Several of my past articles and numerous posted comments have all addressed the topic of how to get players more involved in a campaign beyond just actively pursuing the adventure at hand.  Although it would be great if players just wanted to be drawn into the campaign without effort it rarely ever works out that way.  It takes a DM who consciously creates and evolves both a world and a story that compel the players to invest their attention, their energy, and their creativity into the shared experience.  This of course is much easier said than done.

In our campaign I like to try and accomplish this through the use of several techniques, primarily in-depth verisimilitude, character driven plot-lines, and a well developed setting.  Although all of these things work well they tend to take a lot of time, energy, and planning.  So if you don’t have a lot of extra time, or find yourself already in mid-campaign and need a quick boost, I offer the following few tips to get into your players heads and get them thinking about the campaign.  Nothing draws in players like curiosity.  Although I think there is an old saying about curiosity you may want to warn your players about.  Then again, maybe you don’t…

The Unusual and the Odd

I like to add quite a few unusual locations and odd circumstances to my campaigns.  These are usually simple things that may or may not prove to be of any significance but still pique the players’ curiosity and interest.  There are lots of things that can fill the bill on this technique; out of place objects (things that don’t seem to fit in with their surroundings), unusual rumors, and inexplicable locations all strike a player’s interest.  Over the years I’ve used dozens of different unusual and odd things including:

• An ancient monument of gigantic floating stones in the middle of the woods.
• An armband that detected as magical, glowed slightly, and could not be removed after it was put on.
• A group of mysterious strangers that gather every new moon at the heroes’ favorite inn to play in a private, back-room dice game. 
• A mundane animal (such as a dog, cat, or raven) that is frequently spotted; outside an inn, at the city gates, on the road, near an ancient ruin etc.
• A crumpled-up piece of parchment that resembles a wanted poster.  There is a portrait of one of the heroes on the poster.
• A small shrine along an infrequently traveled trail dedicated to some god or deity the heroes have never heard of.  On the ground in front of the shrine is a brass bowl of semi-coagulated blood.
• A bunch of dead cows in a field.  They don’t appear to be injured, just dead.
• When the heroes arrive in a new town and check into an inn that they’ve never been to before the innkeeper tells one of them he has a package for the character.  The dust covered box has been here for months, maybe years and contains a few mundane items (dagger, couple of coins, etc.).

Any of these things might actually turn out to be relevant to the campaign, red herrings, or just simply odd occurrences that never are explained.  Regardless they will all keep your players guessing and intrigued about the world they are in.

To Good to Be True

Every once and a while I like to have a patron offer the heroes a reward that seems way out of proportion to the task at hand.  Of course the players always expect there’s more than meets the eye and that’s a classic story hook, but I like to let things go off without a hitch.  That breeds wonderful paranoia.  I’ve seen players go so far as to quickly get rid of their treasure for far less than it’s worth for fear of it being cursed, or worse. 

I also like to pull the old “Indiana Jones and the Golden Idol” maneuver.  Leave some great treasure in a place that seems like an obvious trap and then let the heroes simply walk off with it, no strings attached.  I stumbled upon this by accident recently when I realized that I was a few treasure parcels shy for the characters at their level.  It had been a few encounters since the heroes had acquired anything valuable so I decided that they would come across a few nice items in an out of the way part of the ruined crypts they were exploring.  I described what appeared to be the site of a long-forgotten battle, skeletal remains and the signs of a fight were everywhere.  Amongst the battle-scarred remains I left three magic items, a map, and some incidental monetary treasure.  The players spent nearly an hour in the room looking for traps, an ambush, invisible chupercabras, ninjas, you name it.  Eventually the party decided to leave everything alone without touching it because some sprit had generically warned the party to “not disturb the halls of the dead” earlier in the adventure.  I of course don’t like to argue with player decisions, so they left without any treasure and I left with a new method of getting in their heads.

Again this is another technique that gets players to really think about their surroundings and question the events and circumstances of the adventure.  Remember two important Dungeon Master keywords; paranoia and curiosity.  These are the words that suck players into your world.

What’s in a Name?

I’ve always been sure to give proper names to the NPC’s that the characters interact with.  Of course most of us remember to name important people like nobles, guild-masters, and major antagonists.  We also tend to name people the characters interact with frequently such as a favorite inn-keeper, blacksmith, or hireling.  Names build verisimilitude and a great sense of continuality to the campaign. 

In my current campaign however I’ve begun naming everyone.  I mean absolutely everyone especially combat encounter NPC’s who won’t live to see the end of the encounter.  If you want to see one of your minor encounters become a big-deal to your players have one of the enemy shout out to another by name.  The very first encounter in my current campaign featured a group of goblins ambushing the heroes.  It was a simple 1^st level, nothing-to-it encounter.  During the attack one of them yelled to Gratz, another goblin, by name.  The mood around the table changed instantly.  Suddenly the players were unsure of the encounter, characters hesitated.  Perception checks were made, defenders guarded against an imagined counter-attack, and Gratz was approached much more cautiously.  By the time the encounter was over Gratz lay dead and paranoia was alive and well. 

The effect was unexpected and totally unplanned but the intensity of the encounter completely changed.  The players began asking questions and getting drawn into the goblins’ world.  They were no longer simple goblins attack travelers.  The players wanted to know who they were, and where they came from.  They wanted to know whether or not anyone else knew of these goblins or recognized their banner.  Almost by accident the nature of the campaign changed.  Since that time everyone in our campaign has a name, even NPC’s whose names may never be heard. 

As a final note when the heroes in my campaign fought some other goblins a couple of levels later one of them attacked yelling that they had killed his brother Gratz.  It was a great moment at the table as I watched the players begin thinking more in terms of cause-and-effect and the big picture, instead of looking at the world as a random string of encounters.

Of course all of these techniques loose a little “shock value” as they are used over time.  But if you keep using them your world will become more vivid and “real” and the players will find themselves much more immersed in the campaign.  And that will add a new level to your role-playing experience.