Ranis
2009-07-22, 03:17 PM
I have a wonderfully balanced 3.5 group that I run with a bunch of mutual friends, and so far it has been a lot of fun. However, between the four of them, there's much more of a mixed experience than I thought when I started the game and ever since have been struggling with keeping everyone happy with what they want out of the game, as is my job as a DM.
Let me explain further. Bobby and Sue (Sue happens to be my girlfriend) are very, very new to D&D and as such they enjoy the combat encounters aspect of D&D most of all. They are very, very awkward roleplayers. When I ask them what about roleplaying is so difficult, they tell me "I don't know what to ask/say," or "I just don't know all what I can do." It seems to me like they are having trouble getting into character in the first place, and I don't want to press them about it if they are uncomfortable; I want to slowly ween them into roleplaying over time. It's these two I'm most especially focused on making their first D&D game be exciting and wondrous as possible; because let's face it, almost everyone compares almost all of their D&D experiences to the first one they ever had, and I want to set a fantastic precedent.
Dave is very, very into roleplaying. He's used to the kind of D&D where you might go an entire session never fighting a single monster, albeit only with sharp tongues and rolling only d20's for skill checks. He's not opposed to or against combat encounters in the slightest, but I know that I would bore Bobby and Sue to death if I had a session with just roleplaying. However, I know that he would quickly become completely disinterested in my game if I didn't include it (which I'm not, because I really want to tell my story).
Tim is a very experienced D&D goer, and we play together in another mutual friend's game that's been going on for over 3 years now. He's been the one keeping the party pushed forward with roleplaying and has taken the defacto party face roll (Dave for some reason is playing a brooding ranger and thus doesn't talk much). I feel that Tim has a lot of weight on his shoulders with the party, and though he tells me that it's no big deal, I feel unless something is done he's going to quickly become exhausted under the pressure.
So far they are level 3 and I have been doing everything straight down the middle, splitting combat encounters and roleplaying. However tonight is a somewhat bigger plot exposition and storytelling through Bobby's character. I'm worried that it might stagnate from him getting stage fright.
Has anyone else encountered any situations similar to mine? How did you remedy them?
Let me explain further. Bobby and Sue (Sue happens to be my girlfriend) are very, very new to D&D and as such they enjoy the combat encounters aspect of D&D most of all. They are very, very awkward roleplayers. When I ask them what about roleplaying is so difficult, they tell me "I don't know what to ask/say," or "I just don't know all what I can do." It seems to me like they are having trouble getting into character in the first place, and I don't want to press them about it if they are uncomfortable; I want to slowly ween them into roleplaying over time. It's these two I'm most especially focused on making their first D&D game be exciting and wondrous as possible; because let's face it, almost everyone compares almost all of their D&D experiences to the first one they ever had, and I want to set a fantastic precedent.
Dave is very, very into roleplaying. He's used to the kind of D&D where you might go an entire session never fighting a single monster, albeit only with sharp tongues and rolling only d20's for skill checks. He's not opposed to or against combat encounters in the slightest, but I know that I would bore Bobby and Sue to death if I had a session with just roleplaying. However, I know that he would quickly become completely disinterested in my game if I didn't include it (which I'm not, because I really want to tell my story).
Tim is a very experienced D&D goer, and we play together in another mutual friend's game that's been going on for over 3 years now. He's been the one keeping the party pushed forward with roleplaying and has taken the defacto party face roll (Dave for some reason is playing a brooding ranger and thus doesn't talk much). I feel that Tim has a lot of weight on his shoulders with the party, and though he tells me that it's no big deal, I feel unless something is done he's going to quickly become exhausted under the pressure.
So far they are level 3 and I have been doing everything straight down the middle, splitting combat encounters and roleplaying. However tonight is a somewhat bigger plot exposition and storytelling through Bobby's character. I'm worried that it might stagnate from him getting stage fright.
Has anyone else encountered any situations similar to mine? How did you remedy them?