S&W Nentir Vale Campaign - More Campaign Prep

In my last post, I talked about a Swords & Wizardry White Box game I've been prepping to run for some players new to D&D (and RPGs in general). Unfortunately, due to some schedule conflicts (mainly mine), I didn't get to start the game this week as I'd planned. On the upside, that gave me a little more time to prepare, which I've spent scouring Dragon articles and the Internet for more info about the Nentir Vale and Nerath as a whole. Fortunately for me, I found an awesome map that Wizards of the Coast put in an article on their website for the Conquest of Nerath boardgame.

Holy shit, right? This map is bitchin'. Click for large version.

I've also written up a list of rumors that will lead to some pre-made adventures (both mine and published) that I can run for low-level groups. 

Rumors

1. Townsfolk have been disappearing from the town of Nenlast, to the northeast past Hammerfast. Gnolls have been seen roaming in the forest near Nenlast. (Obsidian Hall – homebrew module)
2. Several children from Falcon's Hollow have gone missing. Falcon's Hollow is to the west of Fallcrest. (Crown of the Kobold King – Pathfinder adventure)
3. Orcs have been raiding Fallcrest over the last few weeks. Supposedly, the orcs have been coming from a cave system nearby known as the Shadow Caves. (Shadow Caves – homebrew module)
4. A scholar named Parl Cranewing is offering a sizable reward to anyone willing to investigate and map an old ruined keep near Winterhaven. (Keep on the Shadowfell – 4E adventure)
5. Kobolds stole a trade cart on the King's Road on its way to Fallcrest. Teldorthan Goldcap, an armorer in Fallcrest, is offering a sizable reward for a cured dragon hide that was in the stolen cart. He intends to create a suit of armor from the dragon hide. (Kobold Hall – 4E adventure in the DMG)

Each player is going to get a rumor, and I'll keep one in reserve in case none of the rumors sound good to the group. I know that Keep on the Shadowfell has a really bad reputation; I haven't played it, but I'd really like to try and liven it up a little. Switching it from 4E to Swords & Wizardry will hopefully alleviate some of the “combat all the time” nature that 4E can get sometimes. All of these adventures will, of course, be converted over to S&W. I don't expect there'll be a whole lot of issue converting stuff, and if I don't get it all finished before the game, I don't foresee any problems converting on the fly if I absolutely have to.

After every adventure, I'll give the players some new rumors, and they can choose to either follow up on those or one that I've already given them. Some of the rumors won't lead anywhere though; if they don't get there in time, it's going to be assumed that someone else goes and takes care of the problem.

I'm also working on some pregen characters so that we can get straight to playing. I expect that, as characters die (and I'm sure they will), they'll start to roll up their own, but for the first game, I'd rather get right into gaming. In my experience, sometimes character creation puts off new players, so I rely on pregens a lot when I introduce people to gaming.