I've noticed a problem with my PC's lacking rich backgrounds, or players lacking knowledge of the mechanics of their own characters. This has lead to me giving the players "homework", which I have even set aside time every other week to do. The type of "homework" includes, fill out this "PC Questionaire", read this short section on "Willpower", convert this small subset of your character sheet to a digital version so I can review it at my leisure, wherever (Things like PC Name, Aspirations, Virtue and Vice).
I am a reluctant GM, who is GM-ing because no one else wanted the job.
I am basically asking the players to take note of the rules, provide interesting backgrounds, and help me out with data entry (that's specific to them). Part of the interesting background problem has turned into snarkily answering the questionnaire as "My family is dead", "I have no friends". I don't feel that most of what I'm asking is exceptional, and most of it is suggested in the storytelling section of the God Machine Chronicle.
It might be worth saying that the chronicle has had some missteps that are my fault. We're basically on our third iteration now playing Hunter: The Vigil. We started as mortals that were going to become templated characters, which happened briefly. Then the group decided to play Werewolf, due to their perceived durability when I threw a challenge at them that was too hard (resulting in PC death). I recently realized that I couldn't get into the mood of Werewolf, so asked for a change, provided there were WoD 2e rules as a limitation. We landed in Hunter, which is satisfying to me. I'm pretty sure there's some resentment for this. It's also worth noting though, that this has been a pervasive problem throughout. I also made the mistake of not asking for these kinds of things in the beginning because I didn't realize I needed them.
Currently I spend anywhere from 10-20 hours on the chronicle a week, making it sort of a part time job. Of course I accepted that as being a GM, and I know This will go down once I've got more world created and more books reread. However, it's making me frustrated and resentful when I ask them to do tasks that should take at most 1 hour, and time is allotted for it every other week where we have off night (where no story is ran).
on a brighter side, I did get them through a Location creation thing last week.
How can I convince my Players it is in their best interest to help me out?
Best Answer
You Don't
The problem here is the premise. This isn't school or work. You can't force people to do homework if they don't want to, at least not without creating bad feelings at the table. The single most important rule of gaming is to have fun. Are they having fun when you try to force them to do these things?
It is, and it isn't. It depends on what kind of game they want. In my current D&D campaign, I have players with very detailed backgrounds, multiple ongoing stories, NPC affiliations, the whole nine yards (lets call him player A). I have another PC who has only the most basic character backstory, and are primarily interested in doing quests and reacting to the story that I give them (lets call him player B).
A goes so far as to write character journal entries between sessions (something I also do). B doesn't think about the game between sessions. A has good mastery of the rules. B requires help at games to know how to use some of their abilities. You get the idea.
I don't have to do anything to get A to do these things. I didn't even ask for some of it. A does it because A finds creating this stuff fun, and thus wants to do it. That's what gaming is supposed to be: fun. If players find it fun, you won't have to try and force them. They'll want to do it. If they don't find it fun, are you really adding anything by trying to make them do it?
Like you, I'd like it if B was more like A. Unlike you, I don't particularly try to change how B acts. The only thing I do is offer a gold incentive for those who wish to write character journals or session recaps, and that goes to group treasure. It's a "do this and everyone gets a bit more awesome" benefit, rather than a personal benefit. The reason why is that it's an encouragement to do it without creating ill feelings that someone with more free time can gain an extra advantage in character.
Why Not?
B simply isn't into the game that much. They like the company, they enjoy playing, we have a good time with them there, but that's it. If I ask them to do more, they'd refuse. If I try to force them, they'd get annoyed. They just aren't interested in putting in that kind of work.
I don't have to cajole or pressure A, as A is doing it because he finds it fun. B is not, and that's cool. A is happy, B is happy, and we all have fun at the table, so I'm happy.
It's worth noting that as the DM, I spend far, far more time on the campaign than anybody else. That's part of the job. World of Darkness in my experience with it (which was all in Old WoD) is no different, the storyteller has a lot more work to do than the players, even if the players are especially engaged. That's just how it is, and you shouldn't hold that against the players.
Group Mismatch
So to me, your real problem is that you have a mismatch in expectations between you and the rest of the group. You expect them to put time into the game when not actually playing, and they don't.
None of you are wrong in how you want to play. However, you can't have this kind of a mismatch in expectations without someone being unhappy. Right now, that someone is you. You have three options:
Obviously, I recommend #3. If they decide they can do some of what you want, great! If they don't want to, at least you will know that and can accept it (changing expectations accordingly) or re-evaluate how much effort you want to put in... or even if you're playing the correct system and type of game at all.
System/Campaign Style Change
If you're playing in a system and campaign style that expects players to put in work on backgrounds and your players don't want to, it's possible the only good answer is to change one or both of those things.
Campaign styles are things like a story intensive narrative game, a sandbox game, a dungeon crawl, a mindless monster bash, a zombie apocalypse survival horror, and so on. You want to match the campaign you're running to what your players actually want to do. If you're trying to run a narrative campaign with extensive backstory and they mostly want to run around as "Steve" bashing the heck out of everything in sight, you probably need to adjust the campaign.
Similarly, although it's possible to do most styles of campaigns in most systems, some systems are more suited to some types than others. WoD (back when I last played it) did really well for a lot of things, but a game where players don't want to invest in backstory, and especially a straight up dungeon crawl are not what it excels at.
You should try and sort out with your players what type of game you want to play. Once you agree on that, you can figure out if Hunter (or WoD in general) are suited to that. If they are, great! If not, it's time to consider picking a system that has mechanics that are suited to what you do want to do.
You don't necessarily have to change if you really like the system. I've played in narrative heavy, RP heavy, story driven D&D 3.5 campaigns. It's entirely possible to do it, even though the system doesn't do a lot to help you do it. It's easier to do it in another system, but everybody at the table knows and likes D&D, so we wanted to use it anyway.
The most important part is to get the campaign style right. If you do, you can usually make it work even if the system isn't suited to it (but a system that helps you do it is going to be beneficial).
The Same Page Tool can be of some help in figuring this out. It's important that you do it with your players, as it's the group collectively that has to sort this out.