Oryan77
Adventurer
I've been DM'ing a new group for the last year. It's been a lot of fun. It's quite a mix of playing styles though, but we all have been working well together.
After talking to one of the players about the pace of the game, he mentioned that sometimes it feels like they are fighting NPC's for no reason or he has no clue what's going on as far as the plotline/backstory is concerned.
I'm not the type of DM that just throws out random encounter after random encounter. My encounters always have a reason behind them. Even my "random" encounters are pre-planned so it makes sense. Even if it's as simple as a beast guarding his territory. The problem I've noticed is that all 4 of the players don't really interact with the bad guys in social situations. I like to roleplay a lot, but when I try to roleplay with the bad guys, these players don't really respond. They pretty much know a fight is going to happen anyway, so they just want to get to the fight I guess. It's to the point where even if they obviously have a chance to ask questions, they choose to wack on the NPC instead simply because he has the opportunity to get xp. I think they're doing that because killing for the XP is funner than talking their way out of an encounter for the XP.
So then I attempt to roleplay during the fight. I'll have the bad guy start making off-hand remarks in hopes the PC's will say something like, "What do you mean?", "What are you talking about?", or "Why do you want us dead?", or things like that. Usually all I get is, "Would you shutup!", or "Uh, yeah, ok...well I move around him to get a flanking position". There's a new joke at the table now about how their motto is "kill first and use speak with dead later"...and that's IF they care to ask the now dead NPC what's going on.
They rarely roleplay with NPC's in general. If they do, it's usually straight to the point in regards to their objective. So I figured these players just want to plow through adventures and focus on combat a lot more. So that's what I started doing; providing more combats. But then this player commented about the gray areas in the adventures and how he doesn't learn what's going on like he did in another campaign. He admits those players actually asked questions about what's going on though.
I would love to be able to make everything clear to the players without being lame about it. I install NPC notes in the game for clues, I have NPCs make side comments about the situation as a hook to get players to respond, and I have NPCs straight out give the PCs objectives and reasons why they are doing this. But as far as the players knowing why the bad guys are doing anything or why people seem to randomly attack them; they have no clue.
What can I do to spice up the game with the roleplaying so the scenarios don't seem so pointless? It's really hard for me to get into a roleplaying situation when the players aren't really responding to me. I'm not sure what else I can try doing.
After talking to one of the players about the pace of the game, he mentioned that sometimes it feels like they are fighting NPC's for no reason or he has no clue what's going on as far as the plotline/backstory is concerned.
I'm not the type of DM that just throws out random encounter after random encounter. My encounters always have a reason behind them. Even my "random" encounters are pre-planned so it makes sense. Even if it's as simple as a beast guarding his territory. The problem I've noticed is that all 4 of the players don't really interact with the bad guys in social situations. I like to roleplay a lot, but when I try to roleplay with the bad guys, these players don't really respond. They pretty much know a fight is going to happen anyway, so they just want to get to the fight I guess. It's to the point where even if they obviously have a chance to ask questions, they choose to wack on the NPC instead simply because he has the opportunity to get xp. I think they're doing that because killing for the XP is funner than talking their way out of an encounter for the XP.
So then I attempt to roleplay during the fight. I'll have the bad guy start making off-hand remarks in hopes the PC's will say something like, "What do you mean?", "What are you talking about?", or "Why do you want us dead?", or things like that. Usually all I get is, "Would you shutup!", or "Uh, yeah, ok...well I move around him to get a flanking position". There's a new joke at the table now about how their motto is "kill first and use speak with dead later"...and that's IF they care to ask the now dead NPC what's going on.
They rarely roleplay with NPC's in general. If they do, it's usually straight to the point in regards to their objective. So I figured these players just want to plow through adventures and focus on combat a lot more. So that's what I started doing; providing more combats. But then this player commented about the gray areas in the adventures and how he doesn't learn what's going on like he did in another campaign. He admits those players actually asked questions about what's going on though.
I would love to be able to make everything clear to the players without being lame about it. I install NPC notes in the game for clues, I have NPCs make side comments about the situation as a hook to get players to respond, and I have NPCs straight out give the PCs objectives and reasons why they are doing this. But as far as the players knowing why the bad guys are doing anything or why people seem to randomly attack them; they have no clue.
What can I do to spice up the game with the roleplaying so the scenarios don't seem so pointless? It's really hard for me to get into a roleplaying situation when the players aren't really responding to me. I'm not sure what else I can try doing.