tough start

[Ares]

Ive just started shackled city and my party has beeen struggling along. Against the Grell, two were in negative numbers and I needed Fario and Fellian to bail them out, then against the raggamuffyns all but one were slain and he only survived beause he made his 10% role a couple of hours after the battle. I'm playing as a character in this campaugn in another group and I know there are some real rough encounters coming up. All my players are very new to D & D and I am a new DM. I have a feeling this could be a long and very frustrating campaign... any suggestions.

[christian mazel]

It depends on how much they are, with new players and only 4 it will be very very difficult, I play with 7/8 old players and I have a prisonner and a dead in only 3 times.
I have to say that they played their characters, good and thinking that they can handle everything, as 1st level can do.
Give them a wisdom npc to help, maybe a cleric and cheat a bit to make the fights very hard but not always deadly.
I add that I took the way of not cheating and to be without pity but to play lively npc which don't always want to kill the pc, make prisonners is a good choice in this campaign.

[Ultradan]

The Shackled City Adventure can be a little overwhelming for novice players and DMs (I think). Ever thought of going a little more simple...

Like using the map of a village found in many Dungeon Magazines and tossing somathing a little more straight-forward at your players. A few goblins (or kobolds) and their lair, which could consist of a small cave (3 to 4 rooms tops) near the village. Have them retrieve the son of a farmer (or even a PCs little brother) who's been kidnapped by these creatures.

New players will need shorter missions and achieve their goals faster for them to start liking the game. As they go up in level, try using more complexe goals with longer time-frames. In the goblin caves, they could find evidence that an Ogre is really behind the recent attacks and then the players can push forward to get him. I know it sounds lame as an adventure, but for new players, it's the diving board to something they've never even imagined before.

My advice: Go simpler (for now).

Ultradan

[Sean Mahoney]

I would suggest that you throw in an adventure here or there and make sure they remain above the recommended levels for the adventures (not at).

Another suggestion would be to have an NPC give them some training in "team work and tactics." In my experience this is the single biggest thing that newbies need... I am seriously considering doing this for my players. Most of them come from seriously overpowered hack and slash games and have never had to do anything more than roll to hit.

Sean Mahoney