User blog:Hashimashadoo/The first adventure.

Everyone I expected to turn up did turn up this time. 5 & 6 were still no-shows and I don't hold out much hope.

Like every new group I've ever DM'd for, it took some work just to get the party to be attentive enough for me to start. Once I had their attention though things began to go smoothly. The first combat went by alright but they were thanking the foresight of the Sorceress for taking a wand of Cure Light Wounds as her regional equipment even though she couldn't use it, as the Druid certainly could.

I quickly got the lay of the characters land. The Rogue was a Chaotic Nutcase (I've seen quite a few of those in my time and they never get any less tiring.) - Steal anything that can be dragged out of there, use violence to intimidate NPCs and if the party try to stop them, withold the use of his abilities when they need help but still claim to not have done anything evil. Basically...a dick.

The Paladin was a Silent Bob - one of those insecure players who never speak their minds and only announce their actions when prompted to.

The party sorceress wanted to be an illusionist without being a wizard. As she is only first level, her spell selection is pretty sucky and not very useful to the party. This is unfortunate & I may have to give her some advice on spell selection.

The Druidess is the only one of the group with absolutely no experience in Dungeons & Dragons but she is by far the best player we have. I assumed that the Paladin or Sorceress, with their high Charisma scores, might become the leaders of the party but it was the Druidess who took charge, perhaps bolstered by the fact that her character's skillset has been by far the most useful of this adventure so far.

Unfortunately, they all seem to lack imagination. I had to cut the puzzle/skill challenge portion of the adventure short as otherwise the party would have likely drowned. I'm sure that with some more experience under their belts they'll mature into a decent group. It is still early days.