Hello Fellow Nerds,

I am trying to get my boyfriend into DnD and I want to make a solo dungeon run with him. I want to make it like a tutorial where he can experience all the aspects of dnd in little snippets. I want to start him off as a fighter and then at the end of the dungeon, he picks his class for the longer campaign. I know I want one melee combat, ranged combat, and a big boss fight where he gets a magic item (not sure what) so he can cast a powerful spell to make the big boss doable. So any ideas of things I can put in this dungeon to make it the perfect dnd intro and tutorial would be appreciated <3

In the Red Box from the eighties, there was a sample dungeon that you could go through without a Dungeon Master. In addition to combats, there were a couple of other things. 

• Secret door
• Magic mouth with a riddle
• A note half-hidden in the wall 
• And, don't forget, the rust monster 

Quote from bromangum >>

In the Red Box from the eighties, there was a sample dungeon that you could go through without a Dungeon Master. In addition to combats, there were a couple of other things. 

• Secret door
• Magic mouth with a riddle
• A note half-hidden in the wall 
• And, don't forget, the rust monster 

 Gosh I loved that dungeon. Played it over and over as a kid. If I had a dollar for every item I lost to that rust monster, I'd be rich. :-)

Other aspects I would include:

• A skill challenge, like using Athletics or Acrobatics to navigate obstacles (probably right at the beginning).
• A trap that he needs to make a saving throw against.
• A good or neutral NPC to role-play with, who might give him a potion of healing if he's friendly.
• One weird thing just for fun, like a room with reversed gravity.

Glad to hear you're getting your boyfriend into the game, that's super cool. Hope you both have fun!

Be sure to include the 3 pillars: Combat, Roleplay (Social), and Exploration/Discovery.

Start it small and keep it small.

My suggestion would be to have it set in a small village near a mine. The locals have been experiencing weird things at night near there (hearing noises, seeing shadows move, etc) and have banded together to find and pay someone to go figure out what is happening - and your boyfriend's character is who has stepped up to investigate (either as the offspring of a seasoned adventurer who settled in the village, or as a traveler who found themselves in the village). Start off having the PC go to the tavern to meet with an NPC who is the one entrusted with giving the volunteer information, maybe have a couple other NPCs in the tavern and have that NPC encourage the PC to talk to them to hear their own firsthand accounts of odd activity (RP/Social). Then give the PC a map with 3 locations the locals have reported strange activity for the PC to go and scout out for clues that you have prepared (exploration/discovery), encountering an introductory combat on the 2nd or 3rd location. This also allows a variety of skill checks for different things (survival, nature, arcana, stealth, perception, investigation, etc).

Then the PC can utilize those clues to lead to a back entrance to the local mine, track some sort of trail, maybe have another basic encounter in the mine if time permits, then follow those clues to the boss encounter - perhaps some sort of Undead to pair well with the "strange encounters" or even a baby necromancer; combat). Part of the boss encounter could be some sort of spectral NPC appearing after 1-2 rounds saying "You! Avenge me! Take this!" and present them with whatever magical McGuffin you please, but it needs to have practical immediate use to help them defeat that specific boss or it won't really make sense.

 So you want a small dungeon run. Good start.

But why is he there? Who is he? Nothing really fun about just having a character in a dungeon for no reason. Players should care about the reason they are doing things.

So. You'll have to RP first. You'll have to get a background story for him.

For example if he's currently on the road to a new town. Why is he going there? Easiest thing is he's traveling the world to meet new people, or to find adventure or maybe looking for a new home to set up shop.

Players are tricky.Have to find what hooks them in. So first of find out his backstory and go from there.

* athletics check to run, jump, grab a rope hanging from the ceiling and swing across a chasm.

* a non-proficient skill check to check for traps at a locked door. then either pick the lock or break the door down.

* a time-sensitive challenge, like maybe an intelligence check each round to decipher the glyphs on a locked door before the room fills up with water. 

* an encounter with a creature that is invisible, or maybe that Blinks, so it's not a toe-to-toe fight. Very frustrating for a melee fighter!

For the McGuffin magic item he gets for the boss fight, I would recommend maybe something that automatically heals him a few HP each round, or maybe something that casts Enlarge on him so he's as big as the Big BigBoss. 

Just remember to involve all five senses in your descriptions of the setting/dungeon, and encourage him to describe all his actions in grand heroic detail! 

And most importantly... HAVE FUN!