First time DM with first time players looking for help & feedback

[Gree D. Clown]

Hi guys!

so, a bit of a preface to give you insight on the situation:

I played a fair share of both 3.5e & 5e over the years but only as a player, recently some friends of mine told me they were curious to try so i offered to DM for them, their party will be a 4 man party with 3 new players and my brother (wich i recruited as a player/co-DM to help me out as he's the one who introduced me to D&D in the first place as kids and is a really experienced player). The game will be a 1-shot so i'm not afraid of handing out "feel good" loot for my players (also as they are new to ttrpg in general i feel they can use a bit of a help) and i don't need to set-up hooks for the future (we already agreed if they want to go on we'll start rime of the frostmaiden or another official module)

since it's my first time DMing i thought about sandboxing them into a city with various questlines and just see what sticks but i'm not sure that's the right approach (i also don't want to prebuild a whole continent just for a 1-shot)

i'm not going to much into details but this is how i envision the session and the questlines (party lvl is 5):

1. the party weather they are already an adventuring party or "lone wolves hired swords" has been hired by a merchant to protect his caravan (not very original i know), the day begins at the dawn of the last day of travel nearly approaching the town, the party has breakfast giving time for introductions and RPing, a perception check with decreasing DC over time will reveal a owl hovering over the party, an easy DC insight or nature check remembers the party owls are night creatures

2. as the sun sets the party is approaching the city but with the night taking over the bandits attack the caravan, once they are in critical condition the bandits will seek to escape, if someone does the bandits associates will know of the party and might be look for revenge, if some are taken prisoners other things will happen

3. reaching the gates the party get paid and disbanded (here, if the party wasn't already a "party" i'm hoping the players will be smart enough to be like "ok let's go have a beer and hang out!" and make it one), at the entrance there are 2 guards inspects and search outsiders entering the city, they are both on the bandits paybook so if some bandit escapes the guards will start exacting revenge by searching and stealing something from the party (maybe like 10% of what they earned from the merchant or something), if they hand out a bandit survivor the bandit will eventually be freed and seek revenge, if for any reason the party is fighting the guards (maybe over the stolen loot) they get arrested

4. if the party is arrested the military commander hands them a secret quest to help him get rid of the bandits that infiltrated his ranks or they can escape by themselves, in the armory there's a +1 weapon DC 20 and 25 locks but no traps (you don't trap your house do you?)

5. in the city streets depending on the party behaviour they might run encounters with bandits, corrupted guards, normal guards or a fey disguised as a bum (if the party treats him well someone get's a boon or something, if they are ***** they get cursed), aside from that the city has 3 really standard main location:

- the tavern - your standard tavern with crooks,hookers a bard and a questgiving owner, he'll let the party stay for free if they find a child gone missing in the forest, at night in the canteen the bandits and other city thugs gather for the illegal box arena runned by the owner

- the emporium - the owner is a gnome, he offers discounts on pots if the party finds some herbs in the forest (herbs dc to find is low but based on how high the roll is the discount will be bigger), the emporium also works as a pawnshop

- the blacksmith - the blacksmith is your classic dwarf but the steel he has access to is really bad so he doesn't have any interesting item for the party, he also has beef with the gnome, there's an upcoming auction for a mithril piece that could really spark up the dwarf business but the gnome wants to buy it too and has more funds for it, if the party can find a way to hand him the mithril the dwarf will offer some equipment (likely a mithril full plate for the pally or something), however if the mithril is obviously stolen (was stolen from the auction house, the gnome or other ways) the dwarf will not take the mithril unless the party comes up with a solution that will make the dwarf clean to the guard's eye

6. in the forest a hag coven is taking over, the party will be attacked by rando beasts, a curse on the forest makes non magical metal items rust over time giving penalties to AC, attack and damage rolls (great idea stolen from church of doom), if they find the kid they run into 1 hag chasing him and eventually the full coven if they stay/investigate the forest

So, now that you have an idea of what i expect and what i'm trying to do i ask to more experienced DM's and players, what did i miss? what could go wrong? what else should i prepare? what should i change?

really ANY feedback is appreciated

[Unoriginal]

My advice: don't sandbox as a beginning DM or with beginning players, ESPECIALLY for an one-shot.

