Stormborn
Explorer
Basically what Whiz said. However allow me to add a bit of my own experiance. I used to have 3 players, two that loved RP and 'story' and character development and 1 that wanted a game where all he had to do was show up and roll dice and not pay terribly close attention. He doesnt play RPGs with us anymore. Its great that you have a couple of people more interested in roleplay that rolling dice; but do you have any of the other kind? If you do you are going to have to find a balance. But, since you are relativly new to DMing you can just ask them to be patient with you and give you constructive feed back. If they say they liked it or didn't be sure to ask why and dont except 'I dont know' as an answer.
To keep it simple I suggest:
-Limiting players to core only (as you are doing) and then bring things in on an a case by case basis
-Start at level 1. For some of the vets this might be a little slow at first but it will help you get a handle on the game.
- If you dont know, make something up rather than worry about looking it up in the rules somewhere. Make a note and look it up after and just do it right the next time.
As others have said, take your ques from the players and what they want to spend time on. If its reasonable that there should have been dire rats in that sewer they have to crawl through to get to the secret lair of the Thieves Guild just say "Along the way you fight off a pack of unusually large and aggressive rodents." and dont worry about XP or giving details. If they want to go looking for a fight, let them find one. If they want to talk things out give them a chance to do so. I hate it when my high CHA max-Diplomacy, Bluff, Sense Motive PC knows they are going to face someone and I have made a plan of what to say and the DM says "there are bad guys, roll initative" because I know if we are rolling intative the enemy is going to fight and is not interested in RP cause the DM didnt think that was an option.
And just remember that no adventure survives contact with the players. Its OK. If everyone has fun then you have succeeded.
To keep it simple I suggest:
-Limiting players to core only (as you are doing) and then bring things in on an a case by case basis
-Start at level 1. For some of the vets this might be a little slow at first but it will help you get a handle on the game.
- If you dont know, make something up rather than worry about looking it up in the rules somewhere. Make a note and look it up after and just do it right the next time.
As others have said, take your ques from the players and what they want to spend time on. If its reasonable that there should have been dire rats in that sewer they have to crawl through to get to the secret lair of the Thieves Guild just say "Along the way you fight off a pack of unusually large and aggressive rodents." and dont worry about XP or giving details. If they want to go looking for a fight, let them find one. If they want to talk things out give them a chance to do so. I hate it when my high CHA max-Diplomacy, Bluff, Sense Motive PC knows they are going to face someone and I have made a plan of what to say and the DM says "there are bad guys, roll initative" because I know if we are rolling intative the enemy is going to fight and is not interested in RP cause the DM didnt think that was an option.
And just remember that no adventure survives contact with the players. Its OK. If everyone has fun then you have succeeded.
