Dragging a rounded character out of them, kicking and screaming.

[potatocubed]

Melf proves you can actually get surprisingly far that way.

Rary was originally called Medium Rary.

[Drakevarg]

Geez... never post a topic right before bed... I'll edit this post and answer everyone I can...

It sounds like there might be a disconnect between the kind of campaign you want to run and the kind your players want to play in.

It seems like (and you confirmed) you want to run a sandbox-style campaign where most things are driven by the characters' motivations. Maybe your players don't really want to do that. Maybe they just want a more casual campaign where they don't feel like they have to be the catalyst for any adventures that happen.

Well perhaps they should've picked up on my play style sometime during the last three campaigns I've run for them.

Players tend to grow attached to their characters over time. Try to force killing them off if it can be avoided. For instance, if characters need motivation, you can add motivations to existing characters. Ask players what things interest them, and work them into the plot.

Sure, it sucks that you lost campaign notes, but you can always take a different direction from where you are now.

I'm talking about EVERYTHING regarding the campaign. Character sheets included.

Sounds like it's time for Sandstorm.

I wish I owned it.

>an entire session on character creation? Brutal. We generally have new people get a character built in the first half hour of the session. They're playing in the first hour...and we spend a *lot* of time messing around.

It usually takes us 2-3 sessions to finish CharGen. Don't ask me why, though; this is our first time using the 51-question thing.

Feh. Easy enough to throw plot hooks for. Accidentally caused deaths in his tribe? Yeah, if that doesn't justify them wanting to send him off adventuring, I dunno what would.

And once he gets started, he really has nowhere else to go to.

Problem being that this happened nearly a decade ago and he's the only one who knows about it.

Easy. Go, adventure, acheive fame. Surely she'll want you when you have fame. A slightly dysfunctional motivation? Sure. But it fits the character.

And yeah, move out of the desert? Bam. Another perfect motivation to go adventuring.

He's got more of a 'slink about in the shadows and bully the little people' type of personality, so I don't really see him seeking fame. And he isn't likely to want to move out of the desert unless he's got the girl with him.

Aright. First off, followed twin around is sufficient, if you have motivated his twin. Secondly, he has ambitions. Leadership doesn't just happen. This guy seems terribly easy to get adventurin'.

Unless he was just following his twin, I don't see how wanting to be boss of his 50-strong tribe would in any way motivate him to travel elsewhere.

I've seen this character a lot. Really, really easy to motivate so long as you have the revenge character to dangle. Once that's achieved, the player needs to come up with new goals. It's a turning point for the character.

I've got less of a problem with him than some of the others, since simply being in the military means I can pretty easily give him things to do.

If any character will cause trouble, it will be this one. Sure, he's got plenty of angles to hook him on, but unless he happens to be party leader, playing his character results in party conflict.

Considering he's got the biggest ego present, I doubt the character would settle for a side role. But apart from the probably-patriotic soldier, I don't think most of the party cares one way or the other towards the emperor.

So have something happen. Some odd event that would result in her being tossed in with the rest of the misfits. Have her get blamed for (random bad thing) that happened to her tribe. Whatever.

So in other words, you want me to completely generate her entire reason for playing the game myself, thus rendering all my efforts to get them to have a goal in life completely pointless?

I'm interested to see that questionnaire, though.

Spoiler

Show

1. What is your name?

2. Any nicknames?

3. Preferred name?

4. What is your race?

5. Boy or girl?

6. Hair color and style?

7. What is your build?

8. Your weight?

9. When is your birthday?

10. How old are you?

11. What time period are you from?

12. Where is your home?

13. Is that where you were born? If not, where were you born?

14. What is your alignment?

15. Weapon of choice?

16. Element of choice?

17. Any family?

18. What is your family like?

19. What is your deepest darkest secret?

20. What is a well known "secret" about you?

21. What has your past been like?

22. Any romantic interests?

23. Anyone interested in you that you know of?

24. What is your favorite color?

25. What is your favorite food?

26. What is your favorite movie/play?

27. What is/was your favorite subject in school?

28. What is your favorite sport to watch/play?

29. What do you do for a living?

30. What languages do you speak?

31. Who are your friends?

32. And your foes?

33. How tall are you?

34. Are you a virgin?

35. Anything unusual about you?

36. Have you ever killed or seriously hurt anyone?

37. How do you relax after a long day?

38. What do you tend to do on a normal day?

39. Any irrational fears?

40. Regular fears or weaknesses?

41. Any bad habits?

42. If you could go back into your past and correct one mistake, would you? If so, what mistake? If not, why?

43. Are you ticklish?

44. How do you keep in contact with people?

45. What is your diet?

46. Have you ever broken the law?

47. What plans do you have for the future?

48. Any skills that can be put to good use?

49. What is your temperment like?

50. What is the happiest moment of your life?

51. Turn that around, what is your worst moment?

52. Any other habits?

53. What is your quote or catch phrase?

I didn't come up with this myself, mind. A friend of mine from school gave it to me.

