Quote from: jhkim on March 06, 2025, 12:11:15 PMMy favorite D&D (or D&D-adjacent) introductory adventure is "The Sunless Citadel". It's made for 3E, but easily adaptable to other D&D editions or OSR.

John, the Sunless Citadel was updated for 5e as part of the adventure anthology, "Tales from the Yawning Portal".  Just FYI.  I found that book really handy and fun.

My "Go To" for a beginning D&D adventure for newbies has usually been "The Haunted Keep" from the back of the Moldvay Basic Set.  Dragonsfoot or somesuch did an expansion PDF that I think is still online, detailing the other tower and under-caverns. 

Quote from: SHARK on March 06, 2025, 10:14:47 PMGreetings!

Yes, well, I would highly recommend B2 Keep On The Borderlands. Goodman Games has created a uber-deluxe B2 homage that reprints the original module--AND--includes the B2 module updated for 5E. AND includes expanded material, side-adventures that can readily be used. In addition, due to Gygax's brilliance, B2 Keep On The Borderlands embraces many open sand-box kind of areas that can easily be expanded and developed by the DM for additional adventures. B2 Keep On The Borderlands can very easily accommodate a party of adventurers advancing to 3rd level and beyond. I would say you can very easily expand things out to reaching 5th or 6th level. Within the material there are so many open-ended hooks and loose ends, the possibilities for also developing additional side adventures that even take on different flavours and themes is also easily accomplished. Adventures that feature some kind of economic development, learning new professions, starting a business of some kind, that kind of thing. You can establish a Wizard's Tower, perhaps a small monastery, and the like so as to provide enhanced training opportunities for Player Characters, research, and different kinds of mentors and allies for the party of adventurers.

So many possibilities and rich potential! I have run this module numerous times for different groups, and every time it has delivered in spades. Absolute fun and excitement, flexibility, and more. Also worth mentioning, is that in the process of using and developing the B2 module, the DM will very likely easily be fleshing out and detailing many aspects and details of the local campaign environment. These foundations, then, also make the development of larger dynamics and campaign elements also much easier. These kinds of considerations and elements also provide a springboard for future adventures for the party, when they rise in level beyond the immediate environment of the B2 module.

B2 Keep On The Borderlands is simply the best!

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

Yeah its a good product, but hard for a newbie to acquire. Goodman doesn't have the license anymore and tracking down used copies can be a pain. I found that out when I missed their version of The Lost City and went looking for a copy.

Keep on the Borderlands has no plot, it will require work.  Professor Dungeonmaster has a series on how he set up his campaign and ran it more OSR.  Set up a plot reason for the monsters being in the caves (they trade slaves captured to bandits for drugs and human goods) and the evil cult brought them there to help them conquer the castle.  You can run "Old Man Katan and his Mushroom Band" - dungeon magazine for the Swamp portion and you have the world set up then for the map.

Otherwise, I'd go with "Age of Worms" adventure path.  It has the best set up town in D&D's historys.  Multiple taverns, multiple factions all with their own goals and a set reason to go adventuring.

Tomb of the Serpent Kings by Skerples is pretty good. So is Prison of the Hated Pretender by Gus L. Both are free PDFs.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/252934/tomb-of-the-serpent-kings-deluxe-print-edition

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/333389/prison-of-the-hated-pretender

Quote from: Brigman on March 06, 2025, 11:25:38 PM

Quote from: jhkim on March 06, 2025, 12:11:15 PMMy favorite D&D (or D&D-adjacent) introductory adventure is "The Sunless Citadel". It's made for 3E, but easily adaptable to other D&D editions or OSR.

John, the Sunless Citadel was updated for 5e as part of the adventure anthology, "Tales from the Yawning Portal".  Just FYI.  I found that book really handy and fun.

Thanks. I had forgotten that. I think it should be fairly easy to convert to OSR. I used it for a 5E game before the Yawning Portal book came out. Specifically what I like about it is that there are answers to things like "Who built the dungeon and why?" (it was an old human citadel that fell into the earth) and "What problems are the dungeon inhabitants causing?" (not much from the goblins and kobolds, but the evil druid below is capturing locals to feed and grow the evil tree).

