Hey guys. I'm a relatively new DM playing with a newbie group; Three of my five had never played before, though our group has been running for a while now. We're all pretty much on top of the mechanical side of the game now and I've been trying to build up the story elements a bit more, but I'm having a bit of trouble engaging some of the players in it. I can divide them in to three groups: 2 get involved with the story, 1 sort of gets involved but generally hangs back a bit, and 2 only really pay attention when we're in combat or exploring an actual map. They're very into the xp grind and treasure bit of the game, but not much else.

It's not that I mind doing the dungeon crawls and the grind. I love building dungeons. But I am trying to craft an actual narrative here as well. I don't feel as though the two that tune out during the story bits have really given it a proper shot, either. So I was hoping that people might have some ideas as to how I can tease them into getting a bit more involved? I know things like giving Inspiration/Xp to reward good RPing, and targeting specific players with questions/narrative, but one of the two doesn't even get involved enough for me to actually reward anything, and the other doesn't really respond when I try to focus on him (despite a part of his character being super-related to the plot I'm building).

I've got a good opportunity coming up - Next session, one of the two that does get engaged (and generally steals the scene a little) won't be attending, along with one of the guys that doesn't get involved as much. With the party balance of those that remain, I'm not going to throw anything too heavy at them in terms of combat. So instead, I want to try and draw out more from the remaining person that doesn't engage, as well as the person who only somewhat gets involved. Is there anything I can do to get them a bit more invested in everything?

In terms of story, we're in Neverwinter, so I've got access to quite a lot in terms of narrative options...

There's Role Playing and Roll Playing.  Both are equally valid ways to play D&D.  Sounds like you have a mixed batch of both in your party.  If you are serious about elevating the RP level of your story, and want all party members to participate, then I suggest talking privately & individually with the two who don't seem interested in RP to find out their level of engagement and interest in the RP side. 

You may find they are having fun with things as they are.  In that case I would encourage you to accept that.  Occasionally throw an RP bone their way, but otherwise leave things as they are and allow the party members that enjoy the RP side of things to continue as well.  People have different strengths and different interests.

We all play for different reasons, you've already noticed that the type of engagement that players have varies like a pendulum.

If I were to give you any real advice to get the hack n' slashers into the RP side of the game it would boil down to one simple thought: What motivates their character and player?

I have a player who was very difficult to work with when it came to involving them in the story of the game I run. I tossed plot hook after plot hook at him and nothing came of it. I used the backstory of him being an orphan to pull him toward learning about that, twice, and neither time did he even blink at it. I gave him a mission to be an emissary of trade, he took it in stride but didn't really make too much of it. I had racial biases crop up all the time, he claimed to want to fix that, but each approach I gave was met with him ignoring it. I was beating my head against a wall.

In the end I figured out that what really motivated him was that he wanted to be strong, he wanted to be unique, and he wanted to have something defining about his character. I gave him a mission that was tied to a deity, his life for a task. I then rewarded him with a weapon from that same deity with the promise of a twin to that weapon. He took that plot hook and ran with it in a direction I never expected. He has talked about becoming a paladin devoted to this deity, he's actively seeking out the second weapon, and he's RPing his struggles with the deity's help or apparent lack of help.

I took the player's motivations and the character's situation in the world and tried to tie them together. It's not easy, but with a little work you can toss out a few different hooks and see which one they take. Then make it elaborate, make it tie into the world so the player has to interact with more than their weapons and dice.

However it works out for you, remember, many times you'll have to DM in different ways during the same game to involve everyone's play style.

And further to the above advice, not only are there different reasons for playing, there's different levels of comfort as well. Let's be honest, while it comes naturally to some of us, the idea of 'getting into character' - and essentially acting in front of a group, can be hard. While it's phenomenally fun, and what sets D&D apart from playing any other board game, it is a bit of a strange concept.

For these people, the idea of tossing dice around and sticking to the rules is as easy as playing any other board game. To then throw in roleplay - especially if there's a confident roleplayer in the group - can feel like a difficult leap. Much easier to roll dice and hit things.

My advice would be to coax it out slowly, building up the RP/Story concepts to your players and making it easy and comfortable to engage with. As the DM, speak to the players' characters, not the players - "Llewayan, daughter of Errathan - what will you do next?"

If you want them to engage with their character, ask what their character is thinking, or how they're feeling about the situation at hand. This is an easy way for players engage with their character, because to them, they're just answering a question - but what they're really doing, is thinking about how their character is feeling and reacting - i.e. roleplaying.

Also, make roleplaying fun for your players to do - either through rewards (doesn't have to be items or XP), or by making their in-character action affect the world.

A couple of other suggestions is to give magic items that are RP focussed. They don't give you +1 to damage, but they might give you +1 to persuasion. Or something as obscure as advantage when bartering/haggling. Give your players things that they WANT to use in RP settings to make it more appealing to RP.

When RPing, give advantage etc on checks when done well and when it makes sense.

But as a couple of people have mentioned, your fun and their fun are not always the same. I have a table of 6. We've been playing together for over a year, and the level of RP is still wildly diverse. Some use voices. Some are flamboyant. Some speak in first person. Some are more engaged in their backstory and character evolution. I make sure I check in on everyone individually and make sure they're enjoying themselves, and their character, and the level of their involvement. If they're having fun and aren't wanting to change the way things are, I have to be ok with that.

