Ideal Quests for Level One Adventurers

[Telok]

I once had a plan, back during 4e d&d with the extreme description/mechanic disassociation, where level 1 characters led armies through portals to attack the gods. They'd kill angels, demons, gods, etc. to about 4th/5th and then battle through the collapsing metaphysical planes to get home. Around level 10 they get home and have to deal with rebellions and rival adventurers. By level 15 society is collapsing because of the fallout from killing gods like justice and family, so they fight rioters and cultists. Around level 20 they're battling roving gangs of bandits and monsters just to save a single town. Since the gods of harvest, fertility, and nature are dead then end the game fighting rats for food.
All made possibly by just swapping the descriptions on assorted monsters.

[LibraryOgre]

My friends tend to lean towards the evil side, so I'll probably change the gold to a letter asking why the food shipments have ceased (the goblin toll road and mephit would be at fault). Then when they get there, the farmer might give them a shipment to take back or something. Thoughts?

That works well... especially at the person if the other end has the muscle to make sure evil character's don't then sell the food as their own.

[VoxRationis]

Save the world; stop a cult from summoning a demon lord.

Think about it. If the spell they use is some sort of plot-based ritual rather than a by-the-book mechanical thing, there's no particular reason why the cultists have to be 15th level to do it. Maybe it's the case that the higher-level sorts that would normally stop it are busy, or far away, or dead, or otherwise occupied, or maybe this low-level cult has done an exceptional job at evading their attention. Maybe this cult lucked into finding a plausible way for them to summon their demon lord, and they weren't considered a significant threat before now.

Of course, people notice when you save the world, and this instantly catapults the now-2nd level characters into stardom and fame, immersing them in a world of politics before they have the ability to personally and violently remove power structures they don't like, so that they actually have to pay attention to these matters.

[Darokar]

That works well... especially at the person if the other end has the muscle to make sure evil character's don't then sell the food as their own.

All right, thank you! I might change the item being delivered, but I'm not sure.

[LordEntrails]

My friends tend to lean towards the evil side, so I'll probably change the gold to a letter asking why the food shipments have ceased (the goblin toll road and mephit would be at fault). Then when they get there, the farmer might give them a shipment to take back or something. Thoughts?

Sounds reasonable.

Raw food/grain products are harder to sell unless you sell such regularly. Plus, adventurers typically don't think of trade goods in the same way they think of gold, gems, magic.

I'd put a bridge or other choke point (pass through a range of hills, etc) as where the goblin toll is taking place. And maybe rather than a toll (which implies passage for a fee), more like a checkpoint or blockade where the goblins are not letting anything through and are seizing it all. Probably ambush style since goblins are not notoriously brave.

[Darokar]

Sounds reasonable.

Raw food/grain products are harder to sell unless you sell such regularly. Plus, adventurers typically don't think of trade goods in the same way they think of gold, gems, magic.

I'd put a bridge or other choke point (pass through a range of hills, etc) as where the goblin toll is taking place. And maybe rather than a toll (which implies passage for a fee), more like a checkpoint or blockade where the goblins are not letting anything through and are seizing it all. Probably ambush style since goblins are not notoriously brave.

I drew a map of their little set up earlier today. It was between a steep hill and a bank that lead to a creek, which I added to spice things up. It was basically two small towers that were once used by guards of a nearby town as a checkpoint. The goblins went through them after they were abandoned, made some shoddy construction work to make it safer, and then used it as a toll road point. I also gave them a boulder trap that would cause boulders to roll down the hill onto exceptionally resistant people, people who would refuse to pay the toll no matter what.
I do like the idea of them just attacking carts though, so I might Remove the towers and have them camp outside on top of the hill. Should I keep the boulder trap and small creek or what? Also, how many goblins should there be? I was thinking 4 or 5, but I’m not sure.

[Jay R]

Nobody just hires lvl 1 heroes.

Don't be absurd. Every single person's first job happened because the boss hired someone with no experience.

