I'm a DnD newcomer that went straight to DM'ing so I could play DnD at home with my family (started off with the Essentials Kit). So far I have about 10 session hours' worth of DM'ing under my belt.
About 6 hours into DM'ing at home, I was able to get my co-workers interested in playing, and start a playgroup with them.
Last night, I had my Session 2 with my coworkers Playgroup. Almost all of them are first-time DnD players, and I'm running LMoP for them.
They're traveling with an ox cart from Neverwinter to Phandalin to deliver some goods when they get ambushed by a troop of Goblins.
Off the bat, the Cleric, who is driving the cart, gets stabbed unconscious by a Goblin. This immediately puts the party in a fight-for-your-life mindset.
The fight rages on, they almost get TPK'ed, but the tables finally turn when the Wizard, with 2HP (and everybody else either at the same hp or otherwise down), finally succesfully puts the two remaining Goblins to sleep, and the party is able to finish them off. Everyone shouts with glee as they secure their win.
One of my co-workers was only slightly interested in the game, and heading into Session 2, was still on the fence about continuing to play, and admitted as much to me.
After Session 2, she sent me a message: "I really liked it, I've decided to continue playing DnD. I like being a Wizard."
It's the day after, and the guys are still talking about last night's experience in the group chat.
Feels good to be their DM :)
The cleric immediately getting offed is literally how I run my games. I always go hard and try to put the fear of God in the players asap so that they look forward to finding treasure and levels, giving them a push to find interesting solutions to simple problems.
Good job running the starter campaign!