DM Babble: When players surprise you as people.

An update on things regarding my epic journey in my first homebrew campaign(s).

I've been playing my homebrew campaign for a couple of weeks now with the two groups - the South Africans, and the British. Things have been interesting. Both groups took to the concept of the campaign vastly differently. The Saffas took the epic hero route. They took the NPCs at their word and was determined to make everything right again. I got backstory and so many lore questions and just a enormous platform to work from.

The British, on the other hand, not only questioned everything, including the sanity of the NPCs, they also just... didn't play ball. When told not to do something, they'd do it - repeatedly. When asked 'how are you going to save us?' they basically shrugged and said 'sorry, you went through all this trouble for nothing'.

I found myself challenged, certainly, but also frustrated. Not angry but confused... flabbergasted. The campaign hinges on the premise that the players want to be the heroes in the tale. They don't necessarily have to be completely proactive, but they need to at least try and that was just not happening in the latter case. So, after 6 sessions... 18 hours... of trying (and I don't know how many hours of prep), I decided that perhaps I should just admit to myself and the group that maybe this campaign just doesn't fit. It would not be a defeat for me or an insult to them. It's just a matter of oil and water. For a first homebrew campaign, I'm quite satisfied with what I've created for them in those 6 sessions. Like, I felt somewhat disappointed, but I didn't feel like it was a waste as it's material I can reuse in future, after all. 

So I slept on it and decided to go ahead and throw in the towel. 

The response I got from the group, or at least two of the group, was... surprising. They were bemused, not understanding where this was coming from and not wanting to end the campaign at all. I had to emphasise and explain that this wasn't a "You're shit and I don't want to play with you anymore" type  of situation. It was just that I honestly don't know how to progress the story in a way that would fit this group's dynamic. Reassured that I'm not thinking poorly of them, they again reiterated that they want the campaign to continue. And the suggestions they made were definitely helpful, but I found them surprising. Suddenly they were completely willing to play ball. They would change their character's attitudes, they would take action, they would become heroes. They even reshaped the Discord server that we use so that they could take action - creating multiple channels for discussion and character notes galore.

It's left me a little stunned and a little unsure. Unsure because I don't understand... but I'm happy to see them trying.

I've heard many times that you need to touch base with your table and let them also know where you're at. This was my first opportunity to do that and it's been confusing but good. I mean, I can totally work with people who want to do stuff. I still have a lot of thinking and a lot of preparation I need to do to get everything going, but if they really do shift their approach, I might be able to take them for several sessions more.