Hi, I started a new D&D group with some curious folk, but it seems like they aren't too interested in interacting with NPCs. That wouldn't be too much of a problem if I wouldn't be a DM mostly focused on NPC interactions with my usual group. I'm right now struggling with making an interesting adventure for them. They like mystery and figuring things out, but I don't know how to do that without having NPCs present. I'm not too experienced with dungeon crawls and only got some in my backlog which were for higher level players (they are Lv 2 atm, but I can bump them up a level before anything in the next game happens).
If anyone can recommend other adventures to get inspiration from, or just general tips I'd be happy to read that!
Yeah, players will do that to you. Mercurial little buggers.
Some general tips:
1. You don't need to rely on NPC conversations. Let passive perception/insight earn PCs information. Maybe an empyrean visits them in a dream sequence. Maybe someone writes a mysterious note and leaves it in their pack. Maybe they stumble upon an evil ritual mid-casting. Maybe all the owlbears vanish before their eyes. The campaign setting is your NPC; use it as you need to.
2. Players are like toddlers - they're distractible, miss subtext a lot, and sometimes won't do anything unless there's some kind of gratification in it. If your NPCs are fun, obvious, or giving the party something valuable, the players are more likely to interact with them. Sometimes this means you create a hypochondriac kobold or a talking blink dog for them to fall in love with.
3. Reflect on how and why you're using NPCs. Is it to give quests? That isn't always necessary, as I said. Is it so you can RP, too? That's valid, but it can also sometimes become self-inserty and annoying if the DM isn't giving the party space. NPCs aren't there to drive the story - the party is. NPCs provide the framework for the plot and give players something to react to, learn from, fight, or rescue. While I'm not saying that's what you're doing or why your players are avoiding the NPCs, it's still worth a mention.
4. New players might be unpracticed/uncomfortable with RP and interacting with NPCs. (This might not apply to you at all, so ignore if so.) Sometimes a DM needs to teach players how to make the most of the game world, and that it's a living, active ecosystem outside of the party's interactions. Demonstrating through in-game events is one way. Straight up mentioning it in a meta comment is another. "Hey guys, I notice you don't talk to shopkeeps and crown guards much. Just a friendly note that it's another avenue of exploration you could try for this quest that might make it easier."
From how you've described your players, it doesn't sound like they're doing this intentionally to ignore you, so it might be that they don't know they can, don't know what to say, or aren't really vibing with the NPCs they've met. An out-of-character chat with each of them to gauge their continued interest in the game and get feedback could be helpful. And if they continued to stiff-arm your NPCs, you have every right to say, "Hey, I'm a player too, and NPCs are my characters. I'd appreciate it if you'd let me roleplay every once in a while, too." You have the right to have fun in your own game. Respectful players will get it and be willing to accommodate.
With NPC focused I also mean the way that the environment works. It's not about me RPing in front of the players, I do plenty of that in non-DnD RPGs. I often design an area by thinking what creatures/people live there. It also helped my players with what to expect in later parts of the area, or what to think about the world. It might be me having a problem with finding a theme that feels consistent enough for the players to actually explore.
Last game we talked a bit about the situation. The latest plot hook seems to really have gotten their attention, and they told me they would love to see how everything develops, and to them that included interacting with more NPCs. I think it might have to be just more trying around to find someone to match their weird. So nr. 2 might be something to try around (even if I have a bit of a running theme of my players getting addicted to adopting monsters, so I might be careful with that ^^").
I'm an NPC-lite DM, so if you are willing to try a different style of DMing / game design here is how I build my stories:
1. Decide what the conflict or problem is in an area - e.g. a city might have an Aboleth in the sewers that is secretly taking control of the government, a mine might be infested with a vampire from a long lost crypt the miners accidentally dug into, a farming town might be starving because it has been cursed by a hag, a ruined temple might be inhabited by a devil rubbing it in the face of the god it was dedicated to.
2. Figure out 2-3 different ways to hint to the party the conflict / problem - this might be a corpse they can investigate, letters/notes they can find, NPCs they could talk to, some minions of the villain they could capture & interrogate.
