Getting 3/5 involved

[Grimmjow]

Im running a campange in which the world is being over run by undead. The group is working for Lo-Kag, a Goliath, who is in charge of defending the city/fort they are in. I feel guilty. I want to include all the players in the story but really only two of them (my brother and best friend) have gotten stuff from the story. Granted, they are the only ones roll playing so it is really easy to reward them for it.
So far my brother (Rao, avenger of pelor, deva) has gotten a wisdom boost and gained the while party a +1 to death saving throws from pelor, who then sent them on a quest.
Andrew (Emul Duskwalker, warpriest (death) of the raven queen, shadar-kai) has gotten a villain made because of his back story and now servants of Vecna are after the group cause he made Vecna mad.
Sadly i can't get the dragon born elementalist, the minator pally (who will probably be leaving due to not being able to make it to games) and the shade bladinger (who has been trying to take over the fort) to get more involved. I don't want them to think i am playing favorites but I'm getting nothing to work with. The blade singer will probably get control of the fort after lo-kag dies ( :'( ) but he'l have to give it up when the rest of the group leaves the town at level 1. So any suggestions on how to get the rest in the game (don't spend to much time on the pally cause like i said he probably won't last in the group

 

[MortalPlague]

We'd really need more information to help get your PCs involved in the campaign.

Firstly, who are these PCs as characters? Even "just a plain fighter" is a character, it would give us some idea of what might hook their interest.

Secondly, what's your campaign setting? What sort of things are happening in the plot? Who are the villains?

The best way to get players invested is to offer them a meaningful way to interact with your world. Have an NPC take an interest in one of the characters, and suddenly they have something to play with. Also, I wouldn't recommend ignoring the Pally; don't write up a detailed storyline around him, sure, but give him the PC treatment. You don't want him to feel neglected.

 

[Quickleaf]

Ditto what MortalPlague said.

But also some players are just more casual and really don't think about gaming away from the table. That may seem strange to us hardcore gamers, but with casual watchers IME it's best not to get them more involved than they want. That may or may not be your situation but it's always something to keep in mind.

 

[Wednesday Boy]

One of the easiest ways to get plothooks for a campaign is to make your players do the work for you. I'd ask the players of the minotaur and dragonborn what they're interested in and what they'd like to see their characters involved in. Then add some twists and speedbumps to whatever that is before you introduce it in game. As Quickleaf mentioned, keep in mind that some people are content to hang out and roll dice, so those players may be perfectly content without a specific plot.

It sounds like you have the seeds of what the shade PC is interested in. I'd ask for more details about why he wants to control the fort and why it is important to him. Do the PCs have to leave the town after 1st level? If the shade PC is the head of the fort and they make it their base of operations you'll have a concrete, constant story element to bring into play when you want the shade involved.

 

[Grimmjow]

well, my best friend plays a shadar-kai warpriest. HE worships the raven queen and is really cocky. ive been meaning to ask him but i think that is because he sees himself of outside the range of death, seeing as how he serves the godess of death.
My brother plays a deva avenger of pelor. Hes straight forward slayer, he roll plays when he feels like and goes on any quest pelor or one of pelors servents give him. Both he and emul (the cleric) are against undead so they back eachother up
My friend from karate is a shade bladesinger. Hes strange. He is called "Alex the Great" with a son (who will take his place if alex dies) named "Alex the greater". He comes to have fun and laugh, which is fine, we're all there for that. He is the one that wants to take over the fort. The reason he'd have to give up power of the fort is that emul and rao (the deva) are going to want to chance the source of the undead plauge when it comes up at level 11. Of course he will follow to keep his character in the action. To fullfil the need to rule i promised that i would run a campange in which he was royalty next time.
The other two really have nothing to work with. I've been talking with Kriv (dragonborn) to try to get him to come up with somthing to let me get him more involved and hes been trying, i guess ill just have to wait with him. As for the pally, i think hes quiting, he never ahs enough time and i think hes getting tired of me calling to find out if hes coming this week, and im getting tired of that too.