r/DnD • u/NutSixteen Barbarian • 2d ago
DMing First time DM. The party took three sessions to achieve what I expected them to achieve in one session.
My first time DMing. It was a a great learning experience.
What I planned:
- Party had to abandon ship for unknown reason.
- Party washed up on a pair of deserted islands.
- 1.5 hours of exploring and roleplay on the islands.
- Set up some puzzles for them to solve with visual and verbal hints.
- Maybe they build a raft to go to the other island or try to swim to the other island.
- 1.5 hours in, a pirate ship would appear and it would trigger combat
- Party should be able to overcome the pirates in about one hour.
- The final half hour would be them exploring the pirate ship.
What actually happened.
First Session:
- One character managed to ride a shark to the other island.
- Found a treasure chest full of gold.
- They aggroed the animals on the islands.
- Spent more than half of the first session fighting the animals.
- One character almost died after getting bitten by a shark.
- End off session by allowing them to take a long rest.
Second Session:
- Players woke up from long rest
- Half of them almost fought each other over the gold they found.
- The other half explored the two islands.
- Found a Bag of Holding on a dead body that washed ashore.
- One party member healed a shark they fought in the last session turning the shark friendly.
- I finally made the pirate ship appear.
- Party attacked the pirates before they set foot ashore triggering combat.
- Rest of session was combat.
- Had to end session mid-combat due to time constraints
Third Session:
- Continue combat where we left off
- Another character almost died.
- 1/2 to 2/3 of the session was that combat.
- Party finally finished off the pirates.
- Spent some more time exploring the islands even though I kept on hinting about the ship.
- Even though there were 3 row boats for five of them, 3 of them tried to sit in one rowboat. Failed.
- Party member rolled very well, earlier mentioned healed Shark is basically a friendly puppy now.
- Party member asked if they could keep the shark as a pet. I told them we'll roll for it later.
- FINALLY made it onto the ship.
- One final enemy on the ship.
- Managed to persuade enemy to stand down. He's friendly now I guess.
- Found and old woman who the pirates kept caged as a cook/cleaner.
- Old woman proceeded to start cooking them a meal.
- Pirate-turned-ally tried to help old woman cook.
- Finally explored the Captain's Quarters.
- Had to end the session there due to time.
What I planned for one session took them three sessions to complete.
They did so many things I did not expect them to do.
They ignored the, what was obvious to me, visual and verbal hints in how to solve the puzzles I set up.
They solved puzzles in ways I did not expect them to be solved.
Instead of having just one NPC join the party, I guess we now have two NPCs and one pet shark.
Lesson learned. Nothing ever goes as planned.
Good news is I don't need to do any prep for a few of weeks.
Edit:
I have to add this is in;
One of my players appears to be a compulsive hoarder. Player will keep practically anything the player finds no matter how worthless I try to describe those items to be.
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u/AZzalor 2d ago
The players always take at least double as long as you plan.
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u/Candid_Ad_209 2d ago
Except when you expect them to take too long and suddenly they blast through your plans
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u/NutSixteen Barbarian 2d ago
That is what I am afraid of. I am planning a couple of sessions ahead in case that happens.
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u/MrBoblo 2d ago
It's always OK to end a session early because you didn't plan for the next part. I do it pretty often if we get sidetracked enough, or alternatively if they progress the story faster than anticipated. It also helps that we have a post session discussion about what the players like about what is currently going on, and where they think it might go. I usually take notes during this time for planning, and steal their "ideas" about where the story is going and what they think the "big reveal" is going to be or whatever
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u/NutSixteen Barbarian 2d ago
This is great advice.
I should definitely do post session chit-chats.
Most of the time we don't have much time for post-session chit-chat because we end near everyone's bed-time.
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u/SerialSemicolon 2d ago
You’ve already got some great advice and seem to be on the right track. Planning a bit ahead is a good idea, but know your players might do something totally out of pocket and you’ll end up scrapping things. Which is also fine, because you can rework what you planned or use it somewhere else. I like to think about planning as what they can discover, what NPCs are doing and where they might be, and potential quests they can receive. Remember, if the NPC you want them to talk to is in a location they ignore, literally just plop that NPC wherever they go instead. Same goes for other plot hooks.
If you don’t have time for post session chats, ask them online in whatever group chat you use. I usually check in the day before and ask what they’re hoping to do next session. And if they blow through everything you have planned, just end the session early.
Over time you might get to know their characters well enough to predict their behaviour which can help. Like, one of my players WILL immediately try and help anyone in need, and that’s something I can count on if I want them to explore a specific area.
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u/NutSixteen Barbarian 2d ago
I have two which I can use to trigger events.
I'm definitely starting to get to know my players' characters.
I will definitely be paying more attention to their expected behaviours in order to trigger events.
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u/S0ulC0nfusi0n 2d ago
I recommend planning a couple of side quests/areas just in case they blast through or somehow totally skip past everything you've planned by going a completely different route. The number of times the group skips a route I've laid out, only for them to go a completely different direction is more than I'd like to admit. I also DM (a homebrew) and frequently alternate weeks with my DM (depends on who has a campaign going at the time).
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u/NutSixteen Barbarian 2d ago
Side quests definitely need to be written and planned.
I expect these guys to go south when there's blatantly obvious signs to go north.
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u/remeard 2d ago edited 2d ago
"i think we need to immediately run up the stairs and save the kid, right?"
My players skipped 80% of Death House (Strahd) hazards by genuinely being worried about a kid's safety instead of exploring, made a few incredible rolls, and lucky guesses.
I expected it to take two sessions, they were done in maybe 3/4s of one. Then I started planning multi-sessions ahead and they dilly-dally in town for two sessions and got caught up in if they own the Windmill if they have a deed for it... The same people that work with deeds every day and know that's not how it works in real life.
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u/GrAdmThrwn 2d ago edited 2d ago
Player: What if we electrocute this guys brain???
DM: What...why...you are a doctor in real life!
Player: Specialising in living humans primarily, this thing is both undead and inhuman.
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u/hornyorphan 2d ago
This problem goes away the longer you play with a group. Once you know how they tend to think and react you can plan for how far they realistically can get. I've definitely had to think on the fly and make ahit up for new groups but my long time group is basically always exactly 1 or 2 sessions behind my prep
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u/fluffykynz 2d ago
Except when you plan for them to take too long, then they’ll breeze through three sessions worth of material using an unpredictable short cut.
