I am trying to streamline the dming process and make it a bit more linear and 'on rails' for new players.

My thoughts are - instead of randomizing, create a specific sequence that I can follow as a DM and that set the players up for a more positive experience (i.e. try to limit the risk of accidentally dying, when they were doing the natural thing and trying to be heroic, make sure they're not being pointed towards a level 10 location right away, things like that)

So let's say we wanted to make the narrative make as much sense as possible; interact with some of the best characters; visit the coolest locations etc;

If you were to condense the campaign how many sessions do you think would be realistic (given that, there are only so many treasures but there might be exploration, backstory, certain battles taking multiple sessions?)

As a new DM I don't want to get too overwhelmed, and when you're playing with people you find on discord there's always that risk that, people will get busy and flake after 5 sessions, so I want to make it somewhat short and sweet.

Also - any resources you could suggest would be helpful. About to look on Etsy and see if I can find anything cool. Already have a tarokka deck, but i may have to figure out how to stack it so that they draw the right things