How to Better Cultivate My Crop of Inexperienced Players.

[Stalker0]

Its time for the smorguboard approach.

I would recommend trying out different styles and approaches to see what motivates them. Have a big combat session, have some intense roleplay. Maybe they want to just have a railroady adventure that's fine.

If you don't know what works for them, I would experiment.

 

[overgeeked]

I'm trying to take my players from this point where they're kind of just experiencing my game, and elevate them to a point where they're helping to drive our game. Does anyone have any experience in doing this?

I'd love to be able to work my PC's back stories into the plot of the game, but there are no back stories. I offered everyone a deal a couple of sessions ago, where if they showed up with a back story I'd give them inspiration for it. Nothing serious, just maybe one or two paragraphs about who their character is, and how and why they ended up being adventurers. No one took me up on this offer.

Early on, like session two, I gave them a bunch of plot threads, and the hope was that they'd pick the one that interested them the most and I'd start prepping for that. Instead they asked me straight up "What are we supposed to be doing? Which one of these things is most important?" They're perfectly content to just follow the "Main Plot".

Has anyone else experienced anything like this? Have you had a very passive group that you were able to get better invested into your game to make them more active? I'd love any tips or advice.

That's just how some people play. A more beer & pretzels style of game rather than anything with a deep, character-driven story. The players sound like they're there to kick ass and take treasure. So lean into that. Over time they might become more interested in deep characterization and backstories, or they might not.

One thing you can do is just enjoy the ride for what it is. This is the game you have. Enjoy it for what it is, a cool excuse to hang with friends and make stuff up. Don't wish your game was different. Enjoy what it is.

In time they might want something deeper. They might not. If they do, engage then. But you'll only make yourself and them unhappy by trying to force a particular style or mode on them.

It probably won't take long for them to develop goals for their characters. Once that happens, if it does, that is where you can start throwing in hooks and branching out.

One way to try to figure out what the player (and/or their characters) want to do is use Stars and Wishes. It's an after-action check in. Ask the players to tell you one thing they liked about a session (the Star) and one thing they want to see more of in game (the Wish). This is supposed to be positive feedback. The Wish shouldn't be something negative. "I wish you'd stop..." is bad. "I wish there was more..." is good.

 

[DEFCON 1]

It is also possible to get players to create backstories for their characters within the game itself. If you can work it such that the group is at a pub or something, you can just have an NPC or the bartender start asking them questions about themselves-- where they grew up, what they did as kids, their hobbies, how was their family life, how they got into adventuring-- and then you just scribble down their answers for yourself. That way you have info on them that you can then incorporate later on. They probably won't even remember that they ever said it... but if they do, it'll be a thrill for them to see it appear within the game.

 

[aco175]

I made a basic campaign a few years ago based in the Town of Leilon in FR. Since it was abandoned I placed a Inn/trader's post outside the town as a home base and just ran missions into the town each week. There may have been some rumors of places to go and possible treasure, but each module was a bit like a 5-room dungeon or just 3-5 encounters that we could finish in a night. There was some other stuff in and around town like wandering monsters or other adventuring groups that could help or hurt the PCs. One of my favorite parts was the Innkeeper's wife asking for all sorts of stuff like a shopping trip. "While you boys are out adventuring, I need a bread oven/copper kettle/clawfoot tub." It got to the point that the party was looking in other buildings for things and expanding on their own. I even placed two tubs outside the rival party's headquarters overlooking the bay like in those advertisements.

One of the things I am doing in my current campaign is to give a quest to the players. I recently gave them a place in town as a free house, partly to keep them in town to finish the published adventure I am running. I made some quest cards to see if anyone want to look for stuff. Here is an example for the wizard/necromancer.

Now the player has something they want to explore and do. They can build out the basement in their house as a shop and find a henchman to get the bonus after or before they find the item. The reward of all this is the 2 extra HD to zombies and such is not a big deal when they are around 9th level once they get all this. If it goes over, I'll make more for an expanded shop and 10 followers and such.

 

[hawkeyefan]

Good morning EN World.

I'm a newer DM, and I'm running a game for five players of mixed experience. My two most experienced players both started in the last year or two, I've got two where they've played one or two sessions prior to my game, and my last player is new-new and this is his first experience.

These are all my friends who I know from outside D&D. (One is actually my spouse) Our game is played largely as an excuse to hang out and spend time together. My players seem to enjoy the game, and they tell me as much, but part of me feels like they'd have just as much fun playing a board game or party games.

