So, you have a group of players who like to roll-play, and you want to encourage more role-playing. You're out of adventure hooks. Here's an invention to get the creative juices flowing. Introducing. . .

THE TEN MEMORIES

THE TEN MEMORIES are just that. . . TEN MEMORIES. The name can't be more specific because it's unspecific by design. Basically, each player, during character creation, must think of any combination of at least ten total personal names (NPCs), locations (on the campaign map), items (they carry or know about) andor dates (on the calendar) that the character willingly or unwillingly finds important to remember. Detail is optional (though highly encouraged), except for exactly one The player must designate which of THE TEN MEMORIES are secret. In any case, the possibilities are endless, while the simplicity is elegant. For example, a memory could be the name of a former lover (blah blah blah), or simply a trinket the character always carries for no particular reason. It could be the name of a legendary sword (artifacts are not off limits -- again, it's something to work with, not necessarily a possession or even former possession). Or a memory could be a name the character knows, yet doesn't remember why. 

If you're a DM, you've probably seen PCs with blank sheets for backgrounds (where the character either conveniently suffers from amnesia or the background is just a shrug), and those with seven-volume biographies. The problem for DMs is that while PC backgrounds can make great sources for adventure hooks, the former offer nothing to work with and the latter are too unprioritized to meaningfully sift through (chances are the PC's father's brother's cousin's girlfriend's former roommate won't offer much to the campaign). But if each player provides you with a list of TEN MEMORIES, you wind up with a nice, long yet simple list of potential adventure hooks. In fact, you get ten per character (if not more). With that many,

A) It's unlikely any player can memorize everyone else's memories,
B) You can drop any memory into the game at any point, and
C) Running out of memories to use is not a weighty concern.

Furthermore, even the laziest player doesn't have an excuse to not rattle off ten memories. You could jot them down before the beginning of the first session. This is designed to be a non-invasive way of tying the characters more closely to the campaign. Now, when the players visit a town, one might just say, Hey, I've BEEN here before.

THE TEN MEMORIES can also be used to quickly flesh out NPCs. If you need to come up with an NPC on the fly, there's often no time to develop a back story. Even worse, if the campaign takes a strange turn and you suddenly find your off-the-cuff NPC sticking around, you risk diluting your campaign with a cardboard cutout if the NPC isn't adequately fleshed out. In this case, THE TEN MEMORIES can be used to provide detail now, and seeds from which to grow a personality later.

If you've tried everything else, why not give this a try

