So I have set out to Run DotMM with my party of 4. I have given them pretty much free reign of Waterdeep; we have run a couple of arena/pit fights for betting and a couple of random side quests via some Noticeboards for Waterdeep that I found on DMsguild. I have presented them with every adventure hook from DotMM and for some reason my party just does not seem motivated to go down into Undermountain.
I pulled aside one of the members to ask them why they weren't all that interested and they said it was because they didn't feel like there was any real need or quest telling them that they should descend. I feel like I have failed presenting the hooks now, because there have been a few NPC's that they have met that have pretty much already asked them to venture down there and do something for them. They have met with Mattrim, Obaya, Esvele, and I even introduced them to Volothamp in hopes that the story of the elven throne might intrigue them enough to go have a look. They are aware that the Yawning Portal has the big ole' hole they can ride the rope down, and I even had Mattrim casually drop in conversation that there might just be another way into Undermountain if they asked the right person.
But my players don't seem drawn at all to going down, and I feel like now if I push it, that I am directing them on how the game will progress and I have always been adamant about this being their story and whatever they want to do I will accommodate for them.
TL;DR: Players aren't interested by the DotMM adventure hooks. How do I get them interested with out forcefully MAKING them go on the adventure.
Someone asking the players to do something is often not enough since the character would have no motivation to act on the request. Undermountain is supposed to be a dangerous place. Why would a character go into Undermountain if they don't need to?
Two main reasons I can think of ..
1) rewards/treasure/magic that they WANT to find. Maybe someone needs to pay them enough to make it worth their while.
2) some encounter they want to find. Perhaps there is something in Undermountain that the characters would find fun and irresistable? If these folks like pit fighting then the best place in Waterdeep is probably the tavern in Undermountain. The wildest place in Waterdeep. Skullport is great for smuggling.
There are a number of factions in Waterdeep that might motivate them to go into Undermountain depending on whether they are a member of the associated faction.
I think the real problem I am having is that no one has a lot of real experience in playing. They are never inquiring about talking to people, I have had to kind of hand feed them information because they never ask for it. I have told them about several of the guilds that reside in Waterdeep and I tried to introduce them to someone higher up in the Emerald Enclave last session. I had hopes of intriguing the Druid into asking some questions so that I could plausibly pass along information with out just telling them out of character, but they did the side quest and waved goodbye without even so much as asking the NPC, "hey, whats an emerald enclave?"
I am kind of at a loss as to how to hook them in. I have thought about creating a Mirrored Group of their party and have them maybe steal the quest lines beforehand if they go check it out. Like they go talk to Mattrim about maybe taking on the delivery only to find that there is a better group out there beating them to the punch. Oh you want to fight in the arena? Sorry the last slot was taken up by this new mysterious group in town.
Knowing my players they will want to take out this group One Upping them, I would have someone inform the party that this new group has descended into Undermountain. Does this seem like something that might create a sense of urgency for them?
What level are they? When I want to light a fire under a group, I start by lighting an actual fire under them. Send them on a mission to Skullport, the Skulls start shooting fireballs at everything in sight and no one explains why, but the only escape route leads them into Undermountain. They remember hearing that you could get out to the Yawning Portal this way, so they fight their way UP. Meanwhile, while they're there, you drop hints about all the great stuff they could find down here if they came back properly equipped...
Subtly blocking off other things they can do, like there not being quests available or such may work. If even that won't get players interested you might just have to tell them out of game that they can't progress without doing the hook. If they still refuse to go down, then some seemingly random event could happen that starts it or even changes the path of the story. New players might not know that they have to do certain things for the game to go on, and need a few experiences to learn.
While it is the player's game, they eventually won't have a game to play if they don't go deeper into the story. The DM has to make that story to give them more game to have reign over.
The group is at level 8 right now, but they started at level 5 so that they had something interesting to play with. I know that they are a bit high for the first few levels of the dungeon, but I had wanted to almost give them a sense of being badass at the start and slowly start to realize just how hard things are the further down they go, with potentially changing up the stats of some monsters for increased difficulty (at least that was the plan.)
The players are newer, but we have been playing a lot over the last 6 months, sometimes 1-3 times a week. I spoke with someone after a session to see if something was wrong with what I was presenting and the player told me that they felt like a shy kid in school, they know what they should be doing, but are a bit shy in vocalizing that. They also mentioned that they felt intimidated just by knowing that Undermountain is a HUGE Mega Dungeon.
And on that front, I am unsure how to give someone confidence in playing, other than continuing to play and encourage them.
Any other suggestions are very welcome at this point.
