Problems as a dm/players won't commit to story

[Keenberg]

I first posted this in plots and places but felt it more fitting here. so.. re-posting...

So I have been DMing on and off with a group for a few months now, but mostly we've been pretty regular. All the PC's feel that the game is doing great, and are having tons of fun every time, but I am not satisfied with the story one bit. The Players have gone from level 1 to level 4 without really finding their place in the world.
We started off with a fairly coherent plot, but the characters turned on their employer, stole a ship, and now are randomly sailing from island to island. I have a whole story arc in mind, but I suppose I'm having a hard time getting the PC's to commit to... well... anything other than being pirates.

My intended story: The Gods are at war. Hints have been dropped in the first four levels of play as you'll see below, but the characters have not committed to the action. I want the characters to achieve greatness as they progress in this game. First they might run their own base, then a kingdom, and so on. By the end of the campaign, I want them to fight and overthrow the gods, and take their places alongside the gods themselves.

Keep in mind that the original idea behind this game was for the players to be evil, but that (sort of) fell by the wayside. Here's a list of current story details and hooks:

[sblock]Fighter and Ranger arrive at Fallcrest. A dragon hide has been stolen off a caravan, and the "theive's guild", so-to-speak, known as the River Rats hire the PCs to pick it up before its intended owner.

PC's raid kobold hall, kill kobolds, drakes, and young dragon, recover dragon hide and return it to the River Rats.
​

Fighter and Ranger are rehired by RR's to travel downstream and raid a merchant ship. New PC (cleric of Sehanine) is sent with the party for backup.

Clerics travel downriver, kill some gnomes who try to board ship, take aboard a traveling family of halflings. Halflings have adopted a lone gnome named Buttons. Buttons joins party.

Ship stops in a small swampy town, PCs engage in sidequest to recover a dead witch's treasure, get back on ship.

INTENDED HOOK: Ranger starts reading bibles to gain a training in religion. One book is normal, on Sehanine. One is magic and is read in it's entirety in one sitting, on Eilistraee. The last book is... odd. It has no text, but when opened, speaks in conversation and debate to the ranger about Corellion.

PC's reach the bay and board the merchant ship. They kill the merchant's bodygaurd minotaur, whose corpse mysteriously disappears. The merchant's business partners fight too and narrowly escape (planning on all three becoming recurring enemies. Minotaur will come back as a revenant or something of the sort.)

PC's kill the merchant, who actually turned out to be a primordial. HOOK: With her dying breath, the primordial tells her that the gods are falling to their own quarrels. She says the time of mortals and gods is at its end.

PCs return to Fallcrest with the Ship and its booty. This is where they turn on the river rats, stealing the new ship (steamship) and leave town.

They also steal two cannons and hit the open seas.
​

From here the story has almost completely lost any coherence. I sent them to an island populated with Goliaths, and a new goliath PC joined the party. They are currently exploring a fey island which pops in and out of their realm and the Feywild.[/sblock]

The eladrin Priest had a dream where she was called upon by Sehanine herself to help redeem the drow. Sehanine and Corellion have been consulting with Elistraee and it has been agreed that the drow who worship Elistraee deserve redemption.

The Dragonborn Fighter had a vision in which he was called upon by the vision of Io to choose sides between Bahamut and Tiamat.

The Drow Ranger is being called upom by Elistraee to lead in the redemption of the drow.

I currently have no hooks for the gnome or the goliath (not worried about goliath, that player might now be able to make the sessions regularly.) I need something to get my brain rolling, I want the PCs in the real action, but it might be difficult considering they have a ship that they'd probably all freak out I "took back" from them.

Anyone got ideas?!

Edit: Read this thread and realized I need to sit down with the players and tell them my thoughts on the game. Ideas for how to incorporate the story ideas still welcome.

 

[Crothian]

Talk to the players. You are not on the same page and it seems you might want different things from the campaign.

 

[Talysian]

Talk to the players. You are not on the same page and it seems you might want different things from the campaign.

Sounds like the players want a pirate game... the best thing I can tell you is see if you can figure out something like that you can have fun with and spin the story that way!

 

[Keenberg]

Talk to the players. You are not on the same page and it seems you might want different things from the campaign.

Hopefully we do though, two players said last sesh that it is a bit hard knowing where to go because they don't have a grand plan. So we'll be talking, like I said. What I'm asking for now is some tie-in ideas. That is why I provided the story and the hooks.

 

[billd91]

Let them explore for a while, put the gods plot on a slow simmer. Plan out some events to happen in the background as that plot develops without the PCs' interference. Let some info on what's going on filter back to them as they explore the seas of piracy and exploration.

 

[Keenberg]

Sounds like the players want a pirate game... the best thing I can tell you is see if you can figure out something like that you can have fun with and spin the story that way!

Well, the pirate thing admittedly has been quite a bit of fun for us all, but the problem with it is that it is just too sporadic and has no aim. If we were to stay on that path for 26 more levels, I'dget bored by the end of the first tier.

I'll be bringing this up when I talk to the players. Hopefully we can come to and agreement to make the first tier the "pirate tier" and on to bigger and better things after that. Like I said, two out of the four/five players are already seeing problems with not having a main goal.

I figure in my talks I'll remind them of what I think their motivations at this point should be. The Cleric has said she wants to get to a temple, which is great. The drow was exiled for being a Elistraee worshipper so she should be thrilled to be having visions and dreams in which her god visits her. The dragonborn should be doing some serious soul-searching to find where he fits in the world.

 

[Keenberg]

Let them explore for a while, put the gods plot on a slow simmer. Plan out some events to happen in the background as that plot develops without the PCs' interference. Let some info on what's going on filter back to them as they explore the seas of piracy and exploration.

Agreed. Like I was saying, the next 6 levels can be about pirating, and like you said, the other events can start building. It actually seems very cinematic to me! I can make the shift between tiers very climactic this way.

 

[LostSoul]

1. What do the characters want? The players have to do this, the DM can't. Let them write their own Quest or three; the DM should have veto power. Conflicting Quests create conflicted characters.

2. What stands in the way? The DM writes this. The opposition should be able to give them a fair challenge and be reasonable - no black-hatted puppy-kicking villains. Monsters can be evil, sure, but the NPCs should be reasonable.

The interaction of the PCs driving towards their goals with the NPCs who are trying to stop them makes your story.

I would go with a picaresque adventure for now, writing up a setting - a number of islands with something interesting on each one, relating to their goals in different ways. Reveal this to the players and let them pick where they want to go. If the players are having trouble thinking of goals, write the setting first, show it to them, and have them pick things they want to accomplish.

Each island explores the idea of the gods at war in different ways. e.g. Sehanine is fighting Erathis: Love in conflict with Civilization. That writes itself. The key with these conflicts is that both sides should be reasonable. Create some NPCs who represent each side and NPCs who are caught in the crossfire. If you want to introduce monsters, make them representative of the conflict; for the Sehanine - Erathis fight, a succubus is perfect (representing a corruption of law and love).

 

[Ed_Laprade]

There is a big potential problem here. What happens if one, or both, of the characters who have had visions die? Basically, either the players have to bring in replacements for them who recieve similar visions, or some NPCs somewhere else get them and the surviving crew are left hanging. So if they do decide to get 'with' the plot, be sure you know what will happen if/when the 'important' characters get snuffed.

 

[Diamond Cross]

Have a superior naval force capture them and put them to work for the empire then get them involved in the story.

Hump or death.