So, I'm a pretty new DM running the Dragon of Icepire Peak adventure with a party of 5 Level 2s and I'm trying my hardest to engage them but they just won't go for it. I have one semi engaged Half-Elf Cleric, a Dragon Born Paladin who's somewhat new but still is doing better than the next 3. There's a Chaotic Evil Aasimar Wizard, a Variant Human Warlock/Sorcerer (Who both just copied their stories and characters from anime) and a person who home brewed a Corgi race (despite me saying no homebrew unless the DM makes it (ie. monsters, magic items etc.) Corgi Fighter. The last 3 aren't engaging at all and are ignoring all my fairly obvious attempts at telling them where they should go. I know that's bad but as I said I'm pretty new to dm'ing. None of them will roleplay too. Any tips? I just asked them how I can do better and one said it's fine which is a bs response because it clearly isn't because he's the one that's constantly doing something else while playing!

I recently started reading the XDM book from Tracy and Curtis Hickman. There's a great section in there about the three kinds of D&D players:

The Warrior - This is the kind of player that just wants to fight and kill stuff. "If it moves, kill it. If it doesn't move, kick it 'til it moves. Take its stuff. Buy bigger weapons. Kill bigger things."

Social Player - This is the kind of player that really loves the role playing. "If it moves, talk to it. If it doesn't move, talk ABOUT it. Stay in character and speak with an affected voice."

Thinking Player - This is the kind of player that wants to win. They want a goal and they want to accomplish it. "If it moves, how can I use that to help me win? If it doesn't move, how can I use that to help me win? The world is full of obstacles between me and winning, and I'll use whatever strategy I need to overcome them."

Of course, most players are a mix of these things but you get the point. The real gem is where they say that you need to figure out what kind of players you have and then you need to make sure that the encounters offer opportunities for all three. The warriors are not doing it wrong, neither are the social or thinking players. "Every encounter area in the game needs to provide an answer to the following questions: What can I bash or break here? What here will say something to me? What here brings us close to winning?"

So maybe you're just not presenting them with the right opportunities. For example, if you have a bunch of warriors and you keep pointing them toward people they can talk to, that could explain why they're not engaging.

It can be difficult, but a few issues are sticking out.  First of all, you are the final authority in the game.  The guy that showed up with the homebrew character should have been given two options: build a new character that isn't homebrew, or leave.  Second, the people who aren't engaged in the game should be given the same option: either pay attention to the game or go.  No sitting at the table but playing on your phone or whatever. If they can't focus on what's happening, then D&D isn't the game for them.  As far as roleplaying or lack thereof goes, you can't force people to roleplay, but you can punish them for not trying by making things harder for them.  If they just want to say "I make a persuasion check" like that's all they need to say, bump the DC up- you can freely interpret them as attempting to make an unreasonable claim, which makes it less likely that they'll succeed.

But if all else fails?  Quit.  There's no point in trying to run a gamefor a bunch of people who don't actually want to engage.

The other thing I would recommend is to take everyone through the New Player Guide at the top of the D&D Beyond page. It's really good, concise, and clear. It's just three tabs with short sentences for each concept and you're done.

I stepped through that with all of my players when we first sat down to play and it really helped. The way to present it is not as a correction, rather to say that D&D is a pretty open game and people interpret it differently. So we should look through this to make sure we're all proceeding with the same expectations about how to play.

Quote from OrangeYosh >>

So, I'm a pretty new DM running the Dragon of Icepire Peak adventure with a party of 5 Level 2s and I'm trying my hardest to engage them but they just won't go for it.

If you have a bunch of players who don't want to play, then I will once again resort to Matt Colville's quote: "No D&D is better than bad D&D."

There's a Chaotic Evil Aasimar Wizard, a Variant Human Warlock/Sorcerer (Who both just copied their stories and characters from anime)

Chaotic Evil in a standard campaign is a bad idea. Most standard campaigns are designed assuming the PCs will at least be neutral if not actively good, decent human beings (or elves, or what have you). A chaotic evil character will have no in-character reason to do things like save the town from the dragon.

Beyond this... you are the DM. You clearly do not like these ideas so my question is -- why did you approve of them? All elements of every PC must be approved by the DM. All of it is subject to your approval. Period. If you don't like the background or think it won't fit in your game, tell the player to come up with something new. Don't let them just show up with whatever character they want.

and a person who home brewed a Corgi race (despite me saying no homebrew unless the DM makes it (ie. monsters, magic items etc.)

Why did you allow them to do this if you said "no?" When they showed up with their Corgi character, you should have stopped right there and said, "I said no to this. Come up with something else."

The last 3 aren't engaging at all and are ignoring all my fairly obvious attempts at telling them where they should go.

They are acting like this because you let them make up characters that do not fit into the campaign, and so the hooks and plot points the writers of the module gave you to tempt them with, will not work. 

I dunno what to tell you.... The best bet would be to tell them you are not happy with how things are going in terms of the characters, and that you want to start over with characters who fit the campaign. But that's not going to be an easy conversation to have.

