Hi everybody! I've been playing D&D w/my 15-yo son for a year or so now, strictly Adventurer's League. He's been itching to join a real campaign, but the people he knows who play are already in long-running campaigns with too many players and nobody's interesting in starting a new group.
So step in dad! I've decided to take a stab at DM'ing for my son and 2-3 friends. Some of the friends probably will be new to D&D. My plan is to do a one-session, introductory mini-adventure to get them into it, introduce the concepts, etc. Then probably move from that into the campaign that comes with the Starter Set. I want to brew my own simple campaign for that.
I've got some ideas for what to build here, but I'd LOVE some feedback from more experienced DMs. I have a couple specific questions below, but much more I'd love if people could point out any flaws I haven't thought of, or suggestions to make it go better, or just ideas to add cool new elements. Thanks in advance!
Introduction - The players have been invited (I'm actually going to make these invitations) to a party at a super rich noble's house, who is famous for once a year throwing a party and being willing to invite anybody from any social class. Getting an invite is the goal of every person in the region because the parties are so much fun. The party is broken down into three phases.
First Phases - The players arrive individually and are greeted by the doorman, who takes their weapons and explains that they have time before dinner and they can mingle with the other guests in either the bar or the parlor to pass time until dinner. They are offered a drink at the door and told that all drinks and food are on the house. (There is a subplot running through that they will be offered a LOT of drinks and if they choose to drink a lot, will be doing CON checks for getting drunk, with some minor consequences.) In both rooms, there will be people to talk to and I'll give each player the chance to engage in one (maybe two?) conversations before dinner. Some patrons will drop clues that will help the quest, or hint at a side quest. One patron will be a potential NPC companion possibly willing to go on the quest (class chosen to shore up any weaknesses of the PC party). One patron in the bar is belligerent and may start a fist fight (early introduction to combat). QUESTION - Would this be more interesting to do on a d6 roll to determine what conversation they have? Or should I railroad them a bit? Or give them complete freedom to talk to any NPC, knowing some will be meaningless or red herrings?
Second Phase - After each player has entered and gotten to interact, the valets call for dinner time. The players happen to be seated at the same table! More drinks are offered, along with rich delicious food. Maybe some extra spicey/dangerous dishes that require a skill check (dexterity to crack open a lobster?) NPCs at the table ask the players to introduce themselves to the table (time for players to describe their characters, why they got an invitation, etc.). More drinks offered.
Third Phase - After dinner, the game room is opened! This is to introduce the players to lots of skill checks, and I want to have one game for each stat. Each player can do one, maybe two (but I like the idea that there would be unexperienced games). STR - arm wrestling contest. CON - drinking contest (maybe swimming pool?). DEX - Darts. INT - Chess? Trivia? WIS - Spotting fake versions of paintings? Noticing differences between otherwise identical paintings? Shell game? I could use ideas. CHA - open mic (stage) night! Minor prizes based on how well they do (first round, second round, finals)
Complication - After the games, a butler approaches each of them and asks to meet in a small room, the host would like to ask something of them all. The host enters, explains that they stood out as competent people who could handle a delicate problem. Problem - the mansion's BATHROOMS (indoor plumbing) are all backed up (there would be hints earlier, like an out of order sign on a bathroom and signs to the outhouse), but they couldn't cancel the whole party at the last minute. Plumbers were called and couldn't figure out the problem, but they thought the problem might actually be down in the sewers. The host asks the party to go down in the sewers and investigate and solve the problem
Reward - 200 gold reasonable? I'm also going to have the host say she'll give the group a magic item that they use to help run their indoor plumbing, which turns out to be a Decanter of Endless Water, but the party won't know that until they get it. Note that because the players may want to roll new characters for the full campaign we do next (almost certainly starting with precons for this), I don't want to give them a stronger combat article that they may feel obligated to keep an existing character to use.
What's actually going on - What the players will discover as they investigate is that goblins have moved into the sewer and they plugged up the outlet from the mansion so their hideout would stop flooding. They were making a place to live and bring their loot back from minor raids on nearby farms and houses. (QUESTION - is there a better minor baddie that makes more sense than goblins for that?) Players will fight their way through the sewers to where the stoppage is and deal with it, somehow.
Leaving the Mansion - Interesting dynamic choice of whether they leave right away (it's an evening party) or sleep overnight first. Probably better to wait (they might be drunk or have used spell slots) so I'll give some bonuses if they start right away - maybe the chance to catch a glimpse of goblins returning to the hideout. Or maybe the host will offer better pay if they leave right away.
