So we got four players, 3 of which are good and want to help people. the fourth is neutral and trying to lay low, looking out fo rhis own neck. We are running through Rise of the Runelords and are in the "Burnt Offerings" just after the goblin raid.
The 3 good players are all gung-ho about helping the town. The neutral player is not showing any interest in helping anyone but himself.
(The player is not trying to ruin the game, we have been gamng for 15 years and he is very excited about this campaign)
Anyone familiar with the campaign have ideas to motivate this charcater? Something extra to throw in? I am contemplating finding the person/thing he is hiding from and put it in as one of the entities behind the story, but that might be too difficult.
Thanks in advance.
This little piece of advice may be a little late, but when I started RotRL, I made character creation guidelines, and one of them was that the players had to invent a reason why their character would want to be involved in the campaign's activities, with a suggested default of "just up for adventure: fun, danger and profit". In RotRL, this was namely, "why is the character here?" and "why would the character wish to risk his or her life for this seemingly insignificant town?"
Perhaps you can suggest to the player that they come up with such a reason, retroactively as if that had been the reason all along, and then that character has motivation for doing things. This has the advantage of making the player do most of the work, and makes it more likely the work won't get wasted.
I can think of one idea
The character is related to, or friends with, Tsuto, and that character will follow along the group because <insert some temporary reason here, e.g. mayor pays for adventuring services>, and once it is discovered that Tsuto is involved, that character has more reason to follow along. Unfortunately, after the first adventure, there will likely be little reason to continue. The adventures are kinda piecemeal with no obvious connection from one to the next, except much later on.
However, once the major threat is known, even a neutral character should feel that they need to participate in resolving it.
Alternatively, don't think of a reason, just play the game :P "Nobody knows why <name> did what <he or she> did, but it was a good thing." Maybe something will come up later naturally? Sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do.
Gold.
There's gold in them there goblin hideouts.
"What's in it for me?"
The town's gratitude, forgiveness for past crimes, whatever gold you can carry, and have we introduced you to Shayliss?
Honestly, once the first module is out of the way, the PC should have enough connection to the townsfolk and the other PCs that his motivation would be "help my friends."
And have a roving bounty hunter turn up asking for him is always a good way to make sure he takes off with the party to parts unknown. I might not make it part of the overarching campaign. With luck, a little nudge is all the player will need.
Are you aware of the rise of the runelords players guide? I strongly recommend using the players guides for any pathfinder APs, the campaign traits are especially useful as they tie the pcs background into the game, and give them reasons to get involved.
A character only out for himself and trying to 'lay low' in rise of the runelords is going to have about as much trouble as a paladin in skull and shackles, some character concepts dont fit certain adventures. Its important to go over that sort of stuff with your players ahead of time, and the campaign players guides are a great resource for giving out that kind of information.
Thanks for the replies. I may have a inadvertent solution from our last session. At the encounter at the mausoleum in which Father Tobias' remains are stolen, I used a plague zombie ogre instead of the skeletons (to make it a challenge for 5th level characters) and my problem character and one other became infected with zombie rot. Since no one in town can cast 3rd level spells, there doesn't appear to be any easy access to remove disease. I will attempt to use that as his motivator: Helping the town in exchange for treatment.
As for using strict guidelines on what a player can and can't do with their character is just not our style. I do not like the Player's Guides as they limit what a player can choose. Its little better than just handing out the pre-made iconic characters included in the campaign book. Given a choice, the players would (and should) rather not play a campaign than have to be told they "need" to build a character with such-and-such guidelines.