Homebrew campaign and my players not attempting main quests

[Sentinal3131]

First of let me start off by saying this is my first post here and i hope its in the right place.

Ive played DND for about 10 years. im currently playing 5th edition with a group where im a player and i am also running a 3.5 campaign where im DM'ing.

This is the first time ive ever been a dm and i absolutely love it, its 10x better than being a player. Anyway ive created a story, a map which is roughly 1000 miles squared, lots of npcs and shops, guilds governments and economic and political systems that connect loads of cities and which includes lots of places to explore. basically ive tried to make it as indepth as i can possibly think of.

So the campaign starts and everyone is having loads of fun, im roleplaying the npcs and getting really into the game and so is everyone else. the only problem is theyve been given 4 clear quests to undertake and they are literally wondering off in the opposite direction. I understand that ive given them an entire world to explore but ive also made it clear that there are time limits on certain quests....namely that a royal family has been captured for reasons unknown ( basically they are going to be used for a dark ritual that will allow a necromancer to futher his powers etc).

Im not expecting any solutions other making the game more linear. overall i want them to have and so far its been a complete success its just frustrating when players seem to choose to head off into the wilderness instead of taking the quests.the reason why ive made the game so open is because it was one of my personal gripes i had, feeling like all the games ive ever played were linear.

Im thinking of making the Main villian teleport in and cast sleep on them all or capture them somehow and force them into some of the dungeons ive created. but i dont want them to think ' oh thats conveniant' but at some point im going to have to.

Has anyone other DMs or players experienced this, when the options to avoid main quests comes up and players run away from it?

[Shadowquad]

My best advice would be to show them their (lack of) actions have consequences.
If they don't rescue the royal family, then the necromancer performs his ritual, and gains enough power to threaten the country with an undead army. The country is also weakened, due to the succession war to claim the vacant throne.
Involve your PCs personally. Maybe their families can be collateral damage, or at least endangered by their actions. Depending on the overall alignment of the party, they may seek revenge, justice or atonement by defeating the villain and following your main quest.
If they have no strings to the country, like good murderhobos do, maybe they unknowingly possess an artefact that the villain needs, so he will have to steal from them. Or maybe, after raiding a difficult dungeon, they discover that the villain came first and ninja'ed all the loot.

[Deox]

Let's begin by stating if everyone is having fun, then you're off to a great start.

If I am understanding correctly, it's not that the players aren't accepting main quests, it may be that they have not been incentivized enough to care. Additionally, one of the more difficult tasks (for me anyway) is to keep the world in motion, regardless of character action. The world should not be "instanced" or "frozen" and only become active when the characters arrive. What are some NPC motivations, aspirations? Overarching goals of rulers? Political struggles?

You are in a great position, actually. This can set up numerous additional "quests" or events due to the characters not showing interest. The livestock that has gone missing? Well now the intruders have become more aggressive and villagers are now being taken, prompting a less then friendly attitude for the character's lack of investiture.

Essentially, let the world continue to evolve. Each action or choice the characters make should have an effect on their surroundings.

[DarkSoul]

Welcome to the playground, and to being a DM.

I think most DMs have the problem you're having right now at least once; when the players just aren't picking up your adventure hooks. There are a few things you can do about it though.

First, you can just move your adventure locations. So the necromancer took the royal family off to the north when they were kidnapped? What if he circled around or teleported to his lair in the west, because he knew some meddling adventurers would likely try to track him down? The same principle would apply to whatever adventure you're currently running, assuming it's not a huge issue to transplant locations. This works for adventure hooks too. So the group doesn't look for the kidnapped royals; that's fine, move along and let them go wherever. Then, when they're searching for something unusual like weapons, rare components, or obscure information, tell them the only person that has what they're looking for has just been kidnapped. It could be that the group simply has no reason to take your hooks, because they or their characters have no investment in the adventure, emotional or otherwise. Give them a reason to want to track down the kidnapper and see if they take it then.

It could be that the players think the adventure hook is too hard for them at their current level, too. If you've told them that you're running a more sandbox-style game where they can wander as they choose, they could be assuming that there will be encounters they should run from rather than fight, and are simply playing it safe.

Secondly, you said that some of your plot points have time limits. Stick to them. Let the royals be sacrificed and empower the necromancer. Now you have a power vacuum to fill which leads to all kinds of intrigue-laden plots, along with the necromancer himself now being a greater force to reckon with. This will make your world seem more real when (or if) the players realize that bad things will happen if they don't intervene.

Third, talk to your players if nothing helps and they simply don't take any of your hooks. Find out what kind of players they really are, and what kind of game they want to play because your initial ideas don't seem to be anything they're interested in. If you can find it, read through Robin's Laws of Good Game Mastering. It's an older book, but has a lot of good information in it. There's similar information in the Dungeon Master's Guide Ib, which makes sense because Robin Laws was the (or one of several, for the DMG2) author of both books.

