# Best 1st level Adventures



## Obergnom (Jun 10, 2009)

What are your favourite 1st level adventures? (Or higher level, I am looking for a nice campaign starter...)

I have done the Village of Hommlet formula to death and am looking for some inspiration


----------



## the Jester (Jun 10, 2009)

_Of Sound Mind_ has the most satisfying climax of any adventure I've run. It's fantastic- iirc Fiery Dragon published it. 

And Piratecat wrote it!


----------



## ExploderWizard (Jun 10, 2009)

The old 1E adventure Treasure Hunt is great style of adventure to start a campaign. You can modify the premise of the original and have the characters start off at 1st level. 

Starting a campaign with the PC's as survivors of a shipwreck that must survive in a hostile environment is great departure from the typical small town or village start.


----------



## Klaus (Jun 10, 2009)

In addition to Of Sound Mind, there's also Fiery Dragon's NeMoren's Vault.


----------



## demiurge1138 (Jun 10, 2009)

Let's see. Paizo's done a couple of fantastic ones: "The Whispering Cairn" from The Age of Worms and "Howl of the Carrion King" are both excellent, and can be stripped from their Adventure Path context with minimal effort. Both were written by Erik Mona, incidentally--he should do that more often.


----------



## Moon_Goddess (Jun 10, 2009)

You know, I just realized I never read NeMorden's Vault because I was playing as Vadania in Piratecat's Iconics game, then when the game stopped we never got to finish the story.

I may have to go dig that out again.


----------



## hazel monday (Jun 10, 2009)

The best first level adventures are

1. Whispering Cairn by Eric Mona

2. Edge of Anarchy by Nicolas Logue

3. Shadow in the Sky by Greg Vaughan


----------



## Woas (Jun 10, 2009)

I once had someone run _The Tower of the Elephant_ Conan story as a starter adventure. I thought it was great adventure to kick of a game with.


----------



## Bullgrit (Jun 10, 2009)

Keep on the Borderlands. It's originally designed for Basic D&D, but as it uses all common, stock, normal monsters, it's very easy to use as is (except maybe for D&D4).

Total Bullgeek

It's the ultimate campaign starter. It has no set plot to "finish," and it's big enough to give many, many game sessions of play. It has a base town (the Keep), wilderness adventures, and the Caves of Chaos with nearly every base D&D monster.

For a DM, though, the encounter/room text is not organized, and written sort of stream of consciousness style, so it's difficult to run without reading it carefully before actually playing it. It has some other shortcomings, too.

But the basic adventure is great for starting a campaign with beginning PCs.

Bullgrit


----------



## ggroy (Jun 10, 2009)

Early D&D modules like "In Search of the Unknown" B1 and "Keep on the Borderlands" B2.


----------



## Qualidar (Jun 10, 2009)

Mad God's Key (from Dungeon) is usually toted as one of the best 1st level adventures. I'm not sure how good of a "campaign starter" it is, but worth checking out (and they're having a magazine sale over at Paizo, so it might be available cheep!)


----------



## Dyson Logos (Jun 10, 2009)

I'm a big fan of B1 - B1 In Search of the Unknown – My module of choice « A character for every game

But as was brought up in the last modules thread, Harley Stroh hit the ball out of the park with both his level 0 module and his level 1 module for the DCC line. 

For level 0 it's DCC 35A - Halls of the Minotaur (which feels in several ways like B1) and for levels 1-3 it's DCC 28 - Into the Wilds (which feels like B2)


----------



## roguerouge (Jun 10, 2009)

I've had fantastic luck with Legends Are Made, Not Born (DCC for 0th level characters). I'm itching to do Hangman's Noose, a splatter horror mystery, if you can believe it! Also, there's tons of NPCs that the DM needs to RP for that one...


----------



## Festivus (Jun 10, 2009)

I have always liked "A Dark and Stormy Knight" for a kickoff adventure.  It gives a reason the group is all together, and can be run in a few hours, with lots of time for interaction between the party members.