3. Plan out potential combat encounters / traps that make sense.
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Hi, I started a new D&D group with some curious folk, but it seems like they aren't too interested in interacting with NPCs. That wouldn't be too much of a problem if I wouldn't be a DM mostly focused on NPC interactions with my usual group. I'm right now struggling with making an interesting adventure for them. They like mystery and figuring things out, but I don't know how to do that without having NPCs present. I'm not too experienced with dungeon crawls and only got some in my backlog which were for higher level players (they are Lv 2 atm, but I can bump them up a level before anything in the next game happens).
If anyone can recommend other adventures to get inspiration from, or just general tips I'd be happy to read that!
Yeah, players will do that to you. Mercurial little buggers.
Some general tips:
1. You don't need to rely on NPC conversations. Let passive perception/insight earn PCs information. Maybe an empyrean visits them in a dream sequence. Maybe someone writes a mysterious note and leaves it in their pack. Maybe they stumble upon an evil ritual mid-casting. Maybe all the owlbears vanish before their eyes. The campaign setting is your NPC; use it as you need to.
2. Players are like toddlers - they're distractible, miss subtext a lot, and sometimes won't do anything unless there's some kind of gratification in it. If your NPCs are fun, obvious, or giving the party something valuable, the players are more likely to interact with them. Sometimes this means you create a hypochondriac kobold or a talking blink dog for them to fall in love with.
3. Reflect on how and why you're using NPCs. Is it to give quests? That isn't always necessary, as I said. Is it so you can RP, too? That's valid, but it can also sometimes become self-inserty and annoying if the DM isn't giving the party space. NPCs aren't there to drive the story - the party is. NPCs provide the framework for the plot and give players something to react to, learn from, fight, or rescue. While I'm not saying that's what you're doing or why your players are avoiding the NPCs, it's still worth a mention.
4. New players might be unpracticed/uncomfortable with RP and interacting with NPCs. (This might not apply to you at all, so ignore if so.) Sometimes a DM needs to teach players how to make the most of the game world, and that it's a living, active ecosystem outside of the party's interactions. Demonstrating through in-game events is one way. Straight up mentioning it in a meta comment is another. "Hey guys, I notice you don't talk to shopkeeps and crown guards much. Just a friendly note that it's another avenue of exploration you could try for this quest that might make it easier."
From how you've described your players, it doesn't sound like they're doing this intentionally to ignore you, so it might be that they don't know they can, don't know what to say, or aren't really vibing with the NPCs they've met. An out-of-character chat with each of them to gauge their continued interest in the game and get feedback could be helpful. And if they continued to stiff-arm your NPCs, you have every right to say, "Hey, I'm a player too, and NPCs are my characters. I'd appreciate it if you'd let me roleplay every once in a while, too." You have the right to have fun in your own game. Respectful players will get it and be willing to accommodate.
With NPC focused I also mean the way that the environment works. It's not about me RPing in front of the players, I do plenty of that in non-DnD RPGs.
I often design an area by thinking what creatures/people live there. It also helped my players with what to expect in later parts of the area, or what to think about the world.
It might be me having a problem with finding a theme that feels consistent enough for the players to actually explore.
Last game we talked a bit about the situation. The latest plot hook seems to really have gotten their attention, and they told me they would love to see how everything develops, and to them that included interacting with more NPCs. I think it might have to be just more trying around to find someone to match their weird. So nr. 2 might be something to try around (even if I have a bit of a running theme of my players getting addicted to adopting monsters, so I might be careful with that ^^").
I'm an NPC-lite DM, so if you are willing to try a different style of DMing / game design here is how I build my stories:
1. Decide what the conflict or problem is in an area - e.g. a city might have an Aboleth in the sewers that is secretly taking control of the government, a mine might be infested with a vampire from a long lost crypt the miners accidentally dug into, a farming town might be starving because it has been cursed by a hag, a ruined temple might be inhabited by a devil rubbing it in the face of the god it was dedicated to.
2. Figure out 2-3 different ways to hint to the party the conflict / problem - this might be a corpse they can investigate, letters/notes they can find, NPCs they could talk to, some minions of the villain they could capture & interrogate.
3. Plan out potential combat encounters / traps that make sense.