Hello, sorry if this is a bad place to post this but I really need help with this :) thank you so much!
I need to talk about the lore so you can understand my problem here:
- LORE - My campaign takes place in a homebrew world called Astrogar, in this world there are made up gods (original ones who created the world and one big bad one that wanted to destroy it, its just a big black demon dragon, god of chaos) after the choosen ones defeated him many thousands years ago, a lot of more gods appeared under the own beliefs of those choosen ones, who later became rulers of their own kingdoms.
This actually doesnt matter because in any case; those gods are fake. The world of Astrogar is a made up world, created by the original gods of 3.5 (Nerull, Heironeus, etc etc, which are the originals of DND but I didnt play any other v.) for the purpose of eat the faith of the mortal beigns and have some extra power... The gods made this world so they can have a secured battery supply. It's important to understand that you cant travel outside of Astrogar and neither you cant enter from another world, so in a case of time travel : 1- Gods will notice a different time and plane in their world so I can **** everything up if I want
2- There is only one way to time travel in theory (a God made you time travel) and It shouldnt be allowed but Im the DM so I should do whatever I want?
I dont really want to create more planes in this world, it might be really confusing later if my players want to explore that part !
-STORY OF THE CAMPAIGN- Right now, in my campaign there is this little kid that should be the next king of one of the kingdoms, named Pharsya. He is on the run because actually he is a bastard son of the queen, who is the official ruler with royal blood. Long story short: the king went mad, experimented some blood magic on his own sons, killed them, put his wife in a prison and then some servant told him that the queen had a son in secret when he was away in a war, now that he doesnt have heirs and he doesnt have royal blood on him, this little kid named Connor is a real thread. ( i dont know guys in my mind it sounded cool) so he moved his generals to kill him.
The beginning of the campaign took place with the players meeting in a strange house. The players are: - A monster hunter human (made up class inspired in the witcher but you can use it in other v.) whose player is killing the mood with bad jokes constantly (i dont know what to do with him)
-An assassin ariqo ( a made up race) -A rogue dragonborn -A warrior dragonborn And a cleric tiefling.
They dont know each other at all, the only thing they had in common is that they were offered a job to babysit (jks) the little kid and guide him outside of the country. The man behind all this is a half elf mage called Pentur, who is an advisor of the QUEEN (not the king, thats important) who later in the session made them a contract to protect the kid with their own lives, the contract actually force them to be connected with him so if he takes damage they also take damage. I thought this was the best way to force the party to stay together, they like it or not but it was for the sake of the story.
The first session went pretty weird as they met each other and have their first battle together, they saw how the mage is killed in front of them, the second session went pretty bad because the killer mood of the monster hunter player and they didnt know what to do in the battle I made for them. (The dice were horrible, they keep making 1 to 4 points of damage in 3 turns!!!)
At the end, they see how one of the generals takes the little kid from behind and began to cut his neck so everyone is taking the cut too. Then the kid cries and screams in terror so everything begins to distort around him, it appears a tornado that sucks everything around them, they have a vision of the king and his intentions to revive the demon-dragon god and finally the dragon god watching them and roaring. That is what would happen if they fail their mission. (Lord of the rings reference) But actually the kid just distort the time and space around him and transport the whole party to a nearby tower and one year back where the mage Pentur is waiting for them. He tells the party that they have a year to prepare because this time, the king doesnt know about the existence of Connor and they might have a chance to defeat him.
My whole party were really hyped about the time travel, thats something I wouldnt do and I wanted to surprise them, but two of my players are complaining about the monster hunter player one and other two instead of accepting what I did began to tell me how to make a time travel adventure with the laws of time and planes. I felt like even if I had that planned and thought carefully before the campaign, if I dont do as they expect they are going to find a lot of holes on the plot or just criticize and complain. I made them travel one year in the past so their characters can be powerful in the next battles but now I dont know if they are going to train or go and kill without hesitation their enemies. They have a chance to kill the generals, stop whatever the king is doing, save the queen and more if they want! So I am asking for help for the next things: -Should I guide them now or should I leave them continue their quest as they want? -Should I make them travel so they can train and kill the generals if I say where they are? -What should I do with the problematic player? -Did I make a mistake doing a time travel campaign? Even if I know the consequences of this and I have the explanation prepare??