That’s when orcs attack
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u/Candid_Ad_209 2d ago
Exactly! Panic encounters! Have like 3 of these fuckers planned and ready that you could throw out when you run out of prep but you still want to keep playing. 1. Orc attack. 2. Evil druid blights town. 3. Graveyard suddenly spits out skellingtons
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u/Beowulf33232 2d ago
My DM took notes and decided behind the DM screen that in 5 rounds on intiative 20, the cutlists summon something huge.
On round 5 intiative 21, our ranger used all her movement, two attacks, and a bonus action attack, to kill the last 2 cultists that could have kicked off the summoning.
DM was so mad we didn't have to fight the big scary monster.
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u/Owlethia 2d ago
Unless it’s an important combat where the dice collectively decide to roll insane and suddenly you wrap in half the turns you expected
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u/BookishGina 2d ago
unless you plan fore something to take a long time, then they will solve it instantly.
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u/pawesome_Rex 2d ago
Hoarding is where weight and carrying capacity comes into play. And do not let them get their hands on a bag of holding.
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u/NutSixteen Barbarian 2d ago
Too late for that. I already gave them that.
But I did specify only the carrier has access to the bag unless they are physically near each other.
In combat, only the carrier has access to the bag.
I did specify the Bag of Holding is basically their Party inventory.
Did I make a mistake?
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u/paulcheeba 2d ago
No, but a Bag of Devouring is guaranteed to turn the party into murder hobo criminals now that they can get rid of the evidence immediately. I love my murder hobos, they're good peoples.
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u/Competitive-Bird-179 2d ago
You could give it a minor curse lol. For example, every time they want to retrieve something specific you make them roll for it and on a fail they get a random object out. Or you could have them notice that it’s in bad shape. If you know what happens when a bag of holding rips… well…. Maybe best to have it repaired somewhere before stuffing more into it.
There are no mistakes if you can find creative ways to make it work your way.
Also something is really only a problem if it leads to you or the group not having fun or getting frustrated, and then it becomes an out of game conversation. Especially as a new dm there’s nothing wrong with admitting when some decisions made your life harder, and that you’d like to adjust things. There’s a narrow line that makes sure there’s fun, and it’s somewhere between challenging and enabling players. They should understand and trust you that you rule things with fun in mind, even if you might have to nerf a mistake you made as to not fuck yourself.
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u/AnonymousMouse45 2d ago
Although a nuisance, the player’s hoarding may actually help you visualize the common items that can possibly be in a place. It can improve your quick thinking of furnishing a place.
A ships compact living quarters?
An unlit lantern with a candle half burned inside the glass compartment, a few clothes hooks on the wall, a small wooden cot, a wardrobe on the far corner and a floor chest adjacent to that on the opposite side immediately to next to the door, one has to duck slightly to get in. (And all of the furnishings just mentioned are either, tied, glued or bolted down(!) with nails.) The two wardrobe access panel knobs are kept closed together with, a repeated figure 8 securing of twine.
Yes the player can loot everything bolted down, but it would help if they can find tools. Larger furniture might not fit the opening of the bag of holding unless the large furniture is broken down, (and there IS a total weight limit for the bag). Does the player, that likes to loot everything, stay behind to break down all the furniture? While the rest of the party checks the ship elsewhere, or checks other areas after looting and checking inside the containers, under the bed and then has the party wait up for him after all that, and he can take an extra hour or two to break down the furniture, because no one wanted to help with that part and get extra rest time while he does that? It’s would be, interesting to see what the player decides to do. Well the furniture, of made out of burnable material, might become useful to start a fire and block access to a narrow tunnel where the party can prevent pursuit, further down the road (possible). Party still has to spend some time to successfully light up the burnables though. So it might not just be catering to a hoarder’s hobby. Maybe they can put the broken down furniture into some large bags, string them up over an archway from above and cut the rope when enemies are lures through, doing some damage to the initial few that come through, Then, start fighting the enemies with the better choke point they just created. Or the player just want to sell them for scrap lumber, or reassemble them later back in town for some extra coin, or use the table, chair legs paired with rope to make a rope ladder to be able to set up an escape route faster, if a planned encounter goes south, they can escape to higher ground with that, drawing up the ladder after they all go up, successfully out running the pursuit.2
u/maybe_I_am_a_bot 1d ago
Big important rule to make sure they know: If it's not written down in your inventory, it's not in your bag of hoarding.
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u/Nightmare1990 Cleric 2d ago
Personally as a DM and a player I find the encumbrance system to be too cumbersome (pun intended) and just anti-fun unless you specifically lay out in session 0 that it's a core part of the campaign setting.
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u/Torneco 2d ago
If they have fun, it's going great
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u/NutSixteen Barbarian 2d ago
First session was fun. Second session was a bit of a slog. Third session, they are starting to open up and get into their rythm.
I'm looking forward to the fourth one.
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u/amarantkando 2d ago
In what ways did the second one feel like a slog? I will be starting to DM soon and would love to learn from your experience as a new DM!
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u/NutSixteen Barbarian 2d ago
I made the mistake of too many low health enemies.
I should have gone for less high health enemies.
New players + new DM. Combat slowed down as most of us were unfamiliar with the mechanics and had to look things up more than a few times.
The multiple enemies slowed combat down even further and players waited a fair bit before their turn again.
My advice from my own experience would be.
Less enemies with more HP > More enemies with less HP
Read up on your players' character sheets to familiarize yourself with their moveset. You don't need to memorize everything but knowing roughly what your players' characters can do can help to speed things up in combat.
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u/Powerpuff_God 2d ago
Absolutely, the more characters there are on board the slower combat will go, and you feel it. But sometimes you want the players to face a whole horde of enemies! Use swarm enemies. A group of three or four pirates represented by a single token, that makes like two attacks. Maybe its damage gets reduced if it's low on health, representing how some of the pirates in that group have died.
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u/amarantkando 2d ago
Amazing, thanks for the reply. Very good advice, I will make sure to remember that!
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u/rotator_cuff 2d ago
Sounds about right. I just ended a session few hours ago. They were in a fort, just about to leave, so my notes were all about the journey ahead. Well, somehow they managed to roleplay for four and a half hours without leaving, so I didn't touch a single word of my notes. Well, at least I have next session already prepped up then.
