Make players attached to their characters

As a player, I’ve always had a give and take relationship with my characters – I’ve never had my character die, despite everything and all my dumb tactics that rely too heavily on luck. I haven’t felt a connection to most of my characters, despite their backgrounds and in depth stories, that is, until I played a joke character – a paladin who was trying to start a cult in the new world. That was it – that was the whole story. The most basic backstory, but it was an actionable one. Each time I went on an adventure, there was something actionable I could do – the reward for my character could be help building a cult house or converting an NPC.

All this to say – give your players goals to work towards. It makes players more invested in their characters and more engaged with the story at large