Im new on reddit so I m sorry if this is messy and shouldnt be here! I can answer any question! This campaign is following 3.5! The monster hunter player is used to 5e and the rest are used to 3.5 and one of them likes 5e too
I'm thinking there might be something getting lost in translation between your explanation and my understanding, please forgive me if I've missed something.
They dont know each other at all, the only thing they had in common is that they were offered a job to babysit (jks) the little kid and guide him outside of the country. The man behind all this is a half elf mage called Pentur, who is an advisor of the QUEEN (not the king, thats important) who later in the session made them a contract to protect the kid with their own lives, the contract actually force them to be connected with him so if he takes damage they also take damage. I thought this was the best way to force the party to stay together, they like it or not but it was for the sake of the story.
Maybe this is coming across in a different manner than intended. It reads that you are forcing character (also player) action to suit your story. Might not be the best method of gaining and maintaining player buy-in and cooperation. If you want to tell a story, maybe write a book. If you want characters to explore your world, play a game and allow them to interact with it as they choose.
The first session went pretty weird as they met each other and have their first battle together, they saw how the mage is killed in front of them, the second session went pretty bad because the killer mood of the monster hunter player and they didnt know what to do in the battle I made for them. (The dice were horrible, they keep making 1 to 4 points of damage in 3 turns!!!)
At the end, they see how one of the generals takes the little kid from behind and began to cut his neck so everyone is taking the cut too. Then the kid cries and screams in terror so everything begins to distort around him, it appears a tornado that sucks everything around them, they have a vision of the king and his intentions to revive the demon-dragon god and finally the dragon god watching them and roaring. That is what would happen if they fail their mission. (Lord of the rings reference) But actually the kid just distort the time and space around him and transport the whole party to a nearby tower and one year back where the mage Pentur is waiting for them. He tells the party that they have a year to prepare because this time, the king doesnt know about the existence of Connor and they might have a chance to defeat him.
This part feels a bit messy. I'm getting that the party failed in their task of protecting the "kid" and instead of killing him outright, the screen fades to black with white script that reads "One year earlier" and then the scene fades in to the party talking to the mage that was just killed?
If this is the case, I'm feeling like this is a true railroad. No offense intended. I'm not seeing where any character choice altered the outcome at all. DM fiat has re-written the story regardless of the outcome.
If the intent was to start the game with a flashback from a potential ending, this maybe should have been your first session. Then let the rest of the story flow from character choice.
<snip> So I am asking for help for the next things: -Should I guide them now or should I leave them continue their quest as they want? -Should I make them travel so they can train and kill the generals if I say where they are? -What should I do with the problematic player? -Did I make a mistake doing a time travel campaign? Even if I know the consequences of this and I have the explanation prepare??
Im new on reddit so I m sorry if this is messy and shouldnt be here! I can answer any question! This campaign is following 3.5! The monster hunter player is used to 5e and the rest are used to 3.5 and one of them likes 5e too
- By all means, let them drive the story. I'm suggesting that they should have been the entire time.
- I might suggest that making the PCs do anything is potentially causing problems with your game. Let them choose.
-Your problem player is killing the mood with bad jokes. To me, this sounds like they built this character with that quirk in mind. Talk to them *Out of Game*, and let them know that it is potentially disrupting the game. If they feel that changing how they play their character is not something they want to do, ask them to make a different one, or leave.
-Type of campaign is not a mistake. Not having a session 0 or other form of expectation setting conversation with your players is where I'm going to guess that this went weird. Your players are expecting one thing, while you are expecting another. The two don't match. It wouldn't matter if you were playing any version of any TTRPG, not just D&D, not setting expectation and getting player buy-in and agreement on the campaign will cause the whole game to implode. If you have players telling you that you did something wrong, that should be a pretty strong sign that they just experienced something that they didn't accept could happen, or expect to happen. Your players building characters that clash to the point of confrontation is a sign that they didn't understand what kind of tone you were going for with the game.