Having all characters already be a group and having them work to do X is the kind of limits that will save everyone a lot of time, and save you as a DM a monstrous amount of efforts.

One-shots in particular should be curated as much as possible.

You can have the PCs approach the town while working as mercenaries at the start, that's pretty efficient as introduction, then have them get paid by the military commander. Once it's done the commander tells them that if they feel up for it, there's a mission for them that's both more dangerous and more rewarding.

You have a lot of ideas and a lot of enthusiasm, and that's great, but pacing yourself crucial as a DM, and an one-shot really should have 1 main idea you can build around.

[Gree D. Clown]

My advice: don't sandbox as a beginning DM or with beginning players, ESPECIALLY for an one-shot.

Having all characters already be a group and having them work to do X is the kind of limits that will save everyone a lot of time, and save you as a DM a monstrous amount of efforts.

One-shots in particular should be curated as much as possible.

You can have the PCs approach the town while working as mercenaries at the start, that's pretty efficient as introduction, then have them get paid by the military commander. Once it's done the commander tells them that if they feel up for it, there's a mission for them that's both more dangerous and more rewarding.

You have a lot of ideas and a lot of enthusiasm, and that's great, but pacing yourself crucial as a DM, and an one-shot really should have 1 main idea you can build around.

i totally understand where you come from and your plotline really makes thing easier, i am afraid tho that would feel a bit rail-roaded? what if they don't take the quest? (my friends can be weird at times)

EDIT: to further elaborate, my first game was heavily rail-roaded by the DM and i don't have a fond memory of it, as a matter of fact i kept playing just cause my brother kept me interested untill we found another table

[da newt]

For a one shot with 3 new players I'd recommend simplifying what you've got. Your plans are ambitious (which is great) but might not work well for this party and is alot for one session. I assume the players are new to TTRPG so I'd lean into a very clear path forward and very easy to identify bad guys and good guys.

[Gree D. Clown]

For a one shot with 3 new players I'd recommend simplifying what you've got. Your plans are ambitious (which is great) but might not work well for this party and is alot for one session. I assume the players are new to TTRPG so I'd lean into a very clear path forward and very easy to identify bad guys and good guys.

i don't intend them to do every line, it's more of a "whatever they do they will do something" but your's is already the second advice of staying away from sandbox early...and i guess there's a good reason for t

[Haps]

i totally understand where you come from and your plotline really makes thing easier, i am afraid tho that would feel a bit rail-roaded? what if they don't take the quest? (my friends can be weird at times)

EDIT: to further elaborate, my first game was heavily rail-roaded by the DM and i don't have a fond memory of it, as a matter of fact i kept playing just cause my brother kept me interested untill we found another table

Railroading oneshots and newcomer groups is perfectly fine.
There's nothing wrong with starting the session by saying "You are hired by X to solve Y in the area of Z" to get the ball rolling.

Just follow the three Don'ts:

Don't tell the players what their characters do, think or feel.
Don't forget that the player characters are the protagonists.
Don't tell the players more than they need to know.

Basically, don't take away player/character agency and keep the game focused (with the caveat that you will raiload a little during oneshots and while they are learning the ropes).

[Unoriginal]

i totally understand where you come from and your plotline really makes thing easier, i am afraid tho that would feel a bit rail-roaded? what if they don't take the quest? (my friends can be weird at times)

EDIT: to further elaborate, my first game was heavily rail-roaded by the DM and i don't have a fond memory of it, as a matter of fact i kept playing just cause my brother kept me interested untill we found another table

Have the players agree before the game that if they're playing the one-shot they should play characters who want to go on adventures and get paid for it.