[dsmiles]

Well perhaps they should've picked up on my play style sometime during the last three campaigns I've run for them.

The game's not just about you. Your players may have something different in mind, maybe you should talk to them in a less directive manner. It's their fun, too, after all.

[Drakevarg]

The game's not just about you. Your players may have something different in mind, maybe you should talk to them in a less directive manner. It's their fun, too, after all.

They're welcome to find another DM.

[dsmiles]

They're welcome to find another DM.

Your way or the highway, eh? Careful with that, you may find yourself without a group.

[Drakevarg]

Your way or the highway, eh? Careful with that, you may find yourself without a group.

Oddly enough, I seem to gain players more often than I lose them.

And besides, if I didn't have to run sessions every weekend maybe I'd get some writing done...

[arguskos]

Oddly enough, I seem to gain players more often than I lose them.

And besides, if I didn't have to run sessions every weekend maybe I'd get some writing done...

Then why do you?

No, seriously, why do you DM? You do not seem to be enjoying it, and I've yet to see any of your posts that involve "man, my players were awesome last session, it was a blast, we all had a great time!" Every time you make a thread, it's... well, it's depressing. Lots of negative adjectives thrown at the PCs (and players), nothing positive going on. It doesn't give the impression that you *want* to be DMing, and your statement of "if I didn't have to run sessions" (emphasis mine) implies you'd rather be doing something else.

So, I ask you, why not go do something else? Just say "eh, screw it" and nick off to go write. They're probably adults or close enough, they can figure it out.

[Comet]

I'm being a bit unhelpful, but how often does the question number 34 actually come up in play? "Are you a virgin?"

All in all, the questionnaire is not bad but the questions themselves are rather generic and by the numbers that it's entirely possible to answer them and still end up with a stale, stiff husk of a character.

Try to vary the questions based on the actual story you are going for. Decide on some central themes and then ask the players how their character live in relation to those, not just generic "so did you like gymnastics in school" stuff that makes for a good story in only a handful of cases.

Less is more and focus is key. Allows you to control the narrative a bit and keeps your players from having the wrong expectations for your campaign.

[dsmiles]

Oddly enough, I seem to gain players more often than I lose them.

And besides, if I didn't have to run sessions every weekend maybe I'd get some writing done...

I'm just sayin', that "my way or the highway" is a crappy attitude to have for a cooperative storytelling wargame. I've been in those types of games, briefly. They're not fun.
The players stop having fun, causing the DM to work harder, causing the DM to become fatigued, causing a crappier attitude, causing the players to not have fun, rinse, repeat. It's a vicious cycle of not having fun.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: It's their game too.

[Drakevarg]

Then why do you?

No, seriously, why do you DM? You do not seem to be enjoying it, and I've yet to see any of your posts that involve "man, my players were awesome last session, it was a blast, we all had a great time!" Every time you make a thread, it's... well, it's depressing. Lots of negative adjectives thrown at the PCs (and players), nothing positive going on. It doesn't give the impression that you *want* to be DMing, and your statement of "if I didn't have to run sessions" (emphasis mine) implies you'd rather be doing something else.

So, I ask you, why not go do something else? Just say "eh, screw it" and nick off to go write. They're probably adults or close enough, they can figure it out.

Because a story is more interesting when you don't know what's going to happen. With DnD, setting up the plot and seeing where the party goes with it is most of the fun. Problem being that nearly every player I've ever gotten is listless and makes no attempt whatsoever to find a plot unless I beat their faces into it.

I think I could run a great game if my players actually wanted to bloody participate. But no, every single time I get maybe one player that actually has a goal that they'll persue without me forcing them to, and the others are perfectly content to sit on their ass until the next party of bandits leap out of the bushes.