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” - Mark Twain - Innocents Abroad
Thank you so much for your reply! Im sorry if something was messy, english is not my first language, I'll try to explain myself with more simple words so I wont mess up anything! :)
1- About the forcing players;
In my first campaign my players were doing their own thing and making groups and not interacting with each other at all (Like a lot of the players made their characters the introvert type and it was REALLY HARD to make them continue with the story, it took me 14 sessions to make them reach the first arc of the story) so I thought that maybe if I had an external cause that makes them go together it would work.
My players liked what I did, according to them, but I also thought about what you say: maybe I'm not letting them explore and go as they want and forcing them to go as I want. Maybe I was too aggressive in my approaching?
2- About the messy part that seems like a railroad:
Thanks for your words! As you said, the intention was to make them watch a fatal ending if they failed their mission! The kid is ok and survived btw!
I think I failed making two sessions as a prologue, I was feeling weird the entire sessions and maybe I should have tried making another approach to the story. I think everything feels confusing to them and to me even tho I have a clear idea in my mind! I'll try to not mess with the story to the point I have to make the important decisions!
3- The problematic player:
Im going to give you an example of what I meant with mood killer things he said or did:
-The mage just tell them they have a connection with the kid and if he dies, they would die. The two rogue characters and the warrior got mad ( very low points on wisdom, its ok), the cleric was the only one to stay calm (18 wisdom so it was ok), the monster hunter with 14 wis acted like he didnt care at all and asked for some herbs to smoke and the players seemed off about it.
Its not really a funny character, he doesnt make jokes all the time but only in high tension moments, moments in game where the rest of the characters are scared or really tensed as he should be too, he seems to be the only one who doesnt want / or doesnt know how to follow the mood ??
I asked for help because I dont know if I am in the right to tell him something like: "Hey, make your character suitable to the story! ", and I felt like if his character is like that I shouldnt tell him how to act, after all he wasnt mean to the other players, he didnt make meta comments. Does that make sense?
Then again, thank you so much for your comment! Ill try to rewrite my next sessions in order to make them explore more and have a nice outcome at the end of each session! Thank you very very much
Mmm... There is the theory of the Moebius, a twist in the fabric of space where time becomes a loop. Loop where time becomes a. A loop where time becomes. Becomes a loop where time. Time becomes a loop where. Where time becomes a loop. The Theory of the Moebius... When we reach that point, whatever happened will happen again.
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“It cannot be seen, cannot be felt, Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt, It lies behind stars and under hills, And empty holes it fills, It comes first and follows after, Ends life, kills laughter.” J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
I couldn't agree with Kaavel more. Especially this:
If you want to tell a story, maybe write a book. If you want characters to explore your world, play a game and allow them to interact with it as they choose.
A few things I would add. Especially about your problem player. I tend to let the PLAYERS work out IN GAME their contentions. This usually quickly lets them find an equilibrium. The first thing I would do when a player comes to me complaining that another players char is throwing off the game is tell them to react appropriately in game if I think it would help. This will usually let them give someone an RP que that they are out of line and follow it up with an amending statement. This does require that your players are decent at role play.
If my initial plan doesn't work I then pull the player aside out of game and explain the issue and politely ask them to tone it down just a touch or if there is a way we can compromise and give him a story related reason they act this way. If they are too unwilling to bend then I'd honestly after a few talks just remove them from the game as polite as I can. I believe there is a table for everyone but not everyone belongs at every table. There are zaney fun goofy games like Acquisitions Inc, and serious hard core stories like some parts of Critical role etc... but like kaavel said, you need to set expectations before the game. I would set those expectations in the beginning of my next session in your situation, what I usually call the DM player contract. You know your players so you make the call on what you say but in my group I know I could say something like this and they would fall in line asap because we have that chemistry:
"Hey before we start I want to go over somethings that we need to agree on to have a cohesive experience. Please know that this is my failing as a GM and I should have done this before the game started so it's not anyone's fault but mine and I don't want you guys to be unhappy about this because we all want a fun game and I need to facilitate that but I dropped the ball. I should have set expectations and some guidelines ahead of time but I didn't. We're all here to be adventurers and heroes etc... so we should all have the understanding you're not going to hit level three and suddenly want to go setup a chain of wal-marts and do nothing else but stock shelves the rest of the game. It's up to you to decide why your character is involved but, involved you should be. Secondly I'm not a master of the craft and there may be some holes here with things like time travel but please suspend disbelief and have fun with it, I'll try to course correct where I can I promise but bare with me. Lastly, since we're all invested, lets make sure to give others their time and storybeats and read the room. I know we all like to goof and I'm guilty as well but it does ruin the immersion for some others when we crack on dramatic moments etc... I talked with some other GM's and I realize I may be railroading you guys a bit in this story and I want to make sure I respect your player agency and decisions so I will make a better effort to be open to what you want to do because in the end I'm just here to make sure the game is fun. If you guys are having fun that's a big W for me. Just remember I'm only human and if you derail things to hard, bare with me as I try to keep us on track a bit. Cool? Also PLEASE tell me if there is anything I can adjust to make it more fun. We're all in this together so I 100% want your feedback, it's the only way I will be able to adapt. Let me know when something is fun or cool or not etc... I really like playing with you all and I will only get better."