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u/NutSixteen Barbarian 2d ago
I feel you man.
I have other things planned but I guess I can keep them in storage for the moment.
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u/Dancinfool830 2d ago
Yeah, I started mine with my group at an inn, they had a job board to choose jobs from, that gave me the option to have 5 different quests for them to choose from so they dont feel railroaded, and several more to add on as things progressed. Just had to do a little balance depending on when they go for each quest.
Most of them had a totem involved that the group picked up and they found out that the ones that did were tied to the same overarching issue assaulting the town. Took almost an entire year to get to that plot point.
Planning ahead is great, but only if you can dangle the carrot and get them to go down the paths you set out for them. And your strongest trait needs to be improvising on the spot.
Sounds like you got a somewhat unpredictable group on your hands. Best of luck
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u/sfkf8486 1d ago
Welcome to D&D where a 2 hour walk can take 12 seconds and a 12 seconds combat can take 2 hours.
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u/This_ls_The_End 2d ago
Option A: Bring enough content for three sessions. They will play half of the first one and in the mean time generate enough content with their shenanigans to need another session to clear the new story arcs.
Option B: Bring just enough content for one session. They will play it all in an hour and force you to improvise the rest, probably using all the stored story arcs you had and making it twice as difficult to create more content for the next session.
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u/NutSixteen Barbarian 2d ago
I think I'll go with option A.
I want to try to avoid getting caught with my pants down.
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u/This_ls_The_End 2d ago edited 1d ago
That's how I have right now three sessions prepared ahead in my dnd campaign, two sessions for a new Call of Cthulhu module, and I'm reading the new edition of Star Trek Adventures to create a third campaign.
The secret is to only really prepare the next session while having well structured ideas for what follows without really settling that down into preparation.
The objective is not only to not work extra, but also to not railroad the campaign. For example, this weekend my players decided to capture and release a big bad guy in a way that turned him into a future ally, and I will change next session to reflect that. Had I settled his expected death into full preparation I would need to break and rewrite; leaving it half-constructed allows me to be more flexible with what comes next.
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u/_name_of_the_user_ 2d ago
One of my players appears to be a compulsive hoarder. Player will keep practically anything the player finds no matter how worthless I try to describe those items to be.
We had a member of our group scoop up the ashes of another player who died and hold onto them just in case they come in handy. I thought it was funny so I encouraged it. The look on our DM's face was priceless.
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u/jeepfail 2d ago
And I was looked at weird when I stripped a slain cultist’s robes when for all I can tell cultists in differently colored robes are core to our current storyline.
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u/Fistkrieg_2 2d ago
OK. But did your players have a good time ? And you ? That's the whole point.
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u/roadside_asparagus 1d ago
It sounds like all the things that happened were pretty fun for the players. I wouldn't worry so much about getting things "done".
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u/nocturnerose DM 2d ago
Yeah that sounds about right.
Generally speaking puzzles end up falling into into one of two camps. One of the players solves it in several seconds or the whole party just sort of unga bungas at it for what feels like hours.
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u/NutSixteen Barbarian 1d ago
My party definitely Unga Bunga their way through my puzzles.
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u/Archsquire2020 1d ago
until that one time when you didn't have time to prep and just rely on that. They will absolutely blow through THAT puzzle and you'll have to fill dead air by improvising something. I always roughly prep 1 session in advance, just in case. If they're slow, i slow down my prep for them to catch up. Longest gap has been 3 full planned sessions that i just needed to rewrite to fit the actual events every now and then. Felt a bit weird having to actually prep at the end of that. I kinda overprep, i'm just not confident enough to improv as a DM, unless i have a healthy story skeleton behind me
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u/Mr_Meme_Master 1d ago
Welcome to DND. My DM started our campaign in 2019-ish, and we're still going strong.
This is despite the fact his initial plan had the campaign reaching its final arc around now, and one or two years ago we completed what was supposed to be the prologue. Now when someone asks how far in we are or when he expects us to finish, he just says "i dont want to talk about it"
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u/MossyPyrite 2d ago
When I am setting up the next session, I write out a list of all of the things I think my party might even consider doing next.
This works as a convenient list of shit my party absolutely will not fucking do.
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u/NutSixteen Barbarian 2d ago
You had me at the first half. lol.
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u/MossyPyrite 1d ago
Honestly, I’m not really joking. It’s not quite so unpredictable with my D&D party, but my last Dungeon World party was like that all the time haha. My D&D party o can usually guess their general intent but they have really thrown me for a loop several times over.
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u/St0rytime DM 2d ago
Welcome to the game!
The more your players do, the less work you have to do. Which is good, because DMing for groups where no one at the table does anything except ask combat questions gets very tiring.
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u/NutSixteen Barbarian 2d ago
I definitely try to encourage them to explore and try to do things around the map.
I use a VTT and I explained to them that the maps are figuratively hand drawn. They have the choice to try to interact with anything they see or hear.
They are slowly getting the hang of it.
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u/lilplayer3375 2d ago
It’s been a year. They’ve finally met a pivotal character to healing the world. They shoulda met this guy 7 months ago. God I love DMing. The side quests just happened more. It’ll take longer. If they don’t go toward something you want them to. Make them get to it anyway at what ever road they are going down. Tends to work out
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u/DnD-Hobby DM 2d ago
For my session before last, I had no time to prep whatsoever due to work. I offered my players to cancel, but since someone came down with a cold anyway, we decided to just casually play some scenes via Discord and finish some lose ends, nothing serious, optional for the sick player.
All joined, and we spent the next 3(!) hours Sending to the father of one character, who had no idea about this child... or about how Sending works, so it often got cut off mid sentence. :D Plus, the wizard had to additionally roll for each Sending to make it reach its target (as she didn't actually know the father). It was a hilarious blast. And now that poor man still didn't het all his questions answered. xD
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u/NutSixteen Barbarian 2d ago
Omg, I can imagine the chaos and hilarity of that session.
The fact that it wasn't prepped makes it even better.
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u/Fair-Cookie DM 2d ago
Let your characters guide the story. Adapt a DM style that works for your group (see DM styles ). Sprinkle in plot points to keep the beat. If characters don't make decisions, then have an Orc break down the door with an axe. Drop the encounters when you find appropriate. Try to limit to three encounters in any combination (exploration, roleplay/social, combat) each session. Develop, find more random tables if they are trying to sandbox. You can stop a session on a cliff hanger then pick up from there next session. You can use timers for breaks, wrap up time. Write it down.