Getting to the Sewer - I think I'll give them two entrances. They'll be told that the sewers can be accessed back in town, maybe an hour's walk away. That's the long way, and something might happen on the way back to town and somethings will definitely happen in the sewers on the way back in. But there also will be a second entrance - a cave or crack in the ground nearer to the mansion that leads into the sewers. Some party goer NPCs will drop hints about the entrance (they were fox hunting and saw something, have heard rumors of other entrances, saw strange humanoid tracks out in the fields), or I'll give them a chance to find the goblin tracks.
Ways to solve the problem - I could use a little help here. Ideas I have so far they could try: Dig out the obstruction with hands. Add tools to be faster. (But if they're not careful, the backup will come pouring out at them too fast.) A hidden lever that's a self-destruct mechanism (is that a little too complex for goblins?). Maybe a package of explosives somewhere they can use. Some ranged magic ability of a character. A convenient magic item found in the sewers that will do the trick - a certain magic scroll or a piece of explosive ammo? Come back later escorting professional excavators.
Dungeon - I haven't worked on this much yet. Fairly straightforward, more for introducing to combat. Maybe a single trap. Probably not a riddle other than eliminating the blockage. I'm not as worried about this.
Ways to solve the problem - The Goblins have closed the valve on drainage pipe and removed the handle (big round wheel type) one of the golins is wearing it as a medallion around his neck
“It cannot be seen, cannot be felt, Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt, It lies behind stars and under hills, And empty holes it fills, It comes first and follows after, Ends life, kills laughter.” J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
If you are new to being a DM you could just try the Encounter Builder if you want to see how hard it would be for your party to fight goblins if they do.
In phase 1, be very careful about adding an NPC to the party. It can be really tough to play a PC who is trying to figure things out when you already know everything.
Don’t do the conversations randomly, decide which of the other guests knows what. If the PC’s don’t ask the right person, they don’t get any answers. Or call for an investigation check and use that to decide how much information any given PC gets from hobnobbing.
Phase 3, wisdom could be riddles where good rolls get them clues to the answers but those tend to involve metagaming, so maybe not.
Multiple sewer entrances is a good idea. And if the players think of some other way to get in, reward their ingenuity and go with it. You can use the same map and entrance point you’d already made, and they’ll never know the difference.
200 gp and a magic item feels a bit much for what I’m assuming are level 1 characters. Of course, if it’s a 1-shot it won’t matter since you won’t be coming back to the characters, though it may set some expectations for treasure that could be challenging in a full campaign.
And goblins makes for a good start, and a good entrance into a larger campaign, if you decide you don’t want to go the published adventure route. Why did they leave their old home? Chased off by a bigger baddie? A mysterious crevasse opened in the ground? The area flooded? A meteorite crashed nearby and started poisoning the area? And why did any of these things happen? Someone/something slightly higher up on the food chain. Who was, in turn, working for someone even stronger. And now they’ve got this noble as a patron, who might have some other problems he needs help with. Depending on how you want to go with him, the solutions he’s seeking could be less than ethical, or entirely for the good of the region.
Your idea is great and it inspired what I hope a couple of ideas you find interesting:
First Phase: The house staff (or perhaps caterer, depending on how you have the food service set up) is pushing drinks for the purpose of dragging off drunkards and rolling them for loot. One or more of your players may succumb to it, resulting in a drunken brawl against the bad guys. Alternately, if your players avoid drinking heavily, they may discover someone getting rolled and rescue them - which may get them an even greater reward if they report it to the host of the party and bring the bad guys to justice. Alternately, the host may be doing it...but it sounds to me like you want your host to be a good guy/resource to the party. Cracking the case is also a great lead-in to the host recognizing them as "competent people who can handle a delicate problem" and thus - the main sewer mission.
Third Phase: I did an open mike night in my campaign, mainly for the bard - to give her a chance to show off her performance chops. I created a cool skill challenge that allowed her to perform (Performance skill) and use skills like Persuasion and Insight to read the room, figure out what they like, and perform accordingly. It was huge fun - so much fun that ALL my players decided to do a performance, which ate up the whole evening. :) I used the method of 5 successful rolls before 3 failures on the chosen skills to successfully pass the skill challenge. (Let me know if you need a link to a concise explanation of how skill challenges work).
Ways to Solve the Problem: While I absolutely love the idea that JustinDarkness provided (well done sir!), I would have said that the solution to the problem is up to the players ingenuity. You'll be surprised at what they come up with - and you can create appropriate skill challenges or circumstances that map to what they want to try.