Railroading is plain bad, but you can't be an adventurer if you don't want to go on adventures.

Re-reading your OP, I think you could combine several of the ideas into one memorable idea.

Example: the forest is cursed to deteriorate all metals that is exposed within its limits quickly, so the commander hires the PCs to solve that problem. The commander thinks the ones responsible are the bandits who've been using that curse to their advantage (ie, attacking with wooden weapons and leather armor against guards who have their metal equipment massively handicapping them), and tells them where their hideout has been spotted.

As the PCs progress in the forest and see the effect the curse has on metal, a dwarven merchant/traveling blacksmith approaches them and offer to sell them diverse metal-based goods, including some magical items (which the PCs have the means to buy thanks to having been paid for their previous jobs), or even just repair the ones the PCs already have.

If they beat all the bandits or talk with them, they learn there's no indications the bandits have done anything but take advantage of a situation that already existed.

Turns out that the one responsible for the curse is the dwarven merchant, who altered a magic anvil meant to make metal *resist* degradation in order to make a fortune selling and repairing metal items, and who's ready to fight the PCs if they find out it's him who's responsible before he can leave the area for good, which he will do if the PCs take more than one day after first meeting him to figure things out. Two of the clues for that would be 1) his metal items aren't degraded despite the PCs meeting him in the forest 2) the bandits mentioning they're selling him anything with metal that they take from their victims.

You could have a first "boss" with the bandit leader, who wears armor and weapons made out of a giant bug's chitine and as such isn't affected by the curse, then the dwarven merchant as the final boss if the PCs figure things out on time.

That is just one example of how to put your various ideas together, though.

Railroading oneshots and newcomer groups is perfectly fine..

It's not. Railroading is never ok.

There's nothing wrong with starting the session by saying "You are hired by X to solve Y in the area of Z" to get the ball rolling.

That, on the other hand, is not railroading, and is good advice.

"The PCs are involved in the premise of the scenario" isn't railroading.

OP, I must retract part of my earlier advice: just have them start getting paid by the military commander and have them get their next mission, with those specific PCs being in long-term employment for the organisation this commander is part of.

[Gree D. Clown]

Have the players agree before the game that if they're playing the one-shot they should play characters who want to go on adventures and get paid for it.

Railroading is plain bad, but you can't be an adventurer if you don't want to go on adventures.

Re-reading your OP, I think you could combine several of the ideas into one memorable idea.

Example: the forest is cursed to deteriorate all metals that is exposed within its limits quickly, so the commander hires the PCs to solve that problem. The commander thinks the ones responsible are the bandits who've been using that curse to their advantage (ie, attacking with wooden weapons and leather armor against guards who have their metal equipment massively handicapping them), and tells them where their hideout has been spotted.

As the PCs progress in the forest and see the effect the curse has on metal, a dwarven merchant/traveling blacksmith approaches them and offer to sell them diverse metal-based goods, including some magical items (which the PCs have the means to buy thanks to having been paid for their previous jobs), or even just repair the ones the PCs already have.

If they beat all the bandits or talk with them, they learn there's no indications the bandits have done anything but take advantage of a situation that already existed.

Turns out that the one responsible for the curse is the dwarven merchant, who altered a magic anvil meant to make metal *resist* degradation in order to make a fortune selling and repairing metal items, and who's ready to fight the PCs if they find out it's him who's responsible before he can leave the area for good, which he will do if the PCs take more than one day after first meeting him to figure things out. Two of the clues for that would be 1) his metal items aren't degraded despite the PCs meeting him in the forest 2) the bandits mentioning they're selling him anything with metal that they take from their victims.

You could have a first "boss" with the bandit leader, who wears armor and weapons made out of a giant bug's chitine and as such isn't affected by the curse, then the dwarven merchant as the final boss if the PCs figure things out on time.

That is just one example of how to put your various ideas together, though.



It's not. Railroading is never ok.



