>party is tasked with finding a fire giant by the warlocks patron, a lich
>party arrives at a large mountain range with a volcano at the center
>there is a seemingly abandoned and ruined city along the way as well as some dark city gates nestled inside of a ravine
>ignored, they walk directly up the side of the volcano
>on one of the paths up the volcano, there is a group of goblins using rope to haul cargo up a sheer cliff
>they try to speak to the party in broken common
>ignored, they keep walking into volcano
>inside of the volcano, a fire sprite approaches and blocks their path, gesturing for them to give the sprite a gift
>ignored, they fly to the end of the cave system
>at the fire giants lair, they instantly wake him up and ask him to do what they were sent to do
>they don't do anything but sit there until he finishes
>they immediately teleport out when he finishes
>afterwards, the warlocks patron lich doesn't teleport to them within 5 seconds of them returning and tell them what to do next
>they have no idea what to do
>decide to go try to fight an evil god, fully knowing they are just going to get killed
How do I get my party to stop playing DND like a Bethesda game? Whenever an npc doesn't bend over backward to the whim of the party and treat them like the main characters, they get pissed off. If a mega-powerful figure isn't telling them plainly and explicitly what to do, they sit there and do nothing indefinitely. How do I get them to stop treating this game like an MMO where they just try to mindlessly complete the given objective in as short a time as possible?
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Have said powerful patron lie to them until they start learning critical thinking skills.
Alternatively start doing board games they might have more fun. I'm not even joking here.
I'm not too sure if this will work, but giving them multiple quests simultaneously might help. It's like a start for them to have independent agency, as they have to choose the best option by reviewing themselves. More points if some are just beyond the group's current capabilities or non-combat but logistically difficult to accomplish. It's more work for you though.
Alternatively you can just start giving them no shit, and just roll random content to see how they adapt. This is easier for you. Start using tables.
Your players want a board game, not an RPG. Try Heroquest or something.
If this is their first time playing be stupidly explicit about it early on because they likely don't have the "brain muscle" to understand that they're not playing a game of "go from point A to point B". If they're not newcomers then just listen to this anon
Why are you mad your characters are trying to achieve the objective you gave them?
Isn't the point of a TTRPG to have a fun and exciting adventure?
It's like playing Fallout and just walking straight to the end of the game and then saying "well the game didn't force me to do any of the quests". Why are you playing then?
and yet you didn't really expect the adventurers to just go off and do whatever, now, did you? You had a city lined up, encounters, quests. You made them optional and gave them another task which they obviously felt was their priority.
>It's like playing Fallout and just walking straight to the end of the game and then saying "well the game didn't force me to do any of the quests".
you would have to metagame to do that.
You are angry because you gave the players the option NOT to do something, and they took it. Why are you mad?
>present opportunity to go on adventure in adventuring game
>ignored
>present opportunity to go on adventure in adventuring game
>ignored
>force players to do something they don't want to do
>they speedrun it as quickly and uneventfully as possible
>why are u mad bro this sounds fun to me!
Why do I have to force my players to go on adventures in an adventure RPG. Shouldn't they jump at an opportunity to do some sort of quest or do something exceptional?
Why aren't your hooks relevant to the player's characters?
>Shouldn't they jump at an opportunity to do some sort of quest or do something exceptional?
Mostly yes and you're probably arguing with a contrarian
>Why do I have to force my players to go on adventures in an adventure RPG
Because you are moronic.
Going by your examples, you yourself have no clue how to motivate them, then get pissant when they aren't motivated by your shitty hooks.
Also, the frick you are really expecting from them to do? No, not some round-worded sentence with no examples, the hell you expect from your players to do?
An overwhelming majority of games are "There is this objective, reach it", followed by just as common "This fixed event is going to happen, react to it".
And you are b***hing that they are reaching objectives set to them and react to events happening, while not acting on their own, doing... what, exactly? It's blatantly clear that your game(s) have nothing to offer for players to do, given how oblique your descriptions are, so what's the fricking problem here?
And that without mentioning the obvious - you didn't bother to even mention what game you are using. Certain games are build for certain things and fricking suck at anything else. Shocking, I know.