----------



## Sunderstone (Jun 10, 2009)

*Mad God's Key* - Jason Buhlman (Dungeon #114)
*Whipering Cairn* - Erik Mona (Dungeon #124)
*Halls of the Minotaur* - Harley Stroh (DCC 35a, also a zero level module)
*Into the Wilds* - Harley Stroh (DCC 28)
*Dreaming Caverns of the Duergar* - Mike Ferguson (DCC 44, an Underdark module to boot)
*There is No Honor* - James Jacobs (Dungeon #139, from the STAP but easily plug and play, very Urban)
*Crucible of Freya* - Clark Peterson, Bill Webb (with great free Prelude and Expansion PDFs available) 

These would be my picks


----------



## Dyson Logos (Jun 10, 2009)

Bullgrit said:


> Keep on the Borderlands. It's originally designed for Basic D&D, but as it uses all common, stock, normal monsters, it's very easy to use as is (except maybe for D&D4).
> 
> Total Bullgeek




While easy to use, I find it really tough for a level 1 party - the encounters rapidly spiral out of control if the party isn't exceptionally stealthy when engaging the outer guards of a lair. Far too often you end up with a party failing to disable the initial guards and then finding themselves being dogpiled by the majority of the inhabitants of the particular cave.

On the upside, it REALLY encourages parlaying with the various creatures you meet, hoping to turn at least one of the tribes of cave denizens into allies - particularly if it is one of the two orc tribes.


----------



## Mistwell (Jun 10, 2009)

Gorgoldand's Gauntlet, by Johnathan M. Richards, originally published in Dungeon #87.  What an amazing adventure that was.  I dearly wish we would see more from Johnathan Richards, for 4e, such as another Challenge of Champions.


----------



## Amphimir Míriel (Jun 10, 2009)

I tended to use *(C3) The Lost Island of Castanamir* to teach roleplaying to newbies, but I'm weird like that...


----------



## Betote (Jun 11, 2009)

demiurge1138 said:


> Let's see. Paizo's done a couple of fantastic ones: "The Whispering Cairn" from The Age of Worms and "Howl of the Carrion King" are both excellent, and can be stripped from their Adventure Path context with minimal effort. Both were written by Erik Mona, incidentally--he should do that more often.




This. I'll add _Burnt Offerings_ and Necromancer's _Crucible of Freya_. All of them have the advantage of being also mini-campaign settings, which you can use to start an Adventure Path (three of them have theirs already built, and I find _Tomb of Abysthor_ as a perfect follow-up for CoF ), or as the players' base for your own sandbox.


----------



## meomwt (Jun 11, 2009)

Adding to the love for _NeMoren's Vault_, _The Whispering Cairn_ and _Crucible of Freya_ - assuming you start with _The Wizard's Amulet_ first. 

That's the free download from the Necromancer Games site. It was updated to 3.5E a while ago.


----------



## DEP (Jun 11, 2009)

Howl of the Carrion King (just finished running it and WOW AMAZING)
The Whispering Cairn (pure greatness)
Mad God's Key (started a few campaigns with it)
Keep on the Borderlands (duh)
Sunless Citadel (surprisingly good, and hooked some players with it)
Edge of Anarchy
Burnt Offerings

Those are my favourite level one adventures.


----------



## Jan van Leyden (Jun 11, 2009)

Without further touting:

- Against the Cult of Reptile (1st edition AD&D, TSR)
- Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh (1st edition AD&D, TSR)
- Evil's Lesser Minions (3rd edition D&D, Pinwheel games)

All of manageable size for newcomers, with opportunities for free roleplaying without any interfering rule.


----------



## grodog (Jun 14, 2009)

"Trouble at Grog's" (Dungeon #4, by Grant & David Boucher) is an excellent adventure for 1st level PCs.

Other low-level favorite include:

- L1 Secret of Bone Hill by Len Lakofka (levels 2-4).  
- N5 Under Illefarn by Steve Perrin (level 1)
- B1 In Search of the Unknown by Mike Carr (level 1)

Both L1 and N5 have extensive notes about the wilderness around the dungeons, and offer an experience similar to T1 Village of Hommlet, but with more wilderness/travel options.


----------



## deadsmurf (Jun 14, 2009)

I really liked the Whispering Cairn from Dungeon, and I'm also a big fan of the Forgotten Forge from the 3.5 Eberron Campaign setting.  Great introduction to the setting.
And I really really like the short delve, Kobold Hall, from the 4E DMG.  It had cool and well designed encounters.


----------



## Rechan (Jun 14, 2009)

I've seen good results from:

The Hangman's Noose (Paizo)
Three Days to Kill (Penumbra)


----------



## Obergnom (Jun 14, 2009)

wow, thanks! A lot of recommendations 

What makes Whispering Cairn so great? I have read it a long time ago and I don't remember it impressing me.


