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Message: <blockquote data-quote="SweeneyTodd" data-source="post: 2427404" data-attributes="member: 9391">I don't neccesarily think that they are just a beer&pretzels group, but it is clear that their focus is different from yours. They aren't especially interested in exploring the detailed ramifications of how current events fit in with backstory, but that doesn't mean that you can't get them engaged.I think it's worth trying to present them with situations that provide questions they have to answer. They might engage better with the themes you've set up in that way. For instance, if there's a conflict in the game world between two territories, don't leave it in the background -- give them a situation where they have to deal with two feuding factions, and they're in the middle. Maybe they need to get somewhere that's in a contested "no-man's land", and both sides say "Sure, you can pass through our lands, just carry our banner for safety," because each of them will get something out of having a armed band of adventurers in that territory under their banner. The PCs could pick a side, pick neither (and risk attack from both as they pass), or try to broker some kind of settlement. But whatever they choose, you've illustrated the conflict in an immediate, visceral manner.If you want to have them deal with the ramifications of prophecy, maybe they rescue a girl who's been left to die in the wilderness. She tells them that the elders of her village were going by a prophecy that says in times of trouble, they are to leave a sacrifice in the wilderness, and that by rescuing her, they are the heroes of the prophecy. So do they take her back, or drop her off somewhere else? What if the village won't receive her back, because that means the heroes foretold are rejecting their sacrifice? Maybe the prophecy is vague, and they can persuade the elders to look at it a different way? What they do doesn't matter, but they have to do something.Just some ideas. I've played in games where there was all this backstory that didn't seem to show up in actual play, and after a while I started tuning it out even if it was intended to be relevant. Take the interesting stuff, put it right in the PCs' faces so they can't ignore it, and they'll interact with it. It might just be that they aren't interested in "playing outside play", even when the "outside play" stuff is supposed to be PC knowledge. If the characters have to interact with it, they may show an interest.And if you give them open-ended moral issues to wrestle with and they show no interest, then maybe they are just casual players.</blockquote>

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