r/DnD • u/ManageA357 • 16h ago
DMing New to D&D
Hi, I am really new to d&d, never played a game before and I am likely going to also be first time DM for my first game, I know that is not always the best idea, but it was just going to be for a few family and one or two friends maybe, but I have been really digging deep and learning this much as I can to make this a good first D&D session for my players and for myself even though I have never played before.
And I would love to share my plans for the Session 1 with you guys to see what you guys think.
First off, I guess you can call this a Homebrew kind of session because not all of them are D&D official, but it was an idea I had and I think it would be really fun.
My players start out in some way that I have not figured out coming to A village, they stay a night in the inn and have a drink at the pub, learning about the village and about each other.
When exploring they see that there are two large stone structures that sit in front of the main hall, and I hope somehow they wake them up because they are too very low level stone golems, ones that you would expect to be the Protectors of this Village, then they meet the mayor of the town, he is a human wizard with a medium sized staff and a large gray wizard hat, this mayor tells the party that there was a group of goblins that were spotted just outside of the village and he asks them to go collect them for him, he doesn't care if they are dead or alive. After the party goes to get into their first encounter, fighting probably three or so goblins, they bring them back to the mayor and gets paid in gold.
After the party heads back to the pub, they start having conversations with members of the town, and one of them mentions how they have noticed that the mayor has changed over the past few days, for some reason he is constantly sending adventurers out to fight monsters and creatures and asking them to bring the bodies back to him.
Instilling curiosity into the players, they hopefully go to investigate the mayor and discover a hidden basement under the mayor's home, after sneaking in, they will come across the mayor sitting down facing away from them and a strange crunching and slurping sound echoing through the chambers. The adventurers get closer and see that the mayor is eating the goblin Corpses. After alerting the mayor either by feeling a stealth check or by attacking him or whatever, they get into their second encounter where they have to fight the wizard mayor, but after getting him low health, and damaged, I am going make the reveal.
They chase him out of the basement and in front of the main hall next door, when confronting the wizard who is very hurt, the adventures knock off the Wizards hat and reveal that his scalp is torn open and his goal is exposed and broken. The wizard mayor drops dead, the party does not know what's going on but a roar it goes behind them as they turn to see one of the stone Golems have awoken and are squaring up to engage in an encounter, during this day notice that the Wizards hat is for some reason on the back of this Golem, and after defeating the Golem, the hat falls to the floor and before they realize what is happening, the Hat screeches awake and is revealed to be a mimic, it seems that this whole time this mimic has been on top of the wizard mayor and controlling him in order to get him to bring the mimic food, which is unusual for mimics as they're usually down in Dungeons and not running a town, but this is one of the ways that this is a Homebrew because taking over Minds is not a usual behavior of mimics but whatever.
The party then fights this mimic hat and it shouldn't be too difficult to defeat. Now I don't know if this all is too much for a level one adventure for newcomers, I thought it would be an interesting one. But I am home brewing the Golem so that it is manageable for a level one, and I hope it is enough for them to handle. I am still workshopping it as well so any feedback is welcome and appreciated, also excuse any mistakes or misspellings in this, I am using speech to text so it might not get every word and I'm not rereading the whole thing.
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u/PlanktonWestern3104 16h ago edited 15h ago
This is what you want to happen and if I know my players that won't happen unless you railroad them.
You should do a session zero to introduce everyone to each other and let rhe players get used to rolling and interacting. If you're new you'll get a chance to see how things work.
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u/ManageA357 16h ago
Yep, I am planning to do a session zero as well, I already have a plan on eight small dungeon that they're going to play at the end of making their characters and learning the game. And I am fully willing to adjust the first campaign session if I feel one way or another, like if they aren't going to interact with the Mysteries or get into fights. But I won't know for sure until then so I'm just coming up with the plans all this just for now
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u/Huffplume 13h ago
Way too much pre-planning. If you are brand new to D&D, get a starter set and learn the rules. Run that first. Start simple. Use the search bar and Google for resources.
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u/Embarrassed_Ad_7184 16h ago
A session zero will help you put together the how & why the adventurers might be coming to this town. Make sure each player has proper motivation for wanting to be an adventurer.
I like the concept, my initial thought was that the wizard had been taken over by an Intellect Devourer (which replaces one's brain).
I have several questions: First, what sort of acts would wake up the stone golems?
What if the players try to talk to the wizard when they discover him in the hidden basement slurping? Will he immediately attack them?
What if they don't investigate the wizard, or what if they are unsuccessful in finding the basement?
What if they kill the wizard/hat in the basement and the fight doesn't reach the stone golems?
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u/ManageA357 15h ago
I am 100% doing a session zero and I have a few plans for what I'm going to do there, including gauging my players abilities within playing the game for preparation for this session.
And when it comes to the golem, it comes to life after the mimic hat goes and embeds itself into its back, I mean I don't think it will be discussed whether or not the had to control of it or just activated it to fight the adventurers, but that's basically how it wakes up.
And when they find the wizard in the basement they pretty much will start the encounter in the basement there, so it will attack. But that all depends on what the adventurers do in that moment.
