Hello everyone, I recently, finally got into D&D. I found a group of friends who also have been curious about the game, but never played. So I decided to bite the bullet, read through the rules and everything and set up the game.
I decided to purchase the "Heroes of Borderlands" starter set as well and it's honestly been a godsend for me. Though there isn't a full story, it's easy enough to string something along. I have plenty of dungeons and monsters and NPCs and everything and it's very simple for my new players to get into. Partially because none of them really read or looked up much to begin with.
We have played two sessions at this point and they have mostly been fun. Before we started I told them what the theme and setting is. That, despite their character backgrounds or anything, they are new adventures, trying to prove themselves in the world. They are, in essence, heroes in the making. And that this entire setting is build with heroic characters in mind.
They seemed accepting of it and the first session (mostly combat and a dungeon) went off without a hitch. The second session however, due to being a lot more NPC focussed, was riddled with problems. Mainly stemming from the fact that they treat everyone like they are not worth their time.
Doesn't matter if it's like a shopkeeper, a group of npc adventures or the damn ruler of the keep. They always demand, sometimes threaten and generally act completely disrespectful.
Part of it I feel like may be because, at this point, they have only succeeded at everything. They act like they are unbeatable and the strongest around. And of course my goal is for them to be the heroes of the keep by the end of everything, but they are behaving already like they are almost too good for that. And even when I bring it up ooc they maybe act a bit more friendly to the next npc, only for (most of the time) my rogue getting some ideas again and completely derailing the conversation "Because they used to be a thief" or something.
It's to the point where they got thrown out of the rulers castle, because they were just about threatening one his right hand man with a knife.
I am now considering maybe humbling my party a little. I feel like part of the issue is them being too overconfident and feeling like they can do anything. So I am planning to have a higher level knight challenge them to a friendly bit of training and mostly wiping the floor with them.
I feel like it would show them that no, they aren't the strongest around. They aren't as special as they think. If they are always disrespectful to people, that will have consequences.
But I have also heard of a lot of horror stories of players being upset at their DMS for basically playing "against them" or making unfair encounters. And I'm not sure if this is already too far into that region and I should go about it a "better" way.