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want in a game.

You have to shape your campaign and possibly grow outside your natural DMing style to accommodate the players' needs and expectations. Their free time is just worth too much to ignored or be downplayed as being Not the correct way to play'.

That being said, your needs as a DM are not worthless, you do most of the work after all. In fact the best solution is to compromise. If they want a Hack and Slash campaign and you want court intrigue, have them hunt down and kill the Ninja Squads that have infiltrated the king's dungeons. If they dislike Railroading but don't actually want to provide you with written backgrounds to help you shape stories, offer to build it with them by discussing it by email or face to face.

Bottom line, in this day and age where our friends have limited time and they actually consent in sharing it with us, our efforts as DMs is to focus on fun for everyone. My personal list to achieve this (and just so you don't think I'm being too preachy about this, I don't succeed at every session) is:

* Keeping a fast pace throughout the session.
* Finding ways to say Yes' instead of No'.
* Morphing adventures to my player's tastes.
* Listen to the players and be on the lookout for non-verbal signals.

It works really well for me, and after more than 25 years doing it, I still have 4-6 guys show up every 2 weeks to continue the campaign.

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