u/woolstar

Hi all,

So, I am a new DM and first-time player. Running a group of 4 PCs all new to dnd too. It's something we have wanted to do for more than 5 years and are finally doing it. We are 2 sessions into the mines of phandelver, and things are going great. (I thought starting with a premade would be easiest before making my own campaign).

So, the issue is that my friends are crazy. Their characters have their own goals as well, and already, the ideas of setting up businesses, breeding goats, building a capitalist empire, and taking over the town are parts of it.

My issue is this, I don't want to force feed them story threads if they are not asking the questions or pursuing the information. At the same time, I don't want them to completely miss the story and just do their own thing. I'm 100% happy and excited about going off script more, but it is the connecting back to the story part that troubles me.

How do you manage it?

How do you connect them back to the plot without it feeling forced or obvious?

Do you let them just continue whatever they are doing, expanding it out until either they circle back or you find a point to connect it? I feel like this is right but also a really hard balance.

I don't know if I'm overthinking it. I know if they stick to this, I can connect the next immediate part of the story easily. But once the redbrands situation is resolved, I feel like it's going to be difficult to point them in the direction of the story threads.

I'm just looking for general advice about managing a party who are more than likely going to ignore story points and do their own thing.

Also, just to mention, in case it's not clear. I want them to be able to freely do what they want or at least attempt to, I don't want to put them in any boxes.

Thankyou all for reading If you got this far!