Entirely possible there are other issues involved, but based on what you shared, I wonder if you could apply some “problem is the solution” thinking here.
I am DMing Caverns of Thracia. My group is the following:
One player who likes to DM from the backseat and correct you on rules at all times
I’d recruit him (?) as the rules lawyer. When there’s a rules question I’m not sure about or don’t care to look up in the heat of DMing, I’d ask him to make a ruling based on his superior rules knowledge.
One player who refused to do anything except for dumb sitcom nonsense
One player who finds the sitcom player hilarious
Sounds like one player is in touch with his (?) sense of humor. It may not be to your taste, but it’s making at least one more casual player laugh, and that’s a good thing. You want some amount of humor in your D&D games. It breaks tension, it helps the group avoid inter party conflict, and reminds the more serious-minded to have fun.
One player sort of new to D&D and these are the only people he has played with so that's all he knows
We also have guest players who come and go:
One player who just learned the game and doesn't really know how to play
Someone's girlfiend
One player who is a math whiz in real life and for whom rules are his safe zone, so he plays with an eye toward rules, the narrative is irrelevant to him. It's a logic puzzle you just need to know the rule to solve.
You’re introducing new folks to D&D - hats fantastic! Don’t worry that they don’t know the rules or are bit quieter or whatever. If they’re having fun, it’s all good. Hey, maybe one of them is not so good at math & I could have the math whiz buddy up to support that person?
They all play murder hobo style.
This story is true of most DMs at some point in their DMing career. The thing I did was embrace it, and run an adventure/setting that supports that style.
I have been trying to DM Caverns of Thracia for them...
They don't think to search for secret doors.
Maybe the 10-foot pole dungeon search / painstaking description of searching for traps isn’t their style of play? Nothing wrong with that. Maybe a more cinematic/swashbuckling game of derring do would be up their alley?
The Ranger went into the woods and I mentioned this might be a good time to scout around and see what the place is about. He decided that no, he just wanted to look for berries.
Fantastic! You’ve got a player who - despite a warning from the DM about danger, sticks to his guns in portraying his character as a forager. I’d describe the berries he finds (goodberries?) along with some conflict of challenge tied to the berries. Maybe he notices some of the fallen overripe ones are squished forming a trail of hyena like humanoid tracks with berry seeds in them...gnolls!
The adventure concerns warring factions and I first had them meet one group who actually namedropped someone (their leader) but that just went in one ear and out the other. I sent three small groups of gnolls at them and had each group the last member surrender hoping they might question him, "take me to your leader", let him go and follow him, something to get the basic idea out in the open to the players, but no they just kill the gnolls even if they drop their weapon.
Every DM will face this challenge too. “Take no prisoners, remember no names.” One trick I use is coming up with names that are a bit close to something recognizable. Even though it charges my inner narrator to hear the players call Ras T’fima “Rasta” or Asric “Asterisk”, you know what? They’ve actually remembered those names cause they had a good laugh about it.
But humor isn’t the only way to get players to remember names you want them to remember.
Memory is linked to emotion. The more the players feel something when that NPC is introduced - fear, humor, sympathy, suspicion, anger (or several at once) - the more likely someone in the group will remember. For example, I hinted about a death knight for my low level PCs and they were scared, when they found out his name was Ras T’fima they made the “Rasta” joke, and then after a tense first meeting they realized he was kind of sympathetic. That play of emotions means they remember his name now.
Another way to reinforce this is with a recap of last session at the beginning. Usually I have a player do this, but I read the room and if I feel like I need to go it (e.g. to repeat a name they’ve forgotten), I will.
They found a clue telling them to look for a squat black building, but they didn't. They ignored it.
Wonderful learning moment for you as DM. Google the “three clue rule” on the Alexandrian blog: basically, if there is a clue the PCs need to get where you want them to go, you need to be prepared to drop that clue 3 Times. The first they’ll miss, the second they’ll misinterpret, and by the 3rd time they just might get it.
They needed help rules wise since they were just barging in everywhere acting foolish. They ran into a creature that had 3 attacks per rd for 2d10 +4 of damage. They are second level and were getting their heads handed to them, so I split up the three attacks having the monster take 2 attacks with his 19 initiative but saving his last attack for next to last in the rd. The idea was to give them a chance to kill this thing before he attacked with his third attack. The rules lawyer told me this is wrong, and one player told me don't do that. I told them in D&D the DM can change rules around, but the backseat DM is fighting every call I make.
Wow! Players arguing with you to stick to rules even to their detriment! That’s a very fair-minded group. Sounds like they want a real challenge, and they want to see their actions have consequences for good or ill. Maybe establishing that baseline of trust - that you respect their style of play and are going to run it without fudging much - will help them be more generous towards those few times when you really do feel it’s in the game’s best interest to fudge. Personally, I appreciate it when players say “No, lets play it where it lies.” I just had a player do that with a zombie scene I was trying to wrap up as their progress through a dungeon had been slower than I’d haves liked, but one player said very emphatically “no, don’t give me benefit of the doubt, I want to play this combat out.” Listen to players like this! They are a gift!
The sitcom guy played a gnome ranger because he found it funny he can't see through the grass and he wanted a longsword. I said that seems pretty impossible to me and I could see a dagger or a short sword as a stretch. I was told by the guy who finds sitcom funny "what difference does it make?!?"
“I could see a dagger or short sword as a stretch.” Classic. Good one.