[dsmiles]

Problem being that nearly every player I've ever gotten is listless and makes no attempt whatsoever to find a plot unless I beat their faces into it.

This could be caused by the aforementioned "player-killing habits." It's not a competition to see how many characters you can kill before the session ends.

Have you ever even asked your players what interests them, or what their character's motivations might be?

I'm not being snide, I really want to know. Keeping your players interested in the game is kind of important. They may not want to follow the plot you throw at them, they may have other things they want to do with their characters. DnD isn't a one man (or woman) show. It's a cooperative game. Honestly, filling out a 50-question form isn't the way to get information. It's about as exciting as watching paint dry. Simply ask them, and take notes. Then build the plot for your adventure based on what interests the players.

[Drakevarg]

This could be caused by the aforementioned "player-killing habits." It's not a competition to see how many characters you can kill before the session ends.

I'm not that bad about it. It's just that every four sessions or so I miscalculate an encounter's difficulty and people wind up dead.

Have you ever even asked your players what interests them, or what their character's motivations might be?

On the first question, no. Similarly, I don't go to a burger joint asking for pizza. If they don't like what I serve, seek amusement elsewhere.

On the second question, yes. Extensively.

[Comet]

, I don't go to a burger joint asking for pizza. If they don't like what I serve, seek amusement elsewhere.

On the other hand... If you don't like what they serve (as players), why don't you try to seek amusement elsewhere? Get a new group and such with players who are more compatible with your playing style.

Or, as said, you could just try talking to the players more and hope they're nice enough to try and invest more in their characters once you've told them it's important to you as a Game Master. That works, too.

[Teln]

On the first question, no. Similarly, I don't go to a burger joint asking for pizza. If they don't like what I serve, seek amusement elsewhere.

At the risk of mixing metaphors, you might be using the wrong bait on your plot hooks. The best way to fix this is to find out what the fish (your players) want to eat.

On the second question, yes. Extensively.

And it looks like you're asking the wrong questions. Honestly, how often does the fact that a character is ticklish come up in a game? Have you looked over the questionnaire Oracle_Hunter posted at the bottom of the last page? I suggest using that one next time, and seeing what happens.

[dsmiles]

I'm not that bad about it. It's just that every four sessions or so I miscalculate an encounter's difficulty and people wind up dead.

You should probably edit your first post, then. People are getting the impression that you're a character killing machine.

On the first question, no. Similarly, I don't go to a burger joint asking for pizza. If they don't like what I serve, seek amusement elsewhere.

That's still a crappy attitude to have for a cooperative storytelling wargame. Being unwilling to cooperate leads to a game where you get to tell your story, and nobody else gets to tell theirs.

On the second question, yes. Extensively.

That's a good start, but the players' interests are pretty important factors in telling the type of story that will keep them interested. If they're not interested in the story you want to tell, it kind of invalidates the whole game. There's this thing called "compromise," perhaps you should try it and see how it works out. I'm not trying to be an ***, I'm trying to help you get your players interested. I've been doing this for many, many, many years, and honestly, a huge part of running a fun game is cooperation on both the DM's and players' parts. Learn from other peoples' mistakes. It's better than making your own.

[Drakevarg]

And it looks like you're asking the wrong questions. Honestly, how often does the fact that a character is ticklish come up in a game? Have you looked over the questionnaire Oracle_Hunter posted at the bottom of the last page? I suggest using that one next time, and seeing what happens.

Like I said, I got that questionnaire from someone else. Really the only question I was really looking at was "what are your plans for the future?"

Most of them essentially answered "to **** around pointlessly for the rest of my life."

That's still a crappy attitude to have for a cooperative storytelling wargame. Being unwilling to cooperate leads to a game where you get to tell your story, and nobody else gets to tell theirs.

Thing is, I'm doing this as a hobby. Why should I bother putting any effort into it, several times more work than all of my players combined put into it, if I'm not going to enjoy the game I'm running?

If my players get sick of me and leave, they just need to find a new DM. If I get sick of it and leave my players, I need to find at least a quarter dozen more people to play with.

[Teln]

Like I said, I got that questionnaire from someone else.

Again, I encourage you to look at Oracle_Hunter's questionnaire. While you read it, ask yourself "What can I do with the likely answers to this?" Keep reading it until enlightenment dawns.

Really the only question I was really looking at was "what are your plans for the future?"

If that was the only question you wanted the answer to, why did you ask the other 50?

