Best Low Level Adventures!

I'm having a hard time finding some good low level (1-4) adventures so I was hoping you guys could make some suggestions.

But they cannot be Paizo or Necromancer games modules. Also, it can't be city based adventures.

So what are the best ones out there? Lets hear about 'em!

Are old Dungeon adventures okay? You can still buy many PDFs and a few in print, but anything before issue #82 requires conversion to 3.x Ed.

Rez

Are old Dungeon adventures okay? You can still buy many PDFs and a few in print, but anything before issue #82 requires conversion to 3.x Ed.

Rez

I wish that would be okay, I heard there are lot's of good ones from Dungeon. Unfortunately, One of my players has read every issue!

Have you considered any of the Goodman Games modules? They are 3.5, but should be fairly manageable to use. I don't have my list in front of me, but I could suggest a few once I look it over.

I had the exact same problem with one of my players and I solved it by just writing my own adventures. IT's not that hard. At first, just combine a few of them. maybe you want a particular encounter from one, but you want to change the race from kobolds to zombies. then change the starting village to one from a completely differant adventure. and add a randome dungeon crawl through soem tunnels from a map you found online (This is a good place for that) and the know it all player will be so confused he soon won't bother trying to remember where secret doors are. (hint, change where the secret doors are). After a while, you won't even need the prewritten ones, your own adventures will just come naturally.

(And I've heard it before, but it really doesn't take up any more free time then preparing a prewritten one would. At least, it never did for me...)

Though if you're comfotable with re-statting some things, then you can find some short (and free) adventures here under adventures or here under downloads. They aren't bad really. Just create a central hub town as a base to lead naturally to the adventure.

Rezdave wrote:

Are old Dungeon adventures okay?

Unfortunately, One of my players has read every issue!

Sometimes, it takes relatively little effort to mix-&-match. More effort than an off-the-shelf adventure but less than writing from scratch.

Take NPCs from one, the map from another and the plot from a third.

This is the basic process I use in my home-brew. Adventures are never run as-is, but I just cream ideas and characters and plots and maps that are appropriate to whatever's going on in the campaign or that I want to introduce.

Good luck, though.

R.

I recently picked up World of Whitethorn. (By Ed Cha) There are only 2 modules of this ''Adventure Setting'', and it starts at level 1, though there are some tough encounters that you should save for later. You can choose to run it for good characters or evil characters. If you feel ambitious, you can let 2 groups play in a good vs. evil, or evil vs. evil fashion.
It does take place around a village and in a town though.

There's lots of info on some of the villages of Whitethorn, but since there where only 2 modules published it's not quite finished.

It also contains new feats, spells (Over 50), classes and monsters. Loads of NPCs. (Over 50 Halfling villagers) Vague descriptions of some of the gods of Whitethorn. That's not as bad as it sounds. You can use them as you want.

Price: $30,98 for the 2, though I found them in a gamestore for only 5 euro each.

Here's a link

The original Freeport trilogy is awesome if you can still find it.

The original Freeport trilogy is awesome if you can still find it.

Yeah, I heard that was good, but that has also been read by the player who has read all the dungeon mags.

Black Tom wrote:

The original Freeport trilogy is awesome if you can still find it.

Yeah, I heard that was good, but that has also been read by the player who has read all the dungeon mags.

At this point, i'd say who cares if he's read something or not. If its not a mystery plot he can deal with it. Find something you want to run because you think its neat/cool and let the rest enjoy.

As a side note, there is "the gathering storm" which gets you from 1st to 10th, and "Castle Whiterock", which is a sandbox area you can use from 1st to any level you want because of its fairly modular adventure targets.

I threw in teh suggestions just so i wouldn't seem like i was only taking a shot at the PC in question.

I think you should tell your adventure-reading friend that it's *his* turn to DM...

However, I'm a bit of a fan of Eden Odyssey's 'Wonders Out of Time'. It's actually a compilation of adventures over several levels, but it starts out with one for 1st level.

All told, it's a great series of adventures featuring the unearthing a lost civilization. Pretty good stuff.

I'd like to recommend Into the Wilds , Dreaming Caverns of the Duergar and, if you can find it somewhere 'Shadows unter Thessalaine' from MonkeyGod Enterprises.

