So we gathered for the first game session Saturday. Ah, what a mess.
My first DM session was very similar to my first cigarette. I was hesitant, choked, but in the end worked through it so people would think I'm cool.
To start with I thought I'd lost half of my character mini files because my computer saved them in a miscellaneous folder I had created for individual pics. So when folks arrived I was scrambling to rebuild what was "lost". Thankfully I found the originals in the process.
My lovely assistant (aka wife) made sure people had their pizza and beer and kept them distracted with a board game while I got the minis arranged, printed, cut out, and pegged to play. All told I think we started about 90 minutes later than I'd wanted to. I'm honestly just glad people didn't say "screw this" and leave...ne'er to return.
The session was painfully rough shod as I flew by the seat of my pants when a gracious assistant DM (who actually knows what he's doing) pointed out that the numbers on the character sheet meant nothing based on the way I was telling people to play. So ultimately I said "Forget it. You all have 40 HP, the goblins each have 15 HP. Roll a d8 for movement. Roll a d10 for damage. You will hit and be hit. That is all." All but 2 of the players were as new to playing a tabletop RPG as I am to DMing, so mostly people just rolled with it (pun intended). The biggest objection of the evening was "What?! Goblins come from eggs?!" My tangent explanation just made people think I'm crazy. I'll better explain the zoology of my world later.
It was strongly suggested I come up with actual...what do you call them? Oh yeah, RULES! I couldn't agree more. The wife and I spent Sunday building weapons/armor tables and determining cost and currency. We'll deal with regular equipment later. We are currently operating with NO carrying capacity. Time will tell, but I think we'll slowly wade into just playing Castles & Crusades since the rules are already established.
Overall people say they had fun. I hope because it was simple and they actually enjoyed it. I guess I'll know if no one shows up next time. One friend did ask if she can bring people with her - I take that as a very good sign!
Next time: Gold, XP, and a shopping spree with bonus FREE swag from an apologetic DM!!
Haha, sounds fun - and scary! I am trying to think back ot my early DM days, but it's been literally 25 years. I do remember a session or two where I gave away too much info the players weren't supposed to have and it kinda sorta short-circuited the adventure.
ReplyDeleteThe worst I ever saw was a game I did not DM though. The game master in that adventure totally failed to realize that the numbered rooms were actually in a spatial relations to each other, as depicted on a MAP. So basically what he did was start at room 1, then run us through each successive one. Needless to say, the game made little sense.
We still had fun - we were young, simple-minded, inexperienced and easy to excite. :)