Quote from: honeydipperdavid on March 07, 2025, 11:51:28 AMKeep on the Borderlands has no plot, it will require work.  Professor Dungeonmaster has a series on how he set up his campaign and ran it more OSR.  Set up a plot reason for the monsters being in the caves (they trade slaves captured to bandits for drugs and human goods) and the evil cult brought them there to help them conquer the castle.

Yeah, it is possible to just run B2 Keep on the Borderlands without adding any plot - but I think it's missing something compared to other classic modules like the G series - which have more background like who built the dungeon and what are the inhabitants doing, and thus why the PCs are going there.

Quote from: jhkim on March 06, 2025, 12:11:15 PMMy favorite D&D (or D&D-adjacent) introductory adventure is "The Sunless Citadel". It's made for 3E, but easily adaptable to other D&D editions or OSR.

That's a good one.

I would suggest the OP to check the Lamentations of the Flame Princess adventure named "Better than any man", which is free, in its digital form.

The blog Age of Dusk by a fellow called Prince of Dusk has made a rather positive review of this adventure and since it is free and easily avalaible and convertible to B/X.

I will post a link to this review and since it is free, no buyer remorse.

Here we go :https://princeofnothingblogs.wordpress.com/2016/08/25/princeofnothingreviews-better-then-any-man-loftp-raggis-magnum-opus/

It is made for a group of adults gamers (the 18 + nature of this adventure is explicitly show and its cover)

It is not for every one but it is quiet memorable.

I would run one of The Hole in the Oak or Prison of the Hated Pretender as an opening adventure. Both good enough they stay away from any hint of the killing rats in a tavern basement school of tutorial adventure, while still being good introductions. From there, maybe pivot to Pod Caverns of the Sinister Shroom followed by Demonspore (stand alone adventures but go back to back well).

I've run Dyson's Delve once, it is good enough I'll second the recommendation in principle, but you need a decent, dedicated mapper on the player side. Those two up/downs per level in a tight space make accuracy important so play doesn't come to a grinding halt trying to fix a map. So you might need to make a judgement of your player group here before choosing it.

A heresy - the classic TSR adventures, while classic for a reason, are a little more dependent on the DM bringing them to life than the best of the newer OSR adventures. Structurally good, but a little more vanilla. If I'm understanding you about bringing the thunder in a short time I suggest cherry-picking the best of the new OSR. Tenfootpole's Best of the New Old School tab has a longer list to choose from if nothing above strikes your fancy.

I think you should sit back and think of something totally cool and badass that happens in the genre you intend to run, and do that. Then look for maps for site locations that fit the place where the cool shit is going down. I'm guessing you intend to play some fantasy stuff. modules are not the idea, they are just support tools. If this is fantasy there are a lot of cliches you can work off of. Even the stupid set up of meeting in a tavern can be used as an example. Everyone has got their new player and they all dutifully made a "rounded" party, blah, blah blah. As DM don't ask what they want to do, or talk to or here rumors about blah, blah, blah.

As a DM you should do something to them. Immediately. The town guards come in and say "There the murders/thieves/terrible voice actors/whatever they are, are!" and with blades drawn they come at the PCs with murderous intent in there eyes.

Where the session goes from there is anybody's guess. But after starting off with "some cool shit" it really doesn't matter what module you have, because modules are supporting material. That is the fun of being a DM. You collect adventures you think are cool as shit and stick them on your bookshelf. Then one day the players are in some sort of situation/interaction and your brain lights up and goes "I know what would be perfect for this."

The first opening act has to be interesting. IF not, the rest of the session is everyone (including the DM) groping around trying to figure out what you are "supposed" to do.

I want to thank you guys for the great responses. Some of these modules I'm familiar with. Others I'm not and I look forward to checking them out.

I've been involved in the hobby off and on for a long time, but I've been away the last 15 years. My last experience was playing and running 4e. That was awful, but useful in that it clarified for me that I am an old-school gamer and I want to play with other old-school gamers.

A piece of advice up thread resonates with me and I will keep in mind going forward. That is to start things where the action begins. I actually own the Goodman games reprint of KOTB. If I decide to use it and I might cause I agree it's pretty great, I think I will start the players at the mouth of a cave and let er rip. That way we could make the most of our three hour sessions.

I remember a long time ago, participating in RPGA sessions at cons. Those were four hour slots and the content was optimized for a maximum amount of D&D action within that time. There was a discipline to that format that I think would be useful to guide my DMing.

This is a helpful thread. My thinking is taking shape.