Kobold Hall, Introduction

On June 22nd, I ran 4th edition Dungeons & Dragons for a group larger than one player for the first time.

There were three players, each playing two characters:
Laurel

• Rhaen Farearitil, human rogue
• Maersai Catalpacircle, elf cleric

Jen

• Revis Hatha, minotaur fighter
• Wwyzzarr (a character she borrowed from me), eladrin wizard

Jason

• Garback the Stabber, dragonborn warlord
• Mordrothep the Unfinished, tiefling warlock

I was running Kobold Hall, the sample adventure in the back of the 4th edition Dungeon Master's Guide. I used all three suggested plot hooks, giving one to one of each player's characters (Rhaen got Dragon Hide, Wwyzzarr got Terrible Secret, and Garback got Kobold Bounty). The wizard who gave out the Terrible Secret hook offered the use of his teleport circle to send the whole party straight to the dungeon entrance.

Analysis:
In retrospect, I rushed the teleport quite a bit. I wanted to get the party into the action and try out the 4e mechanics ASAP. We'd also just come off a campaign that seemed to constantly drag while everyone waited for someone else to move things along, and I was determined to not let that happen on my watch. Because of my too-aggressive pushing, Rhaen initially got teleported into the dungeon carrying nothing but a sword, so we had to retcon her spending her starting gold once they arrived. No real harm done, but not the smoothest DMing job I've ever done.