If a new DM was to ask you: "What is the most important module to start with?", what would you tell them and why?
Personally, I would tell them Dungeon of the Mad Mage. Might seem like a bit of a strange choice for a brand new DM, but I swear this module WILL teach a DM how to make dungeons- the most quintessential skill a DM can have if you ask me. It helped me tremendously. To this day I still structure the dungeons I make using their format, starting with a blurb about "what dwells here" and a general overview with some background history, then breaking the dungeon down into sections denoted 123.... then breaking down sections into rooms/areas ABC....
It shows you how dungeons can take various shapes, be man-made or natural cave-like, and roughly how big a full sized dungeon level is. The new DM can learn about various encounters that go into a dungeon (battles, traps, hazards, tricks, puzzles, social encounters, etc.) and roughly how difficult they should be. It teaches you about furnishing the dungeon and how to set the right ambience. Running this module took my game to the next level, and I think it would really get the ball rolling for a new DM too.
It is a lot of fun to run too. Just D&D at its very core.
I think it would depend on what the DM and their players are wanting to run stylistically speaking. Some folks run campaigns which feature little to no dungeon crawls. Personally I like the way Lost Mines was set up to be an Intro style adventure set. Nostalgically speaking I’m also a fan of the 5e version of the old Borderlands dungeon as adapted by Goodman Games in their ‘Into the Borderlands’ book. Because of nostalgia I also like the Ghosts of Saltmarsh adventure book, however reading many folks comments about such on the forum I may be one of the few who feels that way.. (Again, nostalgia.. Nothing tastes quite as good as Nostalgia,. Heh.)
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If a new DM was to ask you: "What is the most important module to start with?", what would you tell them and why?
Personally, I would tell them Dungeon of the Mad Mage. Might seem like a bit of a strange choice for a brand new DM, but I swear this module WILL teach a DM how to make dungeons- the most quintessential skill a DM can have if you ask me. It helped me tremendously. To this day I still structure the dungeons I make using their format, starting with a blurb about "what dwells here" and a general overview with some background history, then breaking the dungeon down into sections denoted 123.... then breaking down sections into rooms/areas ABC....
It shows you how dungeons can take various shapes, be man-made or natural cave-like, and roughly how big a full sized dungeon level is. The new DM can learn about various encounters that go into a dungeon (battles, traps, hazards, tricks, puzzles, social encounters, etc.) and roughly how difficult they should be. It teaches you about furnishing the dungeon and how to set the right ambience. Running this module took my game to the next level, and I think it would really get the ball rolling for a new DM too.
It is a lot of fun to run too. Just D&D at its very core.
So anyways that's my pick. What's yours?
Whatever is the most simple basic and simply fundamental module you can find.
I think it would depend on what the DM and their players are wanting to run stylistically speaking. Some folks run campaigns which feature little to no dungeon crawls. Personally I like the way Lost Mines was set up to be an Intro style adventure set. Nostalgically speaking I’m also a fan of the 5e version of the old Borderlands dungeon as adapted by Goodman Games in their ‘Into the Borderlands’ book. Because of nostalgia I also like the Ghosts of Saltmarsh adventure book, however reading many folks comments about such on the forum I may be one of the few who feels that way.. (Again, nostalgia.. Nothing tastes quite as good as Nostalgia,. Heh.)