Most importantly I'd give them a moment to voice their opinions, voice their expectations, and deal with them as a group at that point so they feel they have been heard. However this is my group and we know each other well and we can say these things. You need to do what's best for your group.
Fortunately for me as a newbie DM my players have more experience than I and are very kind but honest in their feedback! Just this time I needed a not-biased opinion (after all they are my friends and they dont want to hurt me so I think they are being TOO kind this time!)
I'll make sure to have a talk with them before the next session, it wouldnt be the first time we do something like that (also they are open minded and are willing to listen, im really thankful to have them as a party) the only player that is new is just the problematic one and it is the first time I find this problem
Then again, thank you so so much for your feedback
Everyone DMs in their own way, and to me it sounds like your way relies on heavy railroading as if you've already written the story and you want your PCs to fit in it without changing the way the story is written. This is not a wrong way to do it if everyone likes it. However, by forcing your players into your prewritten book, you take agency away from your players and often players do not like that. I don't know if that's the case in your group, but I think it's an important thing to be aware of.
Personally I like to write the story with the players, so their actions matter. I would never tell a player that their character acts wrong because it doesn't fit with the mood in my story (my/our story isn't written yet). And frankly, I have never heard of a DM who told a player that they played their character wrong, as the character is the only thing the player can control, and taking that control away from him would make him an onlooker, not a player. If he's not metagaming and not bothering other players, it's simply a feature of the character that the player obviously likes. The fact that you don't like it as much shouldn't take priority over his fun, as the story isn't yours alone, and this is the only aspect of the story he can control.
If I were you I'd definitely have a late session 0 so you can make sure you're all on the same page and increase the likelihood of an enjoyable experience. Ask your players what they want from a game and how they like to play, and voice all your thoughts about your DM style and how you like the game to played.
You need to sit down with your players and let them know that forcing them to work together is not your job. D&D is a cooperative game and a base assumption in the game is that the player characters will work together to accomplish goals. It is the player's job to make a character with motivations that fit this structure.
Hello, sorry if this is a bad place to post this but I really need help with this :) thank you so much!
I need to talk about the lore so you can understand my problem here:
- LORE -
My campaign takes place in a homebrew world called Astrogar, in this world there are made up gods (original ones who created the world and one big bad one that wanted to destroy it, its just a big black demon dragon, god of chaos) after the choosen ones defeated him many thousands years ago, a lot of more gods appeared under the own beliefs of those choosen ones, who later became rulers of their own kingdoms.
This actually doesnt matter because in any case; those gods are fake. The world of Astrogar is a made up world, created by the original gods of 3.5 (Nerull, Heironeus, etc etc, which are the originals of DND but I didnt play any other v.) for the purpose of eat the faith of the mortal beigns and have some extra power... The gods made this world so they can have a secured battery supply. It's important to understand that you cant travel outside of Astrogar and neither you cant enter from another world, so in a case of time travel :
1- Gods will notice a different time and plane in their world so I can **** everything up if I want
2- There is only one way to time travel in theory (a God made you time travel) and It shouldnt be allowed but Im the DM so I should do whatever I want?
I dont really want to create more planes in this world, it might be really confusing later if my players want to explore that part !