I've always wondered about adding NPCs. It seems logical, but I can see why you wouldn't want them reliant. It's probably a personal thing, in Adventurer's League I'm constantly trying to talk NPCs into joining us. Once I gave a really inspiring speech and convinced the entire ablebodied population of a village to come along and help us storm a lair that was harassing the village, torch & pitchfork style.
On the magic item front, I wanted something exciting as a hook for the new players, but not too powerful, but also that would encourage creative thinking.
Oh a little side quest of drunk rollers would be great! Probably not the staff unless it's a rogue or newly hired member who's about to be canned. It could be a member of the local thieves guild or similar who happened to be invited. Or maybe a pickpocket working the room that the players could find. The butler could warn the players people have been reporting missing things, or they could run into that in a conversation, or good perception checks might notice something amiss and take further steps. And the drunker the players are, the more likely they are to get pickpocketed if they haven't marked the thief yet.
When I was listing possible solutions, I was mostly trying to think of things the players might come up with. But I feel like there should be one... "planted" solution too, although maybe it shouldn't be obvious so that there's a more reasonable chance the players have to do something creative. Like the handle is on the boss goblin but it isn't obvious? This is one I'll think about.
Advice about phase 1 with the NPC interaction. If you’re DMing a group of 15 year old kids, most of whom are new to the game, they aren’t likely to jump right in and talk to random party goers. You might instead seat one particularly talkative one at their dinner table. Use the time you budgeted for the meet and greet to solve the side quest of catching that pickpocket. Maybe they get a common magic item for catching the pickpocket. I’m thinking along the lines of a tankard of sobriety or clockwork amulet.
The skill games are fun, but again with new players, railroading a bit isn’t so bad until they really learn to role play. The games might not live up to your expectations.
I don’t think the master of the house needs to offer much for clearing the sewers. That Decanter of Endless Water would be on brand. “Here, take this to help flush the pipes when you’ve opened the blockage, and you may keep that.” The majority of gold can be found in the sewers with the goblins. I’d say play up that leg of the adventure.
so I’d outline it:
1. Arrival at party
2. Dinner
a) NPC lore drop
b) CON saves from alcohol
c) Perception v. sleight of hand to notice getting pickpocketed. (Maybe once for each player to give several chances to catch this guy)
d) chase thief into side room and battle to recover looted items.
e) host thanks them, and requests help
3. Sent to Sewers
a) choose best entry
b) dungeon crawl, picking up loot from goblin patrols
c) the blockage and the throne room
d) debrief with host
I wouldn’t be so quick to assume they’ll want new characters before starting the next adventure. They may want the continuity of starting as an established party, with a magic item or two, and a bit of gold. Which is why I’m advising common magic items for now. You could start with them and not break the game. Maybe they will want new characters. No big deal to scrap these. But it’d be messier if they want to keep them and can’t because they’re overpowered. This gives them a choice.
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Hi everybody! I've been playing D&D w/my 15-yo son for a year or so now, strictly Adventurer's League. He's been itching to join a real campaign, but the people he knows who play are already in long-running campaigns with too many players and nobody's interesting in starting a new group.
So step in dad! I've decided to take a stab at DM'ing for my son and 2-3 friends. Some of the friends probably will be new to D&D. My plan is to do a one-session, introductory mini-adventure to get them into it, introduce the concepts, etc. Then probably move from that into the campaign that comes with the Starter Set. I want to brew my own simple campaign for that.
I've got some ideas for what to build here, but I'd LOVE some feedback from more experienced DMs. I have a couple specific questions below, but much more I'd love if people could point out any flaws I haven't thought of, or suggestions to make it go better, or just ideas to add cool new elements. Thanks in advance!
Introduction - The players have been invited (I'm actually going to make these invitations) to a party at a super rich noble's house, who is famous for once a year throwing a party and being willing to invite anybody from any social class. Getting an invite is the goal of every person in the region because the parties are so much fun. The party is broken down into three phases.
First Phases - The players arrive individually and are greeted by the doorman, who takes their weapons and explains that they have time before dinner and they can mingle with the other guests in either the bar or the parlor to pass time until dinner. They are offered a drink at the door and told that all drinks and food are on the house. (There is a subplot running through that they will be offered a LOT of drinks and if they choose to drink a lot, will be doing CON checks for getting drunk, with some minor consequences.) In both rooms, there will be people to talk to and I'll give each player the chance to engage in one (maybe two?) conversations before dinner. Some patrons will drop clues that will help the quest, or hint at a side quest. One patron will be a potential NPC companion possibly willing to go on the quest (class chosen to shore up any weaknesses of the PC party). One patron in the bar is belligerent and may start a fist fight (early introduction to combat). QUESTION - Would this be more interesting to do on a d6 roll to determine what conversation they have? Or should I railroad them a bit? Or give them complete freedom to talk to any NPC, knowing some will be meaningless or red herrings?
