Howdy,
I recently started playing Pathfinder with my wife and father-in-law. Honestly, the best and strangest group that I've ever been in... smallest too.
My father-in-law use to play AD&D like it was his job back in his younger days and taught my wife how to play while she was growing up. She has lots of stories of her characters meeting horrible deaths.
Anyhow, my father-in-law is a straight shooter with his DMing style. He runs APs and doesn't wander far from what is written. Which is naturally what one would want to do to get the most out of the AP, I suppose.
I've always been the type of DM to wing it or write my own adventures. Not that I think I'm a great writer, but because I like the sandbox feel and I'm to cheap to buy adventure books. I love playing in the APs and Modules, but I prefer to DM my own creation.
The first module we played was the Godsmouth Heresy and my father-in-law DMed. It was great and a lot of fun. Especially when my first character died and my wife had to run away to meet my new character.
Then it was my turn to DM and I wrote a Warehouse 13-ish setting. I was attempting to make a series of one-session adventures because, although my wife likes to play D&D, she tuckers out way before me and my FIL are ready to stop. We would keep playin until the adventure was over, if we could. We always stop when she wants though. Better to stop than drag along.
My DM sessions went well the first couple of adventures until I made a fatal mistake and introduced a bossy NPC that went with them on missions. I thought I was throwing them something to play around with, but instead they thought they had to listen to the NPC. I didn't notice until it was too late. I got wrapped up in trying to get the adventure done before my wife got tired and, with them following the NPC's every instruction, the NPC ran the show. I was in story-telling mode and not letting them play the game.
Needless to say, it came up after the session and they said that they like my adventures, but would prefer if I ran an AP instead. I understand, but my heart says "BOO!" My FIL already bought Rise of the Runelords AP and they're both excited to play it. I'm going to gladly run it for them, but...
How do I get them to want to play my adventures again? or should I even worry about it?
Years ago, the following statement would never have issued from me; I always went bespoke.
However...
"Roll with an AP bro".
Doubly so as they are bot 'excited to play it'.
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I'd say just run with the APs, at least for a while. Give them time to cool off a bit. Maybe start making minor changes here and there when you run the AP. Nothing major, but enough to shift the action around a bit.
After a while, bring up the idea of a custom game again, see how it goes over.
but more importantly:
Then it was my turn to DM and I wrote a Warehouse 13-ish setting.
Hnnnnnnng that sounds so damn awesome.
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Time for that bossy NPC to have a career-ending mishap, leaving one of the PCs to be promoted and have to make all the decisions that the NPC used to.
You can also talk to the players and let them know that you realise the bossy NPC was a mistake you won't repeat.
Needless to say, it came up after the session and they said that they like my adventures, but would prefer if I ran an AP instead. I understand, but my heart says "BOO!" My FIL already bought Rise of the Runelords AP and they're both excited to play it. I'm going to gladly run it for them, but...
How do I get them to want to play my adventures again? or should I even worry about it?
Just make sure and do a good job running the AP. The "Trust Meter" will automatically refill over time...
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Buy an AP and pretend like you're running it. In reality you've got your material penciled in the margins. Just make sure your game vaguely fits the module title and cover art. They'll never know the difference!
Buy an AP, run it straight for a few sessions, start introducing your own modifications a bit at a time (easy to do with "random encounters" or if the players choose to go "off script").
Take them through the entire adventure, and at the end ask them how they liked certain parts of the adventure, throwing in some of your modifications into the list.
If they say they liked those, then let them know that those were things you put into it, and suggest that another shot at running your own might work.
Alternatively you can just take the approach I've always taken and just say "I have my own world. That's what I run. If you don't want to play in it that's fine, I'd love to play in a module you are running."
Thanks guys,
I think I'm just getting used to playing with a different group. My buddies back in high school and college would have ate that bossy NPC alive and asked to burn the character sheet during the break. My wife and father-in-law definitely have a "tighter" form of play. It's not bad, but just different. I think I really need to figure out what interests them and how they interact with NPCs. I already agreed to running Rise of the Runelords and have been getting excited while reading through it. I think I'm going to play through the first book and suggest having a side adventure inbetween each book. Nothing too big, but maybe last a couple of sessions. If anyone wants to know more about my White Well setting just tell me and I'll send you an email with what I have written up. Thanks again! Venting is good!