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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lanefan" data-source="post: 9064287" data-attributes="member: 29398">A few points, that might run a bit counter to some posts upthread:1. Don't get wound up overthinking this stuff.  There's some good advice upthread that took far more thought than you probably need to be giving this just one or two sessions in.  The whole session-0 idea in particular is IMO overrated unless you're DMing for complete strangers.2. You don't mention whether you're DMing for new players, experienced players, or a mix.  If any of your players are experienced, lean on them to keep things at least somewhat on the rails; and ideally they should be cutting you a lot of slack while you learn the ropes.  However, if all your players are new you've got an open field; they're not likely to notice any mistakes you make as being mistakes, so just go with it and have fun!The one caveat here is that consistency is paramount.  If there's mountains to the south today then - absent one helluva good reason - they should still be there tomorrow.  If Bill the Barkeep is described today as being 6'2" 240 lbs and with a scar above his left eye then all those things should still be true when he is met again tomorrow or next week.  If you rule in tonight's session that (for example) darkvision works by use of ultraviolet light then the same should be true next session and for all subsequent sessions.  And so forth.3. As you're already finding out, one of the key skills of a DM is to be able to wing it when (not if!) the players take their PCs off the pre-planned path.  Unfortunately, this skill can take time to learn, so in the beginning there's really nothing wrong with having a gigantic hand descend in front of the PCs to block their way, and explain it by simply saying "I haven't designed that area yet."  The players will - or bloody well should - understand; and with any luck it'll all be good for a laugh.Note however you can probably only get away with this trick once. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

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