Second Phase - After each player has entered and gotten to interact, the valets call for dinner time. The players happen to be seated at the same table! More drinks are offered, along with rich delicious food. Maybe some extra spicey/dangerous dishes that require a skill check (dexterity to crack open a lobster?) NPCs at the table ask the players to introduce themselves to the table (time for players to describe their characters, why they got an invitation, etc.). More drinks offered.
Third Phase - After dinner, the game room is opened! This is to introduce the players to lots of skill checks, and I want to have one game for each stat. Each player can do one, maybe two (but I like the idea that there would be unexperienced games). STR - arm wrestling contest. CON - drinking contest (maybe swimming pool?). DEX - Darts. INT - Chess? Trivia? WIS - Spotting fake versions of paintings? Noticing differences between otherwise identical paintings? Shell game? I could use ideas. CHA - open mic (stage) night! Minor prizes based on how well they do (first round, second round, finals)
Complication - After the games, a butler approaches each of them and asks to meet in a small room, the host would like to ask something of them all. The host enters, explains that they stood out as competent people who could handle a delicate problem. Problem - the mansion's BATHROOMS (indoor plumbing) are all backed up (there would be hints earlier, like an out of order sign on a bathroom and signs to the outhouse), but they couldn't cancel the whole party at the last minute. Plumbers were called and couldn't figure out the problem, but they thought the problem might actually be down in the sewers. The host asks the party to go down in the sewers and investigate and solve the problem
Reward - 200 gold reasonable? I'm also going to have the host say she'll give the group a magic item that they use to help run their indoor plumbing, which turns out to be a Decanter of Endless Water, but the party won't know that until they get it. Note that because the players may want to roll new characters for the full campaign we do next (almost certainly starting with precons for this), I don't want to give them a stronger combat article that they may feel obligated to keep an existing character to use.
What's actually going on - What the players will discover as they investigate is that goblins have moved into the sewer and they plugged up the outlet from the mansion so their hideout would stop flooding. They were making a place to live and bring their loot back from minor raids on nearby farms and houses. (QUESTION - is there a better minor baddie that makes more sense than goblins for that?) Players will fight their way through the sewers to where the stoppage is and deal with it, somehow.
Leaving the Mansion - Interesting dynamic choice of whether they leave right away (it's an evening party) or sleep overnight first. Probably better to wait (they might be drunk or have used spell slots) so I'll give some bonuses if they start right away - maybe the chance to catch a glimpse of goblins returning to the hideout. Or maybe the host will offer better pay if they leave right away.
Getting to the Sewer - I think I'll give them two entrances. They'll be told that the sewers can be accessed back in town, maybe an hour's walk away. That's the long way, and something might happen on the way back to town and somethings will definitely happen in the sewers on the way back in. But there also will be a second entrance - a cave or crack in the ground nearer to the mansion that leads into the sewers. Some party goer NPCs will drop hints about the entrance (they were fox hunting and saw something, have heard rumors of other entrances, saw strange humanoid tracks out in the fields), or I'll give them a chance to find the goblin tracks.
Ways to solve the problem - I could use a little help here. Ideas I have so far they could try: Dig out the obstruction with hands. Add tools to be faster. (But if they're not careful, the backup will come pouring out at them too fast.) A hidden lever that's a self-destruct mechanism (is that a little too complex for goblins?). Maybe a package of explosives somewhere they can use. Some ranged magic ability of a character. A convenient magic item found in the sewers that will do the trick - a certain magic scroll or a piece of explosive ammo? Come back later escorting professional excavators.
Dungeon - I haven't worked on this much yet. Fairly straightforward, more for introducing to combat. Maybe a single trap. Probably not a riddle other than eliminating the blockage. I'm not as worried about this.
Thanks for any feedback or suggestions you have!
Ways to solve the problem - The Goblins have closed the valve on drainage pipe and removed the handle (big round wheel type) one of the golins is wearing it as a medallion around his neck
“It cannot be seen, cannot be felt, Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt, It lies behind stars and under hills, And empty holes it fills, It comes first and follows after, Ends life, kills laughter.” J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
Hah, I like it! Much simpler.
If you are new to being a DM you could just try the Encounter Builder if you want to see how hard it would be for your party to fight goblins if they do.