Ask them, moron
It sounds like you didn't give them much of a reason to interact with any of the points of interest along the way if they ignored and bypassed them with relative easy
If this post is real your players are actual subhumans fit only for backbreaking manual labor
Don't give them fetch quests that can be achieved without meeting any opposition. Why were all encounters they've come upon seemingly unimportant to the quest? You complain about your players behaving like in an CRPG yet try give them an MMO plot of "walk to X and return" and the only spice you've added were few irrelevant side quests with blinking question marks over their head.
Heres my thoughts on what would get your players to not pursue every quest.
As a character, why would they go on these side quests? Maybe they can come back later, but currently they as people have a goal with (presumably) stakes behind them. If you were tasked with doing some dangerous work at the behest of someone powerful, would you stop partway through to do some other task even if it seemed interesting?
As a player, why would they go on these side quests? The reason they would is "see something and do something" but they are already doing that by playing the main story that they are (presumably) already invested in. Plus, do they have any reason to think that once they complete this mission the game would end? If not, then to them it's a moot point. Either they take a break from the thing they're currently doing to do something else, or they do the current thing and then do something else.
It seems that, when the players attempt to complete the task ahead of them in the way their characters would logically do it, they end up having a boring adventure. And then are left without guidance because, while boring, they have up until now had very clear goals (and likely don't really consider that they can just go back to the old plot hooks as an option).
My reccomendation (so I'm not just b***hing at you) is to slowly introduce them to the idea of "do something extra for a bonus". Don't start with "leave the main road of your goal to do god knows what for who knows what reward" - just add extra things in dungeons they dont have to do but can for a reward. Add things in the start of the session that bite them in the ass if they dont help later in that same session.
Eventually your players will have a better understanding of how acting on their own initiative and going out of their way to do things can add more interest and give them more Stuff.
>How do I get my party to stop playing DND like a Bethesda game?
Picrel is a good way to go
>Whenever an NPC doesn't bend over backward to the whim of the party and treat them like the main characters, they get pissed off.
Choices and consequences, let them push the word as they like but have the world eventually push back appropriately. They constantly disrespect people around? Then they will build up a reputation of untrustworthy buttholes for themselves and be treated accordingly, like having npc approaching them in extremely controlled situations and having them double cross the pc at every feasible opportunity.
>If a mega-powerful figure isn't telling them plainly and explicitly what to do, they sit there and do nothing indefinitely.
Timeskip to a john-goodman-lich.jpg escalation. The world keeps moving regardless of whether they are doing something or not.
>How do I get them to stop treating this game like an MMO where they just try to mindlessly complete the given objective in as short a time as possible?
Run a couple of short adventure in wfrp 1e, makes miracles against that forma mentis in my experience.
Dear Anon,
I have read through your rant and sympathise greatly! Like you I once had a group like that, however once i got a new group of players i realised the fault was with my players (not truly a fault, but a matter of expectations) and no matter what I did nothing would change
You see, your group wanted to play a GAME, they werent interested in adventure, exploring the world, or roleplay and improv acting.
What I would recommend is focusing on that aspect of the game. Instead of the players being adventurers seeking magnificent things, give them a goal that is easily measured (Defeat an Orcish Horde as defenders of a single Human Settlement) and give them many paths to do so (get an alliance with another town, search for a mcguffin of some sort, get support from a powerful mage, get an alliance with dwarves or elves) Give them also an actual time limit (the horde will reach your City in X time) and if they fail, make it so they can avenge the city and take it back. Have a "city power" stat that increases with successes, and have them be able to scout the orcs to see their power and how it changes as they come closer (WITH REAL NUMBERS, this is important).
Even the most game-brained player will find himself trying to convince NPCs if convincing them is counted in real numbers.
Of course, this is if you love your current group and are friends, otherwise just get a group of like-minded gentlemen.
With Love and Sympathetic Regards,
Anonymous S. Poster
>Blatantly vidya-inspired quest
>Surprised players play it like a vidya
You can start with yourself.
Also
>muh main character syndrome
THEY ARE PLAYING A TABLETOP RPG YOU DUMB homosexual. THE WORLD DOSN'T EXIST WITHOUT THE PLAYERS