Every army is made up of people who, at some point in the past, were not trained fighters. Every police hero, firefighter hero, doctor hero, soldier hero, teacher hero, activist hero, or whatever kind of hero you believe in started out as untrained.

First levels aren't heroes – yet. Your favorite sports star wasn't a star when he or she started.

The Super Bowl MVP was once a complete untrained person trying to play football - and doing so on a very basic level.

Which points to one possible direction for first level characters - hire them and put them into a training program.

[Bulhakov]

Don't be absurd. Every single person's first job happened because the boss hired someone with no experience.

Every army is made up of people who, at some point in the past, were not trained fighters. Every police hero, firefighter hero, doctor hero, soldier hero, teacher hero, activist hero, or whatever kind of hero you believe in started out as untrained.

First levels aren't heroes – yet. Your favorite sports star wasn't a star when he or she started.

The Super Bowl MVP was once a complete untrained person trying to play football - and doing so on a very basic level.

Which points to one possible direction for first level characters - hire them and put them into a training program.

That's just it - they hire a guard, a soldier, a doctor, a teacher etc. not "an adventuring party of heroes". If someone has 10 rats to kill (or equivalent level of quest) they either hire a rat-catcher or get a neighbor/friend/family member to help out, they don't post a 10 copper pieces bounty on the rats for any stranger to come to their basement.

Unless the PCs start all in one profession (caravan guard, henchmen, scouting party or city watch are good ideas) it's difficult (though not impossible) to just give them a "job" straight from the start, especially if the party is well balanced with mixed classes.

[Samzat]

That's just it - they hire a guard, a soldier, a doctor, a teacher etc. not "an adventuring party of heroes". If someone has 10 rats to kill (or equivalent level of quest) they either hire a rat-catcher or get a neighbor/friend/family member to help out, they don't post a 10 copper pieces bounty on the rats for any stranger to come to their basement.

Unless the PCs start all in one profession (caravan guard, henchmen, scouting party or city watch are good ideas) it's difficult (though not impossible) to just give them a "job" straight from the start, especially if the party is well balanced with mixed classes.

Maybe a group of bandits need killing, but they are highly mobile so a larger force will cause them to escape, and there are no squads of higher level characters in the immediate area, or maybe the employer knows level 1 adventurers work cheap.

[Jay R]

That's just it - they hire a guard, a soldier, a doctor, a teacher etc. not "an adventuring party of heroes". If someone has 10 rats to kill (or equivalent level of quest) they either hire a rat-catcher or get a neighbor/friend/family member to help out, they don't post a 10 copper pieces bounty on the rats for any stranger to come to their basement.

I think the phrase "an adventuring party of heroes" is getting in your way. That doesn't describe first levels. Bilbo's first reaction was, "We are plain quiet folk and have no use for adventures. Nasty disturbing uncomfortable things! Make you late for dinner!"

The Pevensies didn't go through a wardrobe as adventuring heroes. It was an accident.

Luke Skywalker was a farmboy who "wanted to join the resistance". He wasn't planning to confront Darth Vader.

By contrast, D'Artagnan did start out seeking adventures, and it got him clubbed, beaten, and robbed.

And since I've never seen a game start with rat-catching in a basement, I don't see the relevance. I agree that that would be a silly beginning to a game.

Unless the PCs start all in one profession (caravan guard, henchmen, scouting party or city watch are good ideas) it's difficult (though not impossible) to just give them a "job" straight from the start, especially if the party is well balanced with mixed classes.

I don't get how something people have done easily for over forty years can suddenly become difficult.

In the last game I ran, they were all from the same village, and began by taking a load of crops to market, through a forest that turned out to have outlaw goblins stating to appear, because of a nearby siege.

The game I started before this, the PCs were all servants of higher level masters who were killed by the artifacts that they were trying to dispose of.

Before that, a building was burning down. Victims were screaming, and the PCs happened to be nearby.

