If you follow my newsletter, you will already know that I DMed my first D&D game last April with my husband and 2 friends.
Well… I actually DMed 2 games… the 1st one was a test run with just my husband and was more a chance for me to get my feet wet and see if I would even like the act of running a D&D game (let alone handle all the components). The 2nd was with my husband and the 2 friends and was the real 1st game trial run.
The 2 games I ran came from DM Guild, specifically from the Winghorn Press catalog: The Wolves of Welton and Horror at Havel’s Cross. There was a temptation to create my own, but the load of trying to run a game was already high so I decided… let’s just run a pre-made that’s been tested and played by others.
The Wolves of Welton had shown up in a lot of online conversations as a great beginner 1-shot, so I decided I’d go with that one as my 1st game with just Juan (my husband). It had all the elements I was looking for (role play opportunities, an introductory battle, a morality choice, etc). I would argue that while it is an interesting story to play out, as a beginner DM, the scenario allowed for a lot of branching options which were difficult to focus down as it played. The biggest issue, IMO, was the number of NPCs at the Inn, which is a lot of characters for a beginner DM to juggle. I did mess it up, forgot a couple of names, a couple of relationships and roles…. I did accidentally kill Juan’s character, but… after a moment of lamenting the fuck-up, we rolled with it and had an NPC feed him a health potion and continued the quest.
Horror at Havel’s Cross – I ended up selecting this one intentionally for the group game. It’s low level (easier for new D&D players to juggle less options), only had a handful of NPCs to track, and was easier to keep “on track” since one of the NPCs travels with the party and acts as a kind of walking railroad for this 1-shot. I also prepared more for this one, organizing the data into quick sheets for myself for when the scenes or battles happened. My players got through to the end, even though I once again messed up some crucial details, which resulted in them surprising me with an attempt to attune an evil artifact. I think the mess-ups make for some unique story moments, but it doesn’t force you to think on your feet.
As for the gameplay’s flow? We had some hiccups, mostly around the rules and determining what players could and couldn’t do, which usually resulted in internet searches and flipping through the handbook. Not finding an answer meant that as a DM, I had to make an arbitrary decision to keep the game going, aka making up a ‘house rule’. I feel like I now understand the game store regulars who get into these intense game mechanic arguments while shopping. Sometimes the official sources are too vague. My husband and I even got into a heated late night hour-long argument about the mechanics of Bonus Action Hide and Sneak Attack for a Lvl 2 Rogue. It was resolved by morning but wow I never thought I’d be the one getting riled up over game rules.
As for future games…
I already reached out to a local group to try and run a 1-shot with some of their players (probably Wolves of Welton again… I didn’t run the full version with Juan since it is designed for a party of players and he was playing solo for me). But running TTRPGs still remains a time sink and I’m just not sure… when I’ll be able to play. I could… push for it, but then something else will have to fall to the wayside and right now, I really want to focus on finishing the Beyond the Road comic… esp with Silver Age Comic Con coming up.
I am going to Kublacon this year though… I’ve never played a D&D Adventure League game before so this will be interesting.
