Preparing For the First Game

So normally, my idea of preparation is to create a hook and then a series of encounters that the players "need" to get through. I say need because after years of being out of the loop, I have forgotten that D&D is best played as a player-driven game. A game where the players run the show and the DM is there to build the creative fire with the well placed battle, trap,or mysterious bang from down the dark western corridor. My first few adventures while playing 3.5 has been DM driven and as we all know, that is the worst way to play an ongoing campaign, so while anticipating the first game in our experiment with AD&D1E I have decided to do my prep in a more sandbox-like style. Here are the ideas.

1. I want to keep the starting city details minimal so the players can flesh it out.
2. The first adventure is going to take place in a nearby dungeon. An old mine with a forgotten purpose.
3. The dungeon will have a multi-level design where some stairs skip past the immediate level just below and lead to the next level.
4. The area around the dungeon will be lightly mapped out so that there is room to explore, but the details will be left out so the players can flesh it out.

That is the basic approach I am taking for this new campaign. After reading the old editions of D&D I realized that I miss the days when the party needed to worry about the consequences of not having enough lantern oil, or getting poisoned and failing the saving throw. The early editions were pretty unforgiving in almost every way and that makes surviving a reward in itself.