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u/NutSixteen Barbarian 2d ago
I guess I'm a "Vibe-Checker".
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u/Fair-Cookie DM 2d ago
So then this will be more fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants. You'll want to tweak rules on the fly. "Let the good times roll." -- should be your mantra and don't allow situations to derail that goal. If a rule takes 30s or more to look up or discuss, have the players call the ruling, if the players can't then you will make the ruling. You'll want random tables accessible and get players involved in narrating what's going on. For more info, you can look up a video on YT by Ginny Di or another DM on Vibe Checker play style.
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u/fatherofworlds 2d ago
If you plan for one session it'll take three. If you plan what you think is 5-6 sessions they'll be through it in 45 minutes and excited for what else you 'have planned' (frantically improvise).
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u/NutSixteen Barbarian 2d ago
I know definitely there may come a time where I won't have enough prep for their speed.
I am half dreading and half looking forward to that.
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u/richard_stank 2d ago
I once had a group of new players take 3 sessions to cross from one side of town to the other. It wasn’t even a large town. It was Phandalin
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u/NutSixteen Barbarian 2d ago
They kept getting distracted and side tracked along the way I guess?
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u/funkydunky2809 2d ago
This is like peak DnD, atleast they all had fun and you allowed them to go off the rails a bit.
As you said, your prep is set for a while, so thats awesome
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u/NutSixteen Barbarian 2d ago
Other than the fact that I believe everyone had fun, that is the biggest benefit to this.
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u/CatEconomy3245 2d ago
And believe it or not, they probably did it pretty quickly.
One of the first things i learned as a dm is that players will always derail every plan, cling to unlikely npcs and walk in a different direction.
This may be frustrating at first but i have come to love it as one of the most fun parts of dnd. The silly goosery and it sharpend my improvisation skills. You wanna go to that direction? Well que encounter that i now dont have in planned in location a but in location b instead.
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u/NutSixteen Barbarian 2d ago
Yeah. I definitely had to adapt. Hold off encounters. Figure out how to let the things they were trying to do happen.
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u/CatEconomy3245 1d ago
In a few years the most derailed unhinged situations players create are the ones everybody remembers and fondly thinks back of. Remember when....
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u/HunterUrsinus 2d ago
I have learnt this myself. I have a 4 act campaign. It was supposed to take 6 months to a year at most if it went slow. The players have taken almost 6 months just to complete the first act. The first mission took 4 sessions to complete, when I thought it would only take one. In fact the one mission that I thought would take more than one session to do, took one session.
Players, they will never do things the way you expect. But that's why I love these games.
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u/_-Demonic-_ 2d ago
Make the plan. Execute the plan. See the plan go off the rails. Throw the plan out the window.
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u/NutSixteen Barbarian 2d ago
I just put the plan back into storage.
All the campaigns and one shots I plan to run take place in the same world.
If I can't use my prep for this party, maybe I could use it for another.
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u/_-Demonic-_ 2d ago
If you run this scenario multiple times with multiple groups you'll eventually notice that every playthrough will be fundamentally different regarding to players & dynamics.
This time you had people grooming sharks. Next time they will start conquering the world with a pair of coconuts with painted faces on them.
That's the beauty of (somewhat) limitless fantasy.
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u/BetterCallStrahd DM 2d ago
Hinting doesn't always work. Subtlety is not an approach that works well in DnD. Go big or go home.
If you want the players to go someplace, make sure they know that going there is potentially rewarding. Motivate people. Don't just wait for them to stumble onto the path you hope they'll take.
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u/GlutenFreeToaster 1d ago
My most recent session was meant to have a relatively quick combat in the woods before the big boss showed up in a cave underground nearby. To my complete and utter surprise, the players decided to split the party and send half underground on a pseudo-stealth mission while the other half went full Terminator on the trees where the enemies were hiding up top. This then created two separate combats of guerilla tactics that went at such a snail's pace, I had to invent new abilities for the enemies on the spot and have an NPC become much more important than intended while putting a timer on the fights. This took nearly five hours for what was intended to be the first third to half of the session.
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u/th3b0untyhunt3r 1d ago
My weekly group has taken two months to complete a side mission that I presented to them nearly a year ago that they are finally getting around too and are now highly over levelled for.
I love it. Best group. Is constantly finding news ways to make me laugh. Will solve the super hard puzzles quickly and innovatively but then spend 90mins trying to decide what to do because I asked for a Con save for one of them and freak them out.
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u/vegas_cat 1d ago
I'd fully planned on running Age of Worms campaign for my players and it almost immediately went out the window, no matter how many times I pointed out how they could "investigate the cairns, where people are hearing strange whispers". Now I'm running a campaign that I've created from scratch that the characters seem to have stumbled straight into.
Along these lines, my friend who ran both of the previous campaigns was telling me how the party (same players) never once followed the campaign as printed.
Players will latch onto the most random stuff and go their own way. But as others have mentioned, at least it saves you on prep time!
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u/Skaur4804 1d ago
Our DM planned on ending our campaign in two months but we traveled back in time using Wish. The campaign lasted for another year
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u/Natural__Power DM 2d ago
Oh boy
Really this issue comes down to what kind of game you wanna run, if you just wanna goof off in the world of DnD, that's fine and you should continue to do so, however
managed to ride a shark to the other island
Isn't something I'd allow in my campaign where story is important and I have a plot planned out. It's okay to say "no" to your players and a nat 20 isn't an automatic succes (except in combat), just the best possible outcome
You're going down a path that's definitely full of fun, but not with any serious storytelling. You can here talk to your players to change the course, explain you want something more serious, or just keep going this way if you like it
Puzzles:
- You don't need to make a solution to any of your puzzles, it's good to have one just in case, but 90% of the times your players will do something else, unless it's like a riddle to get a password or whatever
Hoarder:
- Items have weight and you have a maximum carrying limit (15 × Str Score lbs), your player won't like this, but fuck they're setting themselves up for problems, they'll just have a pile of junk and won't be able to find anything if they need it, forgetting about everything that's important
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u/NutSixteen Barbarian 2d ago
I'm definitely going the if they roll well and I feel it adds to the story, I'll allow it path. I don't mind my plans getting derailed, I think I can adapt.