Most of them essentially answered "to **** around pointlessly for the rest of my life."

Could you give us their answers, without paraphrasing this time?

[erikun]

Thing is, I'm doing this as a hobby. Why should I bother putting any effort into it, several times more work than all of my players combined put into it, if I'm not going to enjoy the game I'm running?

Have you mentioned this point to your players? Because it seems to me that it would be best to sit them all down and say, "Running games with dull characters is boring, I'd like you all to work together and interact to make the game more interesting for everyone."

I can guarantee that killing their characters repeatedly will not improve your players' mind-reading capabilities to the point where they suddenly know what you'd like. You need to tell them, and perhaps sit down and help them set things up. (Note: Filling out questionaires and randomly assigning traits will not produce interesting connections that the players wish to roleplay.)

At the very least, the players who leave the group will be leaving because they're not interested in your playstyle, not because they think you get upset and kill them all the time for no reason.

[Teln]

Thing is, I'm doing this as a hobby. Why should I bother putting any effort into it, several times more work than all of my players combined put into it, if I'm not going to enjoy the game I'm running?

Now this is easily fixed: Get your players to quit slacking. Before your next campaign, go around and ask them if there's anything they'd like to see, like a city founded by a powerful mage who built the whole thing inside a bonsai tree, for example.

Alternatively, tell your players "Okay, all of your characters must know at least two of the other PCs before we start play". I've heard that one of the Star Wars pen-and-papers gets good results from this.

[Zaranthan]

I'm not that bad about it. It's just that every four sessions or so I miscalculate an encounter's difficulty and people wind up dead.

Might I suggest researching or inventing a plot armor mechanic to protect your players from such slip-ups? Capricious accidental TPKs are much easier to swallow if you've got the option to limp away rather than rolling another set of stats.

[dsmiles]

Thing is, I'm doing this as a hobby. Why should I bother putting any effort into it, several times more work than all of my players combined put into it, if I'm not going to enjoy the game I'm running?

If my players get sick of me and leave, they just need to find a new DM. If I get sick of it and leave my players, I need to find at least a quarter dozen more people to play with.

That's where the compromise comes in. You've got to give a little to get a little. DMing is a lot like a job, in that. (Minus the getting paid part, unless you're really good at it.) You can't win 'em all. No matter how cliched that is, it's still true. (Of course, I manage to win a good majority of 'em, since I only game with friends. I would rather not play than run/play in a P-UG with a bunch of people I don't know.)

[Drakevarg]

If that was the only question you wanted the answer to, why did you ask the other 50?

Some of them for potential plot hooks, some of them just to get them thinking.

Could you give us their answers, without paraphrasing this time?

"I would like to have a family of my own/peaceful life." - Xumi Sanddancer

(*vomits in mouth a little*)

"Visit every country." - Darius Vajheer

(At least it's an excuse to travel, but the player pretty much explicitly told me it was a bull**** answer just to get the question over with.)

"Become emperor." - Aranesp Peste

(Look, someone with motivation!)

"To be the leader of the tribe." - Atem Lladnar

(Doesn't give him any reason to leave the tribe, and is unlikely to happen at all since all he ever does is follow his twin around.)

"Revenge on the guys who burned down his town. After that, one thing at a time." - Osama Jamal

(So I can dangle the revenge carrot in front of him for a few sessions, but as soon as that's taken care of he's back to faffing about.)

"To win Neela over and then get out of the desert and into the city." - Al-Ed Lladnar

(Once again, no reason to leave the tribe and is guaranteed to never succeed as a) Neela's married and b) he's a total creep who used to bully her brother.)

Have you mentioned this point to your players? Because it seems to me that it would be best to sit them all down and say, "Running games with dull characters is boring, I'd like you all to work together and interact to make the game more interesting for everyone."

I explicitly told them this at the start of the CharGen session. It seems they ignored me.

I can guarantee that killing their characters repeatedly will not improve your players' mind-reading capabilities to the point where they suddenly know what you'd like. You need to tell them, and perhaps sit down and help them set things up. (Note: Filling out questionaires and randomly assigning traits will not produce interesting connections that the players wish to roleplay.)

I don't kill them to get them to do what I want. I either kill them because a) they did something stupid and got themselves killed, b) I miscalculate the difficulty and they get smooshed or c) I was considering killing them off and outright telling them to write more motivated characters.