EDIT: Oh yeah, one more thing. LISTEN to your players, but don't say anything when they sit around speculating about what's going on in the game. They'll give you all kinds of adventure hooks or reasons for something happening that you might not have ever considered. This is especially effective when you're not sure what's happening next or why. Listen to what the players think without suggesting anything, pick one of their theories that sounds interesting, and run with it. You get inspiration for the next part of your game, and they get the satisfaction of that "I KNEW it!" moment in the game.

[Sentinal3131]

Wow, two very clever replies thank you so much.

since the last session i had been thinking of consequences as you say, the necromancer is actually called roah the doombringer, he is actually an evil god called Hoar in human form reduced to being in a human body for punishment blah blah, so yeh if he succesfully completes the sacrifice they will have a full blown demigod on thier hands.

I literally started their campaign with a dying NPC royal guard stating that the surrounding cities must be warned of an impending invasion and the royals have been camptured. with regards to them having family involved i have asked that they each pinpoint on the map which city their family is in so i can do that. great suggestion there thank you.

'... The livestock that has gone missing? Well now the intruders have become more aggressive and villagers are now being taken, prompting a less then friendly attitude for the character's lack of investiture.' thats a good idea thank you

i guess im just getting frustrated because ive prepared some awesome dungeons and if they dont attempt to save the royals then they may never get used unless i change them and just chuck them into the campaign randomly

[Sentinal3131]

Welcome to the playground, and to being a DM.

I think most DMs have the problem you're having right now at least once; when the players just aren't picking up your adventure hooks. There are a few things you can do about it though.

First, you can just move your adventure locations. So the necromancer took the royal family off to the north when they were kidnapped? What if he circled around or teleported to his lair in the west, because he knew some meddling adventurers would likely try to track him down? The same principle would apply to whatever adventure you're currently running, assuming it's not a huge issue to transplant locations. This works for adventure hooks too. So the group doesn't look for the kidnapped royals; that's fine, move along and let them go wherever. Then, when they're searching for something unusual like weapons, rare components, or obscure information, tell them the only person that has what they're looking for has just been kidnapped. It could be that the group simply has no reason to take your hooks, because they or their characters have no investment in the adventure, emotional or otherwise. Give them a reason to want to track down the kidnapper and see if they take it then.

It could be that the players think the adventure hook is too hard for them at their current level, too. If you've told them that you're running a more sandbox-style game where they can wander as they choose, they could be assuming that there will be encounters they should run from rather than fight, and are simply playing it safe.

Secondly, you said that some of your plot points have time limits. Stick to them. Let the royals be sacrificed and empower the necromancer. Now you have a power vacuum to fill which leads to all kinds of intrigue-laden plots, along with the necromancer himself now being a greater force to reckon with. This will make your world seem more real when (or if) the players realize that bad things will happen if they don't intervene.

Third, talk to your players if nothing helps and they simply don't take any of your hooks. Find out what kind of players they really are, and what kind of game they want to play because your initial ideas don't seem to be anything they're interested in. If you can find it, read through Robin's Laws of Good Game Mastering. It's an older book, but has a lot of good information in it. There's similar information in the Dungeon Master's Guide Ib, which makes sense because Robin Laws was the (or one of several, for the DMG2) author of both books.

EDIT: Oh yeah, one more thing. LISTEN to your players, but don't say anything when they sit around speculating about what's going on in the game. They'll give you all kinds of adventure hooks or reasons for something happening that you might not have ever considered. This is especially effective when you're not sure what's happening next or why. Listen to what the players think without suggesting anything, pick one of their theories that sounds interesting, and run with it. You get inspiration for the next part of your game, and they get the satisfaction of that "I KNEW it!" moment in the game.

excellent thank you. ive had 3 sessions and they have not got any further into the story, i even had them captured (by having a guard ask them to put irons on and they willingly gave up) and instead of talking to steward of the city (like they were 'supposed to' to get some crucial information forming the main plot twists, they instead stole some horses and fled the city. at that point i wanted to face palm. but i did learn from one thing, as you point out, i pick up on what they want to do from what they expect to happen. so there were a few good encounters etc.

well ive got another session coming up next week and i hope to report back here. i really do want it to be an open world. and so this does all have consequences. The necromancer tricked 3 town lords to pay him so he can capture their royal family so that they can vie for power over the kingdom...but really the necromancer cares nothing for the kingdom and so once the royals are all dead and gone war is going to insue in all the human cities ive created and so the only safe havens will be gnome,elf, and dwarfish. with the power vacuum the orcs, goblins etc will notice and thus attack from the east.

god i love DND and the endless positibilies.