Topic: Looking for a good introductory adventure.

[Rerednaw]

That’s pretty much it, low level, with a variety of challenges (not just combat).  If possible some examples of play or tips for the players (i.e. newbie friendly).

Which ones do you folks recommend and why?

Thanks!

[intothatdarkness]

One of RM's weaknesses is a lack of adventures. Quite a bit is thrown back on the GM, which can have less than optimal results as RM also (in my view) requires a skilled GM. You may need to convert one from another system or write your own. I tend to prefer the latter course, since you can tailor the adventure to fit the skill level of your players and even work in background details for their characters.

[Malim]

There is tons of pathfinder adventures that can be converted!

[Majyk]

Yup, as per above, we RM GMs have to convert from everyone else’s adventures.
Back in the day, T$R had Dungeon Magazine which had 3-5 well-written one-offs I used to rip apart and FrankenRM them for use.
Might be able to find ‘em online somewhere or in someone’s attic!

[RandalThor]

So, how long do want the adventure to last? One session? Two? How long are your sessions? Do your players and you have a favorite style of adventure? You mentioned "not just combat", but that barely scratches the surface of possibilities. With a little more info I can toss out a few suggestions, but like the others have said above (and I have said several times on these boards in the past), RM doesn't have much in the way of adventures (the biggest nail in the coffin of the game, I believe) so they will be adventures from other games/systems that you will need to convert.

The only ICE game that had a good amount of adventures was MERP, so you could look into some of them. The ones right from the corebook could be built out reasonably well (I like the one that has the PCs exploring the ancient castle, it can be set up as a possible homebase if the PCs are smart enough and willing). Again, while the rules are similar, they are not exactly the same, so some conversion would be necessary.

PS: How do they feel about starting out captured and having to escape with little-to-no equipment...?

[Rerednaw]

Thanks all...I'm looking at my collection...I have tons of stuff from 80-90's. 

May go with some intro adventures from ADND/1E, etc...

Thanks for the assistance. 

[RandalThor]

AD&D adventures (and some Basic D&D) are generally the ones I tend to fall back on too. I was asking those questions to see if I could narrow down your search for you. As far as introductory adventures go, I like:

U1 Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh - you can limit to just the house for a shorter adventure, change it from the smugglers to an actual haunting by something from the secret alchemist lab, or you can go for the whole shebang.

N1 Against the Cult of the Reptile God - this is the one I like to start the PCs off after being captured and have them go from there. Like U1 it can be shortened, just have the naga in the temple, or not, to your liking. It is also a good one to encourage a lot of roleplaying between the PCs and the NPCs as they try to figure out what is going on.

T1 - The Village of Hommlet - the classic, with roleplaying (in the village), travel/exploration (getting to the moathouse), and then dungeon crawling (at the moathouse). Could be a good one to give the feel of a "sandbox," if you guys are into that.

B2 - Keep on the Borderlands - I recently used this one with 5E, though the intro adventure I ran was them on the way to the keep... (Basic D&D adventure.)

X1- The Isle of Dread - this one I used to run a year-and-a-half campaign with a while back. Another good one to just deposit the PCs in, and say "go." (Basic D&D adventure.)

Hope this helps you and gives you ideas.

[OLF, i.e. Olf Le Fol]

You may want to have a look at the adventure hooks, though they're but scenario ideas.

[Spectre771]

I have one old standby by I use when I want to kick off a new campaign or to introduce new players to a group, or to RM for that matter.  I have another one that I used last year to accomplish all of those goals for two players who were of the thiefly arts.

1)  Travelers and caravans from the main road into the town have ceased arriving.  The local constabulary (or he PC's own raison d'etre) has enlisted/hired the PC to find out why this is so.   There is a small group of goblins, lead by an orc, who have blocked the road with two sets felled trees allowing them a makeshift fort from which to attack travelers.   This allows the  PC to use any number of skills to resolve this issue.  Stalk/Hide to spy on the group, Tactics, combat,  Stunned Maneuver, Spell casting, +/- for partial cover, Surveillance, Disguise, Sniping, Ambush, Sprinting should he be chased, etc. 