Alternatively, tell your players "Okay, all of your characters must know at least two of the other PCs before we start play". I've heard that one of the Star Wars pen-and-papers gets good results from this.

/facepalm

I really should've just done that in the first place...

[erikun]

I don't kill them to get them to do what I want. I either kill them because a) they did something stupid and got themselves killed, b) I miscalculate the difficulty and they get smooshed or c) I was considering killing them off and outright telling them to write more motivated characters.

Note that, to a player, death through DM accident and death through DM intention look surprisingly similar, especially when you tell them that you're interested in killing their characters on a regular basis.

Yeah, having the characters connected helps keep the group together. I'm not sure that it provides many more plot hooks, though.

Looking back at your responses to their backstory, though... what is so wrong with them? You seem to discount them as useless and not worthy, but there are still plenty of connections. Darius, who caused deaths 10 years ago? Well he simply gets a note delivered, telling him that his attendance to a get-together in the next town is "required" unless he wants his tribe to discover what happened back then. Who knows? Is it a bluff by a rival in the tribe, who suspects something and wants to get him out of the way? Did one of the victims actually survive? Did some wizard scry the truth to blackmail him - and if so, why would they scry the events of some random tribe ten years ago?

As for the others, there are ways of involving them on the journey. Al-Ed would be interested in travelling if Nessa (and her husband) suddenly left to become merchants. Atem could be motivated by having Akasha interested in his travels. Xumi could just be asked to attend the same get-together as Darius, perhaps because he's old enough to work and hasn't found it elsewhere. Osama and Aranesp could just be hired and the go-between for the group and their employer (which doesn't mean they necessarily know who it is). The rest of the group, Al-Ed and Atem, would attend the "meeting" either out of curiousity or with prompting from Nessa.

[Kilbourne]

"I would like to have a family of my own/peaceful life." - Xumi Sanddancer

(*vomits in mouth a little*)

"Visit every country." - Darius Vajheer

(At least it's an excuse to travel, but the player pretty much explicitly told me it was a bull**** answer just to get the question over with.)

"Become emperor." - Aranesp Peste

(Look, someone with motivation!)

"To be the leader of the tribe." - Atem Lladnar

(Doesn't give him any reason to leave the tribe, and is unlikely to happen at all since all he ever does is follow his twin around.)

"Revenge on the guys who burned down his town. After that, one thing at a time." - Osama Jamal

(So I can dangle the revenge carrot in front of him for a few sessions, but as soon as that's taken care of he's back to faffing about.)

"To win Neela over and then get out of the desert and into the city." - Al-Ed Lladnar

(Once again, no reason to leave the tribe and is guaranteed to never succeed as a) Neela's married and b) he's a total creep who used to bully her brother.)

Look, they did what you asked. They answered your questionnaire, and then what? You throw it back in their face.

You didn't get the replies that you wanted, based on a judgement of what is a 'good' character motivation in your own mind. Their replies didn't match that, so what? It's what they say is their character motivation. Give your players a break. If they are enjoying themselves, that's the point. Of course, you have to be enjoying yourself too.


What you're doing, it seems like, is trying to force them to play and do what you want. This is only going to end with your dissatisfaction and their frustration, or you without any players at all.


I wish you good luck. You're going to need it.

[Drakevarg]

Is it a bluff by a rival in the tribe, who suspects something and wants to get him out of the way?

The only enemy Darius has is Al-Ed (which is problematic in-and-of itself).

Did one of the victims actually survive?

I thought of this, but why would they wait over a decade before returning?

Did some wizard scry the truth to blackmail him - and if so, why would they scry the events of some random tribe ten years ago?

There aren't any wizards in this setting; it's EXTREMELY low-magic.

As for the others, there are ways of involving them on the journey. Al-Ed would be interested in travelling if Nessa (and her husband) suddenly left to become merchants.

Valid.

Atem could be motivated by having Akasha interested in his travels.

Unlikely, since she left before the start of the campaign, something Atem's player has so far failed to elaborate upon.

Xumi could just be asked to attend the same get-together as Darius, perhaps because he's old enough to work and hasn't found it elsewhere.

Why would that happen? She's living a quiet life as a hunter.

Osama and Aranesp could just be hired and the go-between for the group and their employer (which doesn't mean they necessarily know who it is).

Osama's not the mercenary type, though Aranesp might be willing to work for someone if they would help in his "take over the country" goals.

