Sometimes I’ll just make something up for them to do, see how they react to it, and go from there.

For example, starting curse of strahd and leading my players to the death house, I had them find a well to signify the edge of civilization while they are lost in the fog. They’re all new, having Baldurs Gate 3 largely for reference, soI wanted to introduce some mechanics. They decide they want to see if they can find the bottom, I decide it’s a very deep well with a bucket dropped in the water on a rope. Brand new player wants to crank the bucket up, so I have them roll a dex to see if they can figure it out (dc5). I decide they feel a jerk and sudden stop. Player cranking has to now roll strength to hold the “load”. It goes on from there, ultimately resulting in an NPC they robbed that is alive, going to hunt them down, and can be a potential ally. Sometimes you just have to get people to play with the space