Personally I think you have a group of players who are not very motivated to play D&D. I'd say find a new group.

Again, remember: No D&D is better than bad D&D.

First off, dropping hints as to where the adventure is isn't a bad thing. There are styles of DMing that range from linear to "where on the map do you want to wander?"

If your players are new, it's not the end of the world to jump out of character and jokingly say, "Hint, hint! Adventure that way!"

Also, how long is there between player turns? Sometimes it's 15-20 minutes, especially if there are 5+ players and you're new to DMing. For better or worse, some people just start to disengage between turns. Then they check their phones, lose track, and time between turns gets even longer.

This can be hard to see as a DM, since your mind is revved high the whole time. 

Quote from BioWizard >>

 

Chaotic Evil in a standard campaign is a bad idea. Most standard campaigns are designed assuming the PCs will at least be neutral if not actively good, decent human beings (or elves, or what have you). A chaotic evil character will have no in-character reason to do things like save the town from the dragon.

 

 Nah, if you're smart, you kill the dragon THEN ravage the town of grateful defenseless peons.

Just don't invite the bad players back. It's no big deal, they don't want to play anyway.

The Corgi thing. If it really bothers you, dump it. If it's not that important but will make your player happy, keep it.

I talked to the players and he, a bit surprising to me, turned back into his usual dragonborn self

It sounds like you need to hold a sort of D&D bootcamp.

Consider suspending the campaign and backing up to play a mini module.  Watch Matt Colville's first five videos under his "Running the Game" series on Youtube.  In that, he shows a DM how to build the simplest dungeon and run it.  It would be a good exercise for you as a budding DM and for them as new players to the game.  I would recommend that you watch those videos and play that mini dungeon, and then decide if the group even wants to play D&D together.

If they decide to play D&D after playing that mini dungeon, I would go back to character creation, and have everyone create a new character.  Hopefully you are not too deep into the module.  Then begin the module all over again with these new characters.  This should allow you to reassert your position and authority as the DM.

And if that doesn't work, "No D&D is better than bad D&D." (I'm looking at you Bio ...)

And if that doesn't work, "No D&D is better than bad D&D." (I'm looking at you Bio ...)

Don't look at me... I'm only quoting Colville. Look at him.

Well, OK, you can look at me if you want... You won't see anything interesting. I'm just trying to nurse my PC through its last couple of weeks of life until the new one I ordered gets here... Kinda boring.

Type of DnD players

Those are audience type player and nothing wrong about it.

My campaign was fill with new players, so my DM actually found 2 experience dnd players with the Player-type. (Some of the new players decided that DnD isn't for them and left. So we have more experience and Player-type players in our campaign then the audience type at this moment.) 

If most of your player is the audience type, try to find 2 two Player-type players into your campaign. 

Most of the posts and comments were regarding the players but, and I say this with sincerity because I've mulled over this as a DM myself, but is it possible that its [also] you?

Session 0 is vital in these types of situations. Besides for reviewing the player's sheets (you can create a campaign as a DM, invite everyone then have full permission to view everyone's sheets whenever you want) but also to see what kind of game they want. As mentioned above, there are different players who want different things out of *their* game. D&D is first & foremost a co op game but not just among the players but between the the DM as well. Possibly youre not playing the same style they want to play. Or possibly you're style/storytelling/plot is just boring & they just don't have an interest in the medium even if they like the setting & genre. Just as much as the players should play an adventure they like, and you should DM an adventure you like you still need to make sure that those 2 things coincide. 

Another important thing. And this is a personal feedback I got too. Don't railroad. Stop hinting (or even deliberately tell) to your players what they should do next. Give them leads and options of what their choices are but ask what they want to do.

They get to town but do you guys want to follow the lead from the previous town to the bookshop? Or do you want to check out the pub? Or the gambling dens? Or blacksmith to get new gear? Even if this pushes the story and plot to an extra long session or even 2 full ones of wasted time. Its not the first game where the heroes decided to go on that fishing quest while the BBEG is waiting for you to save the princess (you can and should ad 'dynamic' things.. Like effects or NPCs that got there first or changes the story and now the PCs missed out cuz they're delaying)

You're supoosed to narrate *their* story. They're not supposed to act out *yours*. Giving them the reigns will make them more interested cuz its their choice & people are always more interested in themselves (not even saying this as a negative thing)

I say these things in the most sincerest ways. These are also some personal lessons I had firsthand on first time DMing so just passing on my experience and advice

Quote from Noxx89 >>

Most of the posts and comments were regarding the players but, and I say this with sincerity because I've mulled over this as a DM myself, but is it possible that its [also] you?

 

 It most definitely is also me. I feel like I might be railroading them a bit because every area they want to go to is designed for level 4-5-6 level characters so I don''t want to end up killing them. And I think we're too far into the adventure to do a session 0 but we will do one next time. Another issue is that we're playing online but that can't be avoided

Quote from OrangeYosh >>

Quote from Noxx89 >>

Most of the posts and comments were regarding the players but, and I say this with sincerity because I've mulled over this as a DM myself, but is it possible that its [also] you?