This also opens up a plot line for the PC to find out why the goblins are acting in this manner.  Why they are suddenly being spurred to openly attack humanoids in such a risky manner, on such a well travelled route?  For the campaign I used, the orcs were hired to act as a diversion while the plot's Big Bad Guy raided a smaller fishing village to gain use of the docks.  The blockade tied up the militia from two towns while the port town was raided.

You can tailor the baddies to your group's skills.  Number of goblins, weapons, ranged weapons, if the orc captain is even there or just left, 1 barricade or 2.  Goblins aren't that bright.  They could have 1 barricade and think that no one would be smart enough to go around the other side to attack them from there.

2)  The second campaign kick-off I used works great with 2 or more PC's but you can certainly use it with 1 PC.  As they are of the thieving arts, the Thieves Guild has taken interest in the PC.  Here is where it gets fun.  The Guild has a secret tournament each recruiting season.  The Guild finds a dupe (PC1) and explains that there is this contest to see who can steal an object from Tavern Alpha and get it safely to Tavern Beta on the other side of town.  The first one there wins a place in the Guild.  However!  The other contestants, if they spot him, will try to stop him or slow him down so he'll need to be fast and cautious.

Now here's the fun part:  The REAL test is for PC2.  The Guild member explains that every year the Guild holds a contest for membership and they find a dupe  for each "true" initiate.  The true goal is for the initiate to ensure that his Dupe wins the contest.  The Dupe must not be allowed to know that he is receiving help in any way.  This requires the initiates to Sneak, Surveil, Ambush, Throw, Disguise, Dupe, Sleight of Hand, you-name-it to ensure his Dupe wins, all while not being detected.

When I ran this scene, I privately contacted each player ahead of time.  I sent a message from the Guild (in the form of an e-mail   )  The Guild is interested in you, there is a contest, get from Point A to Point B, Fast.  Don't get caught.  Other contests will be trying to stop you, so on.

I sent a secret message to Player B, the initiate, and explained his part to him.  He was to do whatever was needed to get his Dupe to win the contest.  If his Dupe found out he was being helped, both were disqualified.  Other initiates would be trying to stop the opposing Dupes from winning.  This allowed the initiate to decide if he was going to be offensive or defensive in helping his own Dupe succeed.

The series of events that took place were a mix of Mr. Bean, Jackie Chan, and a Rube Goldberg creation.  Every one was in tears from laughing so hard.  The guys really played it up and it worked out so well because the guy playing the Dupe PC had no idea where the help was coming from.  A lot of the reactions were genuine which made the session all the more enjoyable.

[Grinnen Baeritt]

U1 Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh - you can limit to just the house for a shorter adventure, change it from the smugglers to an actual haunting by something from the secret alchemist lab, or you can go for the whole shebang.

Possibly the best introductory adventure ever, balanced with good investigative skills a bit of combat... I've used it (and the maps) in several incantations for differing systems.

Rare, if you can get them.. the MERP modules (rather than the campaign ones) usually have some low-level stuff in them.. are all quite good, and being almost "ready to go" since the systems aren't that different... ahem
 

[Rerednaw]

Yah for ones I do not have, drivethru usually stocks a ton of older stuff, sometimes on the cheap.

Thanks again folks...

[Nightblade42]

Perhaps one cure for the "RM doesn't have enough adventures" problem is sharing them like we are doing in this thread.  There is a venue for such an idea: The Guild Companion (which is always looking for more submissions from the community).  Also, we could post them to the Vault for others to download.

I am currently working on a number of adventures for my world of Nytheun that I am looking forward to share when they are complete.  I might even seek out some playtesters to see how they pan out in real gaming situations.  The feedback would be valuable (since I haven't gamed in a very long time).

Nightblade ->--