[3.5] New to 3.5, and DM, looking for campaign/module

[shiram]

So I have been an avid rpg player for 5 or so years, and about 20 years if you count the video game kind. I have played mostly in the Star Wars system, the old one and the new Saga one, I played some Conan and I am playing right now some Dark Heresy.
I have a group of 3 of my friends and we game on a weekly basis. We have 2 games going on, always in different systems, so the DM's can have time to prepare and for variety.

I wanted to play a 3.5 D&D game as it seems the classic rpg, and I had never played it. No one wanted to DM that game in my group, even though they all have experience in 3.5.

So I had ideas for a campaign, and started to write out some plot, and I go to read the books, and it seemed a bit complicated to create a campaign on my own for a first time. So, I am looking for a campaign/module that I could use to start the game, and get me some experience as a DM.
I have dm'ed in other systems btw.

I was mostly looking at The Scourge of the Howling Horde, but thinking it might be too easy for my friends?

There was also Shattered Gates of Slaughtergarde, but it might seem a bit unfriendly to a new Dm?
So if you have any input, I'd gladly take it.
Which campaign/module would be best suited to help me as a first time DnD dm?

[GreyMantle]

The Sunless Citadel was the first ever adventure released for 3E. It's great fun, although it is not especially original. "Baby's First Dungeon" is a good way to think of it. If you are good at bringing a dungeon to life, I imagine you could have a lot of fun with it.


Arguably the best 3.x module is of course the Red Hand of Doom. It's a bit on the complex side, but there's enough help in the book itself and on teh interwebz that I'm sure you'd be able to run it effectively. The group I'm running it for now is new to 3.x (but not to ttrpgs), and they're all enjoying it.

RHoD does, however, start at 4th-5th level, which might make the characters too kompliziert for your players, I do not know.


I do not have any experience with the adventures you've mention'd, so I am unable to provide any comparisons of quality or ease to play/run.

[shiram]

One of my friend would not like starting a higher than level 1 caracter, but the other 2 hate starting level 1 caracters, so a compromise can be reached.
I did use the search function on here, and on google, and kept finding mentions of RHoD, but no one spelled it out for me, thank you! I'll look into that one and Sunless Citadel.

[mikau013]

One of my friend would not like starting a higher than level 1 caracter, but the other 2 hate starting level 1 caracters, so a compromise can be reached.
I did use the search function on here, and on google, and kept finding mentions of RHoD, but no one spelled it out for me, thank you! I'll look into that one and Sunless Citadel.

You could always let your players who hate starting at lvl 1, make a lvl one char and already select their gear and make their chars for higher lvl and just lvl them really quickly I guess

[pres_man]

Link to old free WotC Modules

I don't know which of those are 3e and which are 3.5, but they might be useful to check out.

[Ozreth]

I second the sunless citadel.

[dsmiles]

I second the sunless citadel.

Thirded.
But don't be afraid to improvise. Let your players go off the rails. It's more fun that way.

[shiram]

Thank you all.
I will check out the sunless citadel when I get a chance to visit my local gaming store.

[McSmack]

Sunless Citadel is good. Red Hand of Doom is excellent. I personally have a soft spot for Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil.

[DarkEternal]

Here is how I led my characters around in their career from third level to currently nineteenth level with official campaigns:

Levels 3 and 4: Forge of Fury. It was a dungeon crawler, and I wanted such a campaign for a start, to get the people's feet wet with combat mechanics, thinking on their feet, and fighting some fairly strong enemies(the strongest being the last "boss", a young black dragon, and a damn Roper that is there to test your character's diplomatic skills since it will probably butcher your party at those levels.

Levels 5 up to six: Speaker in Dreams. This one was a city adventure, so it was the opposite of Forge of Fury which I liked. It has got to do with a town that's got a carnival currently in it, and suddenly things go to crap when the town is attacked by various beasts, and the town's lord is acting quite strange. I liked it.

Levels 6 to nine: Red Hand of Doom. There was so much written about this module that I won't add more.

Levels 10-13: Shadowdale: Scouring of the Land. A nice, classical Forgotten Realms adventure, it is actually a continuation of a lower level adventure(that I didn't know), and it has to do with the Shadovars, the Weave not doing it's thing, you meet some classic DnD heroes in this module.

Levels 13-15: Continuation of the Shadowdale adventure path. Forgot it's name, something to do with Anauroch. It wrapped the story pretty good, I would say.

Levels 15-17(18)---Mongoose productions: Hellstone Pass. A more "dark" adventure, deals with demons, slaughtering of humans, vampires, fiends from some dimension or other, last boss is not even that much of a pushover(he died in a scope of two rounds, which is regretable, but happens on these levels, but still managed to down two party members, which at their levels is at best an incommodity)

Level: 18---Dragon Magazine: Diplomacy. This was a short, sweet, and excellently written campaign. My entire group loved it, it has little combat, just a few encounters, and most of the experience and interaction is roleplaying. Good, imaginative characters, an interesting plot, and overall a great time.

Currently on a different adventure, but my players, some of them, frequent this forum so I won't say more.