LansXero
2012-02-14, 07:10 AM
Greetings!
So, after a short DMing break I started a new campaign a month ago with a group of people Ive played with before (4 players who finished a year-long campaign set in Eberron with me, an old player who became a villain and then left that same campaign, a friend of his with lots of old school experience, and a former DM of mine who is very into freeform and interpretative stuff and has played tons of other systems).
Anyways, the campaign is set in the Magic: The Gathering setting of Innistrad (http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/stf/157) (click the link for info if you are not familiar with it). Its basically a horror / gothic themed setting which I thought was cool for a change after the high adventure game we had in Eberron. We are using mostly only humanoidable races (as in, non human races get to keep their racial stats, but are pretty much just quirky humans) and a variant for using MTG colors instead of alignment.
The problems Im having are in several levels, namely:
1. The horror theme. Ive never been good with the genre in general, find suspense / horror movies boring and have a hard time getting "into" it. I this would be an oportunity to train myself in it, but its not really working. I must not be conveying the plight of the people well enough, because...
2. The players. One of them is a greedy pirate out to make a quick coin who runs away from fights. Another is an antiques collector willing to sell everything for a price, including himself. The other is a Lawful dorf, and a devout monk... with vow of poverty. It just seems there is no thematic or goal cohesion in the party, and a lack of purpose. The initial plot tried to get them involved with the plight of the church and helping the people, but it didnt really hook them.
3. The players, as in, the large number of them. While not many complains have been had, smoke breaks are frequent, and so is the use of cellphones. I get it, its boring to wait while its other people's turn, specially with 6 others sharing the table. This mostly comes from my former players, who were used to our usual 3 - 4 group with lots of combat. Having greedy survivalists and non-violent pacifists alongside mercenaries and characters built for combat is... less than stellar, so while someone wants to roleplay the selling of an antique or the gathering of fruit, people get frustrated because the story goes nowhere.
4. The plot. I thought the setting would grip them more, or that my own ability wouldnt be so lacking... but I cant seem to find a way to make the world appeal to the lot of them. There is no conceivable reason why they would travel or adventure together, and throwing monsters at them at every turn would get old fast.
Well, that was long... any tips or advice would be apreciated. I dont really wanna force them to behave a certain way or play a certain type of character, but Im finding it hard to enjoy the game the past couple of sessions. Its like a balancing act: if the heavy RP people dont RP heavily, they get bored, but if they do the rest get bored and the plot goes nowhere. :(
So, after a short DMing break I started a new campaign a month ago with a group of people Ive played with before (4 players who finished a year-long campaign set in Eberron with me, an old player who became a villain and then left that same campaign, a friend of his with lots of old school experience, and a former DM of mine who is very into freeform and interpretative stuff and has played tons of other systems).
Anyways, the campaign is set in the Magic: The Gathering setting of Innistrad (http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/stf/157) (click the link for info if you are not familiar with it). Its basically a horror / gothic themed setting which I thought was cool for a change after the high adventure game we had in Eberron. We are using mostly only humanoidable races (as in, non human races get to keep their racial stats, but are pretty much just quirky humans) and a variant for using MTG colors instead of alignment.
The problems Im having are in several levels, namely:
1. The horror theme. Ive never been good with the genre in general, find suspense / horror movies boring and have a hard time getting "into" it. I this would be an oportunity to train myself in it, but its not really working. I must not be conveying the plight of the people well enough, because...
2. The players. One of them is a greedy pirate out to make a quick coin who runs away from fights. Another is an antiques collector willing to sell everything for a price, including himself. The other is a Lawful dorf, and a devout monk... with vow of poverty. It just seems there is no thematic or goal cohesion in the party, and a lack of purpose. The initial plot tried to get them involved with the plight of the church and helping the people, but it didnt really hook them.
3. The players, as in, the large number of them. While not many complains have been had, smoke breaks are frequent, and so is the use of cellphones. I get it, its boring to wait while its other people's turn, specially with 6 others sharing the table. This mostly comes from my former players, who were used to our usual 3 - 4 group with lots of combat. Having greedy survivalists and non-violent pacifists alongside mercenaries and characters built for combat is... less than stellar, so while someone wants to roleplay the selling of an antique or the gathering of fruit, people get frustrated because the story goes nowhere.
4. The plot. I thought the setting would grip them more, or that my own ability wouldnt be so lacking... but I cant seem to find a way to make the world appeal to the lot of them. There is no conceivable reason why they would travel or adventure together, and throwing monsters at them at every turn would get old fast.
Well, that was long... any tips or advice would be apreciated. I dont really wanna force them to behave a certain way or play a certain type of character, but Im finding it hard to enjoy the game the past couple of sessions. Its like a balancing act: if the heavy RP people dont RP heavily, they get bored, but if they do the rest get bored and the plot goes nowhere. :(