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Message: <blockquote data-quote="evilbob" data-source="post: 9445097" data-attributes="member: 9789">Looking for advice from folks who are familiar with the adventure. We finished Horde and had a good time; we started Tiamat and I realized that the adventure basically takes for granted that the characters are Good Guys. My players aren't: they're mostly against the cult but they're primarily in it for treasure and adventure - they're not really concerned with "saving the world" for its own sake. I'm usually better at getting the players motivated, but other than the Lord's Alliance just straight-up paying the characters (and I'm not sure what price would be fair?), I'm having trouble coming up with good character hooks to get them into the Rise of Tiamat. The hooks we had for Horde were great - but they didn't really extend into the next adventure, and I'm realizing Tiamat sort of takes for granted that "saving the world" would be the next hook.I have a few ready down the line - they have a great reason to interject into the Misty/High forest, and hilariously this group will have ZERO problems recruiting Red Wizards and devils - but why would they necessarily care about good dragons? Or tracking down cultist leaders that haven't affected them personally? Or saving any towns other than the one they are currently in?Edit:I guess I'm not good at writing questions because so far I could summarize the responses as "just give up." This isn't an "evil characters" problem, or a "bad players" problem, this is just a DM asking for clever hooks for a party that isn't motivated by "save the world" in order to help drive engagement, which I'm anticipating as potentially becoming an issue. I've left my original post below but if you're just now coming to the thread feel free to skip.<s>Looking for advice from folks who are familiar with the adventure. Experienced DM with 4 not-new players. We finished Horde and had a good time; Tiamat started with the predictable confusion and jumble of a module that has been critiqued to death so I won't do it here. But as we stumbled along, I realized that the adventure basically takes for granted that the characters are Good Guys. This was fine in League Play because that was a rule: no Bad Guys. (Except some LE exceptions.) In regular play that's a little trickier. I have a straight-up NE dead-raising cleric, a N-trending-CN druid, a ranger I would describe as a professional mercenary (probably LE), and one poor monk who started LG but is basically trending N and overlooking terrible things to match the group's vibe. Which is fun as hell! But when it came time for the people of Waterdeep to elevate these heroes and make them the standard-bearers to unite the disparate factions... They (true to characters!) took this somewhere between Not My Problem and (literally) How Much Do We Get Paid. Even the monk asked for concessions, lol. (These are the same players that also universally refused to join any faction. Which are described as having "zero drawbacks." I eventually convinced the cleric to join the Network - excellent fit - and the monk to join the Order - not a bad fit.)</s><s></s><s>Which... besides disappointing Leosin, means they're mostly just going to investigate the Draakhorn because otherwise the plot stops. I'm usually better at getting the players motivated, but other than the Lord's Alliance just straight-up paying the characters (and I'm not sure what price would be fair?), I'm having trouble coming up with good hooks. Especially since many of the chapters end in railroady frustrations for the party, which I could see dampening their mood to "help" even more.</s><s></s><s>I have a few ready down the line - they have a great reason to interject into the Misty/High forest, and hilariously this group will have ZERO problems recruiting Red Wizards and devils - but why would they necessarily care about good dragons? Or tracking down cultists? Or saving any towns other than the one they are currently in?</s><s></s><s>I know, I know: I allowed this to happen! Lots of ways to have played this differently, and this is like Reason Two of why Don't Play Bad Guys is heavily suggested in the DMG (Reason One is because they tend to kill each other). Happily taking suggestions on how to dig myself back out of this hole.</s></blockquote>

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