Yesterday’s game was a success. Everyone seemed to have fun and they want to come back to their adventure.

I really like being a DM. It’s fun being able to shift the story around, play out different characters, create maps, teach the rules, help other players with their character sheets, and share lore and other information with players to get them immersed in the atmosphere is great. There was some unexpected turns that I as a DM had to prepare for (going straight to town, talking to the local jailor, wanting to undertake other quests), but thankfully the Adventure guide had NPCs and scenarios already made out for me.

I wouldn’t mind getting into some other RPGs in the future, particularly Star Wars. But the D&D universe is so expansive and endless that I’ll be having fun with this for quite some time. It helps I’m immensely familiar with the setting from playing games such as Baldur’s Gate, Icewind Dale, and Neverwinter Nights (and some of the 2e and 3e mechanics).

There’s some stuff with the rules I’ll need to look up, particularly with players being knocked out, some stuff on magic, monster stats, and other smaller stuff, but the flow of the game wasn’t really halted too often due to us having to refer to the manual…which is a problem I have with other game systems (especially board games) where the rules are set in stone and there’s no room for interpretation or flexibility. Because of this freedom, particularly with D&D 5E, I was able to make it easier for the Player Characters (PCs) to cover up for mistakes on both my part and theirs to ensure the game doesn’t stop due to a misinterpretation of the rules.

They also really enjoyed roleplaying their characters, even if it wasn’t officially part of the pre-made character’s “background”. I found it best to let them have fun and play as a drunk elf or as a pompous fighter. I’ll have to try my best to roleplay as well for my next session, coming up with voices, act out for NPCs, and other stuff. There’s a lot of acting involved and I’m not quite the best at it (I get nervous when I’m out of my comfort zone).

The next game I have will be on Friday, I have an Adventure’s League game going on in West Seattle that I’d like to participate in. I hope to get my character sheet up-to-date for this so I can play as a level 2 ranger.