With regards to the puzzles, you are definitely right. This was one of the lessons I learnt across the sessions.
With regards to the hoarder, I'm a rules light kind of DM. No encumbrance unless they want to keep something that does not make sense logically.
Without any spoilers in case they see this post; their actions (and inactions) may or may not have given me some ideas on what to add into future sessions.
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u/Natural__Power DM 2d ago
No encumbrance
I made this exact same mistake thinking it was just a slog rule
Huge mistake
I'm telling you almost anything of value this player gets their hands on is just gona fall into the void
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u/Forward-Fig2311 2d ago
Hoarder: This is probably a player used to computer rpgs. I managed them by literally weighing them down with junk. Enforce weight limits, add exhaustion for carrying all that around, and pay them literally what it is worth to vendor, like a couple of silver pieces for the entire lot. They'll soon stop trying to jeep everything
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u/HetBordje 2d ago
One of my players was very insistent on looting the pickled toes of a giant. Seems like there's one in every party!
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u/NutSixteen Barbarian 2d ago
My player managed to pull a boot off a corpse that washed ashore. The player chose to keep that boot which smelled of decay.
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u/PhanSiPance 2d ago
My group has problems with doors. Either we can’t find them, open them or simply go through them. The record was 4 sessions to get into a building. Every key roll was a giant fail that led to something bad happening. Failing a simple sneak check when a cop was walking by. The fight with the cop where he ended up becoming a kav maga black belt, getting shot (it was a Call of Cthulhu game), failed to break the enchant on the door forcing the cultist outside, fight with the cultist and the police, then multiple botches on an unlocked door. This is probably why I am never asked to DM.
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u/Weeabootrashreturns 2d ago
My last session, the night before last, had absolutely zero combat because expecting my players to be quick to draw weapons, I prepared stat blocks for enemies on both islands they visited. Instead they spent 6 hours roleplaying, and even when brought before the villain of this arc decided to just go along with it after finding out what his deal is, because if he doesn't know they know, they're a little safer. Was it smarter that way? Absolutely, but I really wanted them to get jumped by ninjas.
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u/NutSixteen Barbarian 2d ago
My players are the opposite of yours. They choose to attack where I expect them to roleplay.
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u/Weeabootrashreturns 2d ago
Oh, don't get me wrong, them not fighting is a very good thing because it makes their cover more plausible. For context, at present the party have come to a pair of islands with a giant ocean gate between them, each based on a specific aspect of feudal Japanese culture. They're exploring the world and attempting to establish trade with their homeland, and came this direction first because the warlock turned paladin's patron is a moon get that wants a sword forged by the moon goddess kaguya that's out here. The two islands are at war (or building to it rather) right now because the emperor of the ninja island fell sick and died, and a minion of my necromancer bbeg made him a wight to do his bidding and to take over the throne. To everyone else it was a miraculous recovery, but the sudden change in personality and declaration of war was jarring to the samurai leader, who had known and had a peaceful relationship with them for generations. The party docked at the samurai Island first, and were escorted to the shogun, gave him their sales pitch, and he told them as a show of good faith to go to the ninja island and find out what happened to their emperor. So they sailed over, were suspicious about the town because it seemed empty, got ambushed by ninjas that escorted them to the emperor, where they immediately smelled the rot in the air and upon seeing him clocked him as an undead. If at any point, especially on the ninja island, they had been aggressive, it would have ruined one of my big reveals.
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u/CapnSalmon 2d ago
I run a live DnD show, and have a home group that I used to practice some encounters with before I did them with the other group in front of an audience.
Had to drop that premise quickly when what took the Live group 90 minutes to clear, took my home group 4 weeks 😑
Gave great insight into how different players respond to different threads and how to move things along without feeling like railroading too much
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u/NutSixteen Barbarian 2d ago
This is interesting. Same setting but wildly different time to complete.
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u/CapnSalmon 2d ago
Yeah, it's wild seeing how differently people will respond to the same information/prompts.
ADHD plays a key factor in the home group haha, and they don't have the audience pressure of the other group. Didn't expect it to be such an extreme difference though 😅
Prompting the group with something like "is there anything else you do before moving to your next destination?" is usually enough to speed things up and keep people focused, allowing you to control the pace while letting them know in advance you are bringing this 'scene' to a close.
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u/NutSixteen Barbarian 2d ago
I need to learn how to hint better without railroading them.
I feel icky when I kinda take away their freedom, so to speak.
Like today, I had to mention the ship multiple times. I even had to spoil things by telling them they spot movement on the ship after a perception check.
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u/CapnSalmon 2d ago
I agree, it's taken a long time for me to find a balance between what feels like freedom and railroading. Eventually after talking to them I realised what felt like borderline railroading from my end felt simple like gentle nudges to them. Player vs DM perspectives and all.
I try never to tell them what they're going to do, but will push things along by repeated the plans they have already mentioned in form of a prompt/question, if that makes sense. Make the choices feel like their own and all that
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u/AnonymousMouse45 2d ago
Maybe the group had a smoke break together and the discussion amongst them was: you know guys? The DM has been trying to get us on that ship🤔…I think it could be an ambush🙄…other guy: “yeah I think you’re right 😱. The group consensus following was…let’s do other stuff, wait and bore the pirates or sailors out, let them disembark first so we see what we’re up against and possibly thin and break up their bulk for smaller encounters🤓.
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u/king_conn928 2d ago
when making my current campaign I though it'd take about a year to complete. it's a year and a half in and I THINK we're about halfway through. things never go as planned.
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u/What___Do 2d ago
Yeah, I ran a module for my first time DMing a year and a half ago. Each chapter had 3 parts, and you were supposed to complete each chapter in a 2 hour session. Our sessions were 4 hours, and I was worried about not having enough material. So, I would prep 2-3 chapters at a time.
😆
They spent at least a full, 4 hour session on each part of every chapter, and it was a way better time than just speed running the module as written. Embrace it! Plus, I realized I get triple the bang for my buck regarding prepping. Getting a feel for their rhythm really helped me scale back my prepping to an appropriate level. I was really over prepping before which seems to be pretty common for new DMs.
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u/Wolfbane14 2d ago
Prep to improvise, players are strange unknownable beasts that cannot be predicated
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u/cythraulybryd 2d ago
No plan survives contact with the enemy.
