Keeping the Party Interested / Frustrations with my fellow players


Gamer Life General Discussion


two things. First, whenever my group plays a adventure path we cant make it past the second adventure in the arc. How can i keep my playes interested as a dm and fellow playes intererted as a pc. We all have busy lives of course but advice would be nice. Second, i always try to make a character that will fit into the adventure path as best as possible but my fellow players players dont worry about fitting in to the setting, they just play. That frustrats me. I know it shouldnt and i want to get over it. Say things to me to help me get over it


It would help if you could tell us a specific reason, and which paths you've tried and failed.

Is it because the story doesn't seem to be going anywhere? Disatisfaction with the setting or plot? Dislike of NPCs? Level of difficulty of the adventure?

Without knowing more, all I can recommend is downloading most of the player guides and using them to determine which path makes the majority of your group excited and invested. Also, enforcing that characters have to take a campaign trait and that this is a driving force of the character should help.

Otherwise, asking people what they want in a game might reveal things that will get them invested. Is it NPC relationships? Saving the game's world? Defeating the most powerful enemies? Gathering powerful magic items and artifacts?


i honestly dont know. I enjoy all of the stories weve played. Normaly we just get busy and cant play for a few months and then we get back together when someone wants to run something. No one ever complained about anything until we played wotr last year. He complained about the NPCs not being alive enough, but i know for a fact that i had been trying to make them exciting and helpful and the players, including him, blew them off. He also thought that the combat was pointless till we got to a mythic trial and that the over all plot was to cheesy to be interesting. I questioned the rest of the group and they disagreed so he was the only one feeling that. I ended up kicking him out of my games because he ended his complaints by telling me i didnt know what a real dm is because i never wrote my own content. I guess what im looking for with this thread is how to convince my group to keep playing one campaign, even if its not a published one, to the end of it, even when we need to take a break. My younger brother is starting the mummys mask soon with his freinds and myself to help with first time players understanding the rules and i want to make sure that ggts a good first expirence for them


we've also played everything really but king maker and the genie one off the top of my head. But everytime we break for life someone wants tostart a new one

Sovereign Court

Do a character creation session. Make sure to have a copy or access to the players guide for the AP. Have a discussion about expectations for the campaign and make sure everyone is on board. Make sure the GM has the ability to actually carry out the campaign and not have to bail shortly after starting (tricky I know).

A couple of thoughts based on your comments. Your problem player is out of the equation so maybe things will work better this time. Do not allow long breaks. This may mean having 5 players plus GM. If one player needs to break you can keep playing. Taking breaks will kill your momentum everytime. I've never had a group resume a campaign after breaking. Another alternative is to go full sandbox. These games are better suited for variable attendance, GM rotation, player interest and buy in.


Personally I'm not a huge fan of APs for this reason. I find it much easier to keep players interested if I create an adventure tied to their characters.

Not every has the time to do so, I understand that, but I think you might still be able to do something along those lines.

Maybe you take the basic, core structure of an AP, but you switch the primary enemy type from orcs to elementals to fit your Suli summoner, re-write the BBEG as a half-fiend sorcerer related to your Tiefling rogue, and fluff the MacGuffen as an ancient sword from the same culture as your human fighter. If all of these elemental are directly tied to backstories the player created for themselves, they may feel more invested.

Sovereign Court

I hate to admit it but Ellis may be on to something. My group loves to take the GMs idea and run with it. The APs including players guides is a big hit for us. We like to make it easy on the GM so they can focus on the game and not worry about tailoring everything to our PCs. We live for the story and the adventure. Many players live in their character alone and each group needs to be approached in the best play style.


Ellis Mirari wrote:

Personally I'm not a huge fan of APs for this reason. I find it much easier to keep players interested if I create an adventure tied to their characters.

Not every has the time to do so, I understand that, but I think you might still be able to do something along those lines.

Maybe you take the basic, core structure of an AP, but you switch the primary enemy type from orcs to elementals to fit your Suli summoner, re-write the BBEG as a half-fiend sorcerer related to your Tiefling rogue, and fluff the MacGuffen as an ancient sword from the same culture as your human fighter. If all of these elemental are directly tied to backstories the player created for themselves, they may feel more invested.

While your idea would most defiantly work, with school, work, family, friends, and mate I can't put in the extra time to revamp the AP. I do try and add little tidbits of things for my players based off of their story and traits (which I always make them take a campaign trait and this is the trait i am referring too) and don't have the time to write up new monsters...sadly.


Why not do something with online gaming while your friends are unable to make it to table top sessions?

You could email each of them for personal side adventures to keep them interested in the current game.

How many months go by between game sessions? It sounds like the players forget because of daily lives. With the email text adventures that they don't have to use dice (or maybe they do) there is at least some incentive to keep gaming until the next session rolls around


Schiffer wrote:
Ellis Mirari wrote:

Personally I'm not a huge fan of APs for this reason. I find it much easier to keep players interested if I create an adventure tied to their characters.

Not every has the time to do so, I understand that, but I think you might still be able to do something along those lines.

Maybe you take the basic, core structure of an AP, but you switch the primary enemy type from orcs to elementals to fit your Suli summoner, re-write the BBEG as a half-fiend sorcerer related to your Tiefling rogue, and fluff the MacGuffen as an ancient sword from the same culture as your human fighter. If all of these elemental are directly tied to backstories the player created for themselves, they may feel more invested.

While your idea would most defiantly work, with school, work, family, friends, and mate I can't put in the extra time to revamp the AP. I do try and add little tidbits of things for my players based off of their story and traits (which I always make them take a campaign trait and this is the trait i am referring too) and don't have the time to write up new monsters...sadly.

You may be overestimating the amount of time it would take.

AP has an encounter with a couple of CR 4 monster zombies and their CR 6 vampire overlord?

Pop over to the NPC Codex and drop in two CR 4 Fighters and a CR 6 Wizard, and now they're fighting the evil mercenaries that were behind X's brother's death for the sacred sword instead of undead minions.

Or elementals. Or angels. Or orcs. Never forget that you are the only person to see the stats on your side of the screen: your stats may say "Troll", but if you describe it as a barbarian with a "regeneration necklace", then that's what it is.

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