I just finished having a conversation with one of my players, and was led to a question I'm not sure I know how to answer.
I'm running a sandbox campaign (D&D 4e, if it makes a difference) where there are a few major events taking place, but not set expectation that the players have to take part in them. Thus far, the party has tended to follow up more on smaller leads, like interesting caves, a village with a plague, etc., rather than major leads, like fire falling from the sky or the rediscovery of a massive underground dungeon. The leads are clear, and they are aware of them, but haven't followed up. I am totally fine with this.
But in talking to my player tonight, he said that he feels that the party is looking for a major story arc, rather than what they have been doing. Their tendency to follow up on little things is, he thinks, part of an ingrained video game completionist paradigm that wants to leave no stone (i.e., quest) unturned. The problem is that the way I have been running my game, there are an infinite number of stones. Want to follow up on x? I will make x interesting.
It's a weird thing where allowing the players to do what they want seems to lead to them doing what they don't want to do. How do I break the video game habit and encourage players to do what they want?
Best Answer
Why do those leads end up being minor? Can you turn an interesting cave into a major lead? Maybe the cave leads into the massive underground dungeon that was rediscovered. Or maybe the cave has a family of villagers who fled for shelter when the fire fell from the sky. Just because you intended for these things to be minor doesn't mean they have to stay that way. Take the plots that the players show interest in and hook them into larger plots.
Depending on the game you want to run, you have the option of either merging these plots into the established plot or branching off that plot and making this new plot into the more important one. It can feel railroady to the players when they try to take things in their own direction, but still end up knocking on the same BBEG's Fortress o' Doom regardless of the road they took.