If you had to GM your first game again

[SlyFlourish]

I don't remember my first game but I remember my first campaign in high school in the 80s. I thought it was pretty good. The characters fought the Zhentarim in the Cormyr area and eventually got Manshoon to blow up his own tower using a fully charged staff of the archmagi which sent all the characters into hell. 14 year old Mike had some pretty epic ideas.

I remember the first time my DM PCs (yeah yeah, I know) actually helped move the arc of the story instead of being just my own characters I could level up with my friends.

Obviously I wouldn't do that again with the DM PCs but I remember the moment I realized my characters weren't characters but story drivers and it was when my sorcerer DM PC got possessed by a lich.

I also remember when I gave every character their players' dream item -- hammer of thunderbolts, staves of the magi, vorpal swords -- and they knew I was going to take them away and one of the players looked at me, very angry, and said "I'm writing it down with a pen."

 

[Voadam]

one of the players looked at me, very angry, and said "I'm writing it down with a pen."

That's fantastic.

 

[Arilyn]

The first game I ran was Chivalry and Sorcery. Probably not the best first pick. Had a good time, though. If I were to go back, I'd loosen my grip on the plots.

 

[John Dallman]

I'd leave out one magic item that I'd invented, but I don't think I'd change much else. This was 45 years ago, running the first session in a setting I still use occasionally.

 

[User51]

Also 40+ years ago, and I ran a game by request of my older brother and his friends without having actually seen a rule book. I had been given a description of what the DM was supposed to do and they showed me a sample dungeon. Rather than think about what I would have done differently, I'm actually wondering if I could get back some of that naivete.

 

[Starfox]

I was 13 and a friend of mine had just got the Holmes set [Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set - Wikipedia]. He played an entire party, but his magic-user was the main character. We made LOTS of mistakes, a Hobgoblin has 1 + 1 hit dice... does that it means it has 2 hp? We rerolled hit points for characters each day. We slowly learned, but I think it was a total Monty Haul by today's standards. It did teach me enough that I could run a campaign for my classmates soon after.

 

[RenleyRenfield]

What was the story of the castle built in a swamp?

I ran it... it sank into a swamp
I ran it again...it sank into a swamp
I ran it again...it burned up, fell down, then sank into a swamp.

But the fourth time, the fourth time it held up. And for 5 years it was the most glorious, cherished, tear filled fun adventure ever played for us....