So I’ve been running a campaign for a while now. My players tend to have a hard time making party decisions (I.E Where should we go, what should we do etc) and our sessions have recently become really slow and unless if I rail road them into a combat or something exciting nothing happens. They don’t really interact with the lore or story beats I give them, and most of the time this is justified as “My character wouldn’t care about that” I don’t know what to do about this... any advice?
It sounds like they aren’t engaged with the story. Do they know what it is? I’m not trying to be mean, but that can be a big hurdle, especially early in the campaign. You need to establish who the BBEG is, and what the consequences are if said BBEG succeeds in their plan. Somewhere in those consequences should be reasons for the PCs to get involved such as: they’re just good people and have been waiting to get pointed at the enemy, someone or something they love will be destroyed, they,ve been given a mission from someone else, they want to impress the person they have a crush on, and if all else fails, there’s crazy amounts of treasure to be found.
Be blunt if you have to (sometimes what you think is an obvious story beat is background noise to them). Even tell them out of character if it doesn’t seem like they’re getting it “Guys, in the campaign you have a month before the goblin king burns your hometown to the ground and enslaves anyone he doesn’t kill. Better get started.”
Usually in situations like this, part of the solution is adapting to your players. Try creating more linear adventures, including more combat, and cutting out lore or story dumps. Just run a "dungeon of the week," where the players can be big heroes and fight a new villain every time, rather than trying to make a complex, intrigue-filled master plot. Both you and your players might have more fun with that!
That said, when it comes to the "my character wouldn't care about that," talk to the players. Remind them that D&D is a game about heroes going on adventures, and so they shouldn't create a character who either isn't a hero or doesn't want to go on adventures. Even selfish characters or ones with personal motives will likely want to defeat evil monsters, to get lots of treasure, to get the thrill of adventure, or more than one of the above. Remind them that you're working together to tell a story, and they also get to be—and kind of have to be—active storytellers!
So I’ve been running a campaign for a while now. My players tend to have a hard time making party decisions (I.E Where should we go, what should we do etc) and our sessions have recently become really slow and unless if I rail road them into a combat or something exciting nothing happens. They don’t really interact with the lore or story beats I give them, and most of the time this is justified as “My character wouldn’t care about that” I don’t know what to do about this... any advice?
Questions
What are the characters' background stories (not the background pick)?
Did ask the players about "what push/motivate characters to go on an adventure"?
Did you work with the players to corporate the character's background stories into your lore or story?
So The player created their own backstories using a One sheet world explanation (Dying Earth setting etc) and then I worked out the more integrated plot points. I had each player give me a Rival/Nemesis, a Best friend, and a some sort of Mystery.
I think the biggest issue I’ve come across has been my players not being enough of a Core “group”. There’s kind of a feeling of “I’m staying with the group cause this is DND”. But I’m close the point of needing to off a PC or a beloved NpC (obviously the NpC is the preferred situation) to get them to act.
it could be that I’m just not doing a good job. But in session 0 when I offered the option of a brawling dungeon crawling campaign or a mystery driven one. They picked the mystery... idk haha
in session 0 when I offered the option of a brawling dungeon crawling campaign or a mystery driven one. They picked the mystery... idk haha
My first impression was maybe they'd prefer just dungeon-of-the-week style but then you mentioned this.
It's never too late to re-ask the question, b/c maybe the mystery style didn't meet their expectations of fun and they'd prefer the more straightforward model
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Boldly go
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Hey guys,
So I’ve been running a campaign for a while now. My players tend to have a hard time making party decisions (I.E Where should we go, what should we do etc) and our sessions have recently become really slow and unless if I rail road them into a combat or something exciting nothing happens. They don’t really interact with the lore or story beats I give them, and most of the time this is justified as “My character wouldn’t care about that” I don’t know what to do about this... any advice?
It sounds like they aren’t engaged with the story.
Do they know what it is? I’m not trying to be mean, but that can be a big hurdle, especially early in the campaign. You need to establish who the BBEG is, and what the consequences are if said BBEG succeeds in their plan.
Somewhere in those consequences should be reasons for the PCs to get involved such as: they’re just good people and have been waiting to get pointed at the enemy, someone or something they love will be destroyed, they,ve been given a mission from someone else, they want to impress the person they have a crush on, and if all else fails, there’s crazy amounts of treasure to be found.
Be blunt if you have to (sometimes what you think is an obvious story beat is background noise to them). Even tell them out of character if it doesn’t seem like they’re getting it “Guys, in the campaign you have a month before the goblin king burns your hometown to the ground and enslaves anyone he doesn’t kill. Better get started.”
Usually in situations like this, part of the solution is adapting to your players. Try creating more linear adventures, including more combat, and cutting out lore or story dumps. Just run a "dungeon of the week," where the players can be big heroes and fight a new villain every time, rather than trying to make a complex, intrigue-filled master plot. Both you and your players might have more fun with that!
That said, when it comes to the "my character wouldn't care about that," talk to the players. Remind them that D&D is a game about heroes going on adventures, and so they shouldn't create a character who either isn't a hero or doesn't want to go on adventures. Even selfish characters or ones with personal motives will likely want to defeat evil monsters, to get lots of treasure, to get the thrill of adventure, or more than one of the above. Remind them that you're working together to tell a story, and they also get to be—and kind of have to be—active storytellers!
Wizard (Gandalf) of the Tolkien Club
Questions
So The player created their own backstories using a One sheet world explanation (Dying Earth setting etc) and then I worked out the more integrated plot points. I had each player give me a Rival/Nemesis, a Best friend, and a some sort of Mystery.
I think the biggest issue I’ve come across has been my players not being enough of a Core “group”. There’s kind of a feeling of “I’m staying with the group cause this is DND”. But I’m close the point of needing to off a PC or a beloved NpC (obviously the NpC is the preferred situation) to get them to act.
it could be that I’m just not doing a good job. But in session 0 when I offered the option of a brawling dungeon crawling campaign or a mystery driven one. They picked the mystery... idk haha
My first impression was maybe they'd prefer just dungeon-of-the-week style but then you mentioned this.
It's never too late to re-ask the question, b/c maybe the mystery style didn't meet their expectations of fun and they'd prefer the more straightforward model
Boldly go