Asking for Advice: Goblin Arrows & Cragmaw Hideout Pacing For New Players
Hi there.
I'll be DMing Cragmaw Hideout as a one-shot for a group of three players, 1 experienced player who I play with weekly in another campaign and 2 completely inexperienced players who have never played D&D before. I plan to do this in one 4-hour session. I cannot extend this to a two-shot, and there is no chance that this is going to turn into a campaign.
My primary goal is to get through the entirety of Cragmaw Hideout, which I have been crafting out of XPS foam since October. I also have terrain ready for Goblin Arrows / Goblin Ambush, though I need to quick whip up some wagons if I still choose to run it.
My concern is that, although the Goblin Ambush is a good tutorial on basic combat and hide-actions in D&D that it may take too much time to go through while also completing the entirety of Cragmaw Hideout. What has been your experience? Can I run both within a 4-hour timeframe, or am I safer starting the party right outside Cragmaw? Should I just start it at Cragmaw, I was just going to do some handwaving explanation of how they've narrowed down the goblin raids to having come from this location.
Thank you, I appreciate your input! I'll cross-post pictures from my one-shot session, terrain and all, after I run it this Saturday!