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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pukunui" data-source="post: 9029932" data-attributes="member: 54629">First of all, I’m one of the oldest millennials at 42. The youngest are 27. That’s a big age range to be pigeonholing like that.I get the impression from this post and your previous one that you enjoy taking an adversarial approach to DMing. I strongly suggest that you put in some effort to take a more collaborative approach instead.While I’ll admit it can be frustrating when your players aren’t able or willing to articulate what they want, that doesn’t mean you need to dismiss them as clueless youngsters.Sometimes people just struggle with being put on the spot. Also, since they don’t know you that well, they may not feel comfortable opening up to you.Give them time to think about what they want to play and why. Ask them to send you pictures or links to web articles that illustrate what they think makes secret agents and pirates cool.It’s fine if you want to come across as grandfatherly, but do it in a good-natured hapless old man way, not a grumpy “get off my lawn” / “kids these days” way.If you end up going with the secret agent route, I’d suggest investing in a copy of Keys from the Golden Vault. I’d also suggest telling them politely that you don’t think their heavily combat-oriented character choices will be a good fit for a secret agent game, and then suggest some alternatives (like the mastermind and inquisitive rogue archetypes).If you end up going with pirates, maybe suggest a more generic “adventure on the high seas” theme using the adventures, rules and tables from Ghosts of Saltmarsh.In either case, if you’re afraid of not getting player buy-in, you need to do two things:1) Make it explicitly clear that the players must make PCs willing to go on the adventures you offer them2) Don’t ask them if they want to undertake a particular adventure. Give them a patron who assigns them missions (either a spy handler or a ship’s captain). Saying “no” isn’t an option because this is their job.</blockquote>

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