I would consider giving a modest amount of XP at the end of a session to each player based on your assessment of their RP.  Everyone gets some unless they are openly hostile to the group having fun, but maybe some of the players that want to level up will want some XP.  Good luck.

Talking with them is also a good approach and I'd simply ask them to consider it so everyone can have more fun.  The RP players will have more fun when everyone puts a little into it.  And this is fair because the "fighters" also have more fun when the whole party chooses to face off against the approaching horde.

There will always be those players who just hang back and go with it. Or are just there to roll dice in a way. Start rewarding the engaged players with cool stuff. Like control over trade routes, underground networks, or even make them the head of a town or city. I mean work it into the story somehow so they have to work for it if they want it. Currently in my game I have a cleric that is now head of the local temple and a ranger who is just about to gain control over the black market. They did put forth the effort to attain that stuff by means of roll play and a few quests.

There's Role Playing and Roll Playing.  Both are equally valid ways to play D&D. 

Both ways are valid.  If both you and your group are relatively new, then there may be several sessions of "feeling things out" so you can then find a balance amongst the table.  Different personality types will act differently under the early stress/uncertainty of the game.   

Just take a breath, and work to understand what motivates each player, then start adding breadcrumbs/situations where they can engage in those behaviours.  I say "just", but that's where a lot of DM work is, managing the table, and providing the foundation for the shared narrative.   Give it space and time.

Quote from OldElf86 >>

I would consider giving a modest amount of XP at the end of a session to each player based on your assessment of their RP.  Everyone gets some unless they are openly hostile to the group having fun, but maybe some of the players that want to level up will want some XP.  Good luck.

Only issue with this, is that while some players will feel rewarded, because they love RP - others will feel punished when they don't receive as much. When dishing out XP for subjective reasons, it can cause resentment when some people don't get as much.

And that goes back to forcing people into a playstyle they don't like; if they're not playing D&D for RP, then they shouldn't be made to. Trying too hard to force them into a playstyle they're not interested in, or bestowing rewards on certain playstyles and not others, will just annoy them. Of course, they might therefore not have a place at the table if they're not the right fit, but that's a seperate issue.

I will echo Chequers' points and offer instead:

Reward them with in game events, npc reactions, useful information, something that shows the world reacting to a "personal" interaction. The more you show them that they're getting "seen" when they RP, the more they'll get comfortable with it.

There are folks at my table who almost never, break out of third person mode, and that's fine. The entirety of the game has been met with "My character asks the urchin where the nearest thieve's guild is". This type of thing is generally considered "not RPing", but it really is, they're explaining what their character is doing, they're expressing their character's desires, and they're making choices based on that input. This is where you start to reward them with the world reacting to them, have the NPCs refer to them by character name, treat them like part of the world. They may never break that third person mode, but you're still rewarding them for their efforts. The people at my table who really get into character get the exact same rewards. There's no reason for giving more/less reward due to the amount of rp a person is comfortable with.

I've been at tables where I'll do voices, personalities, animated movements, the whole thing, and my players...each and every one of them....looked at me like I was on drugs. In the end I learned that I would have to dial it back and just play the game as a narrator rather than an actor. That's perfectly fine. Every table, every player, and every game, will have differing degrees of RP. You will learn how to interact with each one differently, or you just be you and let them interact how they're comfortable, either way, it's no big deal.

Was going to make my own thread, but I'll ask here. So I just started a homebrew campaign, haven't gm'ed in forever but gm'ing something I don't write doesn't interest me as much and I can get my friends to engage more with it--not the point. Anyway, my players, 4/5 first time, are about 3/4 of the way through an adventure they were supposed to finish but we didn't get started until hours later than I planned. Anyway,  for session 2, I was thinking of introducing an open RP segment but how would I get them into that? They seemed to have done pretty well with a pseudo-open RP in a tavern before the narrative fully started. Thanks in advance.

What's the purpose of the RP segment, what do they gain from it? What conflicts are involved with it? While working in this RP setting, what are the conditions for success or failure? 

RP for the sake of RP, where there's nothing to gain but talking, don't really get players invested in much, it's forced and usually uneventful. If you're planning something like this, treat it as a pseudo-encounter. Make a goal such as "The players need to talk to citizens near the docks and fishing ward to earn passage to the port across the sea". Make at least 3 useful NPCs that are going to be in a neutral stance toward the PCs, and 2 that are going to be hostile toward the PCs. Have the NPCs react to the RP by becoming more, or less, open to the idea of giving them information; the better they do, the better the information.

Then they will need to use that information to win over a ship's captain, if their information is good then they will have an easier time of it. If they learned that one captain has a soft spot for a special delicacy made in one tavern in town, the players could use that information. If they learn that another captain is afraid of something, like a debt collector, the players could handle that problem. As they do these things it will help with their relations. There is also the misinformation that they'll gather, such as learning one captain loves rare birds but is actually highly allergic to them, which makes relations tougher. You can then gauge success based off of their attempts. If they fail, they do not earn passage with that ship, however they have options. If they are successful with a captain you can use a sliding rule to see how successful they are. The better they do the cheaper the fare, the better their rooms, things like that. 

All of this tied into their RP and use of information they get while they do it, making an RP session more interesting than just talking around a campfire.

Thanks sounds good. A super experienced coworker encouraged open RP but I didn't realize I already had introduced that element with the tavern.