INTO THE CELLAR AND OTHER TIRED OLD 1ST-LEVEL ADVENTURES

Considering other ways to give low-level adventurers interesting adventures 

The stereotypical, almost memish next step after "you meet in an inn," seems to be the ubiquitous kills some giant rats in a cellar adventure. While there are many other first, "training" adventures out there, this is the (in)famous one. What I would like to do here is to present some alternatives to this. These can be added to DMs' collections of ready to go campaign starters or peppered in as filler on a slow night.

The important thing to remember when trying to come up with these first steps adventures is scale and completability. These sorts of adventures are designed to be simple, to the point and able to be completed by beginning adventures but that is not to say they cannot be interesting and challenging. One of the best ways to achieve these goals is to think of what non-combat aspects can be added to the adventure. Consider role-playing encounters, puzzles, tricks and traps that can be figured out by the players as well as their characters. These will ad texture and complexity to the adventure that does not necessarily put the characters in harms way.

If you are going to include traps or hazards, make sure they are not too lethal or perhaps not harmful but only add obstacles to the scenario. A hzard with a rickety ceiling, precariously balanced on some worm-eaten supports needn't fall and hurt characters but could demonstrate the potential for harm while blocking one route to an objective, necessitating the need to come up with a Plan B. Obstacles which can be circumvented through creative means are also a great way to add interesting elements. How do the characters get through that iron grate that keeps them from the room they ned to get to? Is there a way around or oever that bubbling pool of filthy muck?

So what might a few such adventure ideas look like?

THE MERCHANT'S GOLD

The party is approached by a merchant who has need of their aid. He explains that, fearful that he was being followed by robbers, her snuck out to a nearby wood, where he his a chest of coins. Worried that the robbers may still be watching him, he is looking to hire some relative uknowns to fetsh the chest for him, hoping that if he leaves the village on his own, the robbers will follow him and ignore the adventurers as they fetch his chest.

The party (and DM) will need to decide if the merchant is being honest and if they trust him enough to do the job. Of course the merchant may have a contingency. In this adventure, the party mayface a few bandits or perhaps the bandits are fooled and the DM decides that the encounter in this adventure might be another monster who has found the treasure chest. If the DM wanted to make a bit more of a mystery and substantial adventure of it, they could decide to have the treasure be gone when the party arrives, having been taken by some other party. Perhaps a local band of goblins has taken it? Maybe, a local farmer found the gold and, thinking it a stroke of good fortune has taken it home. Now the adventure expands to locating the gold and recovering it from whoever has it.

HERBAL REMEDIES

The party is called upon to venture into the wilderness to recover a supply of a medicinal herb. This can be done in the face of an actual illness or perhaps just to resupply a tapped out herbalist. In either case ,the adventure sets the party into the nearby wilderness in search of the needed medicine. They may be given its location or perhaps are left to locate it as well as recover it. This adventure could be set at different times of the years ot adjust the theming and inherent danger, though as it is an herbal harvest, it would have to be an herb that i available at that season. 

Along the way, the party may encounter various wilderness dangers such as environmental hazards/obstacles or animal encounters. The location of the herb should also be a challenge itself, whether through some of "guardian" or simply being dangerous to get to.

OLD BONES 

Approached by a strange person dressed in robes and a cowl, the party is recruited to go to a local burial site (tomb, graveyard, barrow, etc.) to fetsh a particular set of bones. The DM can decide whether or not the quest-giver is upfront with their motives or not but the goal is just the same. The party may be given specific instructions or they may be more vague depending on how much complexity the DM wishes to insert into the adventure. the chosen location will also determine a portion of the complexity with a graveyard being inherently less complex than a barrow or a tomb. If a very simple location is needed, it could be an isolated burial site, perhaps under an old tree or some such. 

This adventure is best used to introduce players to undead as the site of the bones is perfectly suited for it. Keeping with the goal of making this a low-level experience, the undead should be things like skeletons, a single zombie, maybe even a single ghoul or, if the DM is seeking a more challenging encounter, then select one of the many low-power, less lethal incorporeal undead types. There is still room along the way to place encounters with other creatures but, much like the rats in the cellar, you do not want to have too many additional monster encounters as this will clutter what is meant to be a sort of test-drive adventure. 

For DMs looking to add more complexity to this, consider a barrow or tomb or placing the burial site beyond some hazards/obstacles. These could bae as simple as a stream that must be cross, a swamp that must be navigated or perhaps even being partially up or down a cliff or something as basic as under a rock.