I'm trying to take my players from this point where they're kind of just experiencing my game, and elevate them to a point where they're helping to drive our game. Does anyone have any experience in doing this?

Part of me fears that the answer is going to be that I need to find another group who is as equally invested in the game as I am, and just accept this group as my chill hang out with friends group. Start running simple modules and enjoy it for what it is. I'm trying to do that and struggling. I've been searching local LFG groups and the like and attending Adventurer's League hoping to meet some people interested in possible getting into a game. While I try this, I'd still like to try and encourage my current players to be more active in the mean time.

I'd love to be able to work my PC's back stories into the plot of the game, but there are no back stories. I offered everyone a deal a couple of sessions ago, where if they showed up with a back story I'd give them inspiration for it. Nothing serious, just maybe one or two paragraphs about who their character is, and how and why they ended up being adventurers. No one took me up on this offer.

Early on, like session two, I gave them a bunch of plot threads, and the hope was that they'd pick the one that interested them the most and I'd start prepping for that. Instead they asked me straight up "What are we supposed to be doing? Which one of these things is most important?" They're perfectly content to just follow the "Main Plot".

Has anyone else experienced anything like this? Have you had a very passive group that you were able to get better invested into your game to make them more active? I'd love any tips or advice.

Thank you

I'd say to start small and then build on that. Instead of asking your players to come up with a backstory, just ask them backstory related questions during the game.

Ask provocative questions. What brought them together? Who did they wrong? Who used to be with them, but no longer is? What happened to that person?

This gets them thinking of their characters as people who existed in the world prior to the start of play. It also involves them in the creation of the world and its inhabitants... which hopefully helps increase their investment.

Ask questions and then build on the answers. Incorporate these ideas into play. They had an old companion? Guess who's now involved with the thieves guild in the city. They met when they were hired to steal an artifact from a wizard? Guess who's caught up to them. Arrive in a new town? Who do they know that lives here?

These simple questions can help flesh out the world and involves them in the process. It gives them friends and enemies and dangling ideas that you can then introduce to make play more focused on them rather than on a generic adventure. It may also help them start to see the potential of the game instead of viewing it more like a board game.

 

[Lanefan]

Sit back and enjoy the in-the-moment laughs. Don't sweat it.

If they keep consistently (and maybe even enthusiastically!) showing up every week then you're doing just fine; don't change a thing.

Eventually*, some or all of them will get more invested in either the story you're telling, a story they want to tell, their own characters, or some combination of the three. And some of them won't, and you'll maybe have some player turnover as time goes by. So be it.

* - which raises a key point: have you pitched this to them as a game/campaign you intend to keep going for the long term (or forever), or as more of a short-term thing or closed-ended adventure path? Very relevant, in that players might be less willing to put much investment into a game/campaign with no long-term future.

 

[gorice]

In addition to what @Ruin Explorer and @hawkeyefan said, maybe try a few different games and see what clicks? I know you said they were already a little invested in their characters, but you can always come back to an old game after trying a couple of others.

 

[Meech17]

I appreciate all the advice.

I don't think I'm ready to try another game just yet. My players are just starting to get comfortable with 5e. I don't want to hit them with a curve ball right now. Maybe further in the future.

I do like the idea of just trying to get bits and pieces of backstory by asking them in game. They do enjoy role-play and our sessions tend to lean a little RP heavy so I think this could really work. I'll have to chat them up in character a bit more.

I'm also going to try and adopt the Stars and Wishes as @overgeeked suggested.

 

[uzirath]

I do like the idea of just trying to get bits and pieces of backstory by asking them in game. They do enjoy role-play and our sessions tend to lean a little RP heavy so I think this could really work. I'll have to chat them up in character a bit more.

I wholeheartedly support this advice. It's hard for some people to do "homework" related to the game. But when you provide them with more authorship opportunities at the table, it can create a lot of great material. Encourage synergy between characters, too. It's great when someone makes something up and someone else hooks into that ("Maybe we're from the same village!").

I also recommend introducing memorable NPCs that the players might become attached to—interesting people with hopes, dreams, flaws, and secrets of their own. When the players (through their PCs) start getting attached to elements of the world, you're golden. This goes hand-in-hand with @aco175's suggestions above about minor quests and "shopping lists." These sorts of subplots can enrich the game and help the players see that the world is a living, breathing place.

 

[Wolfpack48]

If you can find this lovely out of print book by the beloved Jennell Jacqays, it is gold:

Central Casting: Heroes of Legend - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org