First time DMing and everything seemed to be a joke /u/TrashPanda141x DnD: Roll for Initiative!

So I have only played as a player three times now and tonight was my first time DMing for my wife and her nephew. I instantly fell in love playing the game but they were only one shots and I don’t have a group to play with. So I asked my wife if her and her nephew would play and I’d DM for them. She has never played before and neither has he. He’s also a teenager and a very immature one at that, but I figured it should be fine. My wife has also been sick of my constant talk about dnd, so I’ve been nervous she might not like it as much as I do.

Well come tonight, I decided to run Dragons of Stormwreck Isle but changed up some stuff with the help of YouTube videos and also coming up with my own things. I researched heavily before playing and have been super excited to finally play dnd again. The night went- sub pair for me. I tried luring them in being serious, to get in character but neither ever did. They barely roleplayed even as I was trying to give an example of roleplaying, they made fun of it with my voices and acting, and the names of every NPC.

My wife wasn’t much of the problem though as she did start to pick up the playing part and I was proud to see she was coming up with creative solutions and I gave her Heroic Inspiration for it. But her nephew never took it seriously. His PC is a joke PC to start off with, being “John The Fishman.” (Hes a half fish half man who is a fisherman) Quite literally taking inspiration from a song that itself is a joke song. I’m all for jokes in dnd, I myself want to fuel the jokey nature. But unfortunately this took things beyond what I was comfortable with. He kept trying to “rizz” every NPC and would get frustrated when I would tell him his rolls would fail. I set the DC’s high on purpose for obvious reasons, like one women who’s husband had just recently passed away. A old woman who would presumably have no interest in this “thing”. Even the bartender for the tavern they were in at the beginning he tried to “suck his dick for 5 gp” he failed at because he didn’t get a high roll. However just for spite my wife rolled to flirt with him and she got a dirty 20. Mind you he was salty the rest of the night he couldn’t succeed on “rizzing” anyone.

The entire experience was just a let down for me. Both of them didn’t show any interest in combat with their character’s or their spells. Non-combat parts they were just going from one destination to the next. They didn’t talk with any of the NPC’s to the point where I just straight up started telling them the bullet point information out of character. I felt like I wasn’t having any fun myself and I was also worried my wife would write off dnd forever. She told me after she had fun and that I did a good job at describing scenes and it surpised her. But in the end I don’t know how to fix any of it if it’s even fixable. I’m also unsure if it’s because I am bad at DMing, or if I am just playing with the wrong people, or a combination of many things.

If I’m being honest I don’t know why I’m posting this or what I’m expecting to gain from any of it. I just hope there’s someone reading who can give me some insight or something. Thanks for taking the time to read my rant.

So I have only played as a player three times now and tonight was my first time DMing for my wife and her nephew. I instantly fell in love playing the game but they were only one shots and I don’t have a group to play with. So I asked my wife if her and her nephew would play and I’d DM for them. She has never played before and neither has he. He’s also a teenager and a very immature one at that, but I figured it should be fine. My wife has also been sick of my constant talk about dnd, so I’ve been nervous she might not like it as much as I do.

Well come tonight, I decided to run Dragons of Stormwreck Isle but changed up some stuff with the help of YouTube videos and also coming up with my own things. I researched heavily before playing and have been super excited to finally play dnd again. The night went- sub pair for me. I tried luring them in being serious, to get in character but neither ever did. They barely roleplayed even as I was trying to give an example of roleplaying, they made fun of it with my voices and acting, and the names of every NPC.

My wife wasn’t much of the problem though as she did start to pick up the playing part and I was proud to see she was coming up with creative solutions and I gave her Heroic Inspiration for it. But her nephew never took it seriously. His PC is a joke PC to start off with, being “John The Fishman.” (Hes a half fish half man who is a fisherman) Quite literally taking inspiration from a song that itself is a joke song. I’m all for jokes in dnd, I myself want to fuel the jokey nature. But unfortunately this took things beyond what I was comfortable with. He kept trying to “rizz” every NPC and would get frustrated when I would tell him his rolls would fail. I set the DC’s high on purpose for obvious reasons, like one women who’s husband had just recently passed away. A old woman who would presumably have no interest in this “thing”. Even the bartender for the tavern they were in at the beginning he tried to “suck his dick for 5 gp” he failed at because he didn’t get a high roll. However just for spite my wife rolled to flirt with him and she got a dirty 20. Mind you he was salty the rest of the night he couldn’t succeed on “rizzing” anyone.

The entire experience was just a let down for me. Both of them didn’t show any interest in combat with their character’s or their spells. Non-combat parts they were just going from one destination to the next. They didn’t talk with any of the NPC’s to the point where I just straight up started telling them the bullet point information out of character. I felt like I wasn’t having any fun myself and I was also worried my wife would write off dnd forever. She told me after she had fun and that I did a good job at describing scenes and it surpised her. But in the end I don’t know how to fix any of it if it’s even fixable. I’m also unsure if it’s because I am bad at DMing, or if I am just playing with the wrong people, or a combination of many things.

If I’m being honest I don’t know why I’m posting this or what I’m expecting to gain from any of it. I just hope there’s someone reading who can give me some insight or something. Thanks for taking the time to read my rant.