How About Giving Them Personal Quests That Are Connected To Each Other? That Gives Players An Opportunity

how about giving them personal quests that are connected to each other? that gives players an opportunity to offer each other help when they realize that there is a connection. or quests that can be solved using characters' backgrounds or connections. like "oh, we need to track down those stolen goods, isn't one of us actually a former smuggler?" stuff like that it's easier to do in the beginning of campaign, but can be done in the middle as well also since it's ttrpg newbies we are talking about, I think it's worth noting that not all players even enjoy roleplaying character bonds and all that. People can still have a lot of fun and be active in a story while having a vaguest idea of what makes them to do it together. new players and GMs often get their idea of what d&d is from there, but it's far from the only way to play and not the only valid one.

what I'm trying to say with it is - if you try all the advice and still can't push some of the players in the direction that you want them to go, don't feel discouraged. it doesn't necessarily mean that you did a bad job as a GM. it could mean that they are looking for their style of TTRPG and this is simply not it. I saw countless players who came into the hobby from critical role only to discover that they actually don't enjoy being in character, or actually doing character development rather then watching it. all they want is to be plopped into a dungeon with minimal context and die a thousand funny deaths. or maybe they want to participate in a campaign where everyone have developed proper character bonds and all that, but want to be that guy who just tugs along and lockpicks locks for all those fancy roleplaying people. as long as everyone is having fun it's actually a valid option too. it's more of a tangent than an advice on the given topic, but.. yeah.

Fellow DND / ttrpg enthusiasts

I'm currently running my first campaign in DND 5e and have now encountered the problem that the party doesn't seem to be bonding naturally.

Does anyone have recommendations or prompts what I could implement in the session to make their characters open up a bit, or warm up to one another?