The rest of the group, Al-Ed and Atem, would attend the "meeting" either out of curiousity or with prompting from Nessa.

I can't just tell them they're curious. And Nessa wouldn't want anything to do with the creeps.

[Amnestic]

"I would like to have a family of my own/peaceful life." - Xumi Sanddancer

(*vomits in mouth a little*)

What's wrong with this? Isn't a major part of many good character bringing peace to the world? If the only way to have their peaceful life is adventuring to earn gold and beat the Big Bad, then so be it. I'm not sure why that's a terrible answer. It's a long term goal. A lot of adventurers retire eventually once their pile of gold has gotten too big for their n+1 Bags of holding. There's a 100:1 chance that any bar owner is likely a retired adventurer of some kind.

[Doc Roc]

Sorry if it comes off the wrong way, but if I had to answer 51 questions before playing a character I'd make a pretty flat one too. It seems like tedium may have hit your players :(

I don't think you'd much like what I'd produce either, let me be blunt. I suspect that at about question 21, I'd start rewriting critical portions of your campaign setting. Despite my reputation, I am not considered a problem player. Not a single GM has ever complained about me.

I think that maybe your expectations are somewhere between odd and zany.

[Drakevarg]

Look, they did what you asked. They answered your questionnaire, and then what? You throw it back in their face.

You didn't get the replies that you wanted, based on a judgement of what is a 'good' character motivation in your own mind. Their replies didn't match that, so what? It's what they say is their character motivation. Give your players a break. If they are enjoying themselves, that's the point. Of course, you have to be enjoying yourself too.

I threw it back in their face because they came here to play a plot-heavy adventure game, and they respond by giving themselves goals that mostly involve sitting around or wandering aimlessly.

I need a goal to fit two criteria:
- They need to have a reason to travel.
- They need to have a goal to accomplish.

Of the six characters here, 2 of them have goals to accomplish but no reason to travel. One of them has a desire to travel but nothing to accomplish. And one of them has nothing at all.

I can't run a campaign that keeps every player occupied if only a third of them actually want to occupy themselves.

What's wrong with this? Isn't a major part of many good character bringing peace to the world? If the only way to have their peaceful life is adventuring to earn gold and beat the Big Bad, then so be it. I'm not sure why that's a terrible answer. It's a long term goal. A lot of adventurers retire eventually once their pile of gold has gotten too big for their n+1 Bags of holding. There's a 100:1 chance that any bar owner is likely a retired adventurer of some kind.

Here's the issue, as I see it:

-She is currently living a peaceful life.
-Her goal is to live a peaceful life.

See how there's no motivation for her to change the status quo?

[Doc Roc]

I threw it back in their face because they came here to play a plot-heavy adventure game, and they respond by giving themselves goals that mostly involve sitting around or wandering aimlessly.

In this situation, I suggest that you grab an off-the-shelf adventure, a short one, and run it for a while. This should polish their characters, give them depth from play, and possibly reveal motivations. If it doesn't, nothing was going to.

Perhaps avail yourself of the Player Card subsystem from my A Very Long Trip adventure?

-She is currently living a peaceful life.
-Her goal is to live a peaceful life.

See how there's no motivation for her to change the status quo?

Then have imperial soldiers stomp in through a time rift, blow the ever-living life out of her home town, grab some top soil, and leave. Why top soil? Because her town was worth less than the dirt it sat on. If you can shake your players out of the life they're living in game, how are you going to shake them out of the life they're living in real life?

[Drakevarg]

In this situation, I suggest that you grab an off-the-shelf adventure, a short one, and run it for a while. This should polish their characters, give them depth from play, and possibly reveal motivations. If it doesn't, nothing was going to.

2 problems with that:

1) My setting is extremely specific and doesn't have room for the magical hijinks of 99.9% of prewritten adventures.

2) Right now I couldn't afford a full meal at McDonalds, let alone a DnD book.

Then have imperial soldiers stomp in through a time rift, blow the ever-living life out of her home town, grab some top soil, and leave. Why top soil? Because her town was worth less than the dirt it sat on. If you can shake your players out of the life they're living in game, how are you going to shake them out of the life they're living in real life?

-Time rifts don't exist in this setting. In fact, if it didn't exist during the crusades IRL, assume it doesn't exist in this setting unless otherwise noted.
-What's stopping her from just moving to the next town over and just continuing where she left off?