In the games I've played recently, the PCs were:
Hired to join a ship colonizing a recently discovered new world,
Princelings taken on a lion hunt.
Gathering at a trade meet representing their families' interests.
Hired to find out what happened to a missing wagonload of mead.

Hiring a few people with varied skills to accomplish a certain goal is how small businesses get started. It really is pretty straightforward.

I suspect that you are stuck on the idea that these are "adventurers", rather than just people who live in a unsettled time in a dangerous world.

[LordEntrails]

I drew a map of their little set up earlier today. It was between a steep hill and a bank that lead to a creek, which I added to spice things up. It was basically two small towers that were once used by guards of a nearby town as a checkpoint. The goblins went through them after they were abandoned, made some shoddy construction work to make it safer, and then used it as a toll road point. I also gave them a boulder trap that would cause boulders to roll down the hill onto exceptionally resistant people, people who would refuse to pay the toll no matter what.
I do like the idea of them just attacking carts though, so I might Remove the towers and have them camp outside on top of the hill. Should I keep the boulder trap and small creek or what? Also, how many goblins should there be? I was thinking 4 or 5, but I’m not sure.

I like the boulder trap idea. Just don't make it too effective. Maybe the goblins have dug a crude rut for the boulder to run down and the party might see it and figure out what it's for and then not stand in the way. Or maybe the boulder doesn't roll very straight and is inaccurate. Maybe the boulder only hits the cart. Use it to allow some smart playing and induce some terror, but it shouldn't be deadly.

4-5 goblins sounds fine if you keep the boulder. Don't forget you can always run a test play of it by yourself.Just use standard damage rather than rolling for damage so you keep things "more average"

[Kaptin Keen]

"I'm sorry - but there is no one else: You three will have to wipe out this goblin tribe. Go! Good luck."

Substitute anything for 'goblin tribe'. Any level 1 quest should be a potential TPK that can be overcome with planning.

[LibraryOgre]

That's just it - they hire a guard, a soldier, a doctor, a teacher etc. not "an adventuring party of heroes". If someone has 10 rats to kill (or equivalent level of quest) they either hire a rat-catcher or get a neighbor/friend/family member to help out, they don't post a 10 copper pieces bounty on the rats for any stranger to come to their basement.

And who says the PCs aren't the neighbor/friend/family member? "Johnny, Grandma says the rats have gotten into her basement and started waving spears. You've been training with a sword, and you're friends with that wizard apprentice and Father Tom's acolyte. Can you go clean out the basement before they summon Kurtulmak? And take that useless bum of a friend with you, Roguer. Maybe you can use him as a shield."

[NRSASD]

"Johnny, Grandma says the rats have gotten into her basement and started waving spears. You've been training with a sword, and you're friends with that wizard apprentice and Father Tom's acolyte. Can you go clean out the basement before they summon Kurtulmak? And take that useless bum of a friend with you, Roguer. Maybe you can use him as a shield."

Mother is getting a little too cynical in her old age apparently

[Darokar]

I like the boulder trap idea. Just don't make it too effective."

Yeah, a tpk in the first session because of some exceedingly crafty goblins doesn't sound too appealing. I thought of using the boulders to limit the parties movement options, like cutting of the cart's progression by having them land in front of the path or knocking over the cart. Thoughts?

[LibraryOgre]

Mother is getting a little too cynical in her old age apparently

Roguer is a gorram punk and going to mess up Johnny's chance of getting in the guard.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Delivering gold is a poor idea, "I'll pay you each 10 gold to deliver this bag of 500 gold..." Or did you mean "I'll pay you 500 gold to deliver this bag of 10 gold"?

But, courier is not. "Deliver this..." letter, tool, painting, or sentimentally valuable object. Something of value to the sender and receiver, but not to the courier.

As for the mud mephit idea, you can do the same with any of them, just change the element they are hanging out in. Maybe they have inhabited the local stream where the washing is done. Or a windy pass through the hills, etc.

I like mephits, maybe I use them too much...