That, on the other hand, is not railroading, and is good advice.

"The PCs are involved in the premise of the scenario" isn't railroading.

OP, I must retract part of my earlier advice: just have them start getting paid by the military commander and have them get their next mission, with those specific PCs being in long-term employment for the organisation this commander is part of.

i ****ing love this, my biggest hindrance was not wanting to scrap all the prep i did, you found a great way to recycle it while also improving it by creating a common thread to link it all, thank you a lot!

[Wuzza]

Hi guys!
1. the party weather they are already an adventuring party or "lone wolves hired swords" has been hired by a merchant to protect his caravan.
2. as the sun sets the party is approaching the city, I would narrate up to here as the introduction, make camp and allow for a bit of roleplay but with the night taking over the bandits attack the caravan, once they are in critical condition the bandits will seek to escape, if someone does the bandits associates will know of the party and might be look for revenge, if some are taken prisoners other things will happen.

Honestly, if you are all new to the game, it would imagine the first session wont get too far from this point. Especially if you're starting at level 5, as there will be an awful lot of rules to go through and look up.

If this does go quickly, have them track the bandits to their nearby secret hideout. - if they don't want to chase the bandits down, fine. Anything you have prepared for the hideout, now becomes a safe house in the city. This to me is the difference between letting the players take their own path, and railroading them. They have made the decision, but end up doing what you want them to/have prepared anyway. I would be amazed if there isn't a DM that hasn't done this.

You're all just starting out, it doesn't matter if the players have a preset goal. Learn the rules, enjoy the experience. If something doesn't go the way you hoped, talk about it after. Also ask the players what they thought about various aspects.

3. reaching the gates the party get paid. I would have them commended by the guards/merchant on a job well done and pointed to a jobs board/sergeant in the city with offer of more work. This will give you the option of expanding into where ever you and the players want to go

[KorvinStarmast]

The game will be a 1-shot so i'm not afraid of handing out "feel good" loot for my players (also as they are new to ttrpg in general i feel they can use a bit of a help) and i don't need to set-up hooks for the future (we already agreed if they want to go on we'll start rime of the frostmaiden or another official module).

since it's my first time DMing i thought about sandboxing them into a city with various questlines and just see what sticks but i'm not sure that's the right approach (i also don't want to prebuild a whole continent just for a 1-shot)

It's a lot of work for you, unless you are good at improv. Since you are not DM experienced, you are giving yourself extra work.

My question for you is: why are you starting new players at level 5? You can, but you are doing yourself no favors, nor them, in so doing. I'd suggest level 3 at most.

While for new players starting at level 1 makes sense, most players will be able to handle the additional features.

[Unoriginal]

If this does go quickly, have them track the bandits to their nearby secret hideout. - if they don't want to chase the bandits down, fine. Anything you have prepared for the hideout, now becomes a safe house in the city. This to me is the difference between letting the players take their own path, and railroading them. They have made the decision, but end up doing what you want them to/have prepared anyway.

It's called the Quantum Ogre, and it's railroading even nastier than when the players just can't do sometjing, because here you're pretending they have the choice when they don't.

That is not to say "never recycle ideas", 'cause it can be a good thing, but if the players have a choice to do or not do something, it must have meaningful impact.

I would be amazed if there isn't a DM that hasn't done this.

I have never done it.

[Tawmis]

i totally understand where you come from and your plotline really makes thing easier, i am afraid tho that would feel a bit rail-roaded? what if they don't take the quest? (my friends can be weird at times)

Rest assured, your players WILL BE UNPREDICTABLE.
They may decline quests or do something unusual.
The best thing to do is scribble notes - what if players do XYZ?

If you know the people - especially have played with them as players - you might be able to help predict what they might do.

And scribble notes to be ready for it as much as you can be.

This will help you be as fluid as possible as a DM, without pausing, deer look in your eyes, flipping through the books.

Also as the DM, wing it when you need to. Your players are there, and you're the DM, the story teller.