-STORY OF THE CAMPAIGN-
Right now, in my campaign there is this little kid that should be the next king of one of the kingdoms, named Pharsya. He is on the run because actually he is a bastard son of the queen, who is the official ruler with royal blood. Long story short: the king went mad, experimented some blood magic on his own sons, killed them, put his wife in a prison and then some servant told him that the queen had a son in secret when he was away in a war, now that he doesnt have heirs and he doesnt have royal blood on him, this little kid named Connor is a real thread. ( i dont know guys in my mind it sounded cool) so he moved his generals to kill him.
The beginning of the campaign took place with the players meeting in a strange house. The players are:
- A monster hunter human (made up class inspired in the witcher but you can use it in other v.) whose player is killing the mood with bad jokes constantly (i dont know what to do with him)
-An assassin ariqo ( a made up race)
-A rogue dragonborn
-A warrior dragonborn
And a cleric tiefling.
They dont know each other at all, the only thing they had in common is that they were offered a job to babysit (jks) the little kid and guide him outside of the country. The man behind all this is a half elf mage called Pentur, who is an advisor of the QUEEN (not the king, thats important) who later in the session made them a contract to protect the kid with their own lives, the contract actually force them to be connected with him so if he takes damage they also take damage.
I thought this was the best way to force the party to stay together, they like it or not but it was for the sake of the story.
The first session went pretty weird as they met each other and have their first battle together, they saw how the mage is killed in front of them, the second session went pretty bad because the killer mood of the monster hunter player and they didnt know what to do in the battle I made for them.
(The dice were horrible, they keep making 1 to 4 points of damage in 3 turns!!!)
At the end, they see how one of the generals takes the little kid from behind and began to cut his neck so everyone is taking the cut too. Then the kid cries and screams in terror so everything begins to distort around him, it appears a tornado that sucks everything around them, they have a vision of the king and his intentions to revive the demon-dragon god and finally the dragon god watching them and roaring.
That is what would happen if they fail their mission. (Lord of the rings reference)
But actually the kid just distort the time and space around him and transport the whole party to a nearby tower and one year back where the mage Pentur is waiting for them.
He tells the party that they have a year to prepare because this time, the king doesnt know about the existence of Connor and they might have a chance to defeat him.
My whole party were really hyped about the time travel, thats something I wouldnt do and I wanted to surprise them, but two of my players are complaining about the monster hunter player one and other two instead of accepting what I did began to tell me how to make a time travel adventure with the laws of time and planes. I felt like even if I had that planned and thought carefully before the campaign, if I dont do as they expect they are going to find a lot of holes on the plot or just criticize and complain.
I made them travel one year in the past so their characters can be powerful in the next battles but now I dont know if they are going to train or go and kill without hesitation their enemies. They have a chance to kill the generals, stop whatever the king is doing, save the queen and more if they want!
So I am asking for help for the next things:
-Should I guide them now or should I leave them continue their quest as they want?
-Should I make them travel so they can train and kill the generals if I say where they are?
-What should I do with the problematic player?
-Did I make a mistake doing a time travel campaign? Even if I know the consequences of this and I have the explanation prepare??
Im new on reddit so I m sorry if this is messy and shouldnt be here! I can answer any question!
This campaign is following 3.5!
The monster hunter player is used to 5e and the rest are used to 3.5 and one of them likes 5e too
I'm thinking there might be something getting lost in translation between your explanation and my understanding, please forgive me if I've missed something.
Maybe this is coming across in a different manner than intended. It reads that you are forcing character (also player) action to suit your story. Might not be the best method of gaining and maintaining player buy-in and cooperation. If you want to tell a story, maybe write a book. If you want characters to explore your world, play a game and allow them to interact with it as they choose.
This part feels a bit messy. I'm getting that the party failed in their task of protecting the "kid" and instead of killing him outright, the screen fades to black with white script that reads "One year earlier" and then the scene fades in to the party talking to the mage that was just killed?
If this is the case, I'm feeling like this is a true railroad. No offense intended. I'm not seeing where any character choice altered the outcome at all. DM fiat has re-written the story regardless of the outcome.
