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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 5112618" data-attributes="member: 42582">As I posted <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/5112464-post210.html" target="_blank">on another thread</a>, I've got a couple of players in my current group who seem to enjoy the story, and to enjoy the story elements that I (as GM) introduce into the game but are not very quick to take up those elements themselves and make them their own. At least to me, it feels like they are (somewhat passively) waiting for me to insert more of that sort of stuff into the next adventure, so they can enjoy seeing the plot built up. I'd rather them participate a bit more in shaping the plot.The raw material is there - one of the PCs is (as per the background written by the player) one of the last survivors of a city sacked by humanoids, and the other is a tiefling paladin of the Raven Queen. So I guess I'm looking for any ideas/experiences about how to tip the balance just a bit towards player protagonism - any techniques you think might work, ideas for encounters/situations that might bring to the surface this thematic stuff that's lurking just below it.I think this is good advice. But there's the problem that, done in the wrong way, it can compound the issue - oneway delivery of plot from GM to players - rather than overcome the issue.Hence starting a new thread to get others' ideas. In particular, what techniques/encounters etc have you used to force your players to confront the central thematic intersections between their PCs and the gameworld, so that they start to drive the plot and the world rather than just passively taking it from the GM?Key features of the gameworld at the moment are:*Raven Queen vs Orcus; *minotaurs who a couple of centuries ago turned from the gods to Baphomet, seeking more energy to help them against an expanding Nerath, and then entered a pact with Orcus hoping their dead could also join them in the fight, which all went wrong as Orcus betrayed Baphomet and the minotaurs; *Nerathi goblin and hobgoblin mercenaries who were abandoned to the borderlands once Nerath brought peace at the end of its conquests and who, now that Nerath has collapsed, are bandits and slave-raiders threatening the "points-of-light".The PCs:*As mentioned above, a survivor of the sacking of a one-time Nerathi city who is an initiate of the Raven Queen but is becoming more drawn to the worship of Erathis, and a Tiefling paladin of the Raven Queen who wants to try and stop any backsliding; *A Drow Wild Mage sorcerer who worships Correllon and dreams of reuniting the Drow with the mainstream elves, and who has also had some dealings with an imp who promised to teach him how to master the chaos; *A Dwarf fighter whose background - an unlucky no-hoper who set out from the dwarven stronghold to try and prove this widespread impression of him wrong - is mostly just that ie the player doesn't really bring this into play very much; *An Elf ranger who worships the Raven Queen but has no very striking personality traits or background details.The game is 6th level, and adventure locales that (everything else being equal) I'm interested in running are Thunderspire Labyrinth and Heathen (the latter is from one of the last of the free online Dungeons).I can handle a reasonable degree of friction/conflict between PCs, but not so much as to cause actual breakup of the adventuring party.Any and all ideas/suggestions welcome!(Note: this is self-evidently not aimed at old-style sandbox play. So can we please avoid a sandbox/railroading debate. Thanks.)</blockquote>

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