How the fuck do I encourage my players to be creative? Every

Find them a setting or a style of play that actually suits them rather than doing whatever you are now.

Once they're invested in the campaign they'll start being more creative.

>>51357717
Sounds like my group, it's depressing they all went for max damage builds and can't be bothered with anything that isn't just combat, even preparing for combat is too much downtime.

>>51357717
You're not pfoviding them with any things that could be prepared, expecting them to figure something out on their own in the empty void that is your game.

If they actually liked your game, they would at least be trying their best.

Also, even if they say they like it, they're probably lying to not hurt your feelings if that's how they act in game.

>>51357732
Well obviously I could just start running a generic dungeon grind, but that's not something I or they want (I put them up against a long dungeon and they said they stopped enjoying it after a while).
What it basically boils down to is that they seem to want social elements, but none of them are creative or involved enough to think things up on the fly so it just turns into me acting 'at' them rather than 'with' them.

>>51357748
These guys aren't even min-maxers, they have pretty fleshed out characters and actually play pretty well in-character. Its just that they never seem to sieze the initiative, every time I stop narrating to give them a chance to jump in we just get a few seconds of awkward silence before I feel obliged to start up again.

>>51357778
Switch it up completely then. You're thinking too small. If you're running D&D or Pathfinder or something right now, switch to a Sci-Fi campaign, setting and system, or a Horror one, or post apocalyptic.

>>51357802
I can't see how that would solve the problem though. Wouldn't they just freeze up in the same way that they already do?

>>51357867
What I'm getting from your group is that they're disinterested in the game and don't feel like putting much effort in to explore the campaign. If they had a setting they enjoyed with characters that they enjoyed playing you might see them actual put the effort in.

>>51357915
Hmm. I suppose its possible. I'll pitch some alternative settings/games to them and see what they think in that case.

Moxie on down to /osrg/, we'll tell you what's what.

Honestly, the way you've phrased the situation may be part of the problem. "You're going to get attacked at sunset" is the situation, you've explicitly told the players that's where the railroad is taking them (into "the coming fight" with said creatures) so it's not really surprising they're not looking outside that box. Maybe word things a bit differently. A small change like:
>From your knowledge of these creatures, you assume they will probably be active after sunset, but will be inactive and lying low during these last few hours of daylight.
could open up another option in their minds: they could wait for the creatures to come out after dark, or they perhaps could try to ambush them themselves before they venture forth. But if you effectively tell your players you've decided that the next thing that's happening in the adventure is a fight at sunset, they'll probably just wait for that to happen.

>>51358374
That was actually a fictional example, some of the players peruse /tg/ occasionally, and I don't want them to know that I'm complaining about them on a Mongolian finger painting site.
I do usually try to keep options open with narration, but actually that railroad style is actually partially a product of the problem.
>From your knowledge of these creatures, you assume they will probably be active after sunset, but will be inactive and lying low during these last few hours of daylight.
If I were to try something like this, they would most likely just wander around looking for this fight that I had promised them. Maybe I'm being unfair to them, but open-ended situations are often met with blank expressions until I give more concrete hints about where they should go/what they should do.