In phase 1, be very careful about adding an NPC to the party. It can be really tough to play a PC who is trying to figure things out when you already know everything.
Don’t do the conversations randomly, decide which of the other guests knows what. If the PC’s don’t ask the right person, they don’t get any answers. Or call for an investigation check and use that to decide how much information any given PC gets from hobnobbing.
Phase 3, wisdom could be riddles where good rolls get them clues to the answers but those tend to involve metagaming, so maybe not.
Multiple sewer entrances is a good idea. And if the players think of some other way to get in, reward their ingenuity and go with it. You can use the same map and entrance point you’d already made, and they’ll never know the difference.
200 gp and a magic item feels a bit much for what I’m assuming are level 1 characters. Of course, if it’s a 1-shot it won’t matter since you won’t be coming back to the characters, though it may set some expectations for treasure that could be challenging in a full campaign.
And goblins makes for a good start, and a good entrance into a larger campaign, if you decide you don’t want to go the published adventure route. Why did they leave their old home? Chased off by a bigger baddie? A mysterious crevasse opened in the ground? The area flooded? A meteorite crashed nearby and started poisoning the area? And why did any of these things happen? Someone/something slightly higher up on the food chain. Who was, in turn, working for someone even stronger.
And now they’ve got this noble as a patron, who might have some other problems he needs help with. Depending on how you want to go with him, the solutions he’s seeking could be less than ethical, or entirely for the good of the region.
Your idea is great and it inspired what I hope a couple of ideas you find interesting:
Good luck! Sounds like a blast!
Thanks everybody so much!
I've always wondered about adding NPCs. It seems logical, but I can see why you wouldn't want them reliant. It's probably a personal thing, in Adventurer's League I'm constantly trying to talk NPCs into joining us. Once I gave a really inspiring speech and convinced the entire ablebodied population of a village to come along and help us storm a lair that was harassing the village, torch & pitchfork style.
On the magic item front, I wanted something exciting as a hook for the new players, but not too powerful, but also that would encourage creative thinking.
Oh a little side quest of drunk rollers would be great! Probably not the staff unless it's a rogue or newly hired member who's about to be canned. It could be a member of the local thieves guild or similar who happened to be invited. Or maybe a pickpocket working the room that the players could find. The butler could warn the players people have been reporting missing things, or they could run into that in a conversation, or good perception checks might notice something amiss and take further steps. And the drunker the players are, the more likely they are to get pickpocketed if they haven't marked the thief yet.
When I was listing possible solutions, I was mostly trying to think of things the players might come up with. But I feel like there should be one... "planted" solution too, although maybe it shouldn't be obvious so that there's a more reasonable chance the players have to do something creative. Like the handle is on the boss goblin but it isn't obvious? This is one I'll think about.
Totally agree re: having a planted solution. This becomes (if not the main thrust) the perfect fail case scenario.
Advice about phase 1 with the NPC interaction. If you’re DMing a group of 15 year old kids, most of whom are new to the game, they aren’t likely to jump right in and talk to random party goers. You might instead seat one particularly talkative one at their dinner table. Use the time you budgeted for the meet and greet to solve the side quest of catching that pickpocket. Maybe they get a common magic item for catching the pickpocket. I’m thinking along the lines of a tankard of sobriety or clockwork amulet.
The skill games are fun, but again with new players, railroading a bit isn’t so bad until they really learn to role play. The games might not live up to your expectations.
I don’t think the master of the house needs to offer much for clearing the sewers. That Decanter of Endless Water would be on brand. “Here, take this to help flush the pipes when you’ve opened the blockage, and you may keep that.” The majority of gold can be found in the sewers with the goblins. I’d say play up that leg of the adventure.
so I’d outline it:
1. Arrival at party
2. Dinner
a) NPC lore drop
b) CON saves from alcohol
c) Perception v. sleight of hand to notice getting pickpocketed. (Maybe once for each player to give several chances to catch this guy)
d) chase thief into side room and battle to recover looted items.
e) host thanks them, and requests help
3. Sent to Sewers
a) choose best entry
b) dungeon crawl, picking up loot from goblin patrols
c) the blockage and the throne room
d) debrief with host
I wouldn’t be so quick to assume they’ll want new characters before starting the next adventure. They may want the continuity of starting as an established party, with a magic item or two, and a bit of gold. Which is why I’m advising common magic items for now. You could start with them and not break the game. Maybe they will want new characters. No big deal to scrap these. But it’d be messier if they want to keep them and can’t because they’re overpowered. This gives them a choice.