Personally, if he's read everything and that precludes you from Paizo, WoTC, and Necromancer Games Modules, screw him.

Either run those awesome Paizo mods (the intro adventures for each and every AP is fantastic, from The Whispering Cairn all the way up to Stolen Land), possibly filing off the names/places and switching a few encounters around...

Or do the same thing, except keep the encounters as is, and generate the plot as you go. Make the PC's be the driving force in the adventures, possibly with half a dozen or so Plot Hooks out there to grab onto.

When they DO grab one, run that particular set of encounters/map/etc, which just happens to be right where they were headed.

Or, one of my favorite means to start a game:

You all wake up, next to naked, in jail. The door is strangely open, and the nearby guard is dead/paralyzed/turned to stone/absent, with access to your (or equivalent) gear right off the bat. Play it like 28 Days Later, Book of Eli, Waterworld, The Postman, Mad Max, or however you wish. The party must explore, conquer, and acquire resources just to survive...the adventures will come, trust me.

-t

I think you should tell your adventure-reading friend that it's *his* turn to DM...

He has been our groups long standing DM for years. So he has read a lot of stuff over the years; more stuff than he will probably probably ever be able to run.

Thanks for the suggestions! I'll look into the goodman games modules. Although I have not been too impressed with the ones I have seen in the past. But at the moment I need whatever I can get to kick start some creativity so I can get a game going!

Are you looking for a one-shot adventure or are you starting a campaign?

In the first case, I'd say that running a straightforward adventure without much mystery elements, like Crucible of Freya, it won't matter all that much if a player has read the module. Just make some small changes to keep him on his toes.

Among the Goodman Games modules I like Heroes are made, not born. Some of the others are rather bland.

If you're looking for a campaign War of the Burning Sky is quite good. Or Castle Whiterock, if you don't mind a long dungeon crawl.

Fletch wrote:

I think you should tell your adventure-reading friend that it's *his* turn to DM...

He has been our groups long standing DM for years. So he has read a lot of stuff over the years; more stuff than he will probably probably ever be able to run.

Thanks for the suggestions! I'll look into the goodman games modules. Although I have not been too impressed with the ones I have seen in the past. But at the moment I need whatever I can get to kick start some creativity so I can get a game going!

There are very few Goodman modules I like, but I think the ones I recommended exell as introductury adventures. 'Legends are made, not born' ist good, too, but difficult to track down, unless you buy this cd-rom, but I find that one a bit expensive for 4 PDF adventures (especially since I don't like most Goodman adventures...)

here is a link for wizards old stuff that they used to post for free, back when they were nice people:

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/oa/20030530b

here is a link for wizards old stuff

LINKIFIED

I used Burning Plague with some minor adaptation and it worked great. I've not read all of them, but mostly found them 2nd or 3rd rate. Basically it was stuff their staff-writers whipped out that was not of sufficient quality to be published in Dungeon as a short adventure was my impression.

R.

lol; anything I write for you or several other of the long time GM's on these boards. I have written many many gaming ideas and threads and dungeon and adventure stuff on these boards; as have several other gm's. Check the Dungeon Master or gaming advice or like type themes in search for some great ideas and mostly developed dungeons.

I write adventures like crazy; easy as breathing; just tell me your theme; characters; story line or where it is to fit in and your playing style and such and I can help you out.

If you need something right away; Book of Lairs and Dungeon magazine are good resources. Book of Lairs inspired me to have npc wizard; potion makers; scroll makers and the like hire pc's to collect rare bloods; plants; and items which can be fun little one night adventures for any level characters but generally better for lowest and low levels; so you can collect various things from low level monsters; get a bit of dungeion experience; forest experience and the like.

the 4 module set Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh is not bad; I used to run it a bit and is good for a wide variety of characters;

the 4 module set Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh is not bad; I used to run it a bit and is good for a wide variety of characters;

Saltmarsh is the subject of an entire chapter in the DMG II (3.5). That's 35 pages of community description, including characters and some recent history.

If you have access to the Palladium FRP game core books; they have some good stuff; book four is all ships which is good for water adventures; I think its book two; its the one with the Old one and a minitaur on the cover; that has a lot of adventures in the back that are easy to convert to D&D; like magic package deliver; place of magic; and so on. I think that book also has a lot of fort configurations; so you can add them to your bordertown area with wilderness around; good place for starting pc's. Then you can have lots of skirmishes; and deliveries; rescues of farmers; and all that border type activity; hehe have a meteor fall and pc's dispatched to bring back the special mystic metal of it; racing against the bad guys; lots and lots of stuff.

hmm; must have missed it; thanks for pointing it out.

Valegrim wrote:

the 4 module set Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh is not bad; I used to run it a bit and is good for a wide variety of characters;

Saltmarsh is the subject of an entire chapter in the DMG II (3.5). That's 35 pages of community description, including characters and some recent history.

I think the Temple of Elemental Evil might be good if you have a few clerics and paladins to satisfy in your group; I think that is like 1-10 in level or something close; you start off making friends with the local towns and gathering clues and doing little minor quests and it build into cohesive information until you find out all the activities of the bad guys are coordinated and the existance of the Temple is revealed.

worth looking into.

Yeah, the player has read all the adventures that take place in Greyhawk. That is the world we are currently in for his campaign, so Secrets of Saltmarsh and Temple of Elemental Evil are out.

I do not have access to any Palladium books but I'll look for them the next time I'm at a used bookstore.

Basically for my campaign the players will start at level 1. I have 3 players who will play a Druid, Cleric and Fighter or Mage.

It will predominantely be an outdoor game. So exploring ancient temples, dungeons, ruins and that sort of thing.

I think I may just end up having to make some stuff up myself. I was thinking about using the dungeon tiles and map packs and coming up with adventure ideas to fit them.

I think some of the older 3.0 Atlas Games modules were good. I plan to use the Maiden Voyage one for my Savage Tide campaign.

Also some of Green Ronin's late 3.5 adventures.

Since your player has read so widely, your best course at this point may be create some of your own adventures.

I recommend the following on-line resources to make that easier:

Lilith's DM Tools site offers wide variety of stat blocks, encounters, and other adventure elements to suit your needs.

Johnn Four's Roleplaying Tips site had a selection of "five-room dungeons", frameworks for short adventures. Their quality varies wildly, but a few little gems (...each worth 10-50 gp) can be found there.

A mixed bag of One Page Dungeons can also be found online, cached in various places.

Strolen's Citadel has a wide variety of adventure plots and elements. A little digging may be needed, but there are some great bits in there: Some are a bit silly, while others can be downright creepy.

He has been our groups long standing DM for years.

Oh. In that case, dude deserves a rolicking adventure. And good on you for being willing to take a turn behind the screen.

Another option I forgot about was to try to tap into some of the living campaigns that peaked during 3.5's boom years. While Living Greyhawk is sadly out of print, you can still download buckets of old-school gaming adventures from Dave Arneson's Blackmoor campaign.

You can download them here. The files are password protected, but they released those passwords in their forums. You can get those passwords here.

Honestly, I've never played any of the Blackmoor mods, but you can't go wrong with 60 adventures to choose from.

One option is to start playing the Slumbering Tsar Adventure Path (see this thread), the first module is only $2 and only came out a couple of weeks ago, so odds are your player hasn't read it.

And tell the other player to stop reading stuff :)

One option is to start playing the Slumbering Tsar Adventure Path (see this thread), the first module is only $2 and only came out a couple of weeks ago, so odds are your player hasn't read it.

And tell the other player to stop reading stuff :)

Oh hell yeah, that is the most likely option for higher level. I already got dibbs on it. But I have not DM'd in a long, long time. So I want to start at low level. So I gotta find some stuff to get them to the appropriate level.

"Forge of Fury" is awesome. It's a 3.0 adventure. Paizo (with ideas contributed from tons of seasoned designers) ranked it the 12th best D&D adventure of all time in 2004.

I'll also agree with those who've suggested doing some kit-bashing of materials. If your DM-friend has read THAT much stuff over the years, you can probably get away with grabbing a dungeon map from here, quest from there, NPC from over there, and weaving them together in a new way. If he recognizes them, hopefully he has the grace to not call you on it, and if he does, that's his bad, not yours.