How do I help young players Roleplay?

[~Nye~]

Hey guys

Up until recently I have always played multiple campaigns with one group of friends of mine. However, I discovered one of my less nerdy friend's little brother was playing D&D downstairs when we were all drinking beers and hanging out. I ended up sitting and watching their session for an hour or two. Anyway, after a while they invited me to come around the following week and play in their campaign. Though it wasn't quite up to the standards I was used to (not meaning to sound like a snobby douche or anything:smallredface:), I thought maybe I could help their sessions flow a lot more. I wanted to help them roleplay a bit more, since I'm very familiar with the game mechanics and I'm a seasoned P&P rpg player (not meaning to sound bigheaded but I have been playing D&D for half my lifetime now and I'm 24 :D).

Anyway, I end up going around my friend's house and talk to him, he explains his brother is slightly autistic and I empathize and explain why I want to play. My friend leaves so I'm left there with his brother and his friends, who are all a good few years younger than me. We are given a generic introduction to a campaign where we're all adventurers that converge on a campsite where we befriend each other. Each player in turn introduces themselves, we have "Sephiroth Lionheart", "Player One" and his familiar "Insert Coin", "SHIVA DESTROYER OF WORLDZ!" and "Isembard". (Isembard changes gender every other week at the moment, alternatively called Isabella.) At that moment I thought to myself, "Dear god what have I got myself into." But as the session went on I started to relax a little and it was fun to be a PC rather than a DM for once so I started roleplaying my character.

I can get quite into it sometimes, and I love acting, so I started speaking in an accent for my character. I had some pre-prepared quips and mannerisms that I had planned for this very same character in another campaign that never took off past the first adventure. The DM, (my friend's li'l bro) seemed very pleased with my input and the adventure went on, our party almost got TKO'd but I convinced everyone around the table that we should get some rest and plan our second siege on the dungeon.

Anyway a month on now, we're all about level 4. Currently The only character to interact with the NPC's is my character, the bard. The other players just want to rape and pillage everything that moves and that has legs. So I have tried some methods to encourage role playing behavior but it doesn't really seem to have much effect on them. Now the DM wants to play so I suggested I will run a campaign and we will alternate weeks so we each have time to write and develop material which is interesting for the group. I've tried as much as possible to give the players relevant inside info and helped them develop their characters before we play our first session. I have atmospheric music and props to use as well as portraits and maps, but since they're all quite young and excitable I'm a bit worried about how things may turn out. Have any of you guys have any experience with DMing for people alot younger than yourselves? How did it go?

I'd be greatful for any advice and I humbly await your replies :D

CHEERS!!
~Nye~

[hymer]

The obligatory first suggestion is simply: Don't force them to roleplay if what they want is to rollplay. If they seem to react with annoyance or boredom, pull the four-letter-word back and give them the dungeon crawl they seem to crave.

Allright, aside from that, I can only suggest introducing roleplaying in bitesized chunks, and have small rewards for those who participate.
E.g.: If they chat with the old man in the inn and roleplay it, have him tell of an old story from when he was young, which contains an obvious clue to an opponent's weakness or treasure room.

I had an old adage that went something like "Say what you say." I wouldn't recommend that specifically, it comes across rather snappish.
But it was for when players told me something like "I approach the town guard and try to convince him to let us in." The idea, of course, was to nudge them to roleplay so I could start dropping hints - and so I could gauge if they were okay with starting a general panic to get in, or if they kept it dark that they had an urgent message to the commander from the king.
Nowadays I just skip to start roleplaying myself, and they fall in - if they feel like it. Most of them do most of the time.

Just a couple of pennies from me. Good luck!

[~Nye~]

cheers man,
I will break the rp into bite-size chunks, hopefully that will balance it all out and please everyone around the table :D
I hate DMing dungeon crawls, its so long and boring xD and they take so long to decide how to spend their turns, oh well ^^

[TypoNinja]

You didn't say exactly how much younger than you the rest of the group was, but based on their choice of names I feel safe to assume you've got a collection of minors on your hands.

My first instinct would be that at that age, Hack, Slash, Loot, might be all they are looking for from D&D. Its been my experience that newer groups, and even experienced players who just haven't played together much yet, tend to take awhile to feel their way into exactly what balance between roll and role they want in their game. D&D has lots of rules to help you along and get you used to combat encounters, but world building and RP is a much fuzzier area.

I've had similar experiences from my time in PbEM/forum RP's that were pure PR, no rule sets at all besides OOC conduct stuff. The younger players are all looking to be action heros, they have not yet learned the joy of simply telling a story, building a character and a world.

Aside from the not wanting more RP, they may just be unaware of how much extra fun it could be, or are unsure how to introduce an aspect almost completely lacking rules covering it compared to the plethora of rules to help combat along.

Finally, speaking personally, there may just be some shyness/performance anxiety at work. I find it far, far, easier to fall into character and be somebody(or something :P) else on a text medium than I do in person. I've known my D&D group for years, 4-10 depending on the person, but when its time to literally speak my piece sometimes I still choke. Taking your time to craft a post to a forum is an entirely difference experience than being put on the spot and having the rest of the group watching, and waiting on you.