Referencing more beginnings of good RPGs:

"Here's an arbitrary amount of money to take this novelty doodad to the big city across the desert. Surely, no unexpected complications will come up. It's definitely not a doom artifact of any sort and you are absolutely not going to be mugged and left for dead by a scheming gangster."

[NRSASD]

Sounds like a good strategy to me. Especially if these guys are new players, it's waaay too easy to accidentally TPK a group of 1st levels with sound tactics. If the PCs do get in the path of the boulder, give them a good chance to dodge it. A rolling boulder should be fairly easy to dodge since they'll see it coming. Much harder for a cart to dodge.

@Mark Thank you for that reply! My cat is very confused about my spontaneous outburst of laughter now

@Nerd-O-Rama I did exactly that. It went... spectacularly. It was a cursed idol that wildsurged every minute. 5th Street, the Bakers' Guildhall, and that poor unfortunate donkey were never the same again.

[Darokar]

My new question is if I should feel bad for something cliche as a goblin ambush?

[Bulhakov]

My new question is if I should feel bad for something cliche as a goblin ambush?

You can always put some twist on it, either to make it darker or throw in a new plot hook. Some ideas:
- there are human kids/teens in the goblin party (adopted? kidnapped?)
- the goblin provisions have fresh human meat
- the goblins are starved and malnourished, willing to surrender in exchange for food
- the goblins are all escaped slaves from a nearby orc-run mine, they want to persuade the party to help them free other slaves (or provoke the PCs to chase them, so the orc guards will fight the party)

[LibraryOgre]

My new question is if I should feel bad for something cliche as a goblin ambush?

It's tried and true... but consider where it's leading. WHY are these goblins ambushing people? I like to use such things as a "hook" to the main adventure.

For example, a number of years ago I used "The Johnson family didn't come into town at the last market. Someone should go check up on them." Party becomes someone, being trained and at loose ends. They find the farm has been taken over by Orcs, some of the family killed, others kept prisoner. Party takes out the orcs, frees the hostages, etc. But, when they look into why the orcs did this, the answer ties in to the expanding hobgoblin kingdom pushing orcs and other chaotic humanoids out and into human lands.

Now, if the party DOESN'T investigate, that's fine. It's an adventurer thing, and they didn't go looking at causes. But if they DO, you have a reason why this is happening now, and a way to lead them to a greater adventure.

[Bulhakov]

And who says the PCs aren't the neighbor/friend/family member? "Johnny, Grandma says the rats have gotten into her basement and started waving spears. You've been training with a sword, and you're friends with that wizard apprentice and Father Tom's acolyte. Can you go clean out the basement before they summon Kurtulmak? And take that useless bum of a friend with you, Roguer. Maybe you can use him as a shield."

That's exactly what I suggested a few posts earlier. Personal drama - friends/family/neighbors in trouble, is much better than getting a typical NPC-assigned "job".

[Darokar]

It's tried and true... but consider where it's leading. WHY are these goblins ambushing people? I like to use such things as a "hook" to the main adventure.

For example, a number of years ago I used "The Johnson family didn't come into town at the last market. Someone should go check up on them." Party becomes someone, being trained and at loose ends. They find the farm has been taken over by Orcs, some of the family killed, others kept prisoner. Party takes out the orcs, frees the hostages, etc. But, when they look into why the orcs did this, the answer ties in to the expanding hobgoblin kingdom pushing orcs and other chaotic humanoids out and into human lands.

Now, if the party DOESN'T investigate, that's fine. It's an adventurer thing, and they didn't go looking at causes. But if they DO, you have a reason why this is happening now, and a way to lead them to a greater adventure.

I was thinking the goblins were ambushing people to gather weapons and supplies for a war against another goblin tribe. I also thought that they could be arming themselves for a revolt against hobgoblin slavers that had enslaved most of their tribe. The goblins would be escaped slaves and they would be gathering supplies and allies to overthrow the hobgoblins or something. What do you think?

[Nifft]

My new question is if I should feel bad for something cliche as a goblin ambush?

