Advices on how to stay/get in character?

[bendking]

So me and my group want to stop getting out of character and be a little more immersed in the world, and so why started scouting for ideas and suggestions on the internet.
There weren't many results, and so, I come to you, my fellow adventurers, what methods and rules do you have to help the party stay in character and get more immersed, any suggestions will be welcome.
Thanks ahead, Ben.

[ArcturusV]

One thing that's minor, and really easy to do?

In combat make your characters describe results/actions. It's just a little thing that immerses players. I usually only do it for Deathblows however, rather than every single attack.

So the way it might go is they roll an attack/damage. I go describe some appropriate 2-5 sentences of "This is what happens" with the carnage. It gets players into the game.

Then when they actually drop an enemy I usually go, "Okay, now you, give me a deathblow!" and let them have a minute or three to describe just how they dispatched the foe in detail.

Most players get really fired up about that sort of thing unless they are playing a build they find REALLY boring to start with... like some Archer Rangers who were bored with their build and their "deathblows" amounted to "I shot him in the face". Monk players in particular seem to love that bit as the open ended nature of "What is an unarmed strike" allows them to do really wild stuff. Same with Magic Users.

And of course this thing forces people to think "in character" when they are in combat. It points out that combat isn't just rolling the dice, you're still roleplaying. That is usually the point where I find most people have problems roleplaying. They get to combat and drop all Roleplaying aspects, and instead focus on the Logic Puzzle of "how do I most efficiently overcome this".

[bendking]

One thing that's minor, and really easy to do?

In combat make your characters describe results/actions. It's just a little thing that immerses players. I usually only do it for Deathblows however, rather than every single attack.

So the way it might go is they roll an attack/damage. I go describe some appropriate 2-5 sentences of "This is what happens" with the carnage. It gets players into the game.

Then when they actually drop an enemy I usually go, "Okay, now you, give me a deathblow!" and let them have a minute or three to describe just how they dispatched the foe in detail.

Most players get really fired up about that sort of thing unless they are playing a build they find REALLY boring to start with... like some Archer Rangers who were bored with their build and their "deathblows" amounted to "I shot him in the face". Monk players in particular seem to love that bit as the open ended nature of "What is an unarmed strike" allows them to do really wild stuff. Same with Magic Users.

And of course this thing forces people to think "in character" when they are in combat. It points out that combat isn't just rolling the dice, you're still roleplaying. That is usually the point where I find most people have problems roleplaying. They get to combat and drop all Roleplaying aspects, and instead focus on the Logic Puzzle of "how do I most efficiently overcome this".

Thanks, i'll see if I can get that implemented, sounds good.

[Twilightwyrm]

One thing my group tried was having name tags with out characters names on them, and having to cover them whenever we wanted to speak out of character. There results were...mixed. Suffice it to say it requires some discipline to maintain, especially if you are inclined to randomly ask questions on the fly, and/or you allow it to be generally get away with messing up often.

[AzazelSephiroth]

This has become pretty difficult for me as well recently as I have spent much of my gaming career as DM or in short lived games before I began to DM again:smallwink:

I constantly have to fight back my rules-lawyer tendencies and think "what would my character do... and why?" That question has led me to do some pretty stupid things and sometimes get into dangerous situations, but I have never regretted any of it.
Just focus on what your character would do...why would they do it... and then the how comes out in glorious ways!

One other option a friend of mine implemented years ago was the strict no table talk rule... everything said was said in character... it was difficult and sometimes led to arguments, but eventually we all started only speaking in character at table... we had to walk away to be able to meta-talk.

[Phelix-Mu]

You could google for good drama class exercises to develop characters.

There is a whole chapter on developing backstory for characters in PHB2. Has some excellent suggestions, very usable for people that might not be very high on the personal creativity scale. Having a story of how your character lived leading up to the campaign events often directly implies how he/she should be acting now.

A solid method as a DM and player has been to have a special voice or manner of speaking for a specific character or npc. The dwarf has a short temper and is prone to shouting, the half-elf always says something disarming to strangers ("my, what nice eyes you have, dear lady"), and the like. Use the voice as a jumping off point.

Finally, give players a nice place to role play with no pressure. Maybe a town festival where nothing much is going to happen, just a nice place to meet npcs and maybe do a little gambling or some such. Out of combat stuff can be tricky to engineer without enthusiasm, but offer some coin or valuable npc relationships (romance FTW) and players can come out of their shells in a hurry.

[limejuicepowder]

It was said already, but I'll throw my experience behind "no extraneous conversations/comments" rule. Some time ago I was DMing an almost entirely green group, and sessions were hard to keep moving at times. Finally, I implemented a "if you say it out loud I assume your character said it" rule, and it worked very well. Not only did it squash the joking, but it made the players more focused, thus improving immersion.

This doesn't have to be a tyrannical rule either - obviously, legit rules questions come up (especially with a new group), and they should absolutely be allowed, perhaps even encouraged. But if players aren't allowed to talk OoC, they focus more on the game and are more ready with a IC response when it's needed.

As the DM you can also try to design social encounters with particular characters in mind, much like you would design a combat encounter. For example, say a player described his character during creation to be proud and arrogant. Have them meet someone who insults the character, or calls in to question his motive/ability/dress sense. Basically, "force" them in a conversation. This doesn't (and probably shouldn't) even have to involve rolls, just do it pure role-playing. Draw the player out of their shell with an easy and hopefully memorable exchange.