It's good to run a simple dungeon for your first D&D game. I've been talking about it with my son recently, he's planning to GM, the main thing that came up was that starting PCs at 1st level, you do need to pay attention to the D&D encounter building guidelines, because level 1 PCs are fragile. This is true even if running a published adventure, many if run as written are likely to wipe out new PCs, including the infamous goblin forest ambush at the beginning of the 5e 2014 Starter Set. A friendly NPC aiding the party can be a good idea too.
If it were me, I'd take an existing dungeon map eg from Dyson's website https://dysonlogos.blog/ and have a go keying it with some monster encounters, say 6-8, built by the DMG guidelines for 'easy' to 'moderate' encounters, eg one CR 1 monster or two CR 1/4 monsters. Maybe add one or two tricks & low damage traps (d6 is good, eg a 10' pit trap). Perhaps a friendly NPC or two, such as a prisoner, or non-hostile monster. Add one or two treasure hoards, again using the DMG or an online generator. Then come up with a hook for exploring the dungeon - rescue a prisoner, find a magic item, defeat a monster threatening the locality, or just seeking treasure.
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| Level 1 of Dyson's Delve - the start of a great campaign? |
