D&D was fun because hanging out with those people is fun, but I feel I could have done some things better:
I've been mapping stuff out on computer, but writing content in a notebook. I have sections in the notebook for areas, encounters, monsters, and items. Each entry in each section references a few other sections.
Tonight, I was flipping like mad to find stuff and sometimes failing. As satisfying as it is to write in a notebook, I think I'm going to have to go back to doing this in some sort of electronic fashion.
I got really baroque with some monsters, probably because I was taking a break from something else and was enjoying writing for its own sake.
For example, the autoworm is 8 magically animated orbs connected by metal-encased fiber rods. It has one AC if you target the rods, another if you target the orbs. They reduce damage to themselves differently depending on what kind of weapon is attacking them. Also, they can split apart into smaller segments that are each auroworms that do less damage than full ones.
I think everyone got confused, though they did figure out some weapons were more effective than others. I got confused, too. This would have been better if they either absorbed damage from some weapon types or split apart, but not both.
I provided a "deal with the devil" that A) I expected no one to take (though I should have) and B) put a lot of focus on a single player. The things that single player did were very entertaining, but I wish I had come up with something to engage the other players at the same time.
I left some areas empty, expecting to fill them with the wandering monster table, but results didn't feel right at game time. Would've been better to much put in static stuff.
However, the magic item I created, the Flame Buddy Sword Assistant, worked out well. It's an intelligent sword created by Flame Buddy, a slime hive mind of sorts. The FBSA is a magic sword, but it offers usage tips and tries to sell people on Flame Buddy. It also can misrecognize speech and can be affected by connectivity issues. It also has all the logistical problems of any sword that's always on fire.