If you need something to happen, you can usually make it happen.

They decline the quest?

Find another reason to make it happen.

Is one of them a Cleric or Paladin? Say a Head Cleric approaches them and asks them to help, in the name of their deity.

Is one a rogue? Someone from the Rogue's guild asks them to watch the caravan because some of that stuff belongs to and is being delivered to someone in the guild.

So on and so on.

[Wuzza]

It's called the Quantum Ogre, and it's railroading even nastier than when the players just can't do sometjing, because here you're pretending they have the choice when they don't.
That is not to say "never recycle ideas", 'cause it can be a good thing, but if the players have a choice to do or not do something, it must have meaningful impact.
I have never done it.

Wow, i must be an awful DM.... I fundamentally disagree, what i do works for my group. We have fun sitting around bashing monsters once a week, we don't all have to abide by the same outlook on play.
Surely by definition then, every published adventure ever released is railroading?

OP the other thing is don't take everything you read on the internet as gospel, (mine included) you'll soon find your style.

[JNAProductions]

Wow, i must be an awful DM.... I fundamentally disagree, what i do works for my group. We have fun sitting around bashing monsters once a week, we don't all have to abide by the same outlook on play.
Surely by definition then, every published adventure ever released is railroading?

OP the other thing is don't take everything you read on the internet as gospel, (mine included) you'll soon find your style.

There’s a difference between a linear adventure (pretty much every module) and railroading.
Linearity is fine.
Railroading, since it involves deception or coercion, is not.

[Persolus]

There’s a difference between a linear adventure (pretty much every module) and railroading.
Linearity is fine.
Railroading, since it involves deception or coercion, is not.

Seconding this.

Gree D., when you use Unoriginal's modifications, don't worry about whether or not you're going to "railroad" the party. The fact that you're worried about it means that whatever you do will not be that.
Railroading means "oh you thought you had character agency? No, everything you do will result in the exact same outcome, and you didn't actually need to roll any dice."

What you're doing is providing a structure for the players to bounce off of.

[Mastikator]

I find the easiest cure for many ails (players refusing every quest/dungeon, players having no goals, players derailing the campaign in a way that leads nowhere,etc) is to just ask the players what they want to do, what do they hope to get out of playing the game, you ask this before the game begins. This also gives you insight into what secret sauce you should add to make each player happy.

During play ask guiding questions:

• What are you looking for in the town you're headed towards?
• On what will you spend your gold reward?
• Would you kill the hag?
• What would you do if you acquired one of the bandits alive but subdued?

Guiding questions are great for spurring the players to take action and to give them agency, but still lets you keep them prograde with the story. A linear story is not a railroad, a linear story simply follows scene 1 -> scene 2 -> scene 3 etc. But at each junction the players face choices that affect each subsequent scene. Use terrain, NPCs and quest deadlines to keep up the pace (many players will dilly dally if you let them). Deadlines are also great for creating excitement and tension. When and if the deadline is not met, make sure something bad happens.

[Sorinth]

A lot of new players don't know what to do in a world where you can do whatever you want, so I can understand not wanting to railroad the players but at the same time you want there to be a clear path forward. It's fine to have side paths that eventually take you to the same end goal, but the key to avoid railroading is simply being open to whatever ideas the party comes up with. As a 1-shot you want to avoid spending half your session figuring out what to do and where to go because there won't be enough time to actually do any quests if you spend half the session just laying out all the different quests they can choose from.

For the start of the game there are some small changes I would make,
I would have the merchant give the players a heads up the night before/day of the attack that this is the area that sees the most bandit activity so to be on the lookout.
Once at the city I wouldn't have the guards steal from the players but instead have them hassle the merchant and the merchant basically ending up paying a bribe and being very unhappy about it. Have the merchant pay/release the players once they get to his warehouse, that gives you some time to have the merchant talk about the guard corruption maybe even a suspicion that they are working together if you want probably even mentioning the commander being a good guy whose in a tough spot. They would also mention that they and other merchants of the city could no doubt put together a nice reward for whoever could put an end to the corruption/bandits.

