DnD suggestions for a beginner campaign

[Erika_Walker]

So, my son wants to start playing DnD, and so do I. Neither of us have done it before, and I’ve been volunteered as DM, since both my husband, and my father-in-law wish to be players, and they already have characters. So, the learning curve is real.

My son has decided to jump in with both feet and be a Dwarven Wizard who works with the blacksmiths and miners to enchant weapons and gems for sale in the nearby surface village. But, a mysterious cave-in cuts him off, not just from the mining team he was with, but the whole of the tunnels. So, without the ability to clear the stones, himself, he goes to the surface for help.

I’ve got some ideas for the extended quest further down the mines, should the party choose (which I hope they do, I want to contain my FIL’s penchant for crit fails on his Dragonborn’s acid breath, and contain the chaos a little).

I’m thinking that, once they get the rocks cleared, they’ll discover that the whole Dwarven settlement, has been, ahem, persuaded, to work for a young sapphire dragon who forces them to make weapons and armour, and to tell it stories constantly of their battles. So obviously, the dragon’s gotta go.

It’s still a loose concept, and I’ve got a hanful of ideas on it, but nothing concrete. I’ve also got no idea what critters to put in the way for that sweet, sweet XP and loot. Aside from the spiders that sapphires supposedly attract?

[Opinion]

Your story seems perfectly fine to me. The one thing I will recommend with new players is that pacing is more important than content. So it might be worth doing a one off side story since you have new players

My recommendation would be whatever the story is you plan on it being a 1 or 2 session campaign rather than starting with the huge long term story.

With the same thing in mind I would tend to pick the enemys and combat with the idea of a one-off style campaign where you get alot of character progress per encounter.

[Stephen]

How about having a number of carved tablets that they can find as they go. Each could give useful information.

But don’t make it too easy: code them. Nothing too challenging, though. Something like A=B, B=C, etc. Or maybe put the letters of each word in alphabetical order. EIKL HIST