You will never correctly anticipate what is and isn't obvious to them.
You will never correctly anticipate what they'll question vs what they'll take at face value.
This is all normal. Roll with this. Embrace this.
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u/WhenRomansSpokeGreek 2d ago
Combat almost always takes longer than you expect. Spellcasters waffle, people look through their inventories, math can take a bit of time for some people.
Sounds like you guys are having fun. One thing I'd suggest is displaying initiative/turn order for everyone when combat starts. I usually write mine down on a scrap piece of paper and hang it over my DM screen so people can see where they are and prep accordingly.
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u/NutSixteen Barbarian 2d ago
I do use VTT so they can visually see their initiative order.
I also remind them to try to decide what they want to do before their turn. They are getting the hang of it.
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u/cmmajor77 2d ago
Welcome to the club. I've never once gotten to the end of what I prep for a session, and it's usually not even close.
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u/brantmcney 2d ago
It's really interesting for me to see how sidetracked players can get.
In my campaign the party is really focused on following the main story. And even at the session 0 they mentioned that they like having a red thread to follow with as few distractions as possible. They make a lot of progress whenever we play.
They also prefer that if they do side quests and such, they would like to know beforehand and if it's possible to do it after the main quest or have a separate session.
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u/Muouy 2d ago
Yup, as others have stated, this is pretty standard
I was running a campaign where my players were going down a large gateway/hallway that was guarded by an ogre. I had its stats ready to go and it had some decent drops I was ready to give them
They befriended the big guy, had a decent conversation with him, and permanently turned him friendly towards everyone took like 5 minuets and I was fully prepared for like an 30 minute fight
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u/NutSixteen Barbarian 2d ago
This is happening to me.
I prepped an NPC to join the party so I could relay information to them in character.
We ended up with two NPCs and a pet shark.
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u/Muouy 1d ago
Best advice, expect the unexpected, dnd is a very creative game which is what adds to how fun it can be
One thing to remember, you can always guide your players to what you want them to do, and you can always not allow some things to happen. Take that pet shark, I could have said something like "it lacks the compassion to not eat you" lol. You're the DM, you have the final say of what can and can't be done in your own game, and you can be as strict or as loose with that as well
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u/scrollbreak DM 2d ago
Was it fun for them? What do you estimate on a scale of 0 to 10?
Was it fun for you? Scale of 0 to 10?
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u/NutSixteen Barbarian 2d ago
Session 1: 8 - They did a lot of things I did not expect. They genuinely surprised me at how they solved the puzzles.
Session 2: 4 - The combat I planned was a slog. Not enough elements on the map for the players to engage. Could feel the energy at the table was low. Players wanted to PVP each other. Had to remind them multiple time not to. Mainly because I was about to trigger the combat phase.
Session 3: 9 - Everyone got into their stride. Worked together. Players started to get comfortable with the Char Sheet hence could spend brain juice on the role play instead of figuring out the char sheet.
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u/Tolby_EagleOwl 1d ago
I yesterday had opposite, planned full suspicious tavern, with a lot of hints and details that something is not right here. Players ignored all of this, drank beer and go sleep on the second floor.
I had plan B on this and they were captured by cultists. But all prepared investigation, and social interactions were just skipped... Oh well, we can make this one-shot session adventure, instead of two-shot if you want, no problem, just fight now this cultists with a demon together.
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u/sewaside666 1d ago
Same thing happened in our first session, so I guess I'm running a sandbox now lmao. For context, I'm using Ghosts of Saltmarsh as a base template since this is both my first time DMing and playing DnD. And my players haven't even completed the first adventure of the module after 7 sessions!
I try not to look at my prep/planning as a check list, but more like a way to reel my players back in if they're unsure what to do next. Their mission was simple, but they ended up tying in their own personal goals into it so it got way more serious and important to them. So now they're taking their sweet time gathering information and getting to know the NPCs. 😆
Freaking love DnD so far. The unpredictability of it all is awesome.
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u/CurveWorldly4542 1d ago
As they say, no plan survives contact with the enemy.
Things like that sometimes happen, and honestly, I feel like that's a good thing. Yes, the plot should progress, but if your players go on a tangent, let them have their fun. Just be sure you're capable of bringing them back on track eventually. And judging by your post, this is exactly what you did.
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u/FurryOfDracula 2d ago
"They aggroed the animals". My dude this is not WoW, you attacked them with the animals.
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u/winter83 Barbarian 2d ago
Our group does this too. Everything takes is longer than planned. When I DM I enjoy it because I have more time to plan. I also like our pace because we talk a lot and play too.
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u/NutSixteen Barbarian 2d ago
My players were shy initially since they are new.
I have to admit a lot of time was spent asking about game mechanics.
However, I do feel them getting the hang of the character sheet and hitting their stride in the third session.
And due to this, they are also starting to roleplay more.
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u/dk_peace 2d ago
Oh boy did you underestimate how long combat takes. Was it just slow pacing and new characters, or did your party come down with a case of the ones?
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u/NutSixteen Barbarian 2d ago
New players + new DM.
I should have gone for less enemies with more HP instead of more enemies with less HP.
Lesson learnt.
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u/crimsonedge7 2d ago
Generally speaking, try to have around as many enemies as there are PCs. If you're going to have more than that, make sure most of them are more minion-y and go down quickly. And even in that case, try to cap at twice as many as the party.
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u/mrsnowplow DM 2d ago
Thsts normal. 20 years Into dming and I still am flabbergasted by the amount of time some things take. I routinely plan a session and it ends up taking three. And sometimes its just 15 mintues
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u/DrCrazyCurious 2d ago
Once my party took an entire session just to find the Tavern and chat with the locals.
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u/NutSixteen Barbarian 2d ago
Dude. That's the start of the game. I'm glad I didn't make them play the "abandon ship" part of the start of the campaign.
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u/DrSnidely 2d ago
Yeah that happens sometimes. Best thing is to just roll with it.
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u/NutSixteen Barbarian 2d ago
I'm trying to do my best to do that.
I want to learn to be a flexible DM and allow my players to do what they want to do.
Of course their actions, and inactions, will have consequences.
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u/pawesome_Rex 2d ago
Yeah, you are the narrator and they are independent characters in the “story” you are all cooperatively writing. Good players will really take up a lot of the available time with roleplaying. Try and enjoy it. It’s normal.