----------



## Entropi (Jun 14, 2009)

My favorites because there is more to them than slogging through a dungeon:

Against the Cult of the Reptile God
Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh
Destiny of Kings

Honorable Mention:
Journey to the Rock

Classic Dungeon Slogs:
Keep on the Borderlands
In Search of the Unknown
Castle Caldwell
Palace of the Silver Princess


----------



## grodog (Jun 14, 2009)

Obergnom said:


> What makes Whispering Cairn so great? I have read it a long time ago and I don't remember it impressing me.




Off the top of my head:
- written by Erik Mona and well-set in Greyhawk
- excellent dungeon design, with a variety of twists/surprises
- expandable scenario if you include the "continuation" of the level into "A Gathering of Winds" by Wolfgang Baur

I remember liking the design of the cairn itself quite a bit as well.


----------



## DEP (Jun 14, 2009)

grodog said:


> Off the top of my head:
> - written by Erik Mona and well-set in Greyhawk
> - excellent dungeon design, with a variety of twists/surprises
> - expandable scenario if you include the "continuation" of the level into "A Gathering of Winds" by Wolfgang Baur
> ...




I agree with all of that. It was just well written and had a certain mood about it. Not to mention Diamond Lake was well thought out. All in all it really was just a well thought out and well written adventure.


----------



## Olli (Jun 15, 2009)

I have always loved "the lost City"! I think it´s B3 for  BECMI. Great Scenario (if a little wonky with the choice of Monsters sometimes). And you can base a whole Campaign on it. If you don´t know, give it a read.

Olli


----------



## grodog (Jun 15, 2009)

Lost City is B4, but still a great scenario, and one of Tom Moldvay's best!


----------



## meomwt (Jun 16, 2009)

grodog said:


> Off the top of my head:
> - written by Erik Mona and well-set in Greyhawk
> - excellent dungeon design, with a variety of twists/surprises
> - expandable scenario if you include the "continuation" of the level into "A Gathering of Winds" by Wolfgang Baur
> ...






DEP said:


> I agree with all of that. It was just well written and had a certain mood about it. Not to mention Diamond Lake was well thought out. All in all it really was just a well thought out and well written adventure.




As well as all that, the adventure is more than a simple Dungeon Crawl. There's a spot of investigation, the chance for some RP in Diamond Lake, a repulsive villain at the end (who doesn't need to be killed, btw)...

Gosh, this is all getting me stoked up to run this adventure...


----------



## Olli (Jun 16, 2009)

grodog said:


> Lost City is B4, but still a great scenario, and one of Tom Moldvay's best!




Oops!!

Well, I haven´t run it in years, so I´m sorry for the wrong number...


----------



## LostSoul (Jun 16, 2009)

I think Under Illefarn and Keep on the Borderlands are my favorites.


----------



## catsclaw227 (Jun 16, 2009)

I'd like to throw in a vote for "Lost City of Barakus" from Necromancer.  It's a great sandbox to play in, has some interesting encounters, non-linear, with a city, a wilderness of encounters and a dungeon with local history.

It really is a great campaign kick-off!


----------



## olshanski (Jun 17, 2009)

Old Edition:
B4 The Lost City
U1-U3 Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh Trilogy
N1? Against the cult of the reptile god
Under Illefarn was also good, but I recall it took a little work and development. It was fairly huge.

*I thought Castle Caldwell was one of the all-time worst adventures ever written until I read some of the "Marco Volo" crap in 2E D&D.

3.x Edition:
NeMoren's Vault by Fiery Dragon. (top notch, I started 3 campaigns with this adventure).
Lost City of Barakus by Necromancer Games. (This is a good mini-campaign, but there is so much to it you may have to scale back XP.)
Honorable mention:
Crucible of Freya by Necromancer games... the core adventure is OK, but what makes it great is the free supplemental stuff, including a blind crone, a bipolar etin, and other awesome stuff.


----------



## frankthedm (Jul 3, 2009)

Another vote for _B4 the lost city_. 

i happen to have some advanced monsters for 3.5 that should fit well for that module, and I am working on copy and pasting together some sprite based counter sheets that should have nearly all the monsters for that module.


----------

