As most GMs would understand, often you want to create a fun campaign that is engaging with your players. The problem with mine is that it seems as though players are having too much fooling around and not taking the game somewhat serious as a roleplaying game.

Recently, we had all agreed for me to lead a Pre Heresy campaign based on Black Crusade Rules. The plan was I was to create an alternate reality where a new heresy could occur and the players could manipulate the events based on their own actions. I had been pretty excited for this as I had listened and read most of the Horus Heresy books and had a great framework for how the Heresy would take place and what critical moments would matter. I even allowed some of the players to create their own legions based on the lost legion information. The problem was is that it seems players were having too much fun with creating a ridiculous legion and not focusing on the gameplay at hand.

In fact, during the prologue of the campaign, I had a brief introduction where the players and other Astartes would have first hand glimpse of the Emperor of Mankind who would conduct a meeting with the Astartes and the important mission that lay ahead. One of the players immediately declares he would boo him since his Primarch had been one of the lost in the total 20 Legions. I asked him to reconsider, but he remained firm saying that the Emperor would not kill him for booing… Again I know this game is supposed to be fun, but I feel somewhat defeated as I had poured into the game in hopes of having characters realize the situation thhey are in and not just poke fun. They all know the 40k lore and the importance of their missions, but it seems that either the players do not care or are not fully engaged. I even had painted up models of the Emperor and the Custodians, which is a real bummer… Even though this was the first game, I almost feel like quitting from how what happened. Seems games I host end up with people not taking it seriously [other than a few players who I always enjoy having 1-on-1 games].

What do you suggest?

I think I'd let that game - with those players - die. Every attempt I've seen to get players to change their play styles ends in disaster. Keep the campaign idea around in the even that you get other players that might work better with it.

Perhaps give them real world consequences. You boo the Emperor you suffer horribly, probably death.

They can consider that the Emperor is no push over and no-one to be trifled with as they make their new characters.

The other option is to play the game 1 on 1 with the player(s) who take it seriously. This could lead to some seriously role-playing and also involve the player feeling a sense of accomplishment as their character becomes someone who is central to the (alternate) events that shook the Imperium to its foundations.

Whilst obviously not as powerful as a primarch like Horus they would be a figure of whom countless stories were told throughout the galaxy, reviled and feared throughout the Imperium as much as say Typhus or Magnus the Red and likewise worshipped throughout the Eye of Terror by the massed hordes of Chaos.

Lastly I would like to say kudos for such a cool idea, whether or not you decide to continue playing the game.

Amroth said:

I doubt that that is what would be on their minds as they made new characters. In fact, with such little buy-in, there's no guarantee that they would make new characters at all. Of course, that's just one part of why I suggest letting this game die.

My solution to that would be for him to make a hellish test against his willpower; to overcome the insane amount of indoctrination as well as 'peer pressure' surrounding him. And if that doesn't dissuade him; just use real world military discipline on him; as I'm certain his commanding officer would take a vested interest in making him suffer as a example to other Marines.

First of all, I am sorry to hear that your players are not up to the game you had planned. But let me ask you something, did you discuss your plan for the campaign with them beforehand, and did everyone agree to a "serious alternate history game"?

I know from the games that I run, that players most often are not up for serious drama and politics after seven to eight hours of work, raising children and whatever other duties they have during the day. Or maybe they just have different tastes.

I personally can be assured to make fun of any game where the GM requires "MOAR GRIMDARK!" After all, I play to have fun, and if we are all doomed anyway, then at least I will laugh and sing as I ride the rollercoaster to hell.

My advice for you would be to have a good talk with your players as to what kind of game they all want to play together. After all, you say at least some of them are very good roleplayers under other circumstances. Your plan may have to be changed or put on hold until your group changes. But it can perhaps be salvaged if you all have agreed to what style you want to play.

Present them your vision, and ask them how they would like to play in that.

Maybe it IS time for the Clown Crusade to shatter the Gates of Terra?

(after all, when neither Horus or Failadon can make it, then maybe the Marx Brothers will do?)

honestly, some players are just incapable of taking anything seriously.

that said, comedic outlets is smetimes valueable for a game, but it sounds like you where reltivly early in the game.

BTW if your player said he'd not be killed for booing the Emperor I call BS on that. the emperor wouldn't order it but chances are his fellow space marines would fall on him to prove themselves.

In the Astartes world, even more so during the Great Crusade, death is the punishment if you just so much hint at disloyalty or disrespect toward your superiors, your Chapter and ofcourse the Emperor himself.

ANYONE that hear him boo at the Emperor would take him into custody for interrogation and later execution, there are no excuses and no reasons accepted.

I'm sorry your players weren't up to the task =/

Although I agree with Lucius Valerius and Amroth that the result of booing the Emperor would be quite fatal, in game consequences seldom deter players. They really want to see how much they can get away with before they blow up. And, if you do blow them up or turn them into a servitor, the whole game comes to a screeching halt while the player rolls up another character who is probably also doomed to failure. If I were to guess, Id say that the surrounding Astartes would gun him down like a dog.

I agree that venting comic emotions may be the correct solution to some degree. Consider also that nothing drives home a player's sense of helplessness like a military campaign. If you have a group wanting to conduct "the Clown Crusade" as Mister Zipangu put it, give it a whirl. It could be kind of entertaining to have the group ally with a troupe of Harlequins.

You said that one player was from either Legion II or XI. Why don't you set it from the perspective of a group who neither was destroyed nor absorbed into the Ultramarines. They are seeking to destroy the Emperor alongside or perhaps in total ignorance of Horus. They could clown around as they please because they are beholden to no one besides themselves. Their fates are entirely their own.

In the games I have run in 40,000, I have been alarmed at how difficult it is to get players attached to the world. As with any RPG, the key is to get the players to care about what happens. Hooking them with mystery or power are effective tools. Make them wonder what is on the other side of the curtain, or give them the power to change the universe if they stretch just a little further.

It sounds, however, like they started goofing off in the prologue. That might make things difficult for you, because you have no opportunity to hook them with narrative. If the wheels fell off that early, my guess would be that something went wrong during character development as the players were creating them. They had no specific stock in the survival or success of their characters. Alternately, perhaps the player took the idea of being a heretic too literally. He misunderstood about the current state of his fall from grace and immediately assumed a tone of irreverence.

Ultimately, it is your responsibility as the game master to command the respect of the players. Don't bully, but ask the players for advice and feedback. It's a cooperative experience and both sides need to ensure that they're working towards a mutual goal. If the ideas of the GM and the players conflict, there needs to be a discussion to figure out what the players expect out of the game. Your job is difficult enough without trying to guess what the players are thinking.

Sorry for the long post, but you had a deceptively difficult problem to address. I hope it helped, though. Best of luck out there.

Find new players, i seems like you're investing alot of work into people who won't appreciate it and isn't after the same type og game you are. Just tell them you're tired of it and try to find new people. It won't change, people seldom change alot on stuff like this.