Im trying to draw in new players and ease them into d&d while still providing a robust level of danger and challenge. For the players I have, I think a darker and more Conan-esque tone is necessary for them, enabling them to have some sense of gravity in the story....I'm just not sure how to do it without slaughtering them all.
Give the starter set campaign, the Lost Mines of Phandelver a whirl. There's plenty of challenge, and plenty of stories of TPK from the very first encounter.
I think it's well put together - starts with a decent dungeon crawl, and then opens up to allow the party to cement themselves at the centre of an intriguing plot.
For darker and grittier I would start with making the world harsher and less civilized. Strip away the sometimes gaudy and flashy colors and “modern” cultural aspects of high fantasy and paint the world in earthy tones, add NPCs in ragged attire and introduce crueler justice. Perhaps put humans more in focus, although that is hardly a requirement for dirty and gritty. A pulp story like Conan can be just as grim with gnomes.
What is a bit more challenging would in my view be how wounds are healed in D&D. Going from near dead to full health can happen in a moment. Not so for Conan. You can consider limiting healing effects, but astute game is balanced around it, that brings a heap of problems. But try it? Maybe reduce the effect from potions and spells and see how it works out? More fights at lower CR can make it work. Lastly on that note, coming back from the dead is questionable, at least without a grim price.
Much of D&D is in how you present the narrative, you can run a dark fantasy game, Curse of Strahd is a good example. You could run gritty realism, there are alternate rules in place for that which you can find in the DMG. You could even homebrew it, like Eggnot suggests, where certain parts of healing in the game are a little less effective or harder to come by.
The biggest part of getting players involved and hooked into playing the game is by giving them something that they can sink their teeth into both as a story and their agency. You want to bring them a Conan-esq story, then by all means put them right into the first Conan movie, toss in a little bit of Red Sonja while you're at it. Present them with the session 0 description of what the world is like, what they can expect, what you're willing to let them play (or not play). Explain to them the limitations on things like healing magic or potions, even how the high fantasy of a wizard, sorc, or warlock is going to be minimized as well. By setting up those expectations you'll be able to pull off that dark and gritty world with a bit more ease, since the players won't be blindsided....as much. Then it's just a matter of consistency and making sure you have the notes you need to adapt the setting properly.
Quick question: you're creating the campaign while you're deployed? Or you're running a campaign while deployed?
I'm creating a larger overarching campaign for guys in my company, and I'm introducing newer players to the game via the Sunless citadel... albeit I've tweaked it to be less forgiving...to mirror a Conan Robert E Howard feel sort of how Eggnot suggested
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Im trying to draw in new players and ease them into d&d while still providing a robust level of danger and challenge. For the players I have, I think a darker and more Conan-esque tone is necessary for them, enabling them to have some sense of gravity in the story....I'm just not sure how to do it without slaughtering them all.
Give the starter set campaign, the Lost Mines of Phandelver a whirl. There's plenty of challenge, and plenty of stories of TPK from the very first encounter.
I think it's well put together - starts with a decent dungeon crawl, and then opens up to allow the party to cement themselves at the centre of an intriguing plot.
For darker and grittier I would start with making the world harsher and less civilized. Strip away the sometimes gaudy and flashy colors and “modern” cultural aspects of high fantasy and paint the world in earthy tones, add NPCs in ragged attire and introduce crueler justice. Perhaps put humans more in focus, although that is hardly a requirement for dirty and gritty. A pulp story like Conan can be just as grim with gnomes.
What is a bit more challenging would in my view be how wounds are healed in D&D. Going from near dead to full health can happen in a moment. Not so for Conan. You can consider limiting healing effects, but astute game is balanced around it, that brings a heap of problems. But try it? Maybe reduce the effect from potions and spells and see how it works out? More fights at lower CR can make it work. Lastly on that note, coming back from the dead is questionable, at least without a grim price.
Good luck!
Much of D&D is in how you present the narrative, you can run a dark fantasy game, Curse of Strahd is a good example. You could run gritty realism, there are alternate rules in place for that which you can find in the DMG. You could even homebrew it, like Eggnot suggests, where certain parts of healing in the game are a little less effective or harder to come by.
The biggest part of getting players involved and hooked into playing the game is by giving them something that they can sink their teeth into both as a story and their agency. You want to bring them a Conan-esq story, then by all means put them right into the first Conan movie, toss in a little bit of Red Sonja while you're at it. Present them with the session 0 description of what the world is like, what they can expect, what you're willing to let them play (or not play). Explain to them the limitations on things like healing magic or potions, even how the high fantasy of a wizard, sorc, or warlock is going to be minimized as well. By setting up those expectations you'll be able to pull off that dark and gritty world with a bit more ease, since the players won't be blindsided....as much. Then it's just a matter of consistency and making sure you have the notes you need to adapt the setting properly.
Quick question: you're creating the campaign while you're deployed? Or you're running a campaign while deployed?
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I'm creating a larger overarching campaign for guys in my company, and I'm introducing newer players to the game via the Sunless citadel... albeit I've tweaked it to be less forgiving...to mirror a Conan Robert E Howard feel sort of how Eggnot suggested