If the intent was to start the game with a flashback from a potential ending, this maybe should have been your first session. Then let the rest of the story flow from character choice.
- By all means, let them drive the story. I'm suggesting that they should have been the entire time.
- I might suggest that making the PCs do anything is potentially causing problems with your game. Let them choose.
-Your problem player is killing the mood with bad jokes. To me, this sounds like they built this character with that quirk in mind. Talk to them *Out of Game*, and let them know that it is potentially disrupting the game. If they feel that changing how they play their character is not something they want to do, ask them to make a different one, or leave.
-Type of campaign is not a mistake. Not having a session 0 or other form of expectation setting conversation with your players is where I'm going to guess that this went weird. Your players are expecting one thing, while you are expecting another. The two don't match. It wouldn't matter if you were playing any version of any TTRPG, not just D&D, not setting expectation and getting player buy-in and agreement on the campaign will cause the whole game to implode. If you have players telling you that you did something wrong, that should be a pretty strong sign that they just experienced something that they didn't accept could happen, or expect to happen. Your players building characters that clash to the point of confrontation is a sign that they didn't understand what kind of tone you were going for with the game.
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” - Mark Twain - Innocents Abroad
Thank you so much for your reply! Im sorry if something was messy, english is not my first language, I'll try to explain myself with more simple words so I wont mess up anything! :)
1- About the forcing players;
In my first campaign my players were doing their own thing and making groups and not interacting with each other at all (Like a lot of the players made their characters the introvert type and it was REALLY HARD to make them continue with the story, it took me 14 sessions to make them reach the first arc of the story) so I thought that maybe if I had an external cause that makes them go together it would work.
My players liked what I did, according to them, but I also thought about what you say: maybe I'm not letting them explore and go as they want and forcing them to go as I want. Maybe I was too aggressive in my approaching?
2- About the messy part that seems like a railroad:
Thanks for your words! As you said, the intention was to make them watch a fatal ending if they failed their mission! The kid is ok and survived btw!
I think I failed making two sessions as a prologue, I was feeling weird the entire sessions and maybe I should have tried making another approach to the story. I think everything feels confusing to them and to me even tho I have a clear idea in my mind! I'll try to not mess with the story to the point I have to make the important decisions!
3- The problematic player:
Im going to give you an example of what I meant with mood killer things he said or did:
-The mage just tell them they have a connection with the kid and if he dies, they would die. The two rogue characters and the warrior got mad ( very low points on wisdom, its ok), the cleric was the only one to stay calm (18 wisdom so it was ok), the monster hunter with 14 wis acted like he didnt care at all and asked for some herbs to smoke and the players seemed off about it.
Its not really a funny character, he doesnt make jokes all the time but only in high tension moments, moments in game where the rest of the characters are scared or really tensed as he should be too, he seems to be the only one who doesnt want / or doesnt know how to follow the mood ??
I asked for help because I dont know if I am in the right to tell him something like: "Hey, make your character suitable to the story! ", and I felt like if his character is like that I shouldnt tell him how to act, after all he wasnt mean to the other players, he didnt make meta comments. Does that make sense?
Then again, thank you so much for your comment! Ill try to rewrite my next sessions in order to make them explore more and have a nice outcome at the end of each session! Thank you very very much
Mmm... There is the theory of the Moebius, a twist in the fabric of space where time becomes a loop. Loop where time becomes a. A loop where time becomes. Becomes a loop where time. Time becomes a loop where. Where time becomes a loop. The Theory of the Moebius... When we reach that point, whatever happened will happen again.
“It cannot be seen, cannot be felt, Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt, It lies behind stars and under hills, And empty holes it fills, It comes first and follows after, Ends life, kills laughter.” J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
I couldn't agree with Kaavel more. Especially this:
A few things I would add. Especially about your problem player. I tend to let the PLAYERS work out IN GAME their contentions. This usually quickly lets them find an equilibrium. The first thing I would do when a player comes to me complaining that another players char is throwing off the game is tell them to react appropriately in game if I think it would help. This will usually let them give someone an RP que that they are out of line and follow it up with an amending statement. This does require that your players are decent at role play.