It doesn't sound like your players are pursuing their own projects or pursuing yours, so they're just waiting for something to happen. I mean, if you're playing twice a week for six months, they shouldn't lack confidence.
They should be intimidated by Undermountain; it is a huge mega-dungeon. Personally, I'm not a fan of presenting dungeons as Space Mountain style Disneyworld rides and I was glad we got away from that after first edition, but you bought the book and it's reasonable that you want to use it.
If you don't want to sneak them in the side door through Skullport or the Xanathar's lair, how about if Undermountain comes to them? A ton of monsters pop up out of the Yawning Portal to raid the neighborhood and burn the place to the ground. The city decides to prevent any more incursions by sending a whole platoon of adventurers in to clean the place out. Is there a friend of theirs who could go missing in Undermountain whom they'd be willing to rescue? What if someone steals their stuff and goes into Undermountain? Players hate losing stuff.
how about if Undermountain comes to them? A ton of monsters pop up out of the Yawning Portal to raid the neighborhood and burn the place to the ground. The city decides to prevent any more incursions by sending a whole platoon of adventurers in to clean the place out. Is there a friend of theirs who could go missing in Undermountain whom they'd be willing to rescue? What if someone steals their stuff and goes into Undermountain? Players hate losing stuff.
Okay that is a fantastic idea!
Never thought to take the monster from below and bring them up. I might actually use that, see if I can inject some craziness to whats going on. Because you are right, they are not pursuing anything they are waiting for stuff to happen. So what better way to get them involved then to literally throw monster at them. XD
Undermountain is a hard sell unless the party absolutely loves combat, because Undermountain is known to be a megadungeon. Even though there's roleplay and exploration there, they're going to be fighting a lot. My party got weary going through the dungeon at the end of ToA and that took many sessions. They ended up hating dungeons so I planned a change of pace. Last session we started a new campaign at level 8 in Waterdeep, and I'm running a more freeform campaign where the party can make their own adventure. I'm dropping hints and clues at things that are going on and they are deciding what to do. I had a ton of content in Waterdeep ready for them to explore. Well the first session they decide to go into Skullport to look for someone willing to cast wish to remove a powerful affliction on one of the PCs (via their backstory). Of course they chose to go in via the Sea Caves versus the Yawning Portal (I don't blame them). I don't plan on having them explore all of Undermountain at once but they will of course be able to do that should they wish. One of the strong points of all the published adventures is that they provide a ready-made setting should your players wish to explore that area.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
So I have set out to Run DotMM with my party of 4. I have given them pretty much free reign of Waterdeep; we have run a couple of arena/pit fights for betting and a couple of random side quests via some Noticeboards for Waterdeep that I found on DMsguild. I have presented them with every adventure hook from DotMM and for some reason my party just does not seem motivated to go down into Undermountain.
I pulled aside one of the members to ask them why they weren't all that interested and they said it was because they didn't feel like there was any real need or quest telling them that they should descend. I feel like I have failed presenting the hooks now, because there have been a few NPC's that they have met that have pretty much already asked them to venture down there and do something for them. They have met with Mattrim, Obaya, Esvele, and I even introduced them to Volothamp in hopes that the story of the elven throne might intrigue them enough to go have a look. They are aware that the Yawning Portal has the big ole' hole they can ride the rope down, and I even had Mattrim casually drop in conversation that there might just be another way into Undermountain if they asked the right person.
But my players don't seem drawn at all to going down, and I feel like now if I push it, that I am directing them on how the game will progress and I have always been adamant about this being their story and whatever they want to do I will accommodate for them.
TL;DR: Players aren't interested by the DotMM adventure hooks. How do I get them interested with out forcefully MAKING them go on the adventure.
I would say make it about a reward in gold. Then you can build the story from there.
Someone asking the players to do something is often not enough since the character would have no motivation to act on the request. Undermountain is supposed to be a dangerous place. Why would a character go into Undermountain if they don't need to?
Two main reasons I can think of ..
1) rewards/treasure/magic that they WANT to find. Maybe someone needs to pay them enough to make it worth their while.
2) some encounter they want to find. Perhaps there is something in Undermountain that the characters would find fun and irresistable? If these folks like pit fighting then the best place in Waterdeep is probably the tavern in Undermountain. The wildest place in Waterdeep. Skullport is great for smuggling.
There are a number of factions in Waterdeep that might motivate them to go into Undermountain depending on whether they are a member of the associated faction.
I think the real problem I am having is that no one has a lot of real experience in playing. They are never inquiring about talking to people, I have had to kind of hand feed them information because they never ask for it. I have told them about several of the guilds that reside in Waterdeep and I tried to introduce them to someone higher up in the Emerald Enclave last session. I had hopes of intriguing the Druid into asking some questions so that I could plausibly pass along information with out just telling them out of character, but they did the side quest and waved goodbye without even so much as asking the NPC, "hey, whats an emerald enclave?"
