At wits end

In all my years of gaming, I can’t say I have ever run across a situation like this, and frankly I am not sure what to do about it. I’ve seen lots of things occur in games and in gaming groups, but I am rather out of my element here. Let me see if I can explain.

Out of a group of nine players, I have recently had not one, but FOUR of them come to me seeking personal motivation for their character. They want me to give them a reason for being with the group of adventurers. Each one has expressed their want, no their need, for a personal reason to remain with the group. I’ve never encountered such a large group of people who needed to be spoon-fed so much information about their own character. Each one has been presented the same information as the other players. The other five players all seem to have figured out what they are doing, why they are together, what they want to do in life.

That is how just about every player I have ever seen handles things. It’s a fantasy game, after all, justification for being together is pretty easy, or so I thought. The group met in adverse circumstances, and have begun adventuring together because adventuring alone is suicidal. Some of the players are seeking a particular ancient artifact, some are seeking a life of heroic action, and some are seeking to acquire great magic. All pretty standard fantasy tropes, and all excellent reasons to be adventuring together. But it looks like the rest need a personally engraved invitation or some divinely inspired reason to adventure. Why, why, WHY? I play fantasy RPGs to escape the need for justification, for deep seated philosophical reasons for being. What’s wrong with adventuring for the sake of adventuring?

Oh, and don’t get me started on the player who feels the need to explore the sexuality of his Paladin. That’s a whole different rant on my part.

sjmiller said:

What’s wrong with adventuring for the sake of adventuring?

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Well, some people need a little more. That said, I agree they should come up with it on their own. However, they are not. So let's work with what we have.

Relic Hunter - the PC is looking for a specific magic item to help his people - secret twist: it is a true legend and never existed
Fealty - the PC has been ordered to travel with the party, the reasons are unknown only to his leige lord - secret twist: the leige lord wants the PC out of the way so he can commit acts of evil
Cursed - the PC is looking for something to remove a curse on himself or a cherished one - secret twist: undoing the curse causes more harm than good
Vengence - the PC is looking for the man that killed his father - secret twist: the villian is actually a doppleganger and can assume many forms

That's four. If you need more or if one of these is not suitable, just post.

Oh, and don’t get me started on the player who feels the need to explore the sexuality of his Paladin.

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Don't worry. I won't.

How long have they been playing?

Turn this into gold story material. Give each of them a reason to be in the group that helps lead them to furth er adventures that you want to run. Spoon feed them what you want them to do, take advanatage of thierweakness and construct a complicated plot they can't ignore.

Give each of them this as their motivation:

To crush your enemies
To see them driven before you
To hear the lamentation of the women

Everyone comes to the table for different reasons. Before a campaign begins I pull aside each one of my players and have a conversation with them about goals so that I can take notes and try to work some of thier ideas into the game. Mabye the players in question don't have a clear idea of the game world, or your setup. Maybe they want to develop deep personalities and want to stay in synch with what you have planned for the game.

From the tone of your post I'd say you are reading too much into it. With 9 players in one game they are going to be starving for time to develop their characters to that high rolelaying level. Pehraps they feel as though they are redundant because there are so many other players. I think, for a group that enjoys intense roll playing and not just a beer and pretzles group there to roll dice and mash orcs, 9 players isn't manageable. I have 7 in one of mine, and getting themes in for every member has yet to happen after 3 years of running this campaign.

Regarding the Paladin and his/her interest in exploring sexuality... as long as they aren't being offensive about it and are just roleplaying, then why not? Roleplaying is about living through another persons eyes in my opinion (another reason large groups are a problem). If he/she is making folks uncomfortable, dusrupting the group by making a big joke out of it, or taking up more than his fair share of your time, then that person needs to be talked to.

The Best Answers are Sometimes Questions

Sjmiller,

Sometimes the best thing to do is volley the question right back at them.

Player: "Um, Mr. DM? What's my character's motivation to adventure with this party?"

DM: "Sorry, I'm confused here. Are you asking me to take over your character as an NPC?"

Player: "What? No! I just want to know why he's hanging out with these other adventurers!"

DM: "Well, he's your character, isn't he? What do you think his motivation is?"

Personally, I don't provide PC motives. I provide NPC motives. I provide a context in which players may determine what their PC motives are. But, when asked for PC motives, I always turn the question back on the player.

DMs do enough work setting up the world and "everyone else".

RC

sjmiller said:

Why, why, WHY? I play fantasy RPGs to escape the need for justification, for deep seated philosophical reasons for being. Whats wrong with adventuring for the sake of adventuring?

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The problem is that not everyone role-plays for the same reason. Your players may not share your reasons for playing or your preferences in style. In fact, I've said that this hobby is really several different sub-hobbies with substantial overlap. The book Robin's Laws written by Robin Laws has a short but pretty good treatment of different styles of play, their needds, and how to cater to them as a GM.

What's really maddening, though, is that different styles not only don't fully overlap but the wants or needs of one style can directly conflict with the wants and needs of a different style. While plenty of players hate begin railroaded by the GM, for example, there are other players who expect it and don't know what to do without it.

Patryn of Elvenshae said:

How long have they been playing?

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Let's see, of the 4 in question, 2 have been gaming well over 15 years, 1 has been gaming for about 5 or 6, and the last has been gaming at least 4 years, maybe more.

I have sympathy with you. I've found this can be a problem in really large groups. And nine is pretty sizable.

You could use another DnD trope - Divine Mandate.

Have an angel come visit them. Either the 4 of them or the whole group.

Make it a really impressive one with great big wings, golden trumpet and a flaming sword. Have it mutter something about gods will or souls destined for greatness (good cop out if one of them dies and gets a replacement character). Really ham it up. Give them a holy mission to fulfill, possibly fancy divine gifts.

Or mix it up a bit. It's really a most unpleasant fallen angel who specialises this sort of stuff. Possibly for personal gain, perhaps from a twisted sense of humour.

Edit: If it's really annoying you then send them after the all powerful Head of Vecna.