G'day everyone,
I recently started running RotRL Anniversary Edition and we are up to our third game. I have two players, my brother and fiance, who are playing a Human Sauranic Shaman Druid and Gnome Bard respectively. A little history about us is below:
I have run two games so far, being parts 1 & 2 for Burnt Offerings. The summary of each game is as follows:
My question is one of assistance in making the next game as exciting as possible. Both my players are brand new to role playing, hence they feel weird describing events and communicating 'as their players do'. I do not feel this is anything to be too concerned about, as we all went through this right? However I would like to make the Glassworks as exciting and engaging as possible; hopefully bringing out some enthusiasm from both of them. My fiance indicated she enjoyed the second game session, even though the pacing was probably too slow, however I think my brother was a bit disappointed. I try to describe things excitingly, however understand the need to keep the game flowing and not over-describe everything. Pacing is probably something I need to work on... but mainly I feel I need to get the players involved more through prompting (or rather forcing perhaps?) them to take the reins, so to speak.
Can anyone offer any advice? I understand the Glassworks is where the game will start to pick up, in terms of combat, but I do not want it to turn into a grind.
Also, are there any GMs out there that have some advice on running a group of completely brand new players and bringing them out of their shell? I have tried to encourage them to describe their actions, particularly when they roll 20's and achieve great success, but it generally is not working. Perhaps I am being too concerned (given this is their second game) yet I would appreciate any strategies you guys are aware of?
Lastly - I find myself constantly having to refer to the notes in the book, then sometimes get slightly overwhelmed and miss some details I wanted to inject into the game. I prepare by reading the adventure and imagining it playing out. Does anyone have any further suggestion? I recently read about the idea of running a checklist of things you would like to see the PCs achieve and though this could work quite well... anything else or other advice?
Thanks in advance for your assistance.
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