I am kind of at a loss as to how to hook them in. I have thought about creating a Mirrored Group of their party and have them maybe steal the quest lines beforehand if they go check it out. Like they go talk to Mattrim about maybe taking on the delivery only to find that there is a better group out there beating them to the punch. Oh you want to fight in the arena? Sorry the last slot was taken up by this new mysterious group in town.
Knowing my players they will want to take out this group One Upping them, I would have someone inform the party that this new group has descended into Undermountain. Does this seem like something that might create a sense of urgency for them?
What level are they? When I want to light a fire under a group, I start by lighting an actual fire under them. Send them on a mission to Skullport, the Skulls start shooting fireballs at everything in sight and no one explains why, but the only escape route leads them into Undermountain. They remember hearing that you could get out to the Yawning Portal this way, so they fight their way UP. Meanwhile, while they're there, you drop hints about all the great stuff they could find down here if they came back properly equipped...
Subtly blocking off other things they can do, like there not being quests available or such may work. If even that won't get players interested you might just have to tell them out of game that they can't progress without doing the hook. If they still refuse to go down, then some seemingly random event could happen that starts it or even changes the path of the story. New players might not know that they have to do certain things for the game to go on, and need a few experiences to learn.
While it is the player's game, they eventually won't have a game to play if they don't go deeper into the story. The DM has to make that story to give them more game to have reign over.
Also known as CrafterB and DankMemer.
Here, have some homebrew classes! Subclasses to? Why not races. Feats, feats as well. I have a lot of magic items. Lastly I got monsters, fun, fun times.
The group is at level 8 right now, but they started at level 5 so that they had something interesting to play with. I know that they are a bit high for the first few levels of the dungeon, but I had wanted to almost give them a sense of being badass at the start and slowly start to realize just how hard things are the further down they go, with potentially changing up the stats of some monsters for increased difficulty (at least that was the plan.)
The players are newer, but we have been playing a lot over the last 6 months, sometimes 1-3 times a week. I spoke with someone after a session to see if something was wrong with what I was presenting and the player told me that they felt like a shy kid in school, they know what they should be doing, but are a bit shy in vocalizing that. They also mentioned that they felt intimidated just by knowing that Undermountain is a HUGE Mega Dungeon.
And on that front, I am unsure how to give someone confidence in playing, other than continuing to play and encourage them.
Any other suggestions are very welcome at this point.
It doesn't sound like your players are pursuing their own projects or pursuing yours, so they're just waiting for something to happen. I mean, if you're playing twice a week for six months, they shouldn't lack confidence.
They should be intimidated by Undermountain; it is a huge mega-dungeon. Personally, I'm not a fan of presenting dungeons as Space Mountain style Disneyworld rides and I was glad we got away from that after first edition, but you bought the book and it's reasonable that you want to use it.
If you don't want to sneak them in the side door through Skullport or the Xanathar's lair, how about if Undermountain comes to them? A ton of monsters pop up out of the Yawning Portal to raid the neighborhood and burn the place to the ground. The city decides to prevent any more incursions by sending a whole platoon of adventurers in to clean the place out. Is there a friend of theirs who could go missing in Undermountain whom they'd be willing to rescue? What if someone steals their stuff and goes into Undermountain? Players hate losing stuff.
Okay that is a fantastic idea!
Never thought to take the monster from below and bring them up. I might actually use that, see if I can inject some craziness to whats going on. Because you are right, they are not pursuing anything they are waiting for stuff to happen. So what better way to get them involved then to literally throw monster at them. XD
Undermountain is a hard sell unless the party absolutely loves combat, because Undermountain is known to be a megadungeon. Even though there's roleplay and exploration there, they're going to be fighting a lot. My party got weary going through the dungeon at the end of ToA and that took many sessions. They ended up hating dungeons so I planned a change of pace. Last session we started a new campaign at level 8 in Waterdeep, and I'm running a more freeform campaign where the party can make their own adventure. I'm dropping hints and clues at things that are going on and they are deciding what to do. I had a ton of content in Waterdeep ready for them to explore. Well the first session they decide to go into Skullport to look for someone willing to cast wish to remove a powerful affliction on one of the PCs (via their backstory). Of course they chose to go in via the Sea Caves versus the Yawning Portal (I don't blame them). I don't plan on having them explore all of Undermountain at once but they will of course be able to do that should they wish. One of the strong points of all the published adventures is that they provide a ready-made setting should your players wish to explore that area.