New DM's first campaign, seeking feedback

[Siovim]

Hey guys
I started my first campaign as DM this january, and felt i was approaching a moo-point and went to the internet for inspiration. I stumbled onto this forum, and became particulary hooked by Mr. Consideration's Monster Manual thread.
It was a great source of inspiration, and i have a great plan ( or at least i think so ) for continueing the campaign. I hope that some of you will give some thought to what i've created, and i look forward to spend some time on this forum.

On to the actual topic:
I've set my start in a landlocked region similiar to northern Germany, and the first adventure is centered around the town of Innsbruck. It's a monarchic city, with quite a lot of liberty for the merchant and craftsmen classes.

The very first encounter was outside an old elven mansion. My party of 5 lvl 1's was bumbling along the usually safe road on a merchant caravan, when a gargoyle guarding the gate to the mansion attacked the party. It was defeated shortly and the party decided to leave the caravan to check the mansion for why the gargoyle attacked, when this was a quiet trading route.
Inside they encountered a row of animated objects, which exhausted the party's magic and healing. Upstairs they encountered a banshee, and i really had do dissuade them from combat, as they were itching to fight and she would have wiped the floor with them.
They were sent on a quest to fetch a 6'3 feet statue from the townsquare of Innsbruck and in reward they acces to more rooms of the mansion and their treasure.

I plan to get the early story linked to the banshee, but as she has limited capabilities to goad the party outside a certain radius, i was planning to intertwine her with a death knight, playing at the fluff of both the undead.
The banshee Fahalei used her living days at playing with people, deceiving and manipulating everything she could. Her greatest achievement was to get the great Paladin Nivarron, commander of Lindol's armed forces, to her bed, and keeping him there during a time of need. The resulting disaster was the last nail in Nivarron's coffin, his duties forgotten and oaths broken, making him an Oatbreaker, something he never redeemed in life, making him a Death Knight.

Now i got the Death Knight as the enforcer (haven't used him yet) and the banshee as the brain. Neither one can be truly slain by swords and spells, but the PC's are forced to roleplay their way through this. I've placed still living relatives and friends (you gotta love elves and their long lives) around the region, to help them out of their service to the undead. They are also free to interact with the world around them, and have done so with great succes.
The players are not fans of being in service to the banshee, especially the CN bard, and i suspect they will try to kill the banshee with swords as soon as their level gives them a fighting chance.

Wow, that was quite the wall of text... hope someone will take the time to read this, and comment this first post of mine. Thanks in advance 😊

[War_lord]

I'm rather concerned that you seem to be forcing the players to encounter several monsters who are multiple CR numbers above their level, so that they can be pushed into handling situations a certain way. Is that a fair assessment?

Never plan for continuing the campaign. Plan for the next session.

[Siovim]

Well, you are not wrong..
I play with many of the same people as a player, and one of my players is my DM in that campaign, and i've longed for more roleplay and less murder-hoboeing in DnD, and thus i've put them in a situation where fighting is definetly the worst option.
I don't plan to force them to do anything, as i would consider myself as a failed DM in that case, but if i could create a sense of mystery and impending doom radiating from the banshee, while they clear out goblins on behalf of the village or tend to the dryads to lift a burden from the ageing druid.
The death knight has not made an appearance yet, and i plan to use him as a roleplaying peace for the near future, as i think he is a good fit for the banshee, but i might bump him down a bit, so the fight is not a onesided slaughter if it comes to blows
But suggestions are welcome

[Siovim]

This was is what is my immediate plan for long term chronology, but right now they are going to clear out a goblin warband in service of the nearby mercenary company, and then trying to locate a druid related to the banshee, possibly ending up in a conflict between the dryads and ettin in the same forest

[War_lord]

Well, you are not wrong..
I play with many of the same people as a player, and one of my players is my DM in that campaign, and i've longed for more roleplay and less murder-hoboeing in DnD, and thus i've put them in a situation where fighting is definetly the worst option. I don't plan to force them to do anything, as i would consider myself as a failed DM in that case, but if i could create a sense of mystery and impending doom radiating from the banshee, while they clear out goblins on behalf of the village or tend to the dryads to lift a burden from the ageing druid.

Did you speak to the players before session one and tell them that you wanted a campaign more focused on Roleplay then kicking down doors and looting all the foes? The thing is, if you have a party of players that do just want to kick down some doors, roll some dice and get all the loots, they'll start to chafe at constantly being faced with foes well above their power level every time you want to dissuade them from resorting to fighting. The best way to get a group of players who usually murderhobo to roleplay is to make sure they actually care about their characters and the world those characters inhabit. Coralling them with powerful foes is only going to work temporarily, once they reach a certain power level they'll go right back to the exact behavior you want to see less of, and it'll be harder and harder to come up with credible encounters they won't want to fight their way out of. Just something to prepare for.

