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View Full Version : How to bring the feels?



Silus
2012-12-26, 09:01 AM
So I watched ParaNorman the other night, and it got me thinking. How does one have the players really feel for a NPC or plot device in a game?

ParaNorman example (spoilered for movie spoilers)

So in the movie, the plot revolves around a witch's curse. Everything presented-physical evidence, visual and audio evidence when the curse is raging, and historical documents-points to the witch in question being of the old crone variety with the wart and broomstick and whatnot.

And then you realize that the witch that was tried (a la Salem) and hung was really a misunderstood 11-year-old girl that could talk with ghosts.

Really bad Youtube video of the scene here. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erHFpgmY3FY)

hymer
2012-12-26, 09:19 AM
My best suggestion is simply: Don't. Throw things out there with no real expectations of how the players react. Let them establish any emotional aspect, and then you can build on that in the future.

If you don't want to do that, you have to strike some note of empathy (little child, miscarriage of justice, defencelssness sound like notes probably struck in your example - don't know what it is).
If you try too hard, though, it'll backfire. And people have varying reactions, making it really hard to make someone unanimously likeable.

Vitruviansquid
2012-12-26, 03:52 PM
The first rule of bringing feels is to make sure your players want feels. There are many reasons folks play RPGs and some of them, like playing out their power fantasies, wanting to be challenged by the DM, and hanging out with friends on a Saturday, aren't really that compatible with getting feels.

The second rule of bringing feels is to make sure your players never ever ever find out you're *trying* to bring them feels. Players (at least all the ones I've met and heard of) instinctively rebel against anything they feel the DM is trying to get them to do, think, or feel. As well, you often ruin the effect of something dramatic when you shove it in the players' faces, as you then transform it into the *melo*dramatic. This is why you should avoid using children, puppies, or anything else that invokes innocence to generate feels.

Tengu_temp
2012-12-26, 05:39 PM
Know your players.

Introduce things they like into the game.

Make them cry as you take them away.

Ulysses WkAmil
2012-12-26, 11:22 PM
Do special voices. My players have a deep attachment to the characters with the most unique voices.

stupiddDice
2012-12-26, 11:40 PM
If you want to get player's care about NPC's, have the NPC's be pleasant and helpful to them. For example, have a shopkeeper give them discounts, or have a particularly important NPC give them some nice gear. If the PC's are in trouble, have one of your NPC's show up an offer help. What I am trying to say is that if the PC's get something out of an NPC, they will grow fond of them.

This is also good for getting them to care about events. If something affects one of their friends they will care about it. The war in the north? who cares! The war Bob our Friend got drafter into? To war!

Reynard
2012-12-27, 12:33 AM
My past players have tended to get pretty attached to low-level NPCs that manage to survive fighting alongside them for a few combats, or in memorable ones.

I think the best example of this was the low-level rogue, named Ben, that they paid to do something for no reason other than to be a distraction while they were busy elsewhere in the same building. Thanks to some very lucky rolls he actually survived and got out with loot, so they hired him full time and had him do traps and such for them.

They were very angry when, months later, the BBEG captured him during a fight. Enough that they set out to rescue him.


But, from the start, he was just a rogue that I thought would only be around for a session at most, that the players expected to die so that they could do their job, but that manged to prove himself quite competent.

hymer
2012-12-27, 05:02 AM
If you want to get player's care about NPC's, have the NPC's be pleasant and helpful to them.

I just wanted to point out that this, while generally good advice, is not at all foolproof (which I guess makes me the fool). One of my DM's characters is actually very helpful and speaks nicely to us, but I (the player) thoroughly dislike him anyway. I'd seize the first given opportunity to get rid of him one way or another, as long as I can do so in character. In the mean time, I just don't deal with him if I can avoid it.

Morph Bark
2012-12-27, 05:31 AM
Depends on what feels you want. Making players develop a love for elements in the campaign or for NPCs, or like they have a strong bond with an NPC (in positive manner) is a lot harder than making them feel anger or hate. Sadness is sort-of in-between.

NPCs of mine that have provoked a notable emotional reaction include Jim, an orc pirate with a love for hugs and a distinctive voice, that caused the players to resound with a big "oh no" whenever I used it (though it was coupled with smiles, since they liked him as a character and thought he was very humorous); Toto, a rabbit-like necromancer NPC who was covered in grafts and provoked a distinct reaction of disgust, respect and fear due to his power and authority (and making Good PCs work for him despite him not being Good at all, though there was never outright evidence for that); Everest, the brother of Toto, a bard who travelled with the PCs until a cave-in killed him to their outcries of "nooo"; and I could go on with a few more.

You (the OP) seem to be only aimed at feelings of sadness in this case though.

CarpeGuitarrem
2012-12-27, 09:44 AM
Know your players.

Introduce things they like into the game.

Make them cry as you take them away.
Preferably by impaling them or throwing them off a building.

Or both.

Templarkommando
2012-12-28, 12:07 AM
I would like to agree with one of the sentiments being passed around. First, be certain what kind of campaign your players want to play in. One of my frequent frustrations has been trying to establish a dramatic, emotional, and intense plot only to have my best laid plans frustrated by comic relief.

What I've found is that one of the best ways to establish some drama (or at least a good RP enviornment) is to give the party a character that they enjoy RPing with.

A good portion of my players like to play sneaky characters and this tends to lead to a lot of trouble-making. The character that I've found that they like is my own personal rendition of Jimmy the Hand from Raymond Feist's fantasy universe. He's a cool collected guy, generally well-behaved (though not always) and sneaky as all hell - which he should be since he is an ex-thief and the Prince of Krondor's spymaster.

This puts Jimmy in a unique position. My party members frequently engage in ill-conceived adventures to steal their way to success. It's always kind of cool to have Squire James step out of the shadows to warn them that the guards are on their way, and that they could probably make a better haul by focusing on the mission at hand.

This worked (I suspect) for a couple of reasons.

1.) I didn't do it to death. If the party insists on carrying on with idiocy, James doesn't show up every damned time and act like the angel on your shoulder.

2.) The Spymaster concept is inherently cool and evokes characters like Jack Bauer, James Bond, Michael Westen and other spies from literature.

3.) Jimmy's role as a recurring character let me establish a relationship between him and the party.

4.) I think at least once the party was inexplicably released from prison. The understood reason was that Jimmy pulled strings to get them out.

There were a couple of problems with this.

1.) It was extremely tempting to rail-road the plot with this character at my disposal.

2.) It's difficult to explain how Jimmy the Hand (a high level character) doesn't just go on the adventures himself.

3.) One of the ways that I want to establish drama is by killing characters to help establish that the party is really responsible for saving the world. It's difficult for me to decide to kill a character like James.

CarpeGuitarrem
2012-12-28, 03:28 PM
I think that the best way to do it is by writing strong, colorful characters. Players won't generally be apathetic towards said characters, and as long as you don't make them awful, the players will like some of them. Then keep tossing them into the midst of the action, and somebody's bound to drop.

DigoDragon
2013-01-02, 07:46 AM
[QUOTE=CarpeGuitarrem;14441644]I think that the best way to do it is by writing strong, colorful characters.QUOTE]

^This.

It's also something that requires a long setup to establish that kind of emotional investment to where the PCs will be movied when said NPC falls.