If my initial plan doesn't work I then pull the player aside out of game and explain the issue and politely ask them to tone it down just a touch or if there is a way we can compromise and give him a story related reason they act this way. If they are too unwilling to bend then I'd honestly after a few talks just remove them from the game as polite as I can. I believe there is a table for everyone but not everyone belongs at every table. There are zaney fun goofy games like Acquisitions Inc, and serious hard core stories like some parts of Critical role etc... but like kaavel said, you need to set expectations before the game. I would set those expectations in the beginning of my next session in your situation, what I usually call the DM player contract. You know your players so you make the call on what you say but in my group I know I could say something like this and they would fall in line asap because we have that chemistry:
"Hey before we start I want to go over somethings that we need to agree on to have a cohesive experience. Please know that this is my failing as a GM and I should have done this before the game started so it's not anyone's fault but mine and I don't want you guys to be unhappy about this because we all want a fun game and I need to facilitate that but I dropped the ball. I should have set expectations and some guidelines ahead of time but I didn't. We're all here to be adventurers and heroes etc... so we should all have the understanding you're not going to hit level three and suddenly want to go setup a chain of wal-marts and do nothing else but stock shelves the rest of the game. It's up to you to decide why your character is involved but, involved you should be. Secondly I'm not a master of the craft and there may be some holes here with things like time travel but please suspend disbelief and have fun with it, I'll try to course correct where I can I promise but bare with me. Lastly, since we're all invested, lets make sure to give others their time and storybeats and read the room. I know we all like to goof and I'm guilty as well but it does ruin the immersion for some others when we crack on dramatic moments etc... I talked with some other GM's and I realize I may be railroading you guys a bit in this story and I want to make sure I respect your player agency and decisions so I will make a better effort to be open to what you want to do because in the end I'm just here to make sure the game is fun. If you guys are having fun that's a big W for me. Just remember I'm only human and if you derail things to hard, bare with me as I try to keep us on track a bit. Cool? Also PLEASE tell me if there is anything I can adjust to make it more fun. We're all in this together so I 100% want your feedback, it's the only way I will be able to adapt. Let me know when something is fun or cool or not etc... I really like playing with you all and I will only get better."
Most importantly I'd give them a moment to voice their opinions, voice their expectations, and deal with them as a group at that point so they feel they have been heard. However this is my group and we know each other well and we can say these things. You need to do what's best for your group.
Thank you so much for your feedback!
Fortunately for me as a newbie DM my players have more experience than I and are very kind but honest in their feedback! Just this time I needed a not-biased opinion (after all they are my friends and they dont want to hurt me so I think they are being TOO kind this time!)
I'll make sure to have a talk with them before the next session, it wouldnt be the first time we do something like that (also they are open minded and are willing to listen, im really thankful to have them as a party) the only player that is new is just the problematic one and it is the first time I find this problem
Then again, thank you so so much for your feedback
Everyone DMs in their own way, and to me it sounds like your way relies on heavy railroading as if you've already written the story and you want your PCs to fit in it without changing the way the story is written. This is not a wrong way to do it if everyone likes it. However, by forcing your players into your prewritten book, you take agency away from your players and often players do not like that. I don't know if that's the case in your group, but I think it's an important thing to be aware of.
Personally I like to write the story with the players, so their actions matter. I would never tell a player that their character acts wrong because it doesn't fit with the mood in my story (my/our story isn't written yet). And frankly, I have never heard of a DM who told a player that they played their character wrong, as the character is the only thing the player can control, and taking that control away from him would make him an onlooker, not a player. If he's not metagaming and not bothering other players, it's simply a feature of the character that the player obviously likes. The fact that you don't like it as much shouldn't take priority over his fun, as the story isn't yours alone, and this is the only aspect of the story he can control.
If I were you I'd definitely have a late session 0 so you can make sure you're all on the same page and increase the likelihood of an enjoyable experience. Ask your players what they want from a game and how they like to play, and voice all your thoughts about your DM style and how you like the game to played.
You need to sit down with your players and let them know that forcing them to work together is not your job. D&D is a cooperative game and a base assumption in the game is that the player characters will work together to accomplish goals. It is the player's job to make a character with motivations that fit this structure.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm