Lazy Players - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Lazy Players

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
eviloneinabox
Mar 19, 2010 22:01:51
How do you all deal with the lazy players who want to run around in eberron but don't want to do any of the legwork? In my current group (we run 3.5) I keep offering them to take the campaign setting or one of the splatbooks I have.

I have only 1 player in 5 who know what is going on and I feel like its a waste of time to explain what every little group does. I get questions like "X, who are they, what do they do?"

I maybe too hard on them and I tell them we can play classic so it isn't so much to remember but they refuse against it since they love the feel of eberron and probably because I DM harder in eberron since that's where my heart is.

What to do to get them engaged?
#2
Sarlax
Mar 19, 2010 23:43:04 Run an adventure that features the groups in a significant way. My campaign is mission-driven, with the players tasked to keep the peace by secretly preventing wars. In the first adventure, they stopped the Swords of Liberty from piloting Argonth into Thrane. In the second adventure, they tracked down a war criminal who was being kept hidden by House Tarkanan. In the third adventure, they stopped the Emerald Claw from taking over an important castle. In the fifth, they assassinated a rogue Dhakaani general. Etc.

By now, they possess a great deal of information about the various organizations of Khorvaire.
#3
bobiago
Mar 20, 2010 23:39:04 If it was your homebrew, they wouldn't have any more information about the world than what they learn from you - I don't see why that should be any bigger of a problem if your world is Eberron.

Unless your players really like reading campaign settings (which yours obviously don't) then all the extra material in Eberron would just be noise to them anyway. There is a lot there, and it can be very overwhelming (even for some of us GM's).

They only really need to know what their characters have been exposed to - and even the well informed people you meet on the street in real life don't know a ton about groups and events that don't affect them.

Personally, I prefer to reveal facts about the world through NPC interaction. Need them to know about the Lord of Blades? Have them meet a travelling Warforged who is on his way to join up with him, or a former disciple who learned the error of his ways.

In some ways, you are lucky. You don't have to worry about your players throwing canon in your face all the time, so much so that you have to have every sourcebook memorized. You can be freer to improvise without worrying as much about contradicting the source material - your players wouldn't know it even if you did, nor would they care, apparently.
#4
eviloneinabox
Mar 21, 2010 8:56:08 thank you so much for these suggestions I didn't even think about them not knowing everything as a boon and explaining things through missions and NPCs, I think would intrigue my players.

Since they don't know or are supposed to know about Lady Vol I think I may do a campaign around her and her legitimacy mysterious machinations.
#5
ganryu
Mar 24, 2010 19:49:39 Their lack of knowledge is an advantage to you as a GM. The less they know, the less YOU need to know. Makes everything much simpler. Example:

*The player characters just arrived in Sharn by lightning rail*
Cleric: I want to check out House Kundarak.
GM: House what?
Cleric: The dwarf bank house thingy.
GM: *reads up on it*
GM: Ok.
GM: You arrive at House Kundarak after a long walk
Cleric: We couldn't take a skycoach?
GM: "Skycoach"?
Etc. etc.

Of course you can prevent this sort of thing by being VERY prepared.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 eviloneinabox Mar 19, 2010 22:01:51	How do you all deal with the lazy players who want to run around in eberron but don't want to do any of the legwork? In my current group (we run 3.5) I keep offering them to take the campaign setting or one of the splatbooks I have. I have only 1 player in 5 who know what is going on and I feel like its a waste of time to explain what every little group does. I get questions like "X, who are they, what do they do?" I maybe too hard on them and I tell them we can play classic so it isn't so much to remember but they refuse against it since they love the feel of eberron and probably because I DM harder in eberron since that's where my heart is. What to do to get them engaged?
#2 Sarlax Mar 19, 2010 23:43:04	Run an adventure that features the groups in a significant way. My campaign is mission-driven, with the players tasked to keep the peace by secretly preventing wars. In the first adventure, they stopped the Swords of Liberty from piloting Argonth into Thrane. In the second adventure, they tracked down a war criminal who was being kept hidden by House Tarkanan. In the third adventure, they stopped the Emerald Claw from taking over an important castle. In the fifth, they assassinated a rogue Dhakaani general. Etc. By now, they possess a great deal of information about the various organizations of Khorvaire.
#3 bobiago Mar 20, 2010 23:39:04	If it was your homebrew, they wouldn't have any more information about the world than what they learn from you - I don't see why that should be any bigger of a problem if your world is Eberron. Unless your players really like reading campaign settings (which yours obviously don't) then all the extra material in Eberron would just be noise to them anyway. There is a lot there, and it can be very overwhelming (even for some of us GM's). They only really need to know what their characters have been exposed to - and even the well informed people you meet on the street in real life don't know a ton about groups and events that don't affect them. Personally, I prefer to reveal facts about the world through NPC interaction. Need them to know about the Lord of Blades? Have them meet a travelling Warforged who is on his way to join up with him, or a former disciple who learned the error of his ways. In some ways, you are lucky. You don't have to worry about your players throwing canon in your face all the time, so much so that you have to have every sourcebook memorized. You can be freer to improvise without worrying as much about contradicting the source material - your players wouldn't know it even if you did, nor would they care, apparently.
#4 eviloneinabox Mar 21, 2010 8:56:08	thank you so much for these suggestions I didn't even think about them not knowing everything as a boon and explaining things through missions and NPCs, I think would intrigue my players. Since they don't know or are supposed to know about Lady Vol I think I may do a campaign around her and her legitimacy mysterious machinations.
#5 ganryu Mar 24, 2010 19:49:39	Their lack of knowledge is an advantage to you as a GM. The less they know, the less YOU need to know. Makes everything much simpler. Example: The player characters just arrived in Sharn by lightning rail Cleric: I want to check out House Kundarak. GM: House what? Cleric: The dwarf bank house thingy. GM: reads up on it GM: Ok. GM: You arrive at House Kundarak after a long walk Cleric: We couldn't take a skycoach? GM: "Skycoach"? Etc. etc. Of course you can prevent this sort of thing by being VERY prepared.