Help with starting a game

[NewbieDMaster]

Hello everybody,
I am not a very experienced DM, and I am planning a new 5e game for our group. The game will probably start in about a month, as our current Pathfinder game is starting to wind down to the final boss.
I am the only one in our group who has a very good understanding of the 5e rules, and I would very much like to run a successful game with it, the system looks awesome! ^_^

Here is the issue. The premise for my game is very freeform, I am using a lot of the Lazy DM tips for Dungeon Mastering. I don't think that I will have too much of an issue taking what my PCs do and running with it. However, I am allowing any alignments in this game, and basing the PC actions more on fear of law then heroics. I am tying the group together by requiring membership to an adventurer's guild in order to go adventuring. This will force the PCs to get along, as the guild will put them in a group, and if they want to adventure and profit, then they will have to work out their differences.

My only issue is, I don't know how to start the first game. I want the first game to be like an initiation test for the guild, so that the PCs will get a feel for some of the characters in the guild and fight against opposition from other potential recruits, but I don't know how this will work. How can I ensure that the PCs prevail and get accepted to the guild? Also, does anybody have any suggestions for recruitment test ideas for 1st level PCs?

[blacklight101]

Lets start with saying overall success shouldnt matter with the first quest, at least from where im seeing the start.

I see it as more of a combat/skills test, whether individually or in groups, to see what a particular group could handle in the wider world (or acceptance into the Guild at all). Combat trials with wooden weapons anyone?

Just let the others you want them against be another group that was recruited earlier and is going through their Initiation Rotation and have to beat up some newbies for a couple weeks before they switch off. (Also opens up for the pc's to do the same, then they can vet some new members too)

I dont have great ideas either, but its something (almost nothing).

[AxeAlex]

Hello there,

Some quick ideas:

-The test is a dungeon in which they compete with other groups of recruits to find an artifact first. If they don't succeed, then the winning group are cheaters and the PCs know, and now must prove it.

-A ambitious and evil group of recruits frame the PCs for some murder/crime to be the only good candidates left and have an automatically pass.

-The test is interrupted by EVIL (tied to a later plot point?), and the group works together with the guild masters to repel it.

[Gerner]

Hi,

You could make a race for some item, and the group coming back with the Item will be accepted into the Guild. This opens for al kind of skill and combat challanges.

As the Item can be guarded by Goblins/traps or the group reaches the item at the same time as some other recruits.

[Tim Proctor]

I have had my PCs start out hired by a Company and as they are assigning teams they are the last four picked.

I have had them as Jury members in a murder trial, where else do you find that kind of diversity? As long as the trial is complex and goes awry where they have to go into a fantasy version of whiteness protection.

As far as joining a guild, I like the idea of a dungeon crawl where people are put into groups of 4 and released at intervals. The group(s) with the best time wins and gets to join. I am a fan of having the players play 2nd place in order to have a backup if they fail and or limit delusions of grandeur.

[NewbieDMaster]

Great ideas guys. I really appreciate the response.

Blacklight101 - Cool idea, but I imagine them more competing against other potential recruits, rather than existing guild members.

AxeAlex - Love the idea of the race for the artifact. I just may use that. ^_^

Gerner - Thanks for the idea.

[Geddy2112]

Hello everybody,
I am allowing any alignments in this game, and basing the PC actions more on fear of law then heroics. I am tying the group together by requiring membership to an adventurer's guild in order to go adventuring. This will force the PCs to get along, as the guild will put them in a group, and if they want to adventure and profit, then they will have to work out their differences.

Also, does anybody have any suggestions for recruitment test ideas for 1st level PCs?

I am a huge fan of organic actions- it allows characters to do as they please, but if they just go off the rails they quickly learn that such actions have consequences. I could go drive my car through a shopping mall, but that action will have some very negative consequences...

If you set up the first few encounters correctly, you won't need a lot of plot glue or metagaming to keep the party in unison. An encounter that requires teamwork and unity to overcome will bond the PC's. Then present them with the main quest/plot and if it is juicy enough, they should bite. Also have the characters make PC's together to avoid character concepts clashing(I.E. An Orc Paladin and an Evil Necromancer who thinks all orcs should die). At first level, even a single low level monster can kill a lone PC, so make a challenge where all of the PC's will have to be active in. Know what your PC's are capable of, and make sure each can shine early on by giving them a chance to show their best. If you have a rogue, put in some traps. Give magic users something that is easily solved by magic, let your melee characters get their hands and weapons dirty.

You could make an initiation be just about anything. Escape from a guarded prison, break into a prison and get item X. Find and kill X. Resolve a dispute between two rival houses/businesses/people. Clear the skeletons out of the crypt. Deliver X to people in town Y, but beware the ogre/troll on the road. It does not matter what you choose, so long as you make it a bonding experience. You can draw inspiration from your own life experiences of when a challenge or difficult time brought you closer with a friend.

[Maglubiyet]

Random thoughts:

- Every couple of years the sewers below town get re-infested with giant rats (giant spiders, giant centipede, goblins, whatever...) The town has a standing contract with the Adventurers' Guild to clear them out. The Guild uses it as an initiation test for prospective members -- the group that collects the most bounties (tails, stingers, etc.) automatically gets its application approved.

- The Adventurers' Guild headquarters is in a keep at the edge of town that the original members cleared out. They maintain the sub-dungeon/maze as a training ground and initiation test for new members and populate it with non-lethal traps and weak animated monsters. Every year they hold a Dungeon Delve competition -- first team to retrieve the Statue of the Golden Unicorn from the center of the maze wins membership.

- Adventurers' Day is when all the prospective members of the Guild assemble for a series of tournaments, designed to assess their skills. Teams are pitted against each other in target shooting (spells and ranged weapons), arena combat (blunted weapons), obstacle course, problem-solving strategy game, etc.. The team with the highest score at the end of the day wins a prize and has the option to join.

[goto124]

And here I am, wondering what's the difference between 'bad consequences for an off-the-rails action' and 'railroading'.

I think I'm really stupid or obtuse or something. But I wish to know.

[NewbieDMaster]

And here I am, wondering what's the difference between 'bad consequences for an off-the-rails action' and 'railroading'.

I think I'm really stupid or obtuse or something. But I wish to know.

The idea is not to apply bad consequences for any 'off-the-rails' actions, but rather to simply maintain a world with laws and powers beyond that of the PCs.

Going off the rails is fine, killing a random townsperson will have consequences. It is as simple as that.

[Geddy2112]

The idea is not to apply bad consequences for any 'off-the-rails' actions, but rather to simply maintain a world with laws and powers beyond that of the PCs.

Going off the rails is fine, killing a random townsperson will have consequences. It is as simple as that.

Exactly, glad OP got the meaning. "Off the rails" was a poor choice of words and I did not mean railroading as the alternative. The universe the DM creates is governed by certain natural laws and these laws will be constant in the game world. If you don't want to believe in physics that is fine, but if you jump off a cliff don't be surprised if you fall to your death. If you disagree with murder being against the law that is fine, but if you kill a random civilian don't be surprised when guards show up.

[Tommy_Dude]

Actually, here's one. Base it on the beginning of Recettear. To become a member of an adventurer's guild, a new adventurer (or new group) needs to scale a 5 level dungeon (no need to make it more than a couple of rooms each level) and at the bottom are only enough cards for one group. So instead of a race for an artifact, it's a race for blank legal adventuring badges.