I like @Unorginal idea of interweaving the storylines so whichever "quest" they choose it leads them to the same end fight of the Hag(s) and dealing with the curse.

Some general DM advice,
Don't plan on anyone ever surviving any fight with the PCs. There's no problem with having your monsters run away, just don't have plot points revolve around any of them surviving contact with the players.
Arresting players as part of a plot can often go sideways, I would avoid it if you don't know the players. They might easily have the attitude of "You'll never take me alive" slaughter everyone in sight and think that's what they are supposed to do because they are the good guys and the guards were the bad guys.

[KorvinStarmast]

Hi guys!
really ANY feedback is appreciated[/B]

In the unlikely event that you do return to this thread, I'll offer the following for any new DM.

D&D 5e has a simple play loop. It's explained in the basic rules.

How to Play
The play of the Dungeons & Dragons game unfolds according to this basic pattern.
1. The DM describes the environment.
The DM tells the players where their adventurers are and what’s around them, presenting the basic scope of options that present themselves (how many doors lead out of a room, what’s on a table, who’s in the tavern, and so on).
2. The players describe what they want to do.
Sometimes one player speaks for the whole party, saying, “We’ll take the east door,” for example. Other times, different adventurers do different things: one adventurer might search a treasure chest while a second examines an esoteric symbol engraved on a wall and a third keeps watch for monsters.

The players don’t need to take turns, but the DM listens to every player and decides how to resolve those actions.

Sometimes, resolving a task is easy. If an adventurer wants to walk across a room and open a door, the DM might just say that the door opens and describe what lies beyond. But the door might be locked, the floor might hide a deadly trap, or some other circumstance might make it challenging for an adventurer to complete a task. In those cases, the DM decides what happens, often relying on the roll of a die to determine the results of an action.
3. The DM narrates the results of the adventurers’ actions.
Describing the results often leads to another decision point, which brings the flow of the game right back
to step 1.
This pattern holds whether the adventurers are cautiously exploring a ruin, talking to a devious prince, or
locked in mortal combat against a mighty dragon. In certain situations, particularly combat, the action is more structured and the players (and DM) do take turns choosing and resolving actions. But most of the time, play is fluid and flexible, adapting to the circumstances of the adventure.

Often the action of an adventure takes place in the imagination of the players and DM, relying on the DM’s verbal descriptions to set the scene.
Some DMs like to use music, art, or recorded sound effects to help set the mood, and many players and DMs alike adopt different voices for the various adventurers, monsters, and other characters they play in the game. Sometimes, a DM might lay out a map and use tokens or miniature figures to represent each creature involved in a scene to help the players keep track of where everyone is.

My advice to you, new DM, is as follows:

a. Do Not underestimate the importance of step 1.
You, and only you, have a good mental map of the world. The players do not until you provide them with information. You must offer them information, and you must give depth and dimension to the imaginary situation that they are in.

b. Go to the bolded maroon part, and make sure that you get input from all players, and then proceed on with whatever ruling, further description, or perhaps die roll that helps move play forward.

c. Re read the green part again. Keep giving them information as the scene/situation changes.

That's all I have for you now.

[Gree D. Clown]

In the unlikely event that you do return to this thread, I'll offer the following for any new DM.

D&D 5e has a simple play loop. It's explained in the basic rules.
My advice to you, new DM, is as follows:

a. Do Not underestimate the importance of step 1.
You, and only you, have a good mental map of the world. The players do not until you provide them with information. You must offer them information, and you must give depth and dimension to the imaginary situation that they are in.

b. Go to the bolded maroon part, and make sure that you get input from all players, and then proceed on with whatever ruling, further description, or perhaps die roll that helps move play forward.

c. Re read the green part again. Keep giving them information as the scene/situation changes.

