D&D 5E Request for Input - Emotional Investment and more

[Sans Serif]

Hi all,

I've had a setting brewing in my head for quite some time, and now that its time to run it - I'm noticing gaps. I haven't run a table in roughly a year, and I haven't done anything homemade in decades.

I have ideas for all of the below points, but I realize many of y'all are better at this sort of thing. Additionally, if there's already a published adventure I can steal similar ideas from (good writers borrow, great writers steal) - that's even better. Maybe some of you would enjoy a puzzle to chew on.

I have three things I'd like to accomplish for our first play session:

1. Introduce my players to the home city. Have them get emotionally invested in the place. I fear this will be the hardest part.
2. Have this place they're invested in be threatened by outward attack - the standard "repel the invaders thing"
3. Eventually, have the invasion be overwhelming - a new element is introduced that forces (hopefully) the players or some type of NPC city leader call for an evacuation of women / children / elderly. Basically, an evacuation of Hoth.

Then we'll plant the seeds of things to come. If I needed to run this tomorrow, I could. I just feel its missing an element of oomph that I wanted to bring to a larger audience for discussion.

My thanks for any input the community would like to provide.

 

[Caliban]

1. Introduce my players to the home city. Have them get emotionally invested in the place. I fear this will be the hardest part.
2. Have this place they're invested in be threatened by outward attack - the standard "repel the invaders thing"
3. Eventually, have the invasion be overwhelming - a new element is introduced that forces (hopefully) the players or some type of NPC city leader call for an evacuation of women / children / elderly. Basically, an evacuation of Hoth.

I too have had problems getting players emotionally invested in the game. I used to try threatening something they hold dear, or holding a family member hostage in order to get them to focus. While it certainly cut down on table talk, sooner or later one of the players would get to a phone and then the police would get involved and it just turned into a big complicated mess.

Since then, I've found bribes and snacks tend to work better in the long run.

Now, to get the PC's emotionally invested, give them a nifty magic item and then steal it.

 

[Krachek]

Make them write their background around this city. Trainers, church, friends, family. Etc..
Everyone will have some investment in the place. Then your "invasion" will threaten all or part of their background.

Be aware that some players will place themselves as not liking the place. Ex criminal background. But they can still have family or friends there.

In one session you wont be able to create enough link to reach all players.

 

[manduck]

I find that the best way to get players emotionally invested in your game world is to give them a small hand in creating a part of it. I always give my players some questions to answer as they create characters. One of my big ones is "who are your friends and family?". Let them make some of the NPCs that inhabit your city and come up with their own connections. They're automatically invested in some part of where they are. Also give them some freedom in creating things from their backgrounds. Is that paladin part of a knightly order? Let the player make up the knightly order, or a thieves guild, wizards school, and so on.

If you give the players just a little license in helping you create the game world, they get excited to play in it. Plus it takes some off the work of your hands. So it's win/win. You can also ask them to make up a nemesis or rival of some kind.

The other big benefit of doing something like this is that you get first hand knowledge of what your players want out of a game and how they want you to mess with them. They tell you want obstacles they want their hero to overcome or what kind of drama they like. Does that rogue steal to provide for his ill sister? Bam! You have a NPC and some adventure/drama hooks. If you know how to listen, players will tell you what they want. If you give them what they want, they want to engage more. If that paladin is in a knightly order, test his values. Have the order do some big things he can be involved with. You can always threaten the order with a rival force or internal corruption. Get as much feedback from your players as you can. Have them give you the basics of their character and then ask questions. Let them get more specific and flesh out the details.

 

[Tony Vargas]

Getting that kind of buy-in on an emotional level is hard. You might want to just write into the campaign set-up that the PCs are going to be natives of a city under threat, and that the tone will be dark and often even desperate. The players may not become emotionally invested (quite the opposite), but they'll be prepared for the themes you want to work with and can create PCs appropriate to them.

If you want genuine emotional investment, don't demand it, build it up. Set the campaign in the city, run if for a while. Fill the city with helpful/respectful, colorful, sympathetic, and, at least, non-backstabbing NPCs. Tie adventures into building something up in the city - a temple of the PCs are religious, a library if they're wizards, etc. Only when you start to actually see the emotional investments and let them pay a round of dividends (PCs receiving the odd tangible benefit), do you roll out the threat-to-the-city scenario.

 

[robus]

If you give the players just a little license in helping you create the game world, they get excited to play in it. Plus it takes some off the work of your hands. So it's win/win. You can also ask them to make up a nemesis or rival of some kind.

This is a great idea. I was going to suggest providing a city map and bit of culture/history to the players. But I think your idea is much better, though perhaps I might still recommend providing the players a map for them to identify where they grew up/live (perhaps the name of the district, and various important buildings). Basically familiarize themselves with the city (which they should know well of course).

 

[Ath-kethin]

On my current campaign, the three PCs are brothers, outcasts from a barbarian tribe who fled when the tribal elders attempted to sacrifice the youngest to an Elder God and the two older brothers rescued him. They fled to the nearest city, and live in an abandoned tower that was the site of our first adventure.

Later, I involved the remains of their tribe in a rescue type adventure, which also included the maiming of the oldest brother's (former) betrothed.

I have been amazed at the level of emotional involvement the players have shown. The brothers idea came up during our session 0 and they all liked it, but they've stuck to it amazingly.

I guess my point is much the same as others have made: involve them from the start. Let them help lay out the origins and beginnings of the characters/campaign, and weave aspects did those ideas and origins back into the campaign as it progresses. I have only been using published adventures (not the official WotC ones, but there's no reason this idea wouldn't work with those too), tweaked a bit to keep everyone engaged.

That kind of engagement isn't impossible, it just takes some planning, cooperation, and buy-in from your players.

 

[Sans Serif]

Guys, this is great stuff. Thank you all so very much.