 

 It most definitely is also me. I feel like I might be railroading them a bit because every area they want to go to is designed for level 4-5-6 level characters so I don''t want to end up killing them. And I think we're too far into the adventure to do a session 0 but we will do one next time. Another issue is that we're playing online but that can't be avoided

 Have an NPC go with them and right out the gate in the area, let the NPC get smoked. Then fight it out but give the PCs a chance to get away - have the bad guys eat the victim or something.

FYI, it is never too late to have a session zero.  If you find that there is a huge disconnect between you and your players, there is nothing wrong with taking a few hours in the middle of the campaign to say "Alright, let's take a moment to find out what it is we all want out of the game."  That will save you a LOT of grief even if you've already started

As for them wanting to go to areas above their level...this is tricky, but you can scale the area down to make it non-lethal for them.  It is extra work, and there is the possibility it could throw things out of sequence, but it can be done.  Alternatively, you could throw something their way to take the hint; for instance, the players run into a huge monster, which drops a PC to 1 HP on the first hit, and make available a way for the PC's to make like Sir Robin and GTFO while the monster is otherwise preoccupied by something else.  Sometimes, just a *teensy* little bit of railroading is unavoidable, but try not to get too reliant on it.

I feel like I might be railroading them a bit because every area they want to go to is designed for level 4-5-6 level characters so I don''t want to end up killing them. 

I'd probably find a way to warn them (NPC warning, rumors that a party of adventurers was killed out there) that it is a high level area. If they still want to go, I'd let them go to the high level area, and if they die, they die. I let the players make their choices.

If it's super-new players I may warn them, as DM, OOC, guys, just FYI, this is a pretty high level area... you might want to reconsider. But only if they are super new.

I agree. If they want to do something let them. Part of what I was referring to with player agency and interest.

Like im doing the Yawning Portal campaign. Its a tavern that has a giant hole in the center that leads to the Underdark.. With drow ans mindflayers and what have you. Patrons go up and down the hole for the wow factor but only adventures actually travel through it. Despite the name of the campaign and the frequency my group actually goes to the Yawning Portal (ita their central hub and rest area in between) the campaign does NOT have any interaction with the hole or Underdark. (The Waterdeep: Mad Mage actually uses it)

The very first time we got there at like level 2 I gave them the lore of the place but told them despite the name the campaign leads elsewhere. If you guys still want to check it out you can, but its a winding caverns that are practically endless with monsters from your nightmares. Since I didn't prepare it, you have no leads or even purpose for going so you'll be wandering aimlessly and I'll be rolling the random encounter for underdark. It can be a CR 0 best of rats or you can stumble into a mind flayer lair.

Not to sound cruel but in a game when there's no level scaling a player can do whatever they want. But they either need to be REALLY good or suffer the consequence. Let them. No pain no gain. Ive pulled punches too much IMO. 

Reminds me of another part where one of tbe player's backstories actually ties in to the very last chapter. I gave him a hook/seed really early on. Introduced him to a guild that will periodically gather Intel through spies and whatnot until the group is actually ready to face them... When I said itll take the spies a week to get back with the Intel (intending for them to do the stuff in between then come back) each player said "Lets wait".... Ugh then I pulled out the downtime activites from both the DMG/XGtE (both very useful and we use them a lot). Even after that I had to explain to the group both, in and out of character that things aren't ready yet.

But bottom line, players will do what they want and how they want. Just prepare contingencies. If they take 10 sessions running their bar they bought so be it (this is where session 0 comes in again. "Listen guys. If you want to run a Sims came we can but you know the bulliten board you just passed had like 17 quests on them right?")

Give the hooks, give the leads. Suggest that the players take notes too. If they get too distracted or even lost have an NPC remind them. If they're still distracted or lost just remind them OOC of *their choices* but still let them do what you want. I personally know it can be frustrated and drawn out when it takes the group 4.5 sessions to figure out a section you thought would take only an hour. I want my players to finish the story just for story sake but sometimes they'll just do what they want

Quote from OrangeYosh >>

Quote from Noxx89 >>

Most of the posts and comments were regarding the players but, and I say this with sincerity because I've mulled over this as a DM myself, but is it possible that its [also] you?

 

 It most definitely is also me. I feel like I might be railroading them a bit because every area they want to go to is designed for level 4-5-6 level characters so I don''t want to end up killing them. And I think we're too far into the adventure to do a session 0 but we will do one next time. Another issue is that we're playing online but that can't be avoided

 As others said, it’s never too late to have a session 0. It doesn’t even have to be a full session, sometimes 10 minutes of out of character discussion will clear everything up. 

As for them wanting to go to higher level areas, maybe they have a more video game mindset that you can help correct. Where they think either the enemies will scale to their level, or if the area is too tough, the road there will somehow be blocked, and it would only be unlocked if they could do it. Explain to them that just because they know the dragon exists, doesn’t mean they are ready to fight it; it’s very possible to bite off more than they can chew. At the same time, remind them that if they do, running away is always a viable strategy. They won’t want to, players hate to run, but it doesn’t hurt to remind them its an option.