I agree that a text-only campaign is probably a good solution. It adds a layer of anonymity since the other players don't see your face or hear your voice, and that step of separation often lets shy people come out of their shells a bit more. (It's not a perfect solution and it doesn't work for everyone, of course. I know I've seen shy players in text-only campaigns remain shy by simply not saying things, for example.) I would also recommend a " Session Zero " before the campaign proper starts. It gives you an opportunity to meet the other players and get to know each other as people outside of the game. It also gives you a chance to get everyone on the same page , which will improve the campaign overall. For a digital platform like Roll20, Session Zero also serves as a filter for making sure the players that sign up actually intend to show up. There are players who will shotgun sign up for games, but they obviously don't have time to actually play them all, and they might not inform anyone in the campaign(s) they don't end up playing, nor drop from the campaign themselves. In the games I've run, missing Session Zero without notifying me of being unable to show up is an auto-kick from the campaign.