That's all I have for you now.

i'm actually reading every comment and formulating the new plotline based on Unoriginal's and others answers, yet your prickly pretentious one won't help the development

[Persolus]

i'm actually reading every comment and formulating the new plotline based on Unoriginal's and others answers, yet your prickly pretentious one won't help the development

...honestly, it is good advice, even if the intro was a bit rude.
The rest of us primarily have focused on what you're doing, but Korvin is giving tips on how.
It's things like this that are easy to rush over in the excitement of "oh i'm running a game!" and helps build positive habits/expectations.

[KorvinStarmast]

i'm actually reading every comment and formulating the new plotline based on Unoriginal's and others answers, yet your prickly pretentious one won't help the development

I am glad you did come back and interact with the various advice.
My own considerable experience as a DM/GM (in more than one edition and more than one game) led me to believe that I should focus on the how (in this edition) to run a good game: advice for a new DM

First time DM with first time players looking for help

asked for and offered.
You had plenty of other suggestions on plot, etc., so me piling more of the same would increase noise, not signal.

Best of luck with your campaign.

As regards 5e, 3.5, other editions. This is a lesson learned by me for this edition. Until I let go of my assumptions based in the previous editions, and treated 5e as a game of its own, I didn't enjoy it as much as I did after I did that. It brought me back to the hobby and 8+ years later, still enjoying it.

[Gree D. Clown]

...honestly, it is good advice, even if the intro was a bit rude.
The rest of us primarily have focused on what you're doing, but Korvin is giving tips on how.
It's things like this that are easy to rush over in the excitement of "oh i'm running a game!" and helps build positive habits/expectations.

You had plenty of other suggestions on plot, etc., so me piling more of the same would increase noise, not signal.

Best of luck with your campaign.

Just to make it clear, i never shaunted Korvin's advice as bad or useless, just as postulated in a prick way, and i still stand by that.
Also, as i said, it is my first time DMing but i do have years of TTRPG under my belt as a player and that gives me a decent insight on good and bad DM habits (i did play with both amazing and horrifying DM).

Aside from this last saturday we actually finally did it and it went really well, after i collected feedbacks everyone had a great time so i came to give a little update on what i did and what happened hoping it will help anyone reading this in the future and to look for some more help/insight (now it's a good time for the how):

so, in the end i actually kept the sandbox format by creating 2 mainlines for the city happening at the same time (inspired by Unoriginal's input the bandits vs guards line and the rusting forest line entwined by the bandits HQ being close to the forest) and 2 sidelines unlinked for the boxing arena and the guards corruption (with both sidelines pointing at the bandit mainline), sprinkled a couple of random interaction (mostly flavour like a cool bard in the tavern, the fey beggar and the beef between the blacksmith and the emporium owner)

this created an enviroment that was really easy to deal with as the "bottleneck" always furthers the main plot yet lets the player shape it with their actions or their lack of (i did change a lot about the rusting forest plot, i went back to the hag coven which is now related to the emporium owner while the blacksmith is the key to help the guards without touching the forest in case they ignore it and just try to get in>dothething>get out before the equipment is unusable as some have magic equipments that are immune to the rusting)

so the structure worked really well....so far

one thing i found out is that the sandbox format is cool and dandy but doesn't fit a oneshot game, specially with new players that will spend loads of times grasping the basics of the game (totally not like i was advised by you guys) so after 2 hours of gameplay(the first hour was spent in PC creation/catching up with the bois) they are still in the city gathering info/interacting with the enviroment but everyone was happy enough so far that we agreed to make this a "short adventure" (basically they liked the city and want to play it, i am flattered and happy by this but i also already told them that, after it is done, i would like to run rime of the frostmaiden to learn from an actual module)

with all of this my first experience as a DM was great yet odd, many things i was scared of were much easier than i expected and on the opposite end many things that i thought would come natural were incredibly hard (and probably where i felt more clunky) here's a list so if you guys have advice on this let me know!