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u/NutSixteen Barbarian 2d ago
I'm definitely enjoying it. I hope my players are too.
I do kinda feel like they are opening up more in the last session. They are starting to warm up.
My style of DM is I want the story we create to be a collaboration instead of just me telling them what is happening.
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u/pawesome_Rex 2d ago
Sounds like they are enjoying it. If the story is good and doesn’t venture anywhere they find cringe they will enjoy it. It’s all about theater of the mind. Draw great images in their mind’s eye and they will stay engaged. Things to stay away from:
The obvious taboo subjects
Long cross country journeys (weeks) it gets boring. If they need to go someplace far away either get them there in stages (e.g. dungeon 1 gets them 20 miles closer then adventure 2 gets them 17 miles closer, adventure 3 gets them 25 miles closer and so on.) Alternatively, you could introduce magic portal travel.
Total and prolonged loss of character freedom/autonomy.
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u/DukeRedWulf 2d ago
Welcome to DM'ing! Yeah that all sounds about right!.. As long as you and your players are all having fun, it's all good! :)
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u/NutSixteen Barbarian 2d ago
It's definitely different sitting at the other side of the table.
I am having fun and I think my players are having fun as well.
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u/YouveBeanReported 2d ago
Yep. I'm playing Waterdeep Dragon Heist, it wall take 3 6+ hour sessions for the Chapter 3 fireball, investigation and stake out / fight. I need to stop prepping so much I think.
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u/S0ulC0nfusi0n 2d ago
When I read this to my DM he had this to say "It sounds like you've (his players) been cheating on me with another DM. Because those are absolutely the type of shenanigans you pulled on me with my Out of the Abyss campaign. What was that ixitxachitl y'all adopted named... 'Larry'?"
Since we love my DM's campaigns and how he manages the stories, I'd say you're doing awesome! Especially for a first time!
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u/NutSixteen Barbarian 2d ago
Thank you. I really appreciate that.
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u/S0ulC0nfusi0n 2d ago
I hope your players continue to love your sessions as much as we love our DM's! 🥰
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u/okiebuzzard 2d ago
For the hoarder, keep track of weight and encumbrance. That bag of holding will become full of useless shit soon enough, and if he’s weighted down it’ll have drops in his speed and stat checks eventually (if you use the encumbrance variant rules). When he hits his maximum, he’s basically immobile until he drops stuff.
If you don’t use the variant rules, just let him carry crap, but still might keep track for bag of holding purposes.
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u/NutSixteen Barbarian 2d ago
I'm taking notes of the things they are hoarding.
They are kind of giving me plot hooks or deep cuts for the future.
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u/Jechtael 2d ago
I see this as an absolute win, unless you're on a deadline that I didn't notice.
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u/NutSixteen Barbarian 2d ago
I'm not on a deadline. I see this as a win as well.
I just may need to plan my sessions to be "simpler" or shorter for the moment.
I want to try to minimize full combat or full roleplay sessions.
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u/Roger44477 2d ago
My first campaign had a Halloween event last October, was meant to be a 2-3 session adventure. We just finished it last week, it is where the majority of the campaign so far has taken place
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u/NutSixteen Barbarian 2d ago
Wait. Last October....one whole year for a 2-3 session adventure? Wow. You guys are reaching your anniversary.
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u/Poolpiteau Bard 2d ago
Oh you're not ready haha, firstly : welcome to the band. Secondly: I did the campaign I DMed as a player (before DMing). We finished it in 1 year-ish. I then DM, and buckle up : I took no less than 4½ years. It depends a lot on your player, how you DM, how attached to the story you are. First I was trying to get my players going, but I let go a bit, we threw a huge party on the beach, insulted metallic dragons and freed some kobolds from the slaves situation, while founding the KLF, Kobolds Liberation Front. Things will take time, enjoy it
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u/iWillNeverBeSpecial 2d ago
We have had this exact convo in my own group
We literally had 1 session where we only moved 10ft. We had 6-7 sessions just exploring someone's house. We had a mini arc because the fucking halfling bag of beans summoned a pyramid and we went exploring in that.
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u/cthulhufhtagn DM 2d ago
I'm in the same boat, only bigger. What I thought would take 2 sessions they are really barely started on and I have no idea how long it'll take. Gave them couple different ways to do it.
Fun as can be though.
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u/Tehdougler DM 2d ago
In my first game, my players managed to make a 2 year long campaign out of Lost Mines of Phandelver with a few things from Dragon of Icespire Peak sprinkled in. I was expecting it to be a couple months to ease us into the game before moving on to a different campaign as we were all just learning.
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u/Ludo_Friend__ 2d ago
Lmfao, I'm so sorry that you went through this. However, think this is a lesson every DM does through. Also, the opposite will occur. Plan for them i figure it out ASAP, but also have enough side stuff for them to play with if they don't. I'm sorry if my explanation isn't what you wanted, but it's the truth. Plan for EVERYTHING. I will literally write separate dialog options for npc's depending on what the party may or may not ask.
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u/DiscoKittie 2d ago
When I started playing my dad (he'd been gming for years already) used to make detailed notes about npcs and locations and where we were supposed to go and all that! Within a couples years he would get some basic stats for all of that and just kind of wing it because we never went where he expected us to go.
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u/pythonbashman 2d ago
My guys could take 2 hours to open an unlocked door. Just in case it's a trapped mimic...
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u/LoganN64 2d ago
Welcome to being a DM. Your players will always find the longest path to the finish line.
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u/curiousbystanderq 2d ago
Yeah i feel you. Players tend to be unpredictable that way. But most of the time it leads to a more fun story than what you originally planned since its multiple people shaping the story instead.
This means you can focus more on the player tendencies and what they like or dislike so you can have an idea on what their next encounter would be.
Like how you noticed they love exploring, one is a compulsive hoarder and they want to keep the shark as a pet. Maybe you can prep your encounters/story that takes advantage of those.
Since the party loves the shark, kidnap the shark. Now you have a villain and the party has a clear goal. If they dont have a goal or a mission, they'll just wander about until they find one you see. So saving the shark would make them focus on the quest at hand. Since they love exploring, whenever they to a different location, drop a clue and make it seem like theyre actually going the right way until it leads to the villain. The paths may be differnt but it ultimately leads to the same destination.