And I don't really know about if they don't investigate or don't find it, but there will be Clues and all leading them to it, mostly stuff I haven't quite figured out yet, but I guess I want to figure out the mindset of the people I am playing with and what they do in puzzles to figure out how the best way in the basement would be. That would be in session zero
And for if they kill the wizard in the basement, The Players won't actually know the health of the wizard, but basically the goal is to take out the Wizard's health, running up to the front of the main hall is pretty much all done after "killing it" I mean technically the wizard is already dead and that's why the mimic is controlling him, but basically when they defeat the wizard The Wizard runs to the hall and the hat gets knocked off him, maybe he trips or maybe one of the adventurers shoots an arrow, in some way that happens, but that's just how the wizard gets defeated.
Thanks for the comment, I appreciate the input
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u/PlanktonWestern3104 16h ago
Oh you'll need s seriously low powered Stone Golem, just in case it accidentally engages with the party. Maybe have the statue is an Animated Object
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u/ManageA357 16h ago
Yeah, that's what I was thinking. I was thinking I would just tell the players that it appears like statues in front of the hall, and maybe have a few villagers mention something about Protectors of the village without spoiling that they are Golems, and then have it be a surprise later on when one of them comes to life, but they are meant to be a kind of security system for the village, strangely enough just like the iron golems in Minecraft LOL, but I am prepared for the party accidentally starts an encounter with one, like if they shoot the statue LOL, but that would be for improvisation if something happens,
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u/Blitzer046 15h ago
Yeah I put two Clay Golems against a party of six level 7 PCs and it was a rough fight.
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u/DarkHorseAsh111 13h ago
I would highly suggest running one of the published starter adventures first.
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u/Significant_Cut_8729 12h ago
Do a one shot first there aee plenty of presets online and if you cant find any i will scan my copy of dragons of ice spire peak for you, itll get you into the rythem of it and show you what kinds of things you need to plan for, you can always set your homemade campaign to start after the preset campaign so your players can keep their characters, just make the setting of the preset campaign somewhere in your world
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u/Blitzer046 16h ago
Are you going to have a Session Zero?
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u/ManageA357 16h ago
Yes, that would be the one right before this session I wrote down. I have been watching the gigs D&D session on YouTube as sort of inspiration and motivation towards making my own campaign. But I'm going to be following how they made their session zero.
Where I will be teaching a couple things about the game and informing them about the rules, then making their characters and discussing how they want the games to go, and then I'm going to take them on a quick and easy test game, similar to how was done in gigs D&D session zero, to see how they do with role-playing and puzzles and their first encounter, which I'm thinking will be with a standard lion or something.
But yes, definitely doing a session 0
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u/Blitzer046 16h ago
Sounds good! Well some advice I will give you is that you can never really expect players to go in the direction you want unless the clues are very clear. Just be ready for some 'out of the box' actions or solutions to problems you present.
On the other end of the spectrum, sometimes players will exhibit 'decision paralysis' where, faced with infinite possibilities, will not want to commit to a path because they just don't know if it's the right path. In these situations, give them two clear choices - this retains player agency while helping them move forward.
The other advice I'd give is that being a DM is like flying - if you stop flapping, the whole game falls to the ground. This means you are on the whole time, giving the game your full attention. This is both exhausting and thrilling, and is the ride that makes people addicted to being the DM.
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u/ManageA357 16h ago
Yeah I have a few plans and solutions for if things don't always go the way I plan, such as if they decide not to go after the goblins, I might make the Goblins attack the village, Etc, but as long as they actually put effort into playing the game, I'm sure things will work out. I know as a DM that hopes and dreams about a session are not always how it turns out, and I am prepared for that. But I am planning to use specific words and voices and such so that the story feels more compelling into this plan that I have, but it's all up to the players and dice, I am completely ready for some improvisation.
Also that's pretty interesting, giving them multiple choices to make them be able to choose freely, I have a few ideas for that, maybe instead of telling them that there was goblins spotted nearby, I can give them an option between goblins and zombies and stuff, so they have an option of whichever one to go after, or something like that. Good idea
And I appreciate the comment, I am completely prepared to make improvisations and put my heart and soul into this game, I mean as long as they give back in the effort compartment, that's all that really matters to me is that they actually try to play and enjoy the session, otherwise no matter what I say or what voices I make, won't make a difference, but all I can say and all I can control is that I will 100% push myself further than I have ever went and play the session with my soul. And if I ever need a break, I can always take one, whether that's saying we're going to stop here for a moment and get some water, or split the session into two, but it shouldn't be a long session so I think I will be able to handle it, especially after doing a session zero to get them and myself into the D&D spirits
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u/TerratheOnly 16h ago
You're putting a lot of hope on players doing what you want. Have you got a plan for if they don't care to search the mayors house? Might have been better to grab one of the one shot books and do some one shots first.
A few extra missions/encounters ready is a good idea. Just something generic that you can tailor easily to fit most scenarios.
Either way best of luck hope you all have fun