EASY:

1 balancing combat - my real fear was that in this game so much RNG was to be factored for combats as my players are inexperienced and using suboptimal tattics while having ALL rolled ****ing incredible stats and having access to some decently strong magic items since "i was not afraid of handing out feel good items for a oneshot" in the end i guess it all balanced out cause i litterally used koboldfightclub encounter generator to get an idea of the number of enemies and CR i should have thrown at them and i grabbed some "appropriate flavour" statblocks from the manuals and it was neat

2 avoiding unfixable derails - as i said me and my friends tend to be somewhat...chaotic....and this reverberates into their behaviour, like i wouldn't have been surprised if the guys picked a feud against the whole town on a unwarm welcome or something but a bit of good will from them and the bottleneck structure worked wonders so far

3 taking away PC agency - as i said already my biggest fear was to make my players feel like they are not having a real impact on what's going on or that they can't decide what to do but i found out that it would be somewhat impossible for me to actually do it (i basically softlocked myself out of the option with the way i built the quest)

HARD:

1 names - after all this years i now truly understand the memes altho yeah, in this case i could have just prepped them ahead, shame on me

2 description - now, this is not a case of matt mercer effect, i agree i rushed some scenes to keep up the pacing but my players (specially my brother who is a more experienced player) noticed that and included it in the feedbacks i got but i kinda struggle in the field, i am either too detailed and kill the pacing or too shallow but able to keep the players involved into what's actually going on, my natural answer to that has been to tell my players to help me out by requesting what they want to know (for example if i say the cart is pulled by a horse and you feel i should describe it more say "what color is the horse?/how big is the cart?/what kind of supplies are on it? and so on), they agreed to do that next time yet if you guys have any insight to share i'm all ears

3 plot-altering improv - so the tavern owner is now also the "mayor" cause i ****ing forgot to give the city a non-military chief, this wouldn't be a big issue if not that he's also running the illegal boxing pit while being basically the guards captain best friend (which is one of the few good cops in town), it is less tragic than what i make it look like as i already worked on a way to adjust the plot, yet i feel it was a really close call and i definitely need to know how to prevent this or everytime i'll be catched by surprise i'll risk to burn it all

as always, thank you in advance for your help!

[5eNeedsDarksun]

On RotF, I'd encourage you to run it. It's well balanced over all 3 pillars and you can alter as you wish or leave it as is.
I've been a player and DM for almost 35 years, and there are things a published mod can give me around quality of art, maps, character development, etc. that I just don't have the skills to reproduce no matter how much time I put in. If I want to add something I can. At times that's meant tinkering around the edges, and at times (looking at you DiA) it's meant re-structuring whole sections. But even with DiA I was so glad to have the framework.

[KorvinStarmast]

...but my players (specially my brother who is a more experienced player) noticed that and included it in the feedbacks i got

+many for having the open feedback norm already established at your table/among you and your players. Keep those channels open. I have found player feedback to be more valuable than gold. Best wishes on the campaign growing and thriving ...

[Samayu]

Description is tough to keep balanced, as you say. Too much bogs things down, and too little hurts immersion. I used to err on the side of too much, because I'm a world builder. What I concentrate on now is mood. I start off the scene with the weather and the general feel of the location. Market day, hustle and bustle, everyone is taking shelter from the weather/marauding bandits, there's a hanging tomorrow, whatever. Then as things play out, the things that get described are the things that add to the feel of the place. Nobody cares about stone walls, but if you say "damp stone walls" that might lend some mood. The shopkeep is worried, and keeps mopping his brow with a handkerchief. Describe the horse? Its color doesn't matter, but is it healthy? The wagon's color might matter because if it is painted, the owner might be wealthy.

For the most part, players can fill in their own details. It's only when it matters to the story that you need to get it right. But if the players are so new they don't have a feel for what these worlds are like, you might have to give them more details than are strictly necessary.