Free RPG Day Intro D&D Game

I was asked to run a 2 hour 5e intro game at my FLGS for their delayed Free RPG Day event on Sunday. So with that in mind, I dug out my starter box to mine it for ideas. I also shamelessly stole the pre-gens. Wanting to make it a good session for new players (who Free RPG day is aimed at) I dug through my painted and pre-painted mini collection for appropriate PCs.

I decided that in my 2 hours I needed to show the sorts of things you get in Dungeons and Dragons, so I picked goblins, skeletons, and a dragon!

It helped that those were monsters I had plenty of minis for, and since I wanted to run an engaging session for the new players, having the monsters out I figured could only help.

Unfortunately it turned out that all 5 players were at least somewhat experienced 5e players... Ah well, still tried to give them a good intro experience.

Brian played Jarrod the human ax fighter
Josh played Kythea the elven wizard
Rick played Cade the halfling rogue
Colin (from my Wednesday night D&D group - currently on hiatus) played Thorin the hill dwarf cleric
Justin (also from my Wednesday night group) played Palish the human sword & bow fighter

I set the scene, telling everyone that the last great empire had fallen, that he red sun sat low and cold in the sky. That the once bright blue sky was now a dull purple… but that there were those who pushed back against the end of civilization…. those who fought the creatures in the dark, that they were such adventurers on their way to a ruined city whose name had been forgotten in time. They were traveling north through a mushroom forest when they spotted some red capped blue skinned creatures perched in the mushroom caps… armed with bows!

The adventurers were spread out, as were the 4 goblins. Unfortunately the goblins were ready to ambush. Halfway through the bloody fight 2 more goblins closed in from behind the party! Thorin needed to heal himself twice, Kythea come close to death, and Cade was left to bleed out at the end of the fight.

With Cade’s death, Rick left the party to go play some 40K RPG. Had it been a new player, I’d have fudged it… But Rick seemed perfectly content to jump into the next starting game.

The 4 remaining adventurers continued on, reaching the ruins of the city. Poking through the mostly empty shells of buildings, they came to a large structure that descended into the ground via a long spiraling ramp. They heard some noise coming from the darkness, so torches were lit, and they stepped into the darkened structure. They quickly noticed a steel door off to the side, and attempted to open it in favor of going down the ramp. Unfortunately their crowbar only managed to bend the door, wedging it tighter in place. The noise drew 4 skeletons from the darkness!

Battling the skeletons was far less taxing for the party, and they quickly pressed deeper into the structure, eventually arriving at a large space supported by smooth pillars, and flooded to ankle depth with black swampy water. Two more skeletons emerged from the shadows, armed with bows, and from a dark corner, a black dragon! Thorin and Jarrod both fell during the fight, but neither drowned in the disgusting water, while Kythea and Palish decided a fighting retreat was the best option. When the dragon had had enough, they turned back and Palish lodged an arrow in the base of it’s skull, bringing the beast down!

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And what did I pick up at Free RPG day?

The good(man games) stuff!