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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ichabod" data-source="post: 1475742" data-attributes="member: 1257">Then question your assumptions. I recently finished my first Dome of Heaven campaign, which was the best campaign I have run in 25 years of DMing. The most important thing I did was ask the players what they wanted. I showed them my campaign world, and asked them what sort of campaign they wanted to play, which turned out to be the complete opposite of what I had planned. The second most important thing I did was keep it open-ended. There was no one true plot, there were several plots. The player choices determined which ones they went down and how they went down them. That is what kept the players interested and involved, because they knew that the choices they made had a big effect on what happened in the game.As to your specific points, I'd be careful about pushing against the table talk. The best way to have a great campaign is to make sure everybody is having fun (including yourself). You might talk to them ahead of time, and let them know you want things to be more on track. Then gently remind them during play, by having the world act when they get too far off track. If they have just done five movie quotes, they arrive at their destination, or they all have to make spot checks, or the half-orcs at the next table complain about the noise. Let them have their table talk, but pull them back in gently.Try to get the players to help out the newbies. This makes them a part of the group quicker, and frees you up for DMing tasks.I'm not sure what you want to get across in the meeting, so I'm not sure how to do it. My first meeting introduces the players to the game world. Then they determine what sort of game they want to play, and what sort of group they want to be. Then they make their characters at the first meeting to fit into that group concept. Frex, my last campaign they decided to be members of the Inquisition. So they all made up characters who had a reason to be in the Inquisition, and who filled the required roles of an investigating group of the Inquisition.Finally, your job is not to encourage roleplaying, your job is to encourage fun. Not everyone has fun roleplaying. Some people have fun solving puzzles, or dealing with tactical situations in combat, or just hanging out with their friends at the game table. You reward what people have fun doing by giving them opportunities to have fun. If a player has fun roleplaying, you reward them by throwing them into roleplaying situations. If they have fun solving puzzles, you reward them by blocking their path with puzzles that need to be solved. If they have fun in combat, you reward them by presenting them with  interesting tactical situations in combat. If they just want to hang out, you reward them by letting them hang out and not harrassing them too much.This is where group composition becomes so important. As DM, you have certain things you enjoy, be it roleplaying or combat or whatever. By getting players into your group that enjoy the same things you do, you get a chance to have fun yourself when you throw their favorite thing to do at them.</blockquote>

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