DM tomorrow - Need lots of help

[Turkagent]

So I am DMing my first game for 7 ppl tomorrow. 2-3 are very experience with a couple of medium experience. I started creating a complete world as I know the 2-3 will have read most modules. I just need help with enemies for them to face... I don't have a real grasp on what level rating 7 people are or how many monsters on an average encounter. The game starts at 4pm...

My current plot line:

Players start in a banquet with other adventurers.
Introduce each other, roleplay a little.
The hall is filled with many tables of fellow adventurers, a line of soldiers guarding a king.

Suddenly the ceiling cracks open and exploding barrels drop on each table. Dex roll to dodge or they are at half life.

Enemies invade and one of them kidnapps the queen. As they leave their wizard transforms the gear of the party to look like the enemy.

Fight ensues: Pathpoint--> the main hall is in ruins. They may stay and fight or flee the castle through the broken walls.

If they flee they will encounter random patrols from the castle, reach a town where a wizard will remove the alternate gear if they fetch a scroll from a local cavern. (wizard is too lazy)

If they stay and fight they will be overwhelmed and thrown in the dungeon. Every 1d4 hours one of them will be tortured for information taking 1 damage. I have couple ideas for them escaping...

There is a secret burrowed tunnel in the prison they might find. Maybe the rogue will escape artist. If they can't get out on their own, an NPC will come and drop a key with a cryptic letter.

They may then escape through the underground cavern linking to the prison(which is where their gear is) or try to sneak out the front gate. If they go through the underground tunnel I have spider encounters thought of and a riddle for finding the correct path through the tunnels. Upon escaping the castle, I plan for them to encounter a man who is designed as another choice.

If they do what he says, they will join a company of pirates and raid an outdoor ruined temple.

If they instead attack him, he will instead turn into a mystic character to puts them all to sleep and leaves a note telling them to watch out....for something. A certain coat of arms or maybe "A yellow box on a silver dish" that is the sign for his organization. They then will be forced to trek through a forest, stumble upon a gnome village that has been taken over by the undead.




I feel I have made this fairly.... "unrailroady". So... suggestions.... help with monsters S'il vous plait!

[Aegis013]

Don't be surprised when the players do something that seems totally out of left field. They're good at doing whatever you least expected.

Also... dex roll (I assume you meant reflex save?) from falling barrels or go to half health? That's a pretty significant difference if it's between a d4 HD wizard and a d12 HD Barbarian. I'd just make it deal 1d4 damage or so, but that's your call.

[Godskook]

Don't write 'plotline' in terms of 'what the PCs are going to be doing'. Write plotline in terms of 'what happens unless the PCs'. That last quote was intentionally using poor grammar cause you don't know what Verb the PCs are going to apply to your situations, just that verbage will happen. Its like watching a time-travel show. There's what would've happened before Marty McFly showed up, and there's what happened cause him.

Example: My PCs got themselves caught by mind flayers, thrown into the slave pits, and essentially condemned to die there, but this happened at the end of a session. For the next session, I plotted a rescue attempt by a cloak&dagger NPC the party was already familiar with. That NPC would kill the PC who brought this on the group, as a form of street justice, using his corpse to help break the others out. However, that's only what would happen unless PCs. My PCs decided to break themselves out, so while the NPC's plan was still getting set up, they make a break for it, releasing hundreds of other prisoners to cover their escape, which isn't good enough to get them all out, and one of them gets dominated in the escape(a different PC, oddly). So instead of having my NPC rescue the party and telling one PC to GNC, the party got themselves out, one of them got to keep a dagger given to him by the NPC, and a different PC got told to GNC. Was a weird night, but that's what happened.

So basically, you're not writing story, you're writing goals, plans, and motives for your NPCs. You've got them encountering a man after escaping the castle. Why is he there? What's he really want from the party? Why is doing it this way instead of being more up front(or less!)? That's what you write, and then, it won't bother you what the players do to him, be it friend him, attack him, ignore him, or avoid him.