campaign for 2 beginning players

[the David]

I'm about to start a campaign for 2 players. One of them is totally new to RPGs, the other has some experience with D&D.
I want to know about any good D&D adventures that work for small parties. Any suggestions from fellow DMs/players?

[The King in Tie-dye]

Man, there really aren't any precons for 2 person parties that I know of but you could run a mission for PCs of a lower level or throw in a cohort or two. What levels are they and what kinds of genres and play styles do they like?

[the David]

Well, I was thinking about starting at level 2. That should be about equal to a party of 4 1st level characters.
One of them wanted to play an ogre. I think a half-orc barbarian is a good choice for him. The other one always wants to play a druid.
I looked through my minis for a good BBEG, and I came up with the Gargantuan White Dragon. I'm not saying I'm gonna use it though. I'll probably end up with something smaller, but the idea of a white dragon, a barbarian and a druid gave me the idea of an ''arctic'' campaign setting.
So I came up with a primitive world, inhabited by dwarves, frost giants, humans, orcs, white dragons and awakened wolves.
I've got no major plot yet though.

[The King in Tie-dye]

A few good low-level cold climate missions:
Frozen Whispers (somewhere on the Wizards site archives as a free download) for 3rd level characters.
Raiders of the Black Ice (Dungeon #115) for 3rd level characters.
Curse of the Barrens (An old Goodman Games module) for 4th level characters.

I find that cold climate adventures are underrepresented in the D&D cannon, usually revolving around frost giants. I think it would be cool if you tapped into the Russian or East Asian folklore for some monsters like the rusalka or the tengu. Of course Norse mythology is always cool and everyone gets to swing a big hammer. Swinging big hammers is never not fun. I highly recommend the Frostburn book if you're going to do a campaign like this. Frostfolk might be just the mooks you're looking for.

[Adrien Wasila]

the David wrote:

I'm about to start a campaign for 2 players. One of them is totally new to RPGs, the other has some experience with D&D.

I want to know about any good D&D adventures that work for small parties. Any suggestions from fellow DMs/players?

I haven't run this in some time but I think taking the main event of "Snow Baby" from the 2e FR supplement Great Glacier (possibly a source of inspiration ? Although it was pretty basic there were a couple of Inuit-like cultures and traditions that were inspiring , one of which was the birth customs section) could make for a good beginning adventure. (it was orignally a 5th level adventure or so in 2e, but the main events can fit any low-level)

The adventure really comes into its own when the characters decide to shelter from a blizzard/wandering band of monsters or the like and come across a small group of women who are helping one of them deliver her baby . I can't remember if this is because the cave is a sacred spot that's set aside for this or if they just got stuck because of the weather

Some of the characters in the adventure could assist with the birth while others prevented monsters from entering the cave . The adventure also had a cool-sounding arctic tentacled monster that tried to strike at the characters through the ice walls while being stuck on a lower level of the cave...

Possibly not for every group , but it might be a good encounter to use some of the skills of the Druid player (Heal ,Knowledge : Nature etc) and reinforce the sense that the characters are part of a community (e.g if the characters have family ties with one of the women in the cave , or are from the same tribe) . The main reward of the adventure was that the characters (and one of them in particular) got to act as godparents for the child and this could serve as a set up for future adventures with those NPCs.

There are also a few more adventures on the Wizards site but it's true arctic adventures are not really as popular as they ought to be

[baron arem heshvaun]

Hollow's Last Hope is a fun little adventure great for new players. It can be a springboard to other adventures (and there are a few pre made adventures in the series as well as a Pathfinder Society Scenario that can link to it) and its FREE right here on the Paizo site.

Enjoy.

[the David]

I just can't believe I forgot about Hollow's Last Hope. Thanks Hesvaun.
I'll check out Frozen Whispers too. I don't think I can get acces to Great Glacier, but I will check it out.

Edit: Frozen Whispers is written by James Jacobs!

[baron arem heshvaun]

the David wrote:

Edit: Frozen Whispers is written by James Jacobs!

Yeah he used to be so cool!

; P

[Steven Tindall]

my 2 cents would be to do an internet search for 1 man adventures.

I think they might have some on the pazio site but I'm not sure. Basiclly they are like the old second ed adventures designed just for 1 wizard or 1 rogue or whatever so thye are perfect for small parties and they are normally only 5 bucks or so.

My personal prefrence for any artic setting is the forgotten realms spine of the world area. Druids and barbarians are common and the book Frostburn is a vault of valuable info for that style setting. Be warned it makes druids even more deadly with the right feats and spells.
Good luck to you and your group.