Godsgrave Session 1 Thoughts

So with the next session barreling down on me I thought now would be the perfect time to post my thoughts and feelings about the first session.

Recap

The session began with the party of newly-minted demigods protecting the well of souls from an army of emaciated bandits. Everyone showed up in a dramatic and kick-arse fashion. Good stuff.
The party then descended Cloudpiercer Mountain to investigate the warcamp set up at the base. There they learnt that the bandits served Golgoltha, who had been a minor god of feasts and festivals, and he had settled in the town called Sorefoot Sanctuary.

The party travelled to Sorefoot Sanctuary, noting starving farmers working tirelessly to send wagons of food to the town.

Golgotha sat in massive tent, being constantly fed by an army of cooks overseen by a famous chef (was hoping he'd be a person of interest but my group was laser focused on their goal)

Party cleverly set up an ambush attack on Golgoltha and pulled it off, Golgoltha downed one party member and nearly downed another (raise threat level for next game)

Once Golgoltha was defeated, Power rushed into the group, and Meena ingested a glowing yellow orb that came from his defeat.

Meena is now the demigod of ancestor worship and feasts and festivals. This has a nice cultural ring to it. (Imagine years in the future, where every feast has one plate set for your ancestors, or saying grace at dinner thanks your grandfather that planted the orchard you now rely on for survival. Properly Miffic!)

Thoughts

1) I'm very lucky to have the players I have. 9 people is an insane number to run a game for, and it is solely thanks to the quality of player that it is even doable. People were engaged with other peoples' turns, nobody tried to hog the spotlight, and there was a general air of positivity and cooperation.

2) Starting a campaign with a combat is brilliant. It gets people involved straight away. Introducing the players one by one, turn by turn, was also great as everyone got a turn in the spotlight, rather than rolling through character introductions all at once. However, some people had to wait a really long time for their turn in the spotlight, and spent probably the first hour just watching the game. (Sorry!)

3) My descriptions still need work. I wanted the temple to be clearly ancient and crumbling, with snow drifts built up where there are holes in the roof, and a general feeling of ancient times and neglect. Missed that. I think the players got the feeling of the cold, sunny day, and I think I described the ruins of Sorefoot Sanctuary and the Obese Demigod fairly well.

4) Everyone said they had fun, but my usual DM paranoia has me keen to make sure noone gets neglected next game (to the best of my abilities)