I started a game like that! Kinda.

The party went to a small town which had put out the call for adventurers to clear an abandoned mine of goblins.

There was a caravan of magical weapons, set to arrive in town on Day 3 or so, also responding to the town's call for goblin-hunters. (The caravan was intended to sell weapons to adventurer-types.)

The caravan never made it to town -- now the goblins have magical weapons, and are a much bigger threat.

The PCs assault the mine, kill the goblin leadership, and respond to the changes in tactics due to the new leadership.

The PCs also get free magic weapons (once they capture them from the goblins).

[Darokar]

You can always put some twist on it, either to make it darker or throw in a new plot hook. Some ideas:
- there are human kids/teens in the goblin party (adopted? kidnapped?)
- the goblin provisions have fresh human meat
- the goblins are starved and malnourished, willing to surrender in exchange for food
- the goblins are all escaped slaves from a nearby orc-run mine, they want to persuade the party to help them free other slaves (or provoke the PCs to chase them, so the orc guards will fight the party)

I do like the idea of the goblins being escaped slaves, but if they take the time to ask the party for help, it wouldn't be much of an ambush. I also think that goblins wouldn't ask for help, they are exceedingly loathing of humans after all. I think instead they would steal supplies and get help from other goblinoids.

[Darokar]

I started a game like that! Kinda.

The party went to a small town which had put out the call for adventurers to clear an abandoned mine of goblins.

There was a caravan of magical weapons, set to arrive in town on Day 3 or so, also responding to the town's call for goblin-hunters. (The caravan was intended to sell weapons to adventurer-types.)

The caravan never made it to town -- now the goblins have magical weapons, and are a much bigger threat.

The PCs assault the mine, kill the goblin leadership, and respond to the changes in tactics due to the new leadership.

The PCs also get free magic weapons (once they capture them from the goblins).

Goblins with magical weapons. I can only imagine the horror!

[Frozen_Feet]

It's tried and true... but consider where it's leading. WHY are these goblins ambushing people?

A better questio is why are the player characters not ambushing people and taking their stuff, because the goblins 1) just proved it's feasible and 2) serve as usefull scapegoats.

[Kaptin Keen]

My new question is if I should feel bad for something cliche as a goblin ambush?

Do writers of action movies feel bad about tattoo'd bikers, black suited government officials, or any other staples of the movie industry? Hell no. They don't even try to do anything original with those staples. You can.

It doesn't matter that they're goblins, they could be any other low level race. But make them interesting. Maybe they're escaped slave soldiers of some warlord? Maybe they're a tribe that snuck into the city and live in the sewers?

Or you know - don't try to make them interesting. It's also totally fine to just have a goblin ambush. Slaugthering goblins, while unfair, is fun.

[Drakeburn]

Nobody trust adventurers enough for giving them the task of delivering gold.
I mean why would they not just flee with the gold?

My thoughts exactly. I figure the best solution to that problem is to give them the task of delivering copper coins instead!

[NRSASD]

Here's a plot/quest for rookie adventurers, one I'll probably use next start. Start them out in a big city and make sure they each have a reason to know at least one another character. Play a very brief, private session 0 with each of their characters going about their daily pre-adventuring lives. End each of these mini sessions with the character getting knocked out, either by mugging, poison, magic, etc. Allow them some fast thinking so that especially clever or lucky characters make it out very alarmed but conscious.

Session 1 begins with all the unlucky, unconscious characters (sans gear) waking up in a desecrated mass grave in the city's graveyard, slowly being filled in by zombified gravediggers. A major necromancer has decided the time is right to kick off a zombie apocalypse in the city, and was hoping to turn the PCs into stronger undead by burying them alive in a desecrated grave. The bulk of the undead horde moved out about an hour ago and is rampaging through the city. The PC's gear is piled up outside the grave, and any unkidnapped PCs have followed their abducted friends into the graveyard. The party's first quest? Get out of the 4m deep grave and get their stuff back.