expend your comfort zone.
All the 5e lvl1 adventures I read are friendly to newcomers. They even list all the rules you need to run it. KEeps it very concise as is.
Out of the Abyss, Mines of Phandelver are both good places to start.
Horde of the Dragonqueen is similar, but requires more adjusting the adventure to make it work. But the follow up of Rise of Tiamat is very open. With the linear elements you can basically just have your players do whatever in a more openworld setting. Take them to other planes to get more backstory development of why there are devils helping out to summon tiamat etc.
Lost Mine of Phandelver. It holds your hand at first and then slowly gets you to look up stuff like you'll need to for other adventures. And it's a great story.
Just get it and close the thread.
Actually, the last time we played was the beginning of LMoP. The first encounter of the goblins wiped out two of the players (because this was their first real experience, and with a DM who hadn't had much experience with new players). This didn't set well with the two that were knocked to 0 (they argued that new players should be incapable of dying on the first encounter).
I'd really prefer to avoid rehashing the same intro and give them unpleasant flashbacks, when just getting them to agree to rejoin the table took some work.
- JRo -
...faith in hope...
Want to go really basic?
Have a look at Matt Coleville's videos:
My DM Philosophy, as summed up by other people: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rN5w4-azTq3Kbn0Yvk9nfqQhwQ1R5by1/view
Disclaimer: This signature is a badge of membership in the Forum Loudmouth Club. We are all friends. We are not attacking each other. We are engaging in spirited, friendly debate with one another. We may get snarky, but these are not attacks. Thank you for not reporting us.
The easiest way to stop that kind of PTSD is to not make it happen. As the DM you are, or should be, aware of how everyone is faring in battle. As such you can manipulate the entire thing so that the players don't die.
Case in point, I'm running Sunless Citadel, I had a random encounter with some blights that ended up taking 2 of my players down. There was no possible way for the rest of the party to get to them to save them before they would have died. So I left the two players in limbo as I started to rp with the rest of the group. They had to sweat, thinking they'd have to roll up new character sheets, while I had the rest of the group weave their way to the fallen party members. As they approached I created a scene with a strange creature, making it appear to everyone that the two fallen players were no where to be seen. Eventually they figured out it was an NPC who had shown up and defeated the almost dead creatures, saved the players, and took "payment" from them as they lay unconscious. The two players were left with a couple gold in their pouches, but were alive the next morning.
Your players make their choices based on experience, you help them learn, but there's a bit of give an take with the guidance. Let them make the choices, offer them an "are you sure", and work from there. A first mistake is a slap on the wrist, but if they continue to make the same mistake, the consequences should scale as well. Let your players fail, let them think they've died, and let the harsh reality of action vs consequence happen. It's part of the learning curve, but it's not the only way to handle a bad situation. I've fudged die rolls so a nat 20 was just a regular hit, I've dropped HP by half, I've reduced AC by a few points, all in the name of saving my players from a death. I've also let the players walk into a dragon's cave at level 5 and be TPK'd only to wake up stripped of all their belongings save their clothing.
Above all, your patience as a DM is paramount. They will get frustrated when they end up in a bad spot, but if you're patient and get through the situation, they may see that the outcome wasn't as bad as they though.
Lol. I stuffed up in an encounter in town and had the PCs fight enemies that were two strong for them (due to my inexperience). One of them had to roll up a new sheet. In that context I couldn't see a way out. But you can just have the PCs be knocked out instead of deaded. Alternatively, you can award temporary HP while they're learning the ropes.
Anyways, I don't know of another resource that's as good as LMoP for new DMs, but others have made comment on some other suitable modules if you don't want to go there.