GM Writers Block getting out of hand.

[MonkeySage]

I try to give my players freedom to explore, I don't ever wanna hear that I railroad my players.

But players are an unpredictable bunch...

Well, the leader of the party has decided, for a reason I have yet to fully discern, to lead the party back to the starting village, to speak with a young witch about an already resolved minor side story(resolved before the current campaign).

The village is in some bog in the frozen north of my setting, and the players are level 8 mythics. I want this to be a roleplay campaign, not combat heavy.... and I cannot think of anything interesting to do here. They've picked the most boring destination possible when I've got a far more interesting story to the south. The leader plays it safe and doesn't like to take risks. He wanted to spend several days whittling down an army through starvation, which makes sense from a tactical perspective but from a gameplay perspective would take far too long and wouldn't move the story along.

With the latest development, I'm stumped.

The party leader is an outsider from the plane of shadow... the young witch procured an artifact, a mirror tied to the goddess of shadow.

[The Inquisition]

At times like these I don't think about what you should do to make them do something interesting. I would try something interesting enough to appeal to them. Bandits, a pack of bears attacking an out of place looking maiden? (References.) Maybe word comes that a huge shipment of food is coming to the army and they have to find a way to keep it from going. If you're looking for ways to keep them from going into combat, I would just imply HEAVILY that there's a strong force (Whatever you want it to be) that's guarding them, and you give the impression that even They couldn't take it. If you get stumped, try to find an end result and make blanks to fill in on your own.

Sorry if my advice was unhelpful, I'm trying to be more creative myself.

[MonkeySage]

Well, the siege plot was sort of resolved. They stormed the camp...

But now they wanna go talk to a witch about a mirror. They think they'll learn more about a possible murderer that supposedly came from the mirror.

[The Inquisition]

Would you mind giving a little more background about it? It sounds interesting, and I'd like to hear more about it.

[Yahzi]

(the players are going) north... I've got a far more interesting story to the south.
These two facts are not unrelated.


and I cannot think of anything interesting to do here.
Then don't. It's not your job, and your players are pretty clearly telling you to not do it.

Stop trying to make things interesting. Focus on making them detailed. Who lives in the village? What is happening to them? What are their goals and fears? Surely there is conflict and drama - unrequited love, unhappy marriages, affairs of the heart, chicken coops being raided, cows that won't give milk, taxes that can't be paid, feuds that can't be calmed.

Instead of making interesting stories, make an interesting world. You don't need to know the answer to any of these problems. You just need to know what they are. Put yourself in the shoes of the NPCs the players talk to; imagine what these people want, need, and fear. If your characters are believable, your story is interesting, even if it's just about finding a lost cat.

What you've got here is a railroad strike; your players are on strike against your railroad. If you love a plot, let it go; if it was interesting, it will come back on its own. Maybe whatever was happening down south is why the cows don't give milk anymore. Let the players realize that on their own, and decide what to do about it by themselves.

[martixy]

Would your players be interested in something more mundane?

Like, try to come up with some trivial problems that the party could solve with their abilities in amusing, unconventional and possibly over-the-top ways.
It seems like a nice opportunity to look back and show them just how much they've grown. I know some players enjoy perspective like that.

[Shackel]

If they've been gone for a long enough time, perhaps have the village changed up a lot since they last came by. More populous, learned of their fame for better or for worse, etc. If they're Mythic 8 and genuinely want to go talk to the little folk, this would be a perfect time to emphasize just how different they are by how they solve "little" but complex issues.

[charcoalninja]

Maybe make the artifact wake up one night and start causing serious issues for the town causing the shadow plane to begin crossing over. People could begin being replaced by shadow versions of themselves and the players need to find the now missing artifact and stop the crossover.

Or maybe they discover that this town was never real to begin with and instead was created by the artifact entirely. They're entirely quasi-real shadow constructs.

[Dekion]

A little more clarification may help to give specific aid. You said level 8 mythic...Does that mean level 8 with mythic tiers (how many?) Does that mean level ?? with 8 mythic tiers? While you don't want to "railroad" the party, you can, and should, provide guidance toward things that will advance the story that is being created. The characters should have a reason for wanting to go where you, as the DM, want them to go. Play to the characters' (and players') motivations. What general alignment is the party, and would they want to help those in trouble or stop someone taking certain actions? What backstory elements can be incorporated to pique interest? What are their goals? You said it's roleplay heavy, use that to get the necessary information into their hands to make decisions. If you, as the DM, ask the question "Where is the party going to go now?" And they don't have a something on their list of choices that includes the destination you desire for them with some good reason for them to go there, then they aren't going to get there. The other side of this is to take their choices and make what you will out of it...Have things be interrelated. Perhaps something that they find in the village points them South. But, per your concern, try to make it make sense and feel organic.

[MonkeySage]

Belated update:

The players started the game as level 8/tier 1 characters in the bog village to the extreme north; the realm is governed by 4 Witches (the spiritual leaders of the land), and their apprentices.

To begin the game, the players learned of a druid settlement that had been sacked by an unusually organized horde of goblinoids.

After storming the camp, they learned 1) that the goblinoid were acting on behalf of a hidden agent, 2) that they had deep pockets and access to an alchemist skilled in the use of mutagens. They were then set upon by a noble and his 5 knights. The noble identified himself as the ruler of a vast continental empire to the south, and claimed that the 5 knights accompanying him were 5 of the highest ranking knights in his realm.

The Emperor declared the leader of the horde as a wanted criminal, and seemed all too eager to put him to death personally. (The players later discovered that he was trying to tie up a loose end). As it turns out, the emperor has enlisted the aid of a goblin priest, to strike terror in the lands and help him expand his realm; a plan which has so far worked like a charm. A recent imperial acquisition came in the form of a tribal kingdom not far from the camp; the local King Elgard married the Imperial Princess Laura and pledged fealty to the Emperor.
As a consequence of what they have learned, the players now have the choice of either keeping this information to themselves, or confronting the emperor and most likely dying a horrible death.

Adding a layer of complexity, the Emperor wanted to keep the players distracted, so he asked them to help with an ongoing murder investigation; very recently, coinciding with the discovery of the previously discovered mirror, a people, mostly commoners or guards, have turned up missing their hearts, which seem to have been ripped right from their bodies.


This leads us to now:

The players have returned to the starting village to speak with the Witch who sent them on their original quest. They came to ask about the mirror and told the witch about a young boy they met while in the tribal kingdom to the south. The boy was unusually dressed, and had an equally unusual hair color. They described the murders, and from that the witch was able to venture a guess as to what the boy was; she called him a "kumiho", a vicious shapeshifting fox with multiple tails.

[nedz]

You could just hand wave the journey - well maybe throw in a couple of encounters, or maybe not - and have the witch conversation be quite short.

This may seem like you are short-changing the players, but it's often better to skip past the uninteresting stuff to leave more time for role play of consequence.

You could run a side plot in the starting village, but if you are not inspired to do this then it will be weak.