How to play scenes at the table? (Ch 1 spoiler)
Hi,
Ok, I'll admit, the title is simplifying my question/doubts/insecurities a bit. I'm looking for advice and/or experience.
I'll start with the actual example but it goes further than that.
My players just rescued Floon and in next session they will reunite him with Volo, Volo gives them the ownership as payment. What if my players don't accept this? Do I then skip the visit to the Alley and ask my players what they want to do? And what if (hypothetically) they say we want to visit Old Xoblob again, or go down the Yawning Portal. That's not in the module but on the other hand, I don't wanna railroad them or say "no, you cant".
A second (greater) question is: Do I just skip downtime activities when playing at the table? When I skip some in-game time, it feels like I'm playing for my players PC's. When I don't skip it, they are more or less in waiting-mode. For example, how to skip 'a week of renovating the Manor', if my players decide to restore it after accepting it from Volo.
Help! It feels like I'm stuck and/or overpreparing. I'm now reading The Return of the Lazy DM but it feels like I can't give my players the best session ever, every time even though I want to give that.
Gr and thanks in advance!