I DMed this weekend

[Arjuna]

Okay. My group finally got around to playing again this past weekend. I DMed. It has been forever and I was rusty as heck. Im not totally pleased with how it turned out but it wasnt a total disaster either.

We were playing 2nd Ed. The group is all younger then I am and only a couple of guys had ever played 2nd ed before. We started with just two players because one guy had to work late and the other got there late. We started with a Paladin and a fighter. The fighter is planing on becoming a Cleric at second level. The other two guys were ninja and a druid.

It was a good time. I will go into it more later. My 7 year old wants the computer.

[Arjuna]

The worst part of the night was being so rusty. I couldnt think on the fly at all. My players always start off by going to an inn or bar. I mean they always always always do. Well I planned the start of the adventure to take place in a tavern. Guess what. For the first time in 15 years they started off by going to the city watch to ask for a job. All I could think about was how do I stear them to the bar. I missed an excellent opportunity to let them lead themselves in the adventure. After the night was over I kept thinking of all the posilblities that I wasted by not letting them work for the city watch. Lesson learned though. From now on I am going to let them lead the way the adventure goes.

I have an over arching plan that I will just guide them through a bit but for the most part let them adventure and then just come up with story to fit what they do.

Anyone else ever had this problem. How did you guys deal with it.

[Zilfer]

It can definitively be hard when the party is going one way and you want them to go another one. In the end throw out you idea and just run along with the party. Hopefully you can steer them back or save that idea for later session.

[Arjuna]

The head of the watch suggested that the Paladin could go to his church to ask for a job because they were used to giving handouts. That made the Paladin and the Fighter both upset. The Fighter broke a table in the town watches office to prove how strong he was. The head of the watch told him that it would cost him 3 copper pieces to fix. But of course he didnt have any money. So he told him that he could clean up the mess and mop the cells out and he would call it good. The Fighter refused. The head of the watch called more watchmen to help arrest the Fighter and a fight ensued. The Paladin jumped in and the two of them were knocked unconscious. When they came to they were in the Paladins church and the high priest scolded them and sent them on their way.

All I could think was damn this adventure is blown to hell already.

[Zilfer]

3 copper pieces? Lol go have the rogue slight of hand really quick! and lie to the paladin that you had a few extra that you'd been saving. xD Anyways yeah that is quite the interesting bit. xD

[Hazgarn]

Yeah, that's rough from a DM's perspective, but at least it sounds like a fun scene.

And if you give them a chance to make that guardsman look like a fool later, they'll almost certainly enjoy it.

[Arjuna]

The guy that was playing the Ninja wasnt there yet. He met them when they went to a bar to look for work. I described how this was an adventurers tavern and how many people were very drunk and seemed to have heavy purses. The Ninja just set there. He didnt do a thing. Granted Ninja pick pocket skills are not as good as straight thieves skills are but come on.

I have thought about that Hazgarn. Im not sure what I will do but they will get thier revenge at some point.

I introduced another adventuring party that the PCs already have started a rivalry with.
I also introduced the weapon that is the only one that is going to be able to defeat the big nasty at the end of my campaign.

[Arjuna]

We finally got on the adventure. They were supposed to be going to retrieve a package from a castle. The castle is going to be much like Dracula's castle in the book. As they get closer they are going to have to deal with a lot of stuff that Johnathan Harker saw on his journey. Well for this first night of the adventure they had two major things to deal with. For these I used ideas that I borrowed from the Solomon Kane RPG. I had them solve a mystery regarding a statue of an imp that was in a church. The second thing they had to do was solve a mystery regarding a ghost of a cleric. They were albe to do it without to many problems. Nobody has a magic weapon so I allowed them to hurt the monsters with iron. The ghost wouldnt be hurt by the iron but he would disipate for a few rounds when hit.