D&D 5E How to have a constructive conversation with players?

[R_J_K75]

My suggestion is thus: Don't use it as a story as-is. Use it as a backdrop. Use the maps, the monsters, the NPC's, etc, as "pieces" that you have access to. Now just start WINGING IT! You already know the expected storyline...now give it the middle finger and do your own thing!

I've had to salvage or abandon more than a few modules over the years by going off script. Think the key is to do it as subtly as possible so the transition is pretty seamless that the players don't even realize it. Running pre-made modules is too much work so I dont bother much with them anymore.

 

[commandercrud]

I gave up on the WotC adventure books after Storm King's Thunder. We had played them all up to that point but I just couldn't take it anymore. They're boring and predictable and basically all follow the same formula. It's probably nothing specific to this book, you're most likely just bored of WotC material. There wasn't anything in particular bad about SKT for me, it was just the last straw. I haven't bought or played one of those since and am much happier now.

 

[R_J_K75]

I gave up on the WotC adventure books after Storm King's Thunder. We had played them all up to that point but I just couldn't take it anymore. They're boring and predictable and basically all follow the same formula. It's probably nothing specific to this book, you're most likely just bored of WotC material. There wasn't anything in particular bad about SKT for me, it was just the last straw. I haven't bought or played one of those since and am much happier now.

Funny I've bought most of them with the assumption that I'll be able to use parts of them, new monsters, spells, etc, here and there, but I've used next to zero. Figured Id have learned by now? The only adventures I bought with the specific intentions of running were the Waterdeep and Undermountain ones that came out in 2018. The portion of the Undermountain I read and ran didnt do anything for me so I ended up pretty much just making up my own adventure. I browsed and read parts of the Waterdeep adventure and the same. Just dont have the wherewithal to read, prep and run a 200+ page, 12 month adventure. I really miss the old 16, 32, 64 page adventures. Even the 96 page ones seemed to drag. Anything over 3 or 4 sessions to get through is too long for me. I like to switch things up pretty frequently in my games.

 

[commandercrud]

Funny I've bought most of them with the assumption that I'll be able to use parts of them, new monsters, spells, etc, here and there, but I've used next to zero. Figured Id have learned by now? The only adventures I bought with the specific intentions of running were the Waterdeep and Undermountain ones that came out in 2018. The portion of the Undermountain I read and ran didnt do anything for me so I ended up pretty much just making up my own adventure. I browsed and read parts of the Waterdeep adventure and the same. Just dont have the wherewithal to read, prep and run a 200+ page, 12 month adventure. I really miss the old 16, 32, 64 page adventures. Even the 96 page ones seemed to drag. Anything over 3 or 4 sessions to get through is too long for me. I like to switch things up pretty frequently in my games.

I have gone back to the old short modules from BECMI. So much better. Feels like a real campaign again vs these "adventure paths."

 

[Oofta]

As others have said, the first thing you need to do is figure out why you're having such an issue. The mod may not be right for you. Second, I'd straight up ask people. However, I'd give them a heads up before you have the conversation - send an email, post on the group forum, text, whatever. Let them know what you're observing at least a day or two before you actually sit down to talk. Let people think about it, because the knee jerk reaction may be one that's more about not hurting your feelings than what they're actually thinking. Good luck!

 

[R_J_K75]

I have gone back to the old short modules from BECMI. So much better. Feels like a real campaign again vs these "adventure paths."

I just write my own now. They consist of 4-6 scenes and 2-3 encounters with minimal background and we fill in the rest as we play. Generally we get through these in 1-2. three to four hour sessions. I don't have to prep too much, and as I have a very loose outline it lets the players do pretty much whatever they want during any given session(s). After the 'adventure" is over the players can go in whatever direction they feel like, but it pretty much writes itself from one game to the next. So yeah these feel more like a campaign as you said than a railroad.

 

[payn]

I'd ask myself what made me interested in running the adventure. Try and get that interest and drive back to providing you the energy to run an interesting and exciting game. I second some of the things pming says. If the adventure seems too structured, go rogue. Re-write parts so they are more interesting to you. Swap out elements to improve your desire to run the adventure. People often forget to insert themselves into adventure path style campaigns when they GM.

I'd also ask myself how my players are doing. Are they biting on the interesting bits? Do they invest time into their character beyond the sheet? If the players are not engaged they may have lost interest in the adventure, or worse, were never interested in the first place. Dont underestimate the desire to just play whatever by players. They might not want to GM themselves and are happy to jump into whatever a GM is willing to run for the table.

 

[fba827]

I want to keep playing and finish the adventure, ......

If ‘wanting to finish the adventure’ is your primary reason for playing it, then that in itself speaks volumes that something needs to change. You don’t sound inspired or engaged. As you said you are just going through the motions.

Some options

(1) Just stop if you’re not inspired or engaged. Mine it for home brew ideas. Maybe make up your own ending using encounters from the adventure but your own flavor text. - personally this is what I would do. In fact don’t even need to tell the players just make adjustments and go with it, that’s what a dm does

(2) make some personal stakes to inject.... ( not having fun the adventure I have no idea so making stuff up). Maybe one of the devil bad guys has been in the mortal world before using a human form/magic/illusion and has interacting with one of the pcs before .. was it a positive or negative experience and how does that flavor how w that pc then interacts with that bad guy. but for this player to be invested in it, it has to be an encounter he already established in his background way back when the campaign started as applying some background encounter after the fact would be tacked on and not as inspiring. Some examples might be a relative! (Yes your dad really was a devil in disguise, works even better if a pc is naked ‘luke’ and Star Wars quotes just write themselves ), or was one of the pcs have a criminal background maybe it’s a former cohort that left the pc to take the blame for a crime. Etc etc

(3) have a conversation with the players ‘hey I was looking at getting back to this campaign but I was realizing it doesn’t seem to be as exciting as sone of the Halloween one shots we were doing. So I thought I’d ask... how excited are you guys by this story. Or do you think you might have more fun if we look at starting with something fresh “

 

[GMMichael]

Second, I'd straight up ask people. However, I'd give them a heads up before you have the conversation - send an email, post on the group forum, text, whatever. Let them know what you're observing at least a day or two before you actually sit down to talk. Let people think about it, because the knee jerk reaction may be one that's more about not hurting your feelings than what they're actually thinking. Good luck!

The knee-jerk reaction could also be the most honest one. Isn't that a market research thing? "Just say the first thing that comes to mind."

Oh, this could be fun...
"Hey players. Let's play a mini-game. Just say the first thing that comes to mind when I say...
Orcs!
Dungeons!
The town!
My campaign!"

Erm, @Triumphruin might also just stop at the email/text phase. Like how internet commenters are fearless ask the players to respond by text or email. Or Facebook private message. Instagram, depending on age bracket...

 

[R_J_K75]

or worse, were never interested in the first place. Dont underestimate the desire to just play whatever by players. They might not want to GM themselves and are happy to jump into whatever a GM is willing to run for the table.

There's a lot of truth in this. I've had players like this, they are more interested in the social gathering more than the game. So depending on the how long this group has been together this may be a contributing factor too.