A lot of this is aimed at the character creation stage, but if your current PCs are still low level and a bit aimless I think most or all of this could be applied to a fleshing out session to kind of refocus things with existing characters.

Now all the below is more what you’d call guidelines than actual rules, so sometimes it might not fit perfectly but anyway 'ere we go.

Characters should be written with at least a couple of NPC connections in their past. Family members, friends, rivals, whatever. If it’s a rival/adversary it probably shouldn’t something massive like The Demon Knight Who Murdered Everyone since that would overshadow the campaign but something more mundane like Gary from Pokémon. Or maybe if the character was an escaped slave the old slave trader, or if they were a merchant they rival across the street. Something that can be brought in for a minor plot if needed. If it’s friends or family that’s pretty self explanatory. This makes players actually think about how the character fits into the world and it gives the GM material to optionally slot in.

The characters should have some longer term motivation that is unique to them which runs parallel with being in the party. If they just want lots of gold, it just needs to be a step further as “I want lots of gold to do ‘x’.” That goal can be goal to get passage out of the region, or to build a giant statue of themselves, or to reverse transmute the gold into lead to smelt into a giant cannon ball to fire at the capital of their cultural rivals. Whatever it is, it gives a bit of insight into the character which is something hopefully the player keeps in mind.

Players should think about their alignments and backgrounds in how they interact with NPCs. I don’t mean they should be rigidly guided by this to the extreme every single interaction (because that leads to a whole other set of issues), but sometimes it’s good to think about alternate angles when things are kind of stuck. I see this especially when trying to negotiate with an evil or corrupt NPC and newer players just default to “Helping us is good and you should do a good thing!” arguments that are no sale, but if somebody remembered their character came from a shady background maybe they’d remember to bribe or blackmail instead.

Something I do for my own characters personally is write up at least one personality flaw. Hardheaded, untrusting, drinking problem, gambling problem, racist, whatever. Something that can come up and maybe change throughout a long campaign or maybe just never gets resolved. Again, important that this flaw is tempered against the flow of the adventure so it doesn’t become a drag.

Similarly I write up one or two short and sweet physical flavor details. One character had the end of their pinky chopped off for thieving when they were younger. Another had an obliterated tattoo on their arm. One happened to get nosebleeds slightly more than normal. All of these things could be nothing or could be something. I put them on the sheet and left it in the hands of the GM if they wanted to explore these possible hooks. If it never came up again, it never came up again but at least it was there to latch onto.

PTBA? Is this home brew?

Might be worth asking each player:

What are you hoping to achieve in this campaign?

What are some key people in your characters past that you’d like to see again?

Sometimes you will make a character that does not fit with the group, you as a player need to fix this. Do not expect the group to conform to your character all the time.

I am playing a Druid in a 5e game, over time the character spent more and more time away from civilization, and refused to go into the towns with the group. So any session involving people was me browsing on my phone while everyone else RP’d. then the group got together for a project (we built a fancy covered wagon to travel in) and spent all of our money on it. My character never took much loot because he hunted and foraged. After this he realized he needed money and sometimes needed the city. So I had a character changing moment to get him back into the group again.

Ana for the love of a d20, do not be the, “that’s what my character would do” asshole. If you want to be a dick in game, at least own it.

Some of it depends on what system you’re playing. I always recommend reading more games, because even if you don’t adopt their rules wholesale there’s often ideas you can steal.

CofD had this idea of “aspirations”. Players are asked to write down one long term thing they want to see happen to their character as a player. That’s not necessarily what the character wants. The players should also have one or two short term aspirations. Since these are for the player and not the character, they might be something like “Get in a car chase” or “Take a hit that would fell a normal human” This gives the GM a little guidance on what the players want, and if they’re like “i dunno” that’s a prompt to talk about why they’re here.

More general advice: Engage with the game and its premises. If you’re playing a game about superheroes that go out and fight street level crime, don’t make a character that spends all their time making a mundane brass band. If you’re playing a scrappy militia defending an outpost from a zombie threat, don’t play a guy whose current obsession is writing poetry. Engage with the premise. “Wacky” stuff gets old fast. Playing safe to the tune of “Oh that sounds dangerous I’m just going to stay in the fort” makes for boring gameplay.

I ran a game that ended unhappily because of this. I wanted it to be “explore the cursed island full of monsters and traps”, and one of the players just wanted to open a restaurant. No. Bad. Engage with the game as pitched. If you want to play something else, talk about it instead of rowing against the current constantly.

Engage with NPCs. I have a lot of players that just don’t ask NPCs anything. That doesn’t mean the NPCs are going to drop everything to help you, but if the GM is doing a decent job they have their own motivations and desires. They should be more than Final Fantasy NPCs that have a few fixed lines and a quest reward that pops out.

Sorry for no link, but there’s a Matthew Colville video aimed at players that I think is pretty good.

There’s also (I think) a Pointy Hat video about it as well.

Lean into it. Engage wih the mechanics and the theme of the game.

Don’t have a huge backstory laid out, because it’s fun to be able to make stuff up in the moment without it having to be a huge retcon.

Know what everything on your sheet does.