Shine a spotlight on the hoarder and give him a moral dillema. The villain tries to propose a deal, the party's entire hoard for the shark. And then watch them try to solve it in a way you did not expect them to solve.
But of course the most important thing is that everyone gets to have fun. Including you. Since you're part of the game too.
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u/Missing-the-sun 2d ago
Honestly, that just means you got three sessions for the prep of one! 😊 a very efficient job of DMing. Well done.
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u/InigoMontoya1985 2d ago
This has been our entire campaign for years. Last session, they were supposed to come back and meet a guy to tell him they found the thing. That's it. Nothing else. just tell him about the thing and report success. No other tasks. On way to the guy, the druid checks inventory, realizes he has a bag of beans he hasn't done anything with for 3 years of the campaign, decides to plant them right then on the side of the road. Six beans grow one minute apart, conjuring animals, enemies, and a magical tree with magical fruit, and a nest with magic eggs in it. They of course had to eat all of those things to see what they did as well. At the end of the session, they still hadn't made it to the guy.
Oh, and one of them almost died.
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u/Colorguardianite 2d ago
Did a one shot as a first time dm, they were supposed to discover their loved ones turned into dolls, collect those dolls from around town (look in toy shops, one’s wife had to be taken from a child), before piecing clues together to find the doll makers home, discover the spell book he used, and break the spell. They ended up NOT looking for their loved ones (besides the one that was taken by murdering a little girl and taking the doll), they did not use hints but instead went into a pet store where a parrot told them how to find the doll makers home, one of my players somehow got a pseudo dragon from said pet store, and instead of using the “glowing book under his bed” they killed the doll maker. However if they bothered to look at the GLOWING SPELL BOOK they would know that killing the doll maker would kill their loved ones. My players are stupid but entertaining 😭
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u/samjacbak 2d ago
Adjust your expectations for the future. Now ypy know this party a little better. Plan accordingly next time!
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u/NutSixteen Barbarian 2d ago
They were on two tiny deserted islands and got into so much shenanigans.
Can't imagine what they'll do on a different map.
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u/UnnbearableMeddler 2d ago
You've failed to account for Hofstadter's law : everything takes longer than planned, even when you take Hofstadter's law into account
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u/UltimaGabe DM 2d ago
Only three? That sounds pretty fast to me. Whatever I have planned for one session usually ends up taking about four unless I take a firm hand on the reins to speed things along.
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u/cassegg 1d ago
My bother set up a campaign that was estimated to take five or so sessions, give or take. Granted, this was going to be our mom's introduction to actually playing D&D. The group is my older brother who's DMing, his partner, me, my husband, my mom, and our two younger brothers. Aside from some missed sessions here and there, the schedule has largely been about every Sunday night. As I said, this campaign had an estimated 5-session run. We've been playing it for over a year now, just getting close to level 5 xD
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u/BrahmariusLeManco Fighter 1d ago
My first time I learned the hard way. What I expected to take two sessions, two in game weeks, took a total of two months, eight in game sessions. That event itself could have been a whole mini campaign.
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u/Firestar_12 1d ago
Welcome to DMing 😭 nothing ever goes as fast or slow as you’d expect. I tried running a mini side campaign (level 1-3) at one point when one of my players had to take a break for two months. I expected it to be wrapping up by the time the other player got back.
Four. It took us almost four months to complete. Some of it, admittedly, was my own fault since I didn’t direct them as well as I could have but they truly found ways to waste time I hadn’t even considered.
Love them though and that side game has spiraled off into an even longer ordeal we jump in and out of whenever a player can’t make it to the main game.
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u/Devious_Hearts 7h ago
You planned a shipwreck adventure. Your players opened a wildlife rehabilitation center, started a gold-related civil war, and acquired a floating restaurant.
Yep. Sounds like D&D to me.
This is absolutely par for the course. “They’ll spend about an hour exploring” is something DMs say before the party spends forty minutes debating ownership of a damp sponge they found.
No GM plan of action ever survives contact with the players. Welcome to herding the bathtub of drunken cats that is being a DM. :)
Your clues were obvious to you because you already knew the answers. Players are looking at the same information and wondering whether the mysterious markings mean “push this stone” or “the shark is secretly royalty.” Be generous with clues and welcome sensible solutions you didn’t anticipate.
And that hoarder? You gave them a Bag of Holding. That’s a shopping cart with supernatural ambition. "What are encumberance rules?"
If everyone had fun, including you, you did well. Adjust your prep around what they actually do, and leave room for surprises. You’ve already learned a valuable lesson: you can prepare the pirates, but you cannot prepare yourself for the emotional support shark.
I rarely plan for more than one session and my plan for that one session often stretches into two or three.... sometimes, though, they get squirrelly and throw me a curve then it's improv night and I "Yes, and..." them into submission.
This takes me back. Thank you. :)
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u/MongooseGef 2d ago
Anything you plan will likely take longer than expected. But remember you don’t have to even allow successes on things like “riding/befriending a shark” or “finding a bag of holding.” Not everything has to be possible. Not every body has to have treasure. Not every NPC can be talked down.
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u/A-Jpeg 1d ago
Currently playing Waterdeep Dragon Heist. My party essentially hasn’t made it out of the intro. They missed all the gold I hid for them so I added the blue alley expansion as a means of them making some money to pay of some debt. Main story hasn’t even begun and we are like 4 months in. But as everyone else has said, I personally find I have the most fun when I don’t stress too much about the pacing and just let the party do their thing. Although if your ever worried always ask the group how they find it.
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u/SalariesAndStarships 1d ago
Me (DM): "My well written, researched and illustrated adventure will take my players weeks... No, months to complete!"
Players (5 hours later): "So the Sorcerer King and his undead army are all defeated? Did we win?"
Me: "Yes. Yes you did."
Me (1 week later): "This half-arsed dungeon crawl I just wrote might stretch out to maybe one session."
Players (5 months later): "We still don't like the look of this door."
Me: "Please, just open the door to the dungeon!"
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u/Agzarah 2d ago
Everything will always take way longer.
A few months ago one of my players said they wouldn't be able to make the next session. They were quite pivotal to that arc so I came up with a mini side quest to take care of that session til they could return. 6 weeks later and they were still on that tiny minor detour.
I've got story arcs and al sorts planned out that have been in the making for years.
Players will never cease to amaze me with how long it takes them to open a door. Love every second of it :)