[JobsforFun]

Well, you are not wrong..
I play with many of the same people as a player, and one of my players is my DM in that campaign, and i've longed for more roleplay and less murder-hoboeing in DnD, and thus i've put them in a situation where fighting is definetly the worst option.
I don't plan to force them to do anything, as i would consider myself as a failed DM in that case, but if i could create a sense of mystery and impending doom radiating from the banshee, while they clear out goblins on behalf of the village or tend to the dryads to lift a burden from the ageing druid.
The death knight has not made an appearance yet, and i plan to use him as a roleplaying peace for the near future, as i think he is a good fit for the banshee, but i might bump him down a bit, so the fight is not a onesided slaughter if it comes to blows
But suggestions are welcome

I feel like if there is an encounter depending on how your party acts no matter the CR ratings they'll still probably try and fight.

[Siovim]

Did you speak to the players before session one and tell them that you wanted a campaign more focused on Roleplay then kicking down doors and looting all the foes? The thing is, if you have a party of players that do just want to kick down some doors, roll some dice and get all the loots, they'll start to chafe at constantly being faced with foes well above their power level every time you want to dissuade them from resorting to fighting. The best way to get a group of players who usually murderhobo to roleplay is to make sure they actually care about their characters and the world those characters inhabit. Coralling them with powerful foes is only going to work temporarily, once they reach a certain power level they'll go right back to the exact behavior you want to see less of, and it'll be harder and harder to come up with credible encounters they won't want to fight their way out of. Just something to prepare for.

I did speak with them before we started, where i said that it would be around 50/50 combat and roleplaying. They all seemed ok with it.
They are all my friends and i've known them for some time, so i think they would say it to me, if they felt i was railroading them.

But i agree that coralling them multiple times will feel redundant and they would probably resent it even more for every time.
But i really want them to treat the world with some care and not kill an orc, just because he is an orc, or a human because he daubles in necromancy.

I know i forced them a bit in session 1, but my intentions were to create a setting where they had to do something about it, that neccesarily didn't involve fighting, instead of placing them in a dungeon, and go, "here ya go, find a way out."
'The lost mines of Phandelvar' start was much of my inspiration to how they started.
They had to fight the gargoyle, but i didn't force them in to the mansion, and i didn't force them upstairs and into the banshee's room, but once they did then they were hooked.

I'm fairly confident i will make mistakes in my role as DM, and i'm surprised by how many NPC's it takes to flesh out a town, and how to make combat exciting without killing off your low level PC's, but so far i've managed to stay on the narrow path.

But then, how would you handle to create a sense of morality in your setting? I'm curious to hear

[War_lord]

I think morality is perhaps the wrong word. The player decides what his/her character's morality is, all you can do on that front is say "look, you can't be evil", and the rest is up to them.

My theory, and it's still, only a theory mind, is that murderhobo behavior arises from a disconnect between the player and the world his/her character is inhabiting. You need to give your players an attachment to the people inhabiting your world. They'll happily steal a lockbox full of gold from "that Gnome alchemist" and murder "that noble who kept giving us orders". They'll think twice about stealing the life savings of old Fizzle Arbuckle, the kindly old village apothecary who gave the party a couple of health potions when he heard they were going to clear out the bandits who have been terrifying the local villagers. And they won't want to murder the local lord, Count Loupersal, even if he is a jumped up little scut, because they don't want to put their friends in the village at risk, and besides, he pays well.

[Siovim]

My theory, and it's still, only a theory mind, is that murderhobo behavior arises from a disconnect between the player and the world his/her character is inhabiting. You need to give your players an attachment to the people inhabiting your world. They'll happily steal a lockbox full of gold from "that Gnome alchemist" and murder "that noble who kept giving us orders". They'll think twice about stealing the life savings of old Fizzle Arbuckle, the kindly old village apothecary who gave the party a couple of health potions when he heard they were going to clear out the bandits who have been terrifying the local villagers. And they won't want to murder the local lord, Count Loupersal, even if he is a jumped up little scut, because they don't want to put their friends in the village at risk, and besides, he pays well.

This i totally agree with and try to accomodate, but it's really hard.
I believe i'm on the right track, to get the PC's to interact with the county they now are in, and would love if the before mentioned mansion would become their base of operations and the undead duo either banished or on their side, but only the gods know what the future will hold.
Already NPC's as the human priest Æthelread and paladin Carn, the gnome merchant Rimsbombom and the dwarven barkeep Battle are among their aquiantances, and i will build and expand on these.
There other characters and factions which they not yet met or just briefly encountered like the Warsworn mercenary company, Despair's thieves guild, the local lord mayor and the city council, Count Markus, and others which now are just concepts but ready to step in, should their time come.

I would much rather intrigue than force, and actually avoid the former if at all possible.
If the PC's decide to leave the area to more distant and exotic lands, they are free to do so, and my imagination will just have to keep up.