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First time playing D&D and I'm the DM. Anyone feeling helpful?
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<blockquote data-quote="Denalz" data-source="post: 7139492" data-attributes="member: 6878412"><p><strong>Hello again everyone! I'm sorry it's been so long, but I wanted to give you guys an update on how our first session went in light of our second one coming up this Saturday.</strong></p><p></p><p><u>The Player's Attitudes</u></p><p></p><p>Overall the initial session was a good one. I could tell my players started out shy, two of four in particular. Thankfully one of the men (Paladin) was a thespian in high school and his dramatic/creative flair hasn't seemed to dissipate over the years. As such he turned into the group spokesmen for the most part until the 3rd and final hour when my other players finally began loosening up. I hope things will be a bit easier for them this weekend. It should help that now they all know each other a bit better as this wasn't the case for all of them at first. Maybe I need to break out some booze this time around. After the game was over they all conveyed their enthusiasm and eagerness to play again. In the past week they have taken to the group chat hyping each other up for Saturday so I think it's safe to assume that their enjoyment was genuinely expressed. It probably helps that half of them are poor blue-collar bachelors and I had a delicious meal ready for them when they arrived. </p><p></p><p><u>What Went Well</u></p><p></p><p>So it turns out I'm better at acting out a coward than a jerk. As such the captain was a Nervous-Nellie and was zero help during the beach encounters. Because of this the PC's were so irritated with him that they ended up going with my Tongu tribesmen, not respecting the captain's warnings that they were murderous savages. They also really seemed to enjoy the revelation that he had been a slave trader as they were all suspecting for some time that the captain had been dirty and one of them even specifically guessed that he was a trafficker earlier on. They did not try to save him when he was executed and were glad to be rid of his uselessness. </p><p></p><p>I decided to go with a ritual of walking across hot coals as the condition to receive the tattoo. I think that was actually their favorite part of the game as they were laughing hysterically at my descriptions of what their constitution checks earned them in they way of gracefulness or lack there of. They also enjoyed the tattoo process though none of them really wanted an ugly permanent mark on their body but they all chose to do it as to avoid offending their hosts. The wizard nearly got his arm chopped off when he tried to be clever and project an image of the tattoo on his arm to convince them that he already had the mark and didn't need it. He barely managed to play it off as a prank when he saw how well that charade didn't go over. </p><p></p><p>Though my paladin and wizard were the most socially comfortable players and us such did most of the talking, I was glad that my druid and ranger actually managed to do the majority of killing and damage during the encounters which I'm sure helped them enjoy the game more by feeling useful.</p><p></p><p><u>What Went Wrong</u></p><p></p><p>Okay so I know I said I was very prepared for my PC's to make decisions that weren't in line with my plot... well they managed to catch me with my pants down when it came to the giant snake on the beach. Their initial decision was to run away instead of fight, and this was largely my fault because I over-hyped how big it was and they decided they didn't have a chance. I mean, I applaud them for not meta-game thinking I guess, but gosh darn it I was not ready for that. Mercifully, my PC's are not yet a coordinated team and though they all agreed to run, they each took off in different directions. In the end, the decided to fight since their escape attempt was such a disaster. *Whew* Next time I'll be a bit more conservative in my monster descriptions, especially since I now see that I have a cautious group. Obviously it will also help to always be thinking up alternative scenarios.</p><p></p><p>The thing that really made me sweat, however, was the group's wizard. I was thoughtless and I failed to go over his utility spells while planning the adventure. <strong>He had a mother f***** translation spell!!!!!</strong> <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/ponder.png" class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":hmm:" title="Hmmm :hmm:" data-shortname=":hmm:" /> So, that was fun as I attempted to come up with a host of dialogue on the fly that I didn't plan on ever having to actually articulate. I wanted to pull my hair out. So now I feel like using Akira as a translator is less necessary. That being said the spell is very limited in that it takes an hour to prepare before it works and then only lasts for one hour. So there is that saving grace. Anyway, I have to do a better job preparing for that sort of crap.</p><p></p><p>Also, side note, while making my captain run away from the newly arrived Tongu tribesmen, I wanted to make him shout a warning at the group. For some reason I could not for the life of me think of the word "run". Instead, after nearly turning red from sputtering I shouted, "Be on your guard!" My players had a good laugh at that. Oh well, not all of us were thespians in highschool.</p><p></p><p>A major problem we had was my own difficulty knowing when my players were speaking in and out of character (especially the two quieter men). Since not everyone was comfortable at first they seemed reluctant to speak in character and tried addressing the GM more than the NPC's. Any advice on how to make this easier? I also realized that I need to work on my accents because that makes it much easier for them as well.</p><p></p><p><strong>Thank you to everyone who gave me advice before. I'll probably end up asking for more as I brush up on our upcoming session. </strong></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Denalz, post: 7139492, member: 6878412"] [B]Hello again everyone! I'm sorry it's been so long, but I wanted to give you guys an update on how our first session went in light of our second one coming up this Saturday.[/B] [U]The Player's Attitudes[/U] Overall the initial session was a good one. I could tell my players started out shy, two of four in particular. Thankfully one of the men (Paladin) was a thespian in high school and his dramatic/creative flair hasn't seemed to dissipate over the years. As such he turned into the group spokesmen for the most part until the 3rd and final hour when my other players finally began loosening up. I hope things will be a bit easier for them this weekend. It should help that now they all know each other a bit better as this wasn't the case for all of them at first. Maybe I need to break out some booze this time around. After the game was over they all conveyed their enthusiasm and eagerness to play again. In the past week they have taken to the group chat hyping each other up for Saturday so I think it's safe to assume that their enjoyment was genuinely expressed. It probably helps that half of them are poor blue-collar bachelors and I had a delicious meal ready for them when they arrived. [U]What Went Well[/U] So it turns out I'm better at acting out a coward than a jerk. As such the captain was a Nervous-Nellie and was zero help during the beach encounters. Because of this the PC's were so irritated with him that they ended up going with my Tongu tribesmen, not respecting the captain's warnings that they were murderous savages. They also really seemed to enjoy the revelation that he had been a slave trader as they were all suspecting for some time that the captain had been dirty and one of them even specifically guessed that he was a trafficker earlier on. They did not try to save him when he was executed and were glad to be rid of his uselessness. I decided to go with a ritual of walking across hot coals as the condition to receive the tattoo. I think that was actually their favorite part of the game as they were laughing hysterically at my descriptions of what their constitution checks earned them in they way of gracefulness or lack there of. They also enjoyed the tattoo process though none of them really wanted an ugly permanent mark on their body but they all chose to do it as to avoid offending their hosts. The wizard nearly got his arm chopped off when he tried to be clever and project an image of the tattoo on his arm to convince them that he already had the mark and didn't need it. He barely managed to play it off as a prank when he saw how well that charade didn't go over. Though my paladin and wizard were the most socially comfortable players and us such did most of the talking, I was glad that my druid and ranger actually managed to do the majority of killing and damage during the encounters which I'm sure helped them enjoy the game more by feeling useful. [U]What Went Wrong[/U] Okay so I know I said I was very prepared for my PC's to make decisions that weren't in line with my plot... well they managed to catch me with my pants down when it came to the giant snake on the beach. Their initial decision was to run away instead of fight, and this was largely my fault because I over-hyped how big it was and they decided they didn't have a chance. I mean, I applaud them for not meta-game thinking I guess, but gosh darn it I was not ready for that. Mercifully, my PC's are not yet a coordinated team and though they all agreed to run, they each took off in different directions. In the end, the decided to fight since their escape attempt was such a disaster. *Whew* Next time I'll be a bit more conservative in my monster descriptions, especially since I now see that I have a cautious group. Obviously it will also help to always be thinking up alternative scenarios. The thing that really made me sweat, however, was the group's wizard. I was thoughtless and I failed to go over his utility spells while planning the adventure. [B]He had a mother f***** translation spell!!!!![/B] :hmm: So, that was fun as I attempted to come up with a host of dialogue on the fly that I didn't plan on ever having to actually articulate. I wanted to pull my hair out. So now I feel like using Akira as a translator is less necessary. That being said the spell is very limited in that it takes an hour to prepare before it works and then only lasts for one hour. So there is that saving grace. Anyway, I have to do a better job preparing for that sort of crap. Also, side note, while making my captain run away from the newly arrived Tongu tribesmen, I wanted to make him shout a warning at the group. For some reason I could not for the life of me think of the word "run". Instead, after nearly turning red from sputtering I shouted, "Be on your guard!" My players had a good laugh at that. Oh well, not all of us were thespians in highschool. A major problem we had was my own difficulty knowing when my players were speaking in and out of character (especially the two quieter men). Since not everyone was comfortable at first they seemed reluctant to speak in character and tried addressing the GM more than the NPC's. Any advice on how to make this easier? I also realized that I need to work on my accents because that makes it much easier for them as well. [B]Thank you to everyone who gave me advice before. I'll probably end up asking for more as I brush up on our upcoming session. [/B] [/QUOTE]
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