Whatever happened to all the adventurous heroes?

[Nightchilde-2]

That sounds like a good time to bring the adventure to the PCs! Give them a personal stake...perhaps they go up top to find the crew slaughtered on deck and the killer is still there. Perhaps it's an enemy from the group or one PC's past (or someone that has forseen the PCs getting in their way later..divination is good for that).

If they don't go for the story, have the story come to them! And if you have to kill a few characters in the process, maybe they'll make more proactive characters the next time around.

 

[Tom Cashel]

I must add, to be fair, the PCs did eventually allow themselves to be recruited into going down into the hold.

???

That's sort of an important point.

"Whatever happened to all the heroes who maintain their back-stories for a little bit before becoming Kick-Ass Heroes?"

 

[Zweischneid]

This seems to me to be a new trend in roleplaying - especially at the start of a campaign. The traditional hero is considered so cliche that people are avoiding it to start with. I've seen many players create their low-level characters as "reluctant" heroes at best until they can then develop further motivations for them to take on the role of hero.

Damn that Tolkien guy, I really do hate these new trends.

 

[Quasqueton]

Damn that Tolkien guy, I really do hate these new trends.

Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Boromir, and Gandalf---all willing heroes. Merry and Pippin---adventerous sorts in their own right. Sam---completely willing to go with his friend. Frodo---didn't need a kick in the pants to take up the quest.

Quasqueton

 

[Arnwyn]

in the case of this plot hook. as a PC i would let the crew handle it. it ain't my ship. i'm just a passager.

That's exactly the point that Quasqueton is making.

 

[Tom Cashel]

To make the point without any sarcasm or irony--I've found that if you want your players to jump right into the plot as a group, starting them out as strangers won't help.

 

[Keeper of Secrets]

Though to be fair the PCs have something of an obligation to meet the GM half way.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

Damn that Tolkien guy, I really do hate these new trends.

Oh, I'm not saying it is an original idea, just a more common trend that I've seen recently - of course part of this might also be that we have grown up more and want more "realism" to a character.

In the end it all depends how the players handle it. If they play it as reluctant heroes who grudingly accept the role, that is fine - but if they are always fighting the story... well, what kind of story would it have been if Frodo said "I'm sick of this, it's not really my problem. Here Gollum, take it, I'm going home."

 

[Nightchilde-2]

To make the point without any sarcasm or irony--I've found that if you want your players to jump right into the plot as a group, starting them out as strangers won't help.

This is true. However, it's as much the responsibility of the players to get involved in the story as it is the DM to provide a story with which they can get involved.

Even if that means doing something "unbelievable" like pairing up with complete strangers to investigate an odd noise.

 

[Quasqueton]

Even if that means doing something "unbelievable" like pairing up with complete strangers to investigate an odd noise.

And to be fair to me, they had been on the same ship for a few weeks. They knew of each other, and nomillay what they were (fighter, monk, two mages). They had even talked with each other more than once during that time.

So they were not "complete" strangers, in this scenario.

Quasqueton