Help with players

I’m need of way to get my players to take control of the story and what they want to do and the path they want to take. They seem to expect me to lead them where they should go. I have been trying to give them the reigns but they just won’t take. Any ideas on how to approach this?

ps: a part of me wants to tpk and have them start from scratch, maybe that’ll help? (Not serious about that)

Have you tried talking to them about it? 

Thanks for the input. You’re completely right about not having a sandbox. This was super helpful, thanks!

I get what you mean. It's annoying when there's that expectation that the DM is a tour guide. I don't know that there's any magic bullet, but two things help. One is to present the players with more problems than they can deal with at once. If they have heard of three dungeons they can wait to see which one you'll send them to, but if they've been robbed, threatened, promised a job, double crossed, and promised another job by at least three different NPCs, they'll need to make choices about whom to trust. Also, they'll need to prioritize which problem to solve first. The second is to create a table culture where characters need to plan enough for the DM to know what to run next time. I'll often speak out of character and say something like, "Before we conclude for the night, I need to know what the characters plan to do. The scene is everyone is together at the inn. Characters can talk freely. What are your plans for next time?" Make sure every character speaks.

Are these new players? I always find that newer players need a little more hand-holding before they really come into their own.  Just keep providing them with choices and checking in out of game with how the players are doing, what they like, what they maybe don't like as much, what they want from the game, and with a little patience they should get into it. 

Dunno if this will help but, the way I did it is literally just to make "hooks", as in a very very brief tell tale of something that needs fixing, then I simply leave it up to the group to either find said hook through an Innkeeper or some such, and then again leave it up to them whether or not they want to pursue it or not. Usually I give them 2-3 hooks at a time, (depending on if I am moving towards a BBEG ofc) that way they get the small illusion of sandbox and that they themselves chose their own adventure. They don't need to know you only have 2-3 ready at a given time-

If it helps, I recently asked my players if they liked how I ran the campaign and all agreed they liked the flow, as well as my 1 player who used to play WAY back in 2nd edition, so I suppose I must be doing something right! :)

Thanks everyone! The ideas provided is going to help so much for my group. I have been running this game for a little over a year ( a hiatus took up some of the time). This is all my players first campaign so I understand a little hand holding is gonna happen. I just want to be a better DM and have them be better players. I love this community so much, the willingness to give constructive criticism is amazing!

How well do the players know their characters?  I would say the big lift that might be needed is looking at their backgrounds and traits and more fully develop those notes, perhaps not really well attended by the players into motivations and agendas.  Some players fall into a dynamic where the character is simply a vehicle they use to navigate the course the DM designs, you want more than that so you need them to recognize their license, so to speak, to do that.

I don't think that building a sandbox is what your players are looking for from you, nor is it really good for the game for them to just wander around.

First up: have a conversation with the players about what kind of game they want. I do this in session zero. Many players will want a strong storyline, where the DM gives them adventure hooks and missions to complete. That's totally find and a perfectly good way to run D&D. Then there are other players who just want to wander a sandbox; in my experience those games fail, because there's nothing to do. The ideal is a combination of a storyline, a time-matrix whereby NPCs move around doing stuff even if the players aren't there, and a well mapped out sandbox for them to play in.

Create your BBEG first, then design a setting in which the BBEG is causing problems. They can be causing low level problems (the mines have been taken over by goblins! We need heroes to get them back!) to mid level (the BBEG has corrupted the mayor of a town and now it's patrolled by lycanthropes) and higher level problems (the BBEG has wiped out everyone in the far north, and he's coming for the south next). The PCs need a reason to want to fight the BBEG, which they won't get to do until the completion of the story arc.

 Lastly, ensure your players characters are all motivated by either: wealth, a desire to do good/protect, or fame/power. If they don't each want one of these things, then that may explain why they aren't taking the reins and helping to drive the story. There is nothing worse for a D&D game than a character whose motivations do not directly cause them to want/need to go adventuring. Those characters should just stay at home.

I think the short summary is you want the players to take some control over the narrative but they don't know how.

There are lots of possible explanations. There are many characters out there who don't have any overwhelming goals. They aren't searching for power, fame or anything in particular. They are just folks out there in the fantasy world earning a living. In this case, coin and rewards are usually a key motivator in terms of what they choose to do.

However, they don't know what opportunities are out there so they ask the DM what they hear or see that might lead to something to do that would earn them some coin. The DM can give them a sandbox with lots of choices, different options etc but without an over arching narrative or at least something going on behind the scenes, the players are dependent on the DM to provide the hints to things to do.

If you add a recurring organization or opponent, the players can become more motivated to suggest things they will do to track down these opponents. If you offer up rumors of something rare or valuable, the players might start asking about it and what hints might be out there about its location. If you can engage the morals of the players in terms of defending people or places, or taking actions for motives other than earning coins then the players will tend to engage with the plot line more and suggest actions that they might take to follow up those storylines. The DM needs to provide the world infrastructure, not just the dungeons and other locations but the threads that interconnect events, NPCs and locations across the game world and then factor in the impact of the characters on those.

So it isn't just a sandbox but creating content within the sandbox that engages the players/characters across a wider range of motivations so that the players start asking questions and describing the actions they want to take between locations in order to engage with a wider plot line that spans individual dungeons/encounters.

Have a notice board in the local town where NPCs post requests for help. This was used in Dragon of Icespire Peak.

It provides the players with a choice as to which task, or tasks, to go and do. It also helps the DM find out which types of tasks the PCs are going to favour, and which they are going to ignore.

Perhaps they would just prefer a more linear campaign with a well defined plot? Not all campaigns have to be sandboxes and not all players enjoy sandbox campaigns, I don’t really see anything wrong with